毕业论文 经贸英语的语言特点及翻译技巧.doc

德州学院外语系 2010届 英语专业 毕业论文Linguistic Features and Translation Skills of Trade EnglishLi Weiwei Abstract: With the highly developing of commodity economy and international trade, the translation of trade English becomes increasingly important and influential in the economic field. Its translation to other languages plays a noticeable role in expanding international market and creating the enterprise wealth. Therefore it is quite necessary to master its features in language, the use of words and phrases and some things about its translation as well. Trade English is very different from literary English in language and translation. This thesis mainly deals with linguistic characteristics of trade English and its translation skills. Firstly, It talks about lexical features and syntactic features. Those are important features of trade Englsih. Then, it points out the translation skills according to those features. These features and skills can benefit the study of trade Englsih. Key words: trade English, characteristics, translation. 1. Introduction With the increasing developed international trade, English, as the main communication tool, has played more and more important roles. So the study of trade English attracts more and more attention both in academics and business field. Now China has become one of the greatest trade countries, so the requirements to translation between English and Chinese are more and more strict. In recent years, the studies of characteristics of trade English and its translation have got great achievements. But many deficiencies still exist.To improve the translation level, it is quite necessary to master the language characteristics and translation skills of trade English. Trade English translation includes translation of interpreter and written documents. However, this paper is all about written documents. It mainly deals with the lexical and syntactic features of trade English and its translation skills. 2. Characteristics of trade English Everything has its features. Trade English also has its special characteristics which make it different from other fields of English, especially, literary English. Trade English is different from commongeneral English in language. Its language is as accurate and complete as scientific language, and as appropriate and sufficient as legal documentary language. It often employs concise words and short phrases and fixed sentence structure to convey precise information. Trade English is an independent branch of Business E首字母不大写nglish primarily because it has linguistic, writing and translation characteristics. As far as linguistic features are concerned, there are two parts, namely lexical and syntactic features. According to these features, the translation skills come into being.2.1 Lexical featuresOn one hand, vocabulary in trade English has some features of common words, such as, polysemy, the extension and transformation of meaning, the conversion of word-class, the use of initialism and subjected to cultural differences. But these features are more obvious in trade English. On the other hand, Vocabulary in trade English is very different from that in common English. They are concise, clear, concrete, and formal. They often use technical words and semi-technical words and trade terms.2.1.1 The use of polysemyChinese and English both have many words of polysemy, and this phenomenon is very common. Therefore, how to grasp the specific meanings of the original language in particular language environment is the key of translation. Common English vocabulary in trade English is endowed with another meaning, some further develop to a professional vocabulary or foreign trade terms. Many English translation errors come from misunderstanding of the different meanings of the same word. Lets take an example: Provided you fulfill the terms of the credit，we will accept and pay at maturityThis sentence may be mistranslated as: If your company performance under the condition of credit terms, we will accept and pay under date of maturity of L/C. But the right translation should be: We will honor and pay the draft under the credit when it is expires.In this sentence “accept” and “maturity” are very familiar to us. “Accept” commonly is used to mean “to receive, to agree” and “mature”, “to become ripe or proper” but here “accept” means “to pay accepted draft, the official confirmation of paying the sum on duty.” “Maturity” means (notes) “due date”. The error is obviously because one ignores the special significance of these two words in English for foreign trade. 2.1.2 The extension and transformation of meaningAbstract nouns in Trade E首字母不大写nglish in many cases can vary to countable nouns, specific things and can also have a plural form. With this type of variation the translation should be put to melt and concrete so that trade English can be greatly simplified. Example 1:“Thank you for informing US about the damage to our shipment.”Example 2:“The United States is a heavy consumer of natural resources，and it is increasingly on certain imports，especially on oil.”As an uncountable noun, shipment means Shipment delivery. But in (1), the word is used as its semantic countable nouns for Shipment of goods .In (2), “imports” is not abstract entrance, instead, the import of goods. In dealing with similar situations, we need to be flexible and make the original meanings to its appropriate extension and transformation.2.1.3 The conversion of word-classThe transformation of English word-class is also very common. And that is more obvious in trade English. The same word in different language environment in a speech can be noun, verb, adjective, adverb, even preposition.Again lets take two examples (1) “Please send us your best offer by e-mail.”