商务英语与普通英语的比较与翻译策略

PAGEPAGE9题目：商务英语与普通英语的比较与翻译策略CatalogAbstract6ChapterIDefinitionofBusinessEnglish7ChapterIICharacteristicsofBusinessEnglishLanguage72.1.BusinessEnglishishighlyprofessional72.2BusinessEnglishshouldbeformallystandardized72.3ThelanguageofbusinessEnglishshouldbeaccurate82.4.BusinessEnglishshouldbepolite,appropriateandconcise8ChapterIIIComparisonbetweenBusinessEnglishandRdinaryenglish93.1.TheCharacteristicsofBusinessEnglishVocabulary93.2.SentenceCharacteristicsofBusinessEnglish11ChapterIVBusinessEnglishTranslationPrinciples12ChapterVBusinessEnglishTranslationStrategies13Conclusion17Reference18AbstractInrecentyears,BusinessEnglish,asalanguageskilltocommunicatebusinessandtrade,hasbeenappliednotonlyininternationalbusinessactivities,butalsoinbusinessandtradeofforeignenterprises.UnliketheEnglishwelearninourdailylife,BusinessEnglishismoreprofessionalinexpression.ThevocabularyusedismoreofficialanddifferentfromthecolloquialismoftraditionalEnglish.ThisrequirestheuseofbusinessEnglishintheprocessofwritingneedtograspacleardefinitionofwords,businessinformationtobecollectedandcollatedaccordingly.ThispapermainlyexploresthewritingabilityofbusinessEnglishfromtheperspectiveofbusinesscommunication.Keywords:BusinessEnglish;GeneralEnglish;BusinessCommunication;Characteristics;ChapterIDefinitionofBusinessEnglishGenerallyspeaking,businessEnglishreferstotheEnglishusedbypeopleinbusinessactivities.ItiscommonlycalledBusinessEnglishinWesterncountries.Inthe1980s,BusinessEnglishwasmainlyusedinforeigntradeinChina,soitwasalsocalledForeignTradeEnglish.ChapterIICharacteristicsofBusinessEnglishLanguageBusinessEnglishhasthelinguisticcharacteristicsofordinaryEnglish.Atthesametime,businessEnglishisacombinationofbusinessknowledge,managementskillsandEnglishlanguage,soithasitsownuniquecharacteristics.2.1.BusinessEnglishishighlyprofessional.ThemostimportantfeatureofbusinessEnglishvocabularyuseistheaccurateuseofprofessionalvocabulary,whichincludesalargenumberofprofessionalvocabulary,commonorcompoundwordswithbusinessmeaning,andabbreviations.例如:CIF=Cost,insurance,freight到岸价;FOB=freeonboard离岸价;4C代表customerneed,cost,convenience,communication;4P代表product,price,placepromotion,等等.2.2BusinessEnglishshouldbeformallystandardized.Joos(1962)onceclassifiedthechangesinlanguageuseduetotherelativestatusofthecommunicatingpartiesandthedifferentsocialrelationsintofivecategories,whicharecalledfivestyles:frozen,formal,consultative,casualandintimate.RealbusinessEnglishwordsshouldbeeasytounderstand,formal,shortandplain.Intermsofvocabulary,mostcommonlyusedwordsareusedtoensurethatthewordsusedareinternationallyuniversalandcanbeunderstoodbythegeneralpublic,butnottoocolloquial,thatis,thelanguageusedinbusinessEnglishshouldnotbetooinformal.例如“DearSirs”翻译为“执事先生”或“敬启者”;“静候佳音”翻译为“Yourearlyreplywillbehighlyappreciated.”

