1、 标题的翻译(The Translations of Headings)
公证书可译作Notarization或Notarial Certificate。笔者觉得一旦某一特定公证处使用其中的一种译法,一般不应做改动。
涉姥爷证翻译工作量最多的总是是:毕业证公证书(Notarization of Diploma)、学位证公证书(Notarization of Degree Certificate)、成绩单公证书(Notarization of Academic Transcription)、亲属关系公证书(Notarization of Family Relation)、婚姻情况公证书(Notarization of Marital1 Status)、无刑事犯罪记录公证书(Notarization of No Record of Criminal Offense)、及(涉外)收留公证书(Notarization of Adoption2)等。当然,在实践工作中,以上各分类标题都可笼统地译为:Notarization或Notarial Certificate。
翻译标题时应注意以下问题:
1. 标题中不需要引号(Quotation3 Marks)及句号(Periods);
2. 标题要在公证书上方中央地方(Center Top);
3. 公证书标题需要全部大写(Capitalize All Letters)或大写标题中每一个单词的第一个字母(Capitalize the Very First Letter of Each Word);但
4. 标题中的冠词(Articles)及少于5个字母的连词(Conjunctions)、介词(Prepositions)不应大写,除非坐落于句首;
受公证书种类限制,在公证书标题中一般不会出现象Between如此长的连词或介词。
除此之外,公证书标题的翻译应追求准确、简洁。譬如有些公证员将亲属关系译为Relationship,但笔者觉得用Relationship不如用Domestic Relation 或Family Relation准确;有些公证员将毕业证译作Graduation Certificate,这就不如用Diploma简洁。还有,在译学位证公证书时如使用《英汉-汉英双向法律字典》中学位证书(Diploma)的译法显然会导致与毕业证表达上的混乱[3].那样,能否不同对待?譬如说具体称之为文科学士学位公证书 (Notarization of B.A. Degree)或理工科硕士学位公证书(Notarization of M.S. Degree)等等。
婚姻情况公证书的翻译也应依据具体状况分别作离婚公证书(Notarization of Divorce)及未婚公证书(Notarization of Being Single)[4].诸这样类的细分。
2、 公证书正文即公证词的翻译(The Translations of the Body Part)
1. 兹证明的翻译
国内公证书公证词多以兹证明开头,其英语翻译(English Equivalent)应该是:This is to certify4 that。
2. 公证词翻译应忠实于原文(Conformity5)
笔者曾在翻阅卷宗时发现如下译文:
This is to certify that Wang, who is male and was born on May 1, 1964, and Hao, who is female and was born on October 19, 1965, registered marriage on October 1,1992 at the registration6 office of Civil Affairs Department, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia.
这篇译文的缺点之一在于时态。笔者觉得Registered 一词为动词的过去式,表明的是过去发生这一登记结婚的事实而不可以证明目前的婚姻情况是离异(Divorced)、丧偶(Widowed)还是分居(Separate)。如此便难以满足法言法语的周密性、准确性需要。因此,笔者觉得将时态该为目前完成时态,以表达一直持续到目前的状况要妥一些。缺点之二在于译文不够简洁。建议该为:
This is to certify that Wang (male, born on May 1, 1964) and Hao (female, born on October 19, 1965) have been married since on October 1, 1992 at the registration office of Civil Affairs Department, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia.
还有,有些公证员在翻译诸如毕业证公证书时,将《毕业证》等根据中文的习惯在翻译中加上书名号,使人感觉十分滑稽。大家了解在英语中是没书名号的,在严肃的公证文书翻译中出现如此的错误是非常可笑的。正确的办法是将汉语中应该加书名号的部分斜写(Italicized)、划下划线(Underlined)或大写(Capitalized)。
3、 涉姥爷证书的落款(Close)
涉姥爷证书译文正下方须注明:
1. 公证员(Notary)名字和签名(Signature)或盖章(Stamp);
2. 公证处名字及盖章;
3. 中华人民共和国(The Peoples Republic of China)字样;
4. 日期。日期的格式一般为月/日/年。
除此之外,在出国留学经济担保(Affidavit7 of Financial Support)中一般有担保人(Financial Sponsor)如下誓言:
I certify that I will provide tuition fees, living expenses for my son Lee during his stay in the United States. If he requires any further monetary8 assistance, I will provide this as well.
一般,公证处需要担保人出具财产证明或银行存款证明(Bank Savings9 Statement)。所有这类均附于公证材料后。在涉及财产证明时,有时会遇见个体工商户(Inpidual Business)的营业执照(Business License10)。在逐项翻译中会遇见如某某市/县工商行政管理局印章。笔者觉得不应译作Commercial and Industrial Administration Bureau of City (Prefecture) /County x,而应译为x City (Prefecture)/County Administration of Industry and Commerce。由于,Administration一词本身便有executive branch of a government的意思[5],即行政机关、局(署)等。
有时,公证机关还对材料的译本的真实性和靠谱性予以公证,即翻译件与原件一致公证(Notarization of the Conformity of Translated Copy and the Original)。最后一点,在涉及毕业证书公证时,最后一句一般是:原件上的校长某某某和毕业学校某某大学之印签均属实。周帮友老师的实用英语应用文大全中将属实二字译为Genuine。笔者觉得通译该是Authentic11。由于Authentic一词在法律英语中常用。譬如:作准证书是Authentic Instrument,作准文件是Authentic document[6]及〈麦克米伦字典〉中将Authentic一词讲解为:being what it purports12 to be,并且给出了一个搭配例子即:an authentic document;而且,还有些书中,将公证书译为:Authentic Deed或Authentic Act。这样来看,用Authentic一词更准确一些,更与公证书语言挨近一些。现将上面一句汉语译出以供参考:Both the signature of President xxx and the stamp of the graduation School yyy University are found to be authentic.