(2) “Please offer 50 metric tons of walnuts.” In (1) the offer is a noun for price of goods, while in (2) the offer is a verb, meaning , to give the price of the goods”.There are many similar words like import, export, order” etc.2.1.4 The use of initialism It is said that Time is money, and commercial work put particular stress on efficiency. The fast pace of business activity requires its language to be simple and concise. In trade English, acronyms and clipping are mostly used. So in trade contacts people form a large number of initialism. Their great number and wide scope is unmatched in other languages, such as, N.W.(net weight), G.W.(grosss weight), USD(United Stated dollar), L/C(letter of credit), B/L(bill of lading), P.O.(purchase order) etc. 2.1.5 Subject to cultural differences.Different cultures will inevitably cause collision and conflict, thus bringing obstacles and difficulties of translation. This effect is more prominent on the translation of trade English. As the translator Eugene A. Nida pointed out: The real success of translation lies on understanding of two cultures even more important than learning two languages, because only when words are in the context of certain culture they can make sense”（1964）. The difficulties caused by cultural differences are many. In the vocabulary level, they mainly show lexical gaps, conflicts, moral, inconsistent between moral and association. When we meet similar problems in translation, we should look to cultural understanding to reduce ambiguous meaning. 2.1.6 Use semi-technical and technical words Semi-technical words are conversed from ordinary words. Their meanings in technical use are usually different from their non-technical ones, such as, Document单据； available有库存的；claim索赔；negotiation议付；acceptance 承兑.From above, we notice that these words share different meanings in trade English. What is more, even in trade English they may have different meanings in different collocation. For instance: bank negotiation(银行议付)，lengthy negotiation(长时间的谈判)，sale negotiation(有关销售的谈判).Negotiation in bank negotiation is a semi-technical word while it is a common one in lengthy and sale negotiation. Therefore, much attention should be paid to semi-technical words. Technical words generally refer to the expressions with fixed semantic content. By technical words we mean those used in a particular subject, such as technical words of chemistry that refer to words in chemical industry, and technical words of animal by-products in animal-by products industry. There is no doubt that the different industries have different technical words. These words are of precise, narrow meanings and mainly used in trade English. If a translator fails to be familiar with these words, he cannot do a standard translation. 2.1.7 The use of trade termsThe trade term is an important part of International trade commodity unit price. It is a noun with a shorthand expression, several foreign language abbreviation letters to explain responsibility division between round turns in certain price foundation. It has the duality, on one hand, it manifests price, and on the other hand, it manifests the conditions of delivery goods. Because the different conditions of delivery goods make round turns responsibility dissimilar, so its price is different, too. For instance FOB and CIF are completely different.There always appear a large number of trade terms in trade English. They are not only fixed in meanings but also stable in structure. It is the major feature of trade English. They are widely used and very important in international trade. The price cannot be complete without trade terms. There are 13 trade terms that often be seen in sales contract. They are: EXW(Ex works), FCA(Free carrier), FAS(Free alongside ship), FOB (free on board), C &F (cost and freight), CIF (cost, insurance and freight), CPT(Carriage paid to), CIP(Carriage and insurance paid to), DAF(Delivered at Frontier), DES(Delivered Ex Ship), DEQ(Delivered Ex Quay ), DDU(Delivered Duty Unpaid), DDP(Delivered Duty Paid). There are also many other terms used in trade English , such as, All risks, W.A.(with Particular Average) for risks; UL, ASME, ANSI for product certification etc.The popularity of trade English brings it to be idiomatical and customary in terms of phrases. It is not surprising that the trade terms are worldly accepted and employed.2.2 Syntactic features Trade English tends to employ fixed sentence patterns, phrases instead of sentences, or short sentences. It, to some degree, regulates the trade English syntactic framework. So a translator has little freedom to do some creative work in syntax. This, to a great extent, makes trade English more precise and concise, and to a certain degree reduces improper or wrong translation.2.2.1 Fixed sentence patternsIn trade English, many sentences are fixed in patterns. For instance,(1) IN WITNESS WHEREOF, THIS A？greement is made out in the English language in two originals, one of which is held by each party. (2) 30% by T/T, the balance of deposit after delivery. From that We can see the strict sentences patterns of trade English.2.2.2 Phrases instead of sentences or short sentenceIn trade English phrases are often used to substitute sentences, which also show the conciseness and simplification of trade English. For Example: shipment on or before 31 May from Shanghai to Wellington, allowing partial shipments and transshipment. The short sentence is also commonly used in trade English. For instance, Please offer the best price and quickest delivery. 