硕士学位论文-用学视角下的国际商务口译.doc

上海海事大学SHANGHAI MARITIME UNIVERSITY硕 士 学 位 论 文MASTERS DISSERTATION论文题目：语用学视角下的国际商务口译 学位专业：外国语言学及应用语言学 作者姓名：徐慧敏 指导教师：史燕燕副教授 完成日期：二O O九年六月On International Business Interpreting from the Perspective of Pragmatics ByXu HuiminSupervisorAssociate Professor Shi YanyanA Thesis Submitted tothe College of Foreign Languages Shanghai Maritime Universityin Partial Fulfillment of the Requirementsfor the Degree of Master of ArtsJune, 2009ACKNOWLEGEMENTSI am greatly indebted to my supervisor, Professor Shi Yanyan. She read my first and second drafts of this thesis and provided me with invaluable advice, which I do find stimulating, thought-provoking, and rewarding. Its my good fortune to study under her guidance.I would like to offer my sincerest gratitude to my family and my girlfriend for their invaluable feedback and suggestions, as well as their continued support, patience and understanding.Sincere gratitude also goes to other professors: Han Zhonghua, Wang Dawei, Zheng Lixin, Weng Fengxiang and Yuan Yongfang. Their lectures have a great impact on my way to academic study of the English language, especially interpreting. Furthermore, their individual characteristics impress me so much that the experience of my postgraduate study makes a lifelong treasure.Finally, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the authors and the compilers of the relevant literature whose pioneering study has constructed a well-founded road to my exploration.摘 要口译作为跨文化交际的重要手段,在国际交往中发挥着重要的作用。一直以来,虽然口译研究得到了国内外学者的广泛关注,但同西方相比,我国的口译研究才刚刚起步。近几年来,对口译进行跨学科研究已经成为国外口译理论研究的热点领域,尤其是把语用学运用于口译研究更为令人关注,鉴于此,本文试图将语用学与商务口译研究结合起来，深化这一领域的探讨。美国哲学家格赖斯 ( H.P.Grice ) 在20世纪60年代后期首次提出了著名的“合作原则”(the Cooperative Principle)。合作原则要求每一个交谈参与者在整个交谈过程中表现出合作态度，尽量达到自己交谈的目标和方向。正是交谈者的这种合作使得他们能够持续地进行有意义的语言交际。在实际生活中，为了更有效地表达自己意欲表达的言外之意，引起交际对象的注意，交际中的一方可能会故意在表面上违反合作原则，但谈话参与者的合作关系仍然存在。这时，交际中的另一方就要根据当时的语境，推断出说话人表面违反准则的隐含意义及目的。国际商务口译中，“合作”是谈判者共同的谈话目的或方向，所以合作原则作为会话交际的基本准则就同样适用于国际商务口译。商务口译与其他翻译一样,是一项跨语言、跨国界、跨文化的交际活动,它不仅是个语言转化过程,还是个大商务形势下推进商务各方理解与沟通的过程,也是发展国际交流与合作的过程，这就对口译员的素质及知识结构提出了更高的要求。本论文以国际商务语言环境和交往活动为背景，同时以格赖斯 ( H.P.Grice ) 的“合作原则”(the Cooperative Principle)为理论基础，首先对口译的基本知识进行了介绍，并对国际商务口译做了进一步阐述。然后全面详细地介绍了格赖斯的合作原则及其四大准则，并结合所收集的语料将合作原则用于指导国际商务口译，探讨了译员如何主动有效地运用合作原则以帮助双方建立起某种合作关系。最后对译员在商务口译过程中的角色扮演、文化素质及知识结构等方面提出相应的要求。关键词：国际商务口译 合作原则 口译员 ABSTRACTWith the rapid increase in international exchanges, interpreting, as an inter-lingual and cross-cultural communication mediated by the interpreter, has witnessed a fast and profound development in the past decades. Accordingly, research on interpreting has gained more and more attention. Recently, with the research going on, interdisciplinary studies on interpreting has become a hotspot field both at home and abroad, and special attention has been given to the application of pragmatics in the study of interpreting. H.P.Grice, an American philosopher, firstly put forward his famous “Cooperative Principle” in late 1960s. It is a general principle that all conversational participants are expected to observe according to its four maxims: Quantity, Quality, Relation and Manner. However, people sometimes violate them in actual conversations in order to express his/her underlying assumption more effectively so as to arouse the attention of the communicating objects, which leads to conversational implicature. Even so, there still exists a cooperation relationship between the two parties involved. Cooperative Principle is thus applicable to international business interpreting, in that the participants involved also need to achieve their common purpose of “cooperation”. In addition, the interpreter, no longer merely passively playing the role of a messenger enabling mutual understanding, is supposed to get actively involved in the conversation as a facilitator, given the fact that misunderstanding or conflicts out of differing cultural backgrounds and value concepts inevitably take place in the context of international business process. Based on the theory of H.P. Grices Cooperative Principle, this paper sets its background under international business language and communicating activities. At the beginning of the thesis, basic knowledge of interpreting is introduced and further elaboration of international business interpreting is provided. Then the author presents Grices Cooperative Principle and its four maxims in details and applies the CP to guiding international business interpreting with collected data. Suggestions are put forward accordingly about how interpreters can make effective use of the CP to help both parties in business interactions to establish a certain cooperation relationship. Finally, the interpreters role during the international business interpreting and the requirements of an interpreters quality and knowledge structure are analyzed in detail.Key words: Interpreter International Business Interpreting The Cooperative PrincipleCONTENTSIntroduction1Chapter 1 Basic Knowledge about Interpreting31.1 Definition of Interpreting31.2 Overview of Interpreting41.2.1 Origin of Interpreting41.2.2 Interpreting in the West51.2.3 Interpreting in China71.3 Features of Interpreting81.4 Criteria of Interpreting101.4.1 Accuracy (The closest equivalence)101.4.2 Fluency (The proper speed of rendering)11Chapter 2 Overview of International Business Interpreting122.1 Definition of International Business Interpreting122.2 Main Categories of International Business Interpreting132.2.1 International Business Negotiation Interpreting132.2.2 International Business Meeting Interpreting132.2.3 International Business Escort Interpreting142.3 Features of International Business Interpreting142.3.1 Interactiveness152.3.2 Fidelity Fidelity on Literal Level Fidelity on Semantic Level Fidelity on Functional Level162.3.3 Flexibility162.3.4 Professionalism172.4 