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1 Introduction
Legal English in English-speaking countries is called legal language or language of the law. It is a kind of language or part of expressions when expressing the concept of science of law and non-litigation legal affairs. Legal English is the achievement researched by law and English linguistics, so the research should be analyzed from the below perspectives.
The same as any knowledge and workmanship, legal English has its own learning pattern which is from the shallower to the deeper, easy to difficult. There is no core subjects in Anglo-American Law School, students have to finish core subjects at first then they can learn other kinds of law. The Chinese students feel difficult to learn legal English. The significant reason is that they don’t learn legal English according to the principle. They always start learning by themselves blindly when they are not clear with some basic concepts and classifications.
The purpose of the research is to reveal the impact of differences between Chinese and western cultures on legal English study.
2 Barriers to Legal English Learning
In the process of legal English learning, learners may come across a lot of barriers. Legal language is sometimes difficult to learn. One of the main reasons is that we are not so familiar the uncommonly words and structure. I’ll summarize the barriers from three aspects below.
2.1 Large amount of uncommon words and old English
With the deepening of our country to open to the outside and frequently associate with foreign countries, some economic disputes will appear economic disputes unavoidably. Some disputes are caused by legal texts such as contract. To avoid these disputes, we must understand the original English version of legal text. As a highly formal written language, legal English’s wording is formal and its semantic is rigorous. In addition to extensive use of professional term, one of the grave solemn symbol of legal English vocabulary is extensive retain of old English and medieval English vocabulary.
The most common form of old English is formed by "here, there" with the preposition "after, at, from, in, of, to, under, upon" etc. "Hereof, hereunder, therein, thereof, whereby, wherein, whereof" are the commonly used words. It is difficult to understand this kind of compound words from the corresponding Chinese meaning. But if we connect their form and meaning, it is relatively easy to understand. This kind of "classical Chinese" in the other areas of modern English language is rarely used. But it is commonly used in legal contract texts. Its main purpose is to avoid duplication, to avoid misunderstandings and ambiguities, to make the sentence structure compact and refining, manner of writing more accurate and concise. The greatly use of old English enhanced the sexual and seriousness of legal English. It conforms to legal text standardization. The meaning of these words is different. Author chooses some words to amplify the feature of usage and significance. 2.2 Complex sentence structures
Long sentence is the biggest characteristic of legal English, and also the most difficult to process in legal translation. Therefore, correct understanding and translating long sentences is one of the key elements to success in legal translation. Legal professional require clear concept, rigorous logic, accuracy words. The use of long sentence is particularly common. In order to understand long sentences and apply long sentence, we must know the logic relationship.
Compared with technology English, business English, the length and the continuity of using clause of the sentence structure in legal English is much more complicated. Legal English syntactic features are closely related with stylistic features of legal English because the head words of formal legal regulations and texts are limited over much. And there are so many limitations to form a legal concept. So we use more long sentences and less short sentences.
Many legal documents makers tend to use far beyond the average length of English sentences. Sometimes a sentence is just like a paragraph and the structure is very complicated. Only by reading it over and over again can we understand the meaning. The sentences are formed by various clauses and complex modifying and it contains large amount of information. It can be used to express complicated ideas, narrative specific, argue rigorous, level discernible. The theme of legal texts is seriousness and the implication profound, structure strict, complex object relation, need careful rigorous narrative, statement also corresponding become complicated and prolixity.
2.3 Strangeness of terminologies
Legal English technical terms are specialized language used to accurately express special legal concept. This kind of special language has the commonness with other various terms. It also has its own special personality. According to the structure or the scope of semantic meaning, this kind of special expressions can be divided into common terms, exclusive special meaning terms, special legal terminology and borrow term four forms.
3 Cultural differences that influence legal English learning
All people know cultural differences throughout exist between Chinese and western. There are all aspects of cultural differences. But the below differences mainly influence legal English learning.