2.3ThelanguageofbusinessEnglishshouldbeaccurate.BusinessEnglishtendstobespecific,clearandunambiguousinitsstatement.如商务英语不说“Thankyouforyourletteroflastmonth.”,而要说“Thankyouforyourletterdated1stJune”.Theformerisambiguous,soitiseasytocausedisputes.Therefore,theambiguitycausedbythisvaguelanguageisthemosttabooinbusiness.2.4.BusinessEnglishshouldbepolite,appropriateandconcise.Inordertoachievehighefficiencyinbusinesscommunication,wemustbeconcise,direct,courteousandconsiderate,andavoidbeingtoointimate.Therefore,asetofinternationallyacceptableformulaiclanguage,setofsentences,hasbeenformedinbusinessEnglishcorrespondence.Whentranslating,weshouldtryourbesttochoosethecorrespondingsentencepatternsinChinesebusinessletters.(1)PolitenessPrinciple:PolitenessPrincipleisoneoftherulesoflanguageuseinanylanguageintheworld,anditisastrategyfortheopponentintheprocessoflanguagecommunication.InbusinessEnglish,thepolitenessprincipleismainlyembodiedinthesolemnityofexpression.Secondly,theprincipleofcourtesyisalsoreflectedintheconsiderationoftheotherside,tryingtostandintheotherside'spositiontoexpresstheproblem.(2)PrincipleofAppropriateness:Reducetheexpressionofviewsharmfultoothers,makeotherssufferaslittleaspossible,andmakeothersbenefitasmuchaspossible,soastomaketherelationshipbetweenthetwosidesmoreharmonious.Weshouldtryourbesttousegenerousandappropriatelanguage,inlinewithbusinessidiomsandouridentity.(3)Briefandconcise:tobeconciseandconcise,weshouldgraspwhatwehavewritten.Trytousethefewestwordstoexpressyourmeaningandenhancethereadabilityofthearticle.ChapterIIIComparisonbetweenBusinessEnglishandRdinaryenglishBusinessEnglishisabranchandvariantofESP.ThereisnoessentialdifferencebetweenbusinessEnglishandordinaryEnglish,butbusinessEnglishisalsousedindifferentbusinesssituations,soithasits"business"characteristics.ThefollowingisacomparisonofthemaindifferencesbetweenBusinessEnglishandGeneralEnglish:3.1.TheCharacteristicsofBusinessEnglishVocabularyBusinessEnglishisabranchofESP.ComparedwithordinaryEnglish,itsvocabularyhasprominentfeatures,whicharemainlymanifestedin:(1)formal,accurateandpreciseuseofwords;如：lossesanddamages(损失)、methodsandprocedures(途径)、termsandconditions(条款)等等，ThesewordshavesynonymousorNear-synonymousrelations,complementorimproveeachother,toalargeextent,toensureaccuracyandrigor.(2)Semi-professionalismofordinaryvocabulary.InbusinessEnglish,therearemanycommonvocabularyusedasprofessionalvocabulary.SomewordsinordinaryEnglishhavechangedtheirmeaningsinbusinessEnglish,sothattheynolongerhavethecommonsenseofinterpretation.例如：draft在商务英语中是“汇票”的意思，并非普通英语中的“草稿”类似的词汇很多，如accept(承兑)、document(单据)、interest(利息)等等.(3)Therearemanybusinessmeaningsofthesameword.Manycommonwordshavedifferentmeaningsindifferentbusinessdisciplines,reflectingtheeconomyandflexibilityoflanguage.(4)Theuseofarchaicwordsandloanwords;therearealargenumberofarchaicwordsinbusinessEnglish.常用的有hereby(下述)、hereof(由此)、whereas(鉴于)等等.TheuseofloanwordsmakesbusinessEnglishtextsmoreformal.如来自拉丁语的asper(按照)、re(事由)、ex(在…前)，法语如forcemajeure(保险用语).（5）Theuseofabbreviationsisquitecommon;therearemanyabbreviationsinbusinessEnglish.Themeaningsofthesewordsaresimpleandclear.Whenused,itensuresstandardization,reduceserrors,savestimeandimprovesefficiency.Therearemanyformsofabbreviations,mainlyfourkinds:first,acronyms;second,truncatedwords;third,spellingwords;fourth,alphabeticwords.Amongthem,acronymsandtruncationsappearmostfrequently.