Criterion of International Business Interpreting182.4.1 Accuracy of Information192.4.2 Completeness of information192.4.3 Effectiveness of information19Chapter Three Business Interpreting from the Perspective of Pragmatics213.1 Pragmatics and Business Interpreting213.1.1 Brief Introduction to Pragmatics213.1.2 Pragmatic Perspective of Business Interpreting223.2 The Cooperative Principle (CP)233.2.1 The Framework of Cooperative Principle The Notion of Cooperative Principle The Maxims of Cooperative Principle253.2.2 Violation of the Maxims273.3 The Application of the CP in International Business Interpreting313.3.1 The Maxim of Quantity in International Business Interpreting333.3.2 The Maxim of Quality in International Business Interpreting343.3.3 The Maxim of Relevance in International Business Interpreting363.3.4 The Maxim of Manner in International Business Interpreting373.4 Interpreting Quality Assessment Criteria in terms of CP383.4.1 The Maxim of Quantity403.4.2 The Maxim of Quality423.4.3 The Maxim of Relation443.4.4 The Maxim of Manner45Chapter Four Qualification Requirements for the International Business Interpreter484.1 The Interpreters Role in International Business484.2 Qualification Requirements for International Business Interpreter504.2.1 Linguistic Competence504.2.2 Extensive Professional Knowledge514.2.3 Favorable Interpreting Skills514.2.4 Cultural Awareness524.2.5 Professional Ethics52Chapter 5 Conclusion545.1 Summary and Findings545.2 Limitations of the Research555.3 Future Research Directions56Bibliography57VIIIntroductionAs a cross-cultural verbal communication activity, interpreting is a fundamental communicative tool for people speaking different languages. Lagging far behind written translation studies, interpreting is a relatively new region of study that started only a few decades ago. In the past，interpreting was usually studied from the perspective of real life practice and experiences，but lack of in-depth academic analysis from other disciplines. However，with the fast development of world economy and cultural exchanges, interpreting studies from an interdisciplinary perspective becomes both a necessary trend and a hotspot for researchers.International business refers to all commercial transactions between two or more countries for the purpose of satisfying the need of individuals and organizations with mutual benefits. The Interpreter, bridging the gaps between different languages and cultures, are playing an important role in doing international businesses. In such a complicated information process like international business interpreting, the interpreter is responsible for the exact comprehension of the source utterance and faithfully transferring messages from target to source languages. One inappropriate choice of words or expressions may cause great losses to business interactions. So research of international business interpreting from the perspective of pragmatics is of great significance and may certainly offer some insights to interpreters.In 1967, when giving lectures at Harvard, Herbert Grice formulated his Conversational Implicature Theory in which The Cooperative Principle (CP) and its four maxims were originally put forward. As a key principle of Conversational Implicature Theory in pragmatics, the CP makes great contribution to guiding conversational communication. Undoubtedly, the international business interpreting, a special conversational process mediated by an interpreter, can also be guided with the CP. In the process of international business, “cooperation” is the common purpose of all participants, including the interpreter. This makes CP a general principle that all conversational participants are expected to observe. Therefore, it will be of great value and necessity to conduct a systematic study on this matter. In order to get a clear picture of how the CP can be used to guide and evaluate interpretation and how an interpreter applies the CP to the international business interpreting, this present thesis provides the reader with rich resources of useful evidence and examples. To make the reading easier, the author organizes his thesis as follows: Besides the introduction, this dissertation is divided into five chapters.Some basic knowledge of interpreting, including its definition, features, development and criteria are presented in Chapter One.Chapter Two offers an overview of international business interpreting. Before expatiating on its guiding rules, the author gives an introduction to the international business interpreting, including its definition, features and categories. In Chapter Three, detailed discussion of CP and its four maxims are presented. A theoretical framework on how to use it as guiding rules for international business interpreting together with examples are provided. The application of the CP as an interpreting quality assessment criterion is illustrated as well.In the fourth chapter, interpreters role and qualifications in international business interpreting are discussed in detail.Then comes the conclusion, which sums up the whole thesis and presents findings and discussions. Additionally, the weaknesses of the thesis are also stated.Chapter 1 Basic Knowledge about Interpreting1.1 Definition of Interpreting Interpreting is a process of translation, converting one language to another so that the target language could convey the intended message in source language. Interpreting essentially is “a service activity with a communication function, performed in a professional setting with a professional aim I mind, and constrained by this setting” (Daniel Gile, 1995:21), and “an extempore oral reproduction, in one language, of what is said in another language” (Zhong Shukong, 1999:1). Compared to translation which is “used when the immediate result of the work is a