3 Translation skillsFrom above we can see trade English has its own features. These features can help us a lot in translating. This thesis will mainly talk two translation strategies: translation strategies of terminology; translation strategies of syntax, for the terms and fixed sentence are considered to be the most difficult for translators.3.1 Translation strategies of terminologyAs above said there are many terms in trade English. These terms are fixed in meaning and constructure. So their translation also has its fixed forms. Such as, Acceptance credit承兑信用证; More or less clau溢短装条款;Force majeure不可抗力; Quality tolerance品质公差.3.1.1 For newly-coined termsAs a social phenomenon of human being, language is changing together with the development of our society. Being the basic unit of languages, words are at the forefront of the developing process because language needs to continuously enrich itself with new words and terms. For the translator, the very essential step to take is to find out the link between different parts of the new terms and search for the Chinese equivalents with the closest meaning to them. Usually, a newly-coined term is made up of several familiar words, which, when being translated into Chinese, can be put into their Chinese equivalents respectively. For example, the term “foreign-currency-denominated debt” is rarely seen in English, and it is also hard to find a suitable explanation in Chinese. But a closer look reveals that this term comprises four familiar words: “foreign currency” is generally known as“外 币; “denominated” originates from the noun“denomination”,which means“面值”. Now it is easy to conclude that this term means “外币债务” in Chinese.3.1.2 For initialism termsAs we have analyzed in chapter two, initialism is broadly applied in English for trade for the sake of economy and efficiency. It can take various forms. The abbreviation and clipping words are usually used. Abbreviation is the first letter(s )of one or more words, such as G(gramme), US(the United States),WTO(World Trade Organization). Clipping words involve the deletion of one or more syllables from a word, which is also available in its full form, such as, approx (approximately), Wt(weight).As above we can see, initialism in trade context are mostly used as nouns, rarely as verbs, adjectives, or adverbs. These initialism are subject to generally accepted grammatical rules. In view of this feature of international trade translator can adopt several methods in its English-Chinese translation. The first method is to translate it into Chinese with a similar pronunciation, namely, transliteration(Yin Yi). Actually, quite a lot words in English are being introduced into Chinese through this method. Of course this method can not be used to every word. Some words, when being literally translated, will easily give rise to misunderstanding. The following are some examples: AIDS艾滋病DDT滴滴涕OPEC欧佩克.The second method in initialism English-Chinese translation is to translate the English terms according to their Chinese explanation. For example, UNESCO, being put into Chinese, means“联合国教科文组织”for short. Similarly, we have“亚太经合组织”for “APEC”.3.1.3 Taking cultures and customs into consideration这部分放在术语翻译策略里，有些牵强。而且标题和3.1.1 ,3.1.2 也不一致。Due to different history background and cultural environment, the image and concept of people to outside world will become different. So people in different cultural background have different perceptions which produce many words with different cultural meaning. For example, “dragon” means “evil monster” in western legend, but “lucky and holy animal” in Chinese history. When we do translation, we must pay attention to that. Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and Hang Kong of China are competitively developed districts of Asia. Some call them “Four Asian Dragons” that cannot be accepted by westerns. But some translators advice “Four Asian Tigers” that are better. Because tiger is strong animal in westerns heart and is not terrible as dragon. In Oxford English Dictionary Additions Series ,one explanation of tiger is: A nick name for any one of the more successful economies of East Asia, especially, those of Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea. So, “Four Asian Tigers” achieve equal in cultural information between East and West. Another example, “baixiang” brand battery, Chinese famous brand, is translated as “white elephant”, which equals in meaning information but not in cultural information. Because European people think “white elephant” is useless and burdensome. So may be people will not buy battery with that brand. Using lion to replace elephant can deal with that problem because the word “lion” has active meaning in western culture. So the brand “Blown Lion” can please the western customers.3.2 Translation strategies of syntax 这部分太短。分析太泛。而且论文正文 需4000以上As described in chapter two硕士论文 才分章节！ trade English is fixed in sentence patterns and use more phrases. The sentences are short and formulated. So while translating the translator must pay attention to that. As examples listed in chapter two translators must follow that patterns in similar condition. It is quite common that what translators need to do is substitute some items that are different, For example, (1) IN WITHNESS WHEREOF, this contract has been executed by the parties as of the date first above written. 本合同于合同签署之日生效，以此为证。(2)IN WITNESS WHEREOF, THIS A需要大写吗？greement is made out in the English language in two originals, one of which is held by each party. 本协议英文书就，正本一式两份，双方各持一份，以此证明。 In trade English translation translators are not allowed to enlarge or retrench any meaning. It is just because both foreign trade correspondences and contracts have legal effect. For instance, at 30 days after sight 付款人见票30天付款。 So the translator must study the translation ducument carefully. With quite fluency and full understanding one can do standard and correct translation .4. ConclusionAs above saidAs is discussed above, trade English have a lot of special forms and terms and many other features. It is concise and simple and fixed and formal in language. Its words often use initialism, technoical words and trade terms. The word meaning may be ambiguous and variable. Its sentence is formulated in patterns and short in style. So the translation must vary and go according to these features. Only when w