3.1 Difference in thinking mode
Chinese people’s thinking mode is intuitive, integrity and intentionality. The intuitive thinking mode provides a powerful cognition mechanism for other people and environment so that they can form a harmonious relationship. On language expression, Chinese people always narrative the background of things at first, or list objective conditions, or specify the reason of the problem, or put forward evidence of the facts, then make a conclusion, illustrate his idea or opinion. For the differences in thinking mode, the language structure, levels and text structure is not identical. Different thinking mode between Chinese and western on legal language firstly embodies in words. In Chinese, a meaning is usually expressed by one word or phrase rather than two. Using two words to express a meaning is too burdensome, windbag, repetition. But legal English is different. In legal English, people often use synonyms and near-synonym. For example, ‘for and in consideration of mutual covenants and agreements contained herein, the parties hereby covenant and agree as follow.’ This sentence is short. But there are three synonyms and near-synonyms. On the other hand it caused by the uncertainty and vagueness of English words and phrases expression.
3.2 Chinese traditional legal culture and western legal culture
There are some features about Chinese traditional legal thoughts. First, imperial power supreme, the monarch has the highest legislative and judicial power. It is a basic principle of feudal orthodox law. Second, people lack of equality sense and have strong ideological level privileges.
As is known to all, any kind of civilization, including legal civilization of benign development is inseparable from the absorption and reference of external cultures. But because the restrictions of system, ideas, geographic environment, coupled with the traffic is backward, the thousands of years of traditional Chinese legal system almost never had substantive exchanges with other legal civilization, especially the western legal civilization, and without much talk about absorb foreign legal civilized essence, gradually Chinese legal system evolved into a relatively closed backward system. Chinese traditional legal culture as a whole culture morphology is no longer in the contemporary era. But due to the special case of ancient China, it still has effect on actual society.
Chinese and western legal cultural differences appear first on the idea of law. Traditional Chinese legal idea mainly "punishment" as the core and content, therefore, in traditionally, the Chinese often used to take punishment, rule, law equal, and thought method is the criminal law. The concept of western legal rights to the axis, mainly because the state and ancient Greek and Roman law began in civilians and noble conflict, in a sense, they are the result of social compromise.
In a sense, as "the Chinese legal system" parent law traditional Chinese legal culture is a sealing system, and continental law system and Anglo-American law system which represents Western legal culture is open. 4. Effective Ways of Legal English Learning
The author thinks that in order to effectively eliminate obstacles of culture differences between Chinese and western on the negative influence of legal English learners, legal English teachers and learners could commence to do something as the following four aspects:
4.1 Learning more knowledge about legal background
The legal English teacher should make students systematically to learn cultures and cultivate students’ cultural consciousness. Students should set an idea that during learning foreign language, we should also grasp its culture. However legal English learners should also in the extracurricular reading extensively including English literary, English national social culture and customs, economic and trade and other kinds of books, newspapers, magazines. Learners should not just read legal books. Through extensive reading, cultural understanding, students may become more comprehensive and more concrete with cultures. They will grasp the culture differences better and understand the differences between Chinese and western legal cultures.
4.2 Choosing appropriate teaching content
Legal English teachers must select appropriate teaching content. According to "appropriate principle", legal English teachers should formulate students’ appropriate syllabus, select the appropriate teaching material and properly complement teaching cases. We introduce Anglo-American law system countries’ legal cultures knowledge.
4.3 Setting moot court
The moot court is also the supplement of legal English class. In class, legal English teachers organize students to carry on the role of distribution, form the prosecuting party, the accused party and judge, to execute drill. On this way, students can fully understand the different legal systems. The judge, jury, lawyers and the parties have different power.
4.4 Seeing more film
Seeing film can not only enable the student to deep understand the foreign litigation procedure and legal regulation, but also can let students to understand great differences between Chinese and western legal cultures.
5 Conclusion
Law seems complex. But it describes two things. One is the description of the legal applicable environment. The other is the description of the legal consequences. “Murderers should suffer death” is a piece of law. Homicide is legal applicable environment and death is the legal consequence after homicide. In some developed western places, People describe the legal environment more painstaking and accurate than ours. For example, a series of circumstances such as “lack of will”, “mistake of fact”, “provocation”, “compulsion”, ”emergency and necessity” is listed in any clauses except the basic legal principle--“murderers should suffer death”. These circumstances are not involved in Chinese law. Meanwhile, legal consequences in legal English are diversity and tend to be humanitarian. That’s the merits we should learn.
Language is the carrier of culture. Culture is the soul of language. Legal English is also a foreign language, the differences between Chinese and Western culture will affect legal English learning. So the difference is the key point to learn this course well. Combine language with culture foreign country's cultural background can help us to effectively learn legal English.