written text”, interpreting has its outstanding characteristics as being “used when the immediate result is a speech reproduced orally in a language other than that spoken by the original speaker”. (Zhong Shukong, 1999:1). Interpreting takes place when one person translates orally what he or she hears into another language. Many people are confused about the difference between translating and interpreting. It cannot be denied that the study of interpreting always falls into the spectrum of translating studies in a broad sense. No scholars of interpreting can ignore the close relationship between interpreting and translating. However, the difference is quite obvious and simple: a translation is written down whereas interpreting is spoken. Interpreting activity is not mechanically converting the codes of the source language into those of the target language，but rather an active and creative activity that always focuses on exchanging information and meaning. Therefore, interpreting is not a mere linguistic activity which uses only lexical and syntactical meaning as its transformation units, but rather a communication event that takes into consideration lexical meaning, contextual meaning, associated meaning, register meaning, body language meaning, cultural meaning, etc. So we can say that interpreting is not only a linguistic activity, but also a cultural activity, a psychological activity as well as a social activity. The person undertaking the task of interpreting is called “an interpreter”, whose main function is to make possible communication between people who do not speak the same language, and neither speaks the others language well enough for the communication. So an interpreter must be bilingual with extensive knowledge and application ability of two languages to explain what each is saying in turn. The interpreter should have something of a pedagogical streak, their work being one of continuous explanation and explication. Selescovitich demands that the interpreters target-language utterance must be “geared to the recipient” (1978:130) and describes the interpreters job as “grasping the speakers intended sense, and expressing it in the verbal form best suited to understanding by the audience” (1978:130). Unlike a teacher, the interpreter does not express their own message; but like a teacher, their task is to make sure that the message is genuinely assimilated by the audience.1.2 Overview of Interpreting1.2.1 Origin of InterpretingDue to the lack of historical record, it is difficult to answer such question as “which year did interpreting really emerge and then develop?” However, we can infer that interpreting came into being and developed gradually with the exchanges between people of different languages. In the primitive society, people of various tribes found it necessary for them to communicate with each other for bartering, exchanging information, marriages and etc., thus the primitive interpreting occurred. The earliest interpreting activity appears in a very unprofessional, rough way with lots of gesticulations and there are no interpreting skills involved at all. When people who do not speak a common language come into contact, they have to communicate with sign languages or find someone who happens to speak both languages to help them. Sometimes, the actual interpreting language used to communicate with the other party is the mother tongue + gesticulations + a couple of semantically as well as phonetically similar sentences. No one has ever thought about how to use interpretation to its optimal effect. The situation is somewhat like what is now happening between different African tribes who do not have the same language. With limited indirect descriptions of interpreting, it is very hard to present a convincing picture of the interpreting at that time. 1.2.2 Interpreting in the West Interpreting, with a long history, is an ancient social practice of human beings. There is evidence that interpreters have played a key role in Western history. For example, the Romans used the interpreter in their dealings with those they conquered; King of Spain decreed to identify the legal status of interpreting participants in his colony in the 16th century; “Language manservant” from France and Australia played the role of interpreters in Constantinople, taking part in diplomatic activities with Turkish Empire; however, it existed as a non-professional activity in peoples life. Interpreting as a profession in the west, or we say in the international arena is the product of the early 20th century. It was during the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 that conference interpreting got its start. With the application of simultaneous interpretation, the New Castle Criminal Trial held at the end of the Second World War is regarded as another important milestone in interpretation history. During the break between the First and Second World War, many schools were set up to train interpreters, and the teaching of interpreting was also promoted. J.Herbert, a famous interpretation researcher, published his book MANUEL DE LINTERPRETE just at that time. In 1953, FITFEDERATION INTERNATIONALE DES TRADUCTEURS, the first organization of translators was established in Paris. In the same time, international interpretation workers also set up their own organization AIICASSOCIATION INTERNATIONALE DES INTERPRETES DE CONFERENCES in Geneva Switzerland. The Association formally stipulated a series of norms about interpreters qualifications, language proficiency and professional morals etc. It also put forward rules that interpreters worldwide must abide by. From then on, interpreting, a profession both ancient and young, was formalized and protected.After the Second World War, interpreting study has made some great new progressthe study of inter