(6)Theemergenceofnewwords,mostlycompoundwords.Themainwaytoconstructnewwordsistoarrangetwoormorewordsinacertainordertoformnewwords.Forexample,withthedevelopmentofdigitalinformationtechnology,Cybercash(electroniccurrency),virtualstore(virtualstore)andothernewwordshaveemerged.3.2.SentenceCharacteristicsofBusinessEnglishIntermsofsentencestructure,therearemanylevelsofbusinessEnglishsentencesandtheirlogicalrelationsarecomplex,butthesentencesarepreciseandclear.Mostbusinesscorrespondenceusesshortsentences,simplesentencesandjuxtapositionsentences.Inmoreformalbusinessdocumentsandnegotiations,longsentences,compoundsentences,complexsentences,parentheses,invertedsentences,passivesentencesorspecialsentencepatternsareoftenused.ThecombinationoflongandshortsentencesisaprominentfeatureofbusinessEnglishsentencestructure.Longsentenceshavecomplexstructures,morewordsandcompleteideograms,whileshortsentenceshavesimplestructure,fewerwordsandconcise,clearandpowerfulmeanings.Forexample,SpokenBusinessEnglishandcommercialadvertisementareusedtocombineaseriesofshortsentencesorganicallythroughconjunctions,adverbs,punctuationandothermeans,whileinformalbusinessEnglish,especiallyinwrittenlanguage,thesecontinuousshortsentencesareoftencombinedintoalargeandindependentcompoundsentencethroughvarioussubordinaterelations.Ofcourse,longsentencesandshortsentencesarerelativelyspeaking.Theso-called"longsentences"refernotonlytothelengthofsentences,butalsotosentenceswithcomplexgrammaticalstructure,moreclausesandmodifiers,andmorethanonecontentlevel.Inviewofthepurpose,natureandstylisticfeaturesofbusinessEnglish,thefrequencyoflongsentencesismuchhigherthanthatofotherliteraryworks.Totranslatesuchlongsentences,wefirstneedtostartwithgrammaticalanalysis,i.e.sentencestructureanalysis,thentheanalysisofsubject-subordinaterelationshipandmodifierelements.Onthebasisofcomprehension,weshouldcombinevarioustranslationtechniquesandtranslatethemintopopularChinese.ChapterIVBusinessEnglishTranslationPrinciples4.1.theconnotationofBusinessEnglishBusinessEnglishisakindofEnglishforspecialpurpose,whichcontainsallkindsofbusinessactivitiesandissuitableforbusinessneeds.Itspracticabilityandspecialityareverystrong,andithasbecomeanindispensablelanguagecommunicationtoolintheworldeconomicactivities.4.2.ThecharacteristicsofbusinessEnglishtranslationarethatbusinessEnglishtranslationservesbusinessactivitiesandhasthecharacteristicsofcompleteness,conciseness,concreteness,accuracyandclarity.Therefore,thisprincipleshouldbecarefullyfollowedinbusinesstranslationtofullyexpressthespiritualessenceoftheoriginaltext.The"integrity"hereistostrivefortheintegrityofthecontent.Forexample,whenordering,youneedtowritedownthegoodsyouneed,whenyouneedthem,theconsigneeandtheplaceofreceipt,andthemodeofpayment."Conciseness"meansthatbusinessactivitiesfocusontimeandefficiency,soitisveryimportanttosimplyexpressthecontentandproperlygraspthescale.ThisfeatureofbusinessEnglishisdirectlyrelatedtothetrendofEnglishsimplificationintheUnitedStates,Britainandothercountriesinrecentyears.Inaddition,"concrete"meansthatbusinessdocumentsshouldbespecificandclear,avoidingambiguity,vaguenessandabstraction.Forexample,whenmakinganoffer,changinganofferorsettlingaclaim,specificfactsanddatashouldbeused."Correct"referstothecontentofbusinessdocuments(suchasdata),whichmustