对等理论背景下商务英语术语翻译.doc

攀枝花学院本科毕业论文 对等理论背景下的商务英语术语翻译（限20字以内；如需两行，按照意群移行；副标题需提行并小2个字号）学生姓名： 王X X 学生学号： 20xxxxxx 院 （系）： 外国语学院 年级专业： 2008级英语本科1班 指导教师： 张X X 教授 二一二年五月Business Terminology Translation in Terms of Equivalence Wang Tianren Under the Supervision ofWang HuanSchool of Foreign Languages and CulturesPanzhihua UniversityMay 2012Contents 1Introduction31.1 Basic Concepts Relating to Business English31.1.1Definition of Business English31.1.2Definition of Business English Translation31.2 Significance of the Research31.3 Methodologies32 Literature Review32.1 Foreign Researches on Business Translation32.2 Domestic Researches on Business Translation33 Analysis of Pragmatic Equivalence and Characters of Business English33.1 Analysis of Pragmatic Equivalence33.1.1 Definition of Pragmatic Equivalence33.1.2 Basic Contention of Pragmatic Equivalence33.2 Characters of Business English33.2.1Professionality43.2.2 Simplicity43.2.3 Politeness44 Problems in Business English Translation under Pragmatic Equivalence and Some suggested Methods44.1Problems in Business English Translation under Pragmatic Equivalence44.1.1 Language Mistakes44.1.2Pragmalinguistic Failure44.1.3 Social Pragmatic Failure44.2 Methods under Pragmatic Equivalence44.2.1Pragmalinguistic Equivalent Translation44.2.2Social Pragmatic Equivalent Translation44.2.3Pragmalinguistic Equivalent Translation Combined with Social Pragmatic Equivalent Translation45 Conclusion55.1 Conclusion55.2 Drawbacks55.3Inspiration for Future Research5Appendix5Bibliography5AbstractWith the continuous development of the economy of China, more and more Chinese enterprises have entered the global market and the importance of international trade has already caught the eyes of the entrepreneurs. Due to the different cultural backgrounds of the parties, a medium must be found for the traders to exchange their ideas. English is adopted since it is one of the most important languages in the world. Nevertheless, few traders can have a good knowledge of both Chinese and English. Thus, translation of business English is of great importance. In this thesis, the translation of business English will be discussed from the perspective of pragmatic equivalence. In the first chapter, some basic concepts relating to the title of the thesis are introduced, including business English, the translation of business English. Then the importance of the research is showed. Then the methodologies of this thesis are presented. Chapter two consists of the literature review of the researches by foreign and Chinese experts. Chapter 3 is about the analysis of pragmatic equivalence principle and the unique characters of business English. Chapter 4 is about the analysis of the problems occurring in the translation of business English in the perspective of pragmatic equivalence. Some methods are also brought about under the guidance of pragmatic equivalence. In the last part, a conclusion is drawn that the pragmatic equivalence principle can help improve the quality of the translation of business English. At last, the drawbacks and inspiration for the future researches are put forward.Key Words: Business English Translation Pragmatic Equivalence摘 要随着中国经济的不断发展，越来越多的中国企业进入了国际市场。国际贸易的重要性已然引起了企业家的注意。由于交易双方不同的文化背景，他们必须寻求一种媒介以实现意见的交换。英语作为世界上最重要的语言之一被选中作为这种媒介。然而很少有商家能够同时熟练掌握中文和英语两种语言。因此，商务英语翻译就显得尤为重要。本文将从语用等效的角度讨论商务英语的翻译。第一章将介绍与本文有关的几个基本概念，包括商务英语和商务英语翻译的定义。然后阐述了研究的重要性和研究方法。第二章就国内外专家学者关于本课题的研究成果做了回顾。第三章是关于等效原则以及商务英语特点的分析。第四章主要涉及从等效角度分析在商务英语翻译中出现的问题并语用等效原则依据提出一些翻译方法。第五章得出结论，即等效原则有助于提升商务英语翻译的质量。最后文章提出了研究的不足之处和对未来本方向研究的启示。关键词: 商务英语翻译 语用等效 1Introduction1.1 Basic Concepts Relating to Business English1.1.1Definition of Business EnglishBy business English we mean the language of English used in the register of business. How to define business is the central problem to solve in defining the scope of business English. Traditionally, business simply meant exchange or trade for things people wanted or needed, but today it has a more technical definition. It includes the production, distribution, and sale of goods and service for a profit. One good example is the conversion of iron ore into metal machine tool parts. The machine tools, made up of the various parts, need to be moved from a factory to a market place or a machine dealership, which is known as distribution. The sale means the exchange of goods or services for money. For example, a machine tool is sold to someone in exchange for money or a mechanic offers a service by repairing a machine tool for money, which we call sales. According to Chen Zhunmin, business English can be defined as: 1.English that has direct relation with business, which is the narrowest definition 2.English that has relation with fields such as economic management and law etc, which is the middle definition. 3.English that is beyond personal relationship, which is the widest definition. 4.English that is used in analyzing the features of English in business register, making business training plans, choosing and compiling textbooks, but it does not mean that everything can be included, which is the exact definition (Chen Zhunmin: Summary of the Sixth International business English Symposium, ( (第六届全国国际商务英语研讨会论文集2006:1). According to Nick Briger, an English expert on business English, the following aspects all fall into the category of business English, that is, language knowledge, communication skills, professional content, management skills and cultural awareness(Xiang Yanhong, 2000:21). In Nicks viewpoint, a researcher on businessEnglish should at least have a good command of the above-mentioned knowledge andskills. So, in the definition of business English, there are two points that determine what business English is: one is the English language, the other is the profession of business. It is not business English without either of them. Like EGP, business English also has spoken and written forms. Since the length of this paper is limited, what is discussed in this paper is about written business English in order to make the viewpoints more clear. Written business English, namely,practical business English writing, is the model of practical language. According to Liao Ying, practical business English writing can be classified into eight kinds as follows: 1 .Letters, widely used on various occasions of social relations and business affairs, including private letters and official letters, 2. Commercial documents, widely used in the fields of economy and trade, including general business letters, and special commercial documents, 3. Etiquette documents including congratulatory documents, and condolatory documents, 4. Contract or deed, including the intention agreement, sales confirmation, agency agreement, contract, cultural exchange agreement, letter of appointment, stipulations of agreement etc, 5. Informative and revelation documents used to inform or to bring somethinginto a public notice, such as notification, announcement, poster, notice, found, memos, advertisement etc, 6. Expository writing, used to explain or illustrate a certain problem or matter, including trademark, instructions of products, certificate of quality, caption, etc, 7. Bills and vouchers, including bills, forms, receipts, policy, LO.U., order, shipping documents, certificates, etc, 8. Documents for meeting affairs, including those signed or issued before, during or after the meeting. The classification above is based on their practical functions accordingly, not strictly based on their exact academic definitions. The main function of practical business English writing is, to inform the counterpart or remind the public of the action according to the roles stipulated in what is written. Simply, they are informative and interpersonal. For example, the sentence WHEN AIRED REPLY in telegram or telex is translated briefly into“何时航寄的， 复，instead of“请问何时航寄的，请回复，because the style of telegram or telex is brief in business English. Only translated briefly in clear and concise Chinese can the informative and interpersonal functions be said to be successfully achieved. Such a practical writing has its specific style, i.e.: standardization, formalization and specialization as well as the essential language features in the following1.1.2Definition of Business English TranslationIn order to explore feasible and effective ways of translation, it might be helpful to establish some basic principles in advance which can serve as both norms in the course of translating and criteria in translation criticism. The translation of business English is quite different from the translation of general English or literary English, so scholars from domestic or foreign countries hold the different views about the principles of business English translation. Overseas, the famous British translator Tytler proposes three basic translation principles in his book Essay on the Principles of Translation: (1) The translation should give a complete transcript of the idea of the original work; (2) The style and manner of writing should be of the same character with that of the original; (3) The translation should have all the ease of original composition. But American translation theorist Eugene Nida puts forward equivalent translation.He holds the view that the effect on translation readers should be the effect produced by the original text readers, like the so-called “functional equivalence” or “dynamic equivalence” principles. Because Tytler and Nida dont distinguish the differences of styles, so we can apply these principles to business texts translation.In China, people have been constantly discussed and debated the principles of translation since Yan Fu (严复) proposed the translation ideas of “faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance” in 1898. However, many scholars have put forward specific translation principles for the business style discourses, and stressed that the translation applicable principles of such style are determined by characteristics of its own language and its own special social functions. Wang Yongtai (王永泰 2002) holds the view that for the translation of investment profile, or business advertising in English texts, “faithfulness” is important, but “expressiveness” is even more important; Because the principle of translating these two types of texts is to achieve “the best marketing effect”. Here, “expressiveness” means not only “fluent and understandable”, but also means to meet the cultural practices of the target language and the acceptability of the target language audiences; this is accessibility in a complete sense. On the exploration of translation principles of business texts, Chinese scholars such as liu Fagong (1999, 2004) proposes “faithfulness, accuracy, and unity” for business translation; and “natural, exact and plain” as the principles for Chinese-English advertisements. The translation of economic literature is utilitarian, results-oriented; and stresses effects and benefits, so the dissemination of economic information should be clearly distinguished. For this, Prof. liu Fagong adds another two standards of “faithfulness” and “accuracy” after “unity”, he stresses the economicinformation expressed in the translation should be unitary with the original text. Zhang Xinhong, Li Ming (张新红、李明 2003) argue that business letters should follow the principles of functional equivalence, business contract should follow the principles of accurate, standard and smooth, while commercial advertising should follow the principles of creative translation and functionalism. Li Changjiang (栗长江 2005) holds the view that English translation of foreign certificate should follow these basic principles of “ strict and accurate, solemn and decent, standard and idiomatic”. Chen Jianping (2007) has proposed the translation principles of “accurate, precise, standard and unified” for the contracts and legal style discourses. In order to achieve the textual function of business English, we should stress on the continuity and consistency of the central idea, pay attention to the grammar rules and thinking habits of the target language. “by writing principles as the basis; the information of the original text tries to transmit as the main line; expressing the intentions of the original author accurately as far as possible” (Yao Jirong 姚暨荣 2000:20). It has operability and a certain practicability of these translation principles applied in business texts; and it also has certain directive significance for business-related staff.The language of business texts has its own special rules; therefore, the translation methods and techniques are not identical. For example, advertisements, trademarks, travel texts emphasize the use of language to attract the public; while the texts of commercial instruments, foreign trade shipping documents, and business laws are formal, serious and solemn, and mostly in the form of terminology. The translation techniques used in general texts are not the same with business texts, so translators task is to find out its corresponding expression, and they should never run with it or grind out (Gu Weiyong 顾维勇 2005:2).1.2 Significance of the ResearchBusiness translation has witnessed tremendous achievements since the policy of reform and opening-up, which was implemented in 1978. Now, business has become one of the fastest developing tertiary industries of the national economy with the development of trade, international exchange and transportation. Business has become a major component of our nations economy in the 21st century and plays a more and more important role. As business English spreads everywhere, this thesis helps those who have difficulty in understanding business English get familiar with its particular features and enables them to read and appreciate business English.This thesis provides an applicable and feasible theory “textual functional equivalence”, which can serve as a guide to the translators practice. The study probes into the different characteristics and translation strategies of business English from the perspective of Theme structure, cohesion and information structure. Moreover, the translation strategies suggested in this thesis can help translators perform their tasks more efficiently in the process of business English translation.2 Literature Review2.1 Foreign Researches on Business TranslationIn 1950s the structuralist Zellig Harris (1952) brought forward the term discourse analysis, many new points and analysis methods have been proposed by functional linguists, who promoted the discussion on linguistics and the study of language teaching and learning from the perspective of language use. In the early 1960s, Halliday put forward the theoretical frame of functional grammar-Rank and Category, which later developed into systematic grammar. In the late 1960s, he added functional grammar to it and thus systemic grammar is also called Systemic Functional Grammar, which emphasizes the sociality of the language user, that is, the function of language use. Systemic Functional Grammar is now a well-developed linguistic theory that has been applied in many domains as a powerful resource for analysis of various types of various types of discourses, such as the computational linguistics studies. d language learning and teaching field. As for the application in business English, there are a number of studies including Hasans analysis of the staging in service encounters (Halliday&Hasan, 1989) and Ventolas discourse analysis of the post office service in spoken text (Eggins, .1996). Since 1980s, Functional translation theories have obtained great achievements in the translation studies in China, various researches, such as studies from the perspective of context, culture, Register theory, discourse analysis, etc.，have been carried on the translation of business English. Books, like A Critical Analysis of Chinese-English Translation in Business by Liu Fagong iri 2005, Functional Context and ESP Discourse Translation by Xie Jianping in 2008; numerous articles were developed from the achievements of the application of Systemic Functional Linguistics and discourse analysis and contributed significantly to the studies .of business. English translation. In recent years, with the prevalence of discourse analysis, research on business at the discourse level has been growing and it is believed that further study of business English at discourse or text level will contribute more to the improvement of the theoretical study and practice of business English translation. Facts show that Systemic Functional Grammar is a fairly powerful and practical theory for discourse analysis. Therefore, it is used as a reference and guiding principle in this thesis.2.2 Domestic Researches on Business TranslationAs a branch of ESP, the translation of business English has been discussed in a more and more heated way. It is becoming very important because it has been playing a special role both in the economic world and in peoples life. Most of the time, both versions of Chinese and English are needed, and sometimes businessmen who do not speak the language need translation. Moreover, contracts are often prepared bilingually in the international trade. However, as a tool in cross-national commercial affairs exchange, business English has been encountering a conflict in translation between supply and demand. On the one hand, translators in all lines have all their hands full and busy because of the gradual ex