Legal English in English-speaking countries is called legal language or language of the law. It is a kind of language or part of expressions when expressing the concept of science of law and non-litigation legal affairs. Legal English is the achievement researched by law and English linguistics, so the research should be analyzed from the below perspectives.
The same as any knowledge and workmanship, legal English has its own learning pattern which is from the shallower to the deeper, easy to difficult. There is no core subjects in Anglo-American Law School, students have to finish core subjects at first then they can learn other kinds of law. The Chinese students feel difficult to learn legal English. The significant reason is that they don’t learn legal English according to the principle. They always start learning by themselves blindly when they are not clear with some basic concepts and classifications.
The purpose of the research is to reveal the impact of differences between Chinese and western cultures on legal English study.
2 Barriers to Legal English Learning
In the process of legal English learning, learners may come across a lot of barriers. Legal language is sometimes difficult to learn. One of the main reasons is that we are not so familiar the uncommonly words and structure. I’ll summarize the barriers from three aspects below.
2.1 Large amount of uncommon words and old English
With the deepening of our country to open to the outside and frequently associate with foreign countries, some economic disputes will appear economic disputes unavoidably. Some disputes are caused by legal texts such as contract. To avoid these disputes, we must understand the original English version of legal text. As a highly formal written language, legal English’s wording is formal and its semantic is rigorous. In addition to extensive use of professional term, one of the grave solemn symbol of legal English vocabulary is extensive retain of old English and medieval English vocabulary.
The most common form of old English is formed by "here, there" with the preposition "after, at, from, in, of, to, under, upon" etc. "Hereof, hereunder, therein, thereof, whereby, wherein, whereof" are the commonly used words. It is difficult to understand this kind of compound words from the corresponding Chinese meaning. But if we connect their form and meaning, it is relatively easy to understand. This kind of "classical Chinese" in the other areas of modern English language is rarely used. But it is commonly used in legal contract texts. Its main purpose is to avoid duplication, to avoid misunderstandings and ambiguities, to make the sentence structure compact and refining, manner of writing more accurate and concise. The greatly use of old English enhanced the sexual and seriousness of legal English. It conforms to legal text standardization. The meaning of these words is different. Author chooses some words to amplify the feature of usage and significance. 2.2 Complex sentence structures
Long sentence is the biggest characteristic of legal English, and also the most difficult to process in legal translation. Therefore, correct understanding and translating long sentences is one of the key elements to success in legal translation. Legal professional require clear concept, rigorous logic, accuracy words. The use of long sentence is particularly common. In order to understand long sentences and apply long sentence, we must know the logic relationship.
Compared with technology English, business English, the length and the continuity of using clause of the sentence structure in legal English is much more complicated. Legal English syntactic features are closely related with stylistic features of legal English because the head words of formal legal regulations and texts are limited over much. And there are so many limitations to form a legal concept. So we use more long sentences and less short sentences.
Many legal documents makers tend to use far beyond the average length of English sentences. Sometimes a sentence is just like a paragraph and the structure is very complicated. Only by reading it over and over again can we understand the meaning. The sentences are formed by various clauses and complex modifying and it contains large amount of information. It can be used to express complicated ideas, narrative specific, argue rigorous, level discernible. The theme of legal texts is seriousness and the implication profound, structure strict, complex object relation, need careful rigorous narrative, statement also corresponding become complicated and prolixity.
2.3 Strangeness of terminologies
Legal English technical terms are specialized language used to accurately express special legal concept. This kind of special language has the commonness with other various terms. It also has its own special personality. According to the structure or the scope of semantic meaning, this kind of special expressions can be divided into common terms, exclusive special meaning terms, special legal terminology and borrow term four forms.
3 Cultural differences that influence legal English learning
All people know cultural differences throughout exist between Chinese and western. There are all aspects of cultural differences. But the below differences mainly influence legal English learning.
3.1 Difference in thinking mode
Chinese people’s thinking mode is intuitive, integrity and intentionality. The intuitive thinking mode provides a powerful cognition mechanism for other people and environment so that they can form a harmonious relationship. On language expression, Chinese people always narrative the background of things at first, or list objective conditions, or specify the reason of the problem, or put forward evidence of the facts, then make a conclusion, illustrate his idea or opinion. For the differences in thinking mode, the language structure, levels and text structure is not identical. Different thinking mode between Chinese and western on legal language firstly embodies in words. In Chinese, a meaning is usually expressed by one word or phrase rather than two. Using two words to express a meaning is too burdensome, windbag, repetition. But legal English is different. In legal English, people often use synonyms and near-synonym. For example, ‘for and in consideration of mutual covenants and agreements contained herein, the parties hereby covenant and agree as follow.’ This sentence is short. But there are three synonyms and near-synonyms. On the other hand it caused by the uncertainty and vagueness of English words and phrases expression.
3.2 Chinese traditional legal culture and western legal culture
There are some features about Chinese traditional legal thoughts. First, imperial power supreme, the monarch has the highest legislative and judicial power. It is a basic principle of feudal orthodox law. Second, people lack of equality sense and have strong ideological level privileges.
As is known to all, any kind of civilization, including legal civilization of benign development is inseparable from the absorption and reference of external cultures. But because the restrictions of system, ideas, geographic environment, coupled with the traffic is backward, the thousands of years of traditional Chinese legal system almost never had substantive exchanges with other legal civilization, especially the western legal civilization, and without much talk about absorb foreign legal civilized essence, gradually Chinese legal system evolved into a relatively closed backward system. Chinese traditional legal culture as a whole culture morphology is no longer in the contemporary era. But due to the special case of ancient China, it still has effect on actual society.
Chinese and western legal cultural differences appear first on the idea of law. Traditional Chinese legal idea mainly "punishment" as the core and content, therefore, in traditionally, the Chinese often used to take punishment, rule, law equal, and thought method is the criminal law. The concept of western legal rights to the axis, mainly because the state and ancient Greek and Roman law began in civilians and noble conflict, in a sense, they are the result of social compromise.
In a sense, as "the Chinese legal system" parent law traditional Chinese legal culture is a sealing system, and continental law system and Anglo-American law system which represents Western legal culture is open. 4. Effective Ways of Legal English Learning
The author thinks that in order to effectively eliminate obstacles of culture differences between Chinese and western on the negative influence of legal English learners, legal English teachers and learners could commence to do something as the following four aspects:
4.1 Learning more knowledge about legal background
The legal English teacher should make students systematically to learn cultures and cultivate students’ cultural consciousness. Students should set an idea that during learning foreign language, we should also grasp its culture. However legal English learners should also in the extracurricular reading extensively including English literary, English national social culture and customs, economic and trade and other kinds of books, newspapers, magazines. Learners should not just read legal books. Through extensive reading, cultural understanding, students may become more comprehensive and more concrete with cultures. They will grasp the culture differences better and understand the differences between Chinese and western legal cultures.
4.2 Choosing appropriate teaching content
Legal English teachers must select appropriate teaching content. According to "appropriate principle", legal English teachers should formulate students’ appropriate syllabus, select the appropriate teaching material and properly complement teaching cases. We introduce Anglo-American law system countries’ legal cultures knowledge.
4.3 Setting moot court
The moot court is also the supplement of legal English class. In class, legal English teachers organize students to carry on the role of distribution, form the prosecuting party, the accused party and judge, to execute drill. On this way, students can fully understand the different legal systems. The judge, jury, lawyers and the parties have different power.
4.4 Seeing more film
Seeing film can not only enable the student to deep understand the foreign litigation procedure and legal regulation, but also can let students to understand great differences between Chinese and western legal cultures.
5 Conclusion
Law seems complex. But it describes two things. One is the description of the legal applicable environment. The other is the description of the legal consequences. “Murderers should suffer death” is a piece of law. Homicide is legal applicable environment and death is the legal consequence after homicide. In some developed western places, People describe the legal environment more painstaking and accurate than ours. For example, a series of circumstances such as “lack of will”, “mistake of fact”, “provocation”, “compulsion”, ”emergency and necessity” is listed in any clauses except the basic legal principle--“murderers should suffer death”. These circumstances are not involved in Chinese law. Meanwhile, legal consequences in legal English are diversity and tend to be humanitarian. That’s the merits we should learn.
Language is the carrier of culture. Culture is the soul of language. Legal English is also a foreign language, the differences between Chinese and Western culture will affect legal English learning. So the difference is the key point to learn this course well. Combine language with culture foreign country's cultural background can help us to effectively learn legal English.