1. “兹证明”的翻译
我国公证书公证词多以“兹证明……”开头,其英文翻译(English Equivalent)应该是:“This is to certify that…”。
2. 公证词翻译应忠实于原文(Conformity)
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 registration office of Civil Affairs Department, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia.
这篇译文的缺陷之一在于时态。笔者认为“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能证明现在的婚姻状况是离异(Divorced)、丧偶(Widowed)还是分居(Separate)。这样便不能满足法言法语的周密性、准确性要求。因此,笔者认为将时态该为现在完成时态,以表达“一直持续到现在的状态”要妥一些。缺陷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,有的公证员在翻译诸如毕业证公证书时,将《毕业证》等按照中文的习惯在翻译中加上书名号,使人觉得十分滑稽。我们知道在英语中是没有书名号的,在严肃的公证文书翻译中出现这样的错误是很可笑的。正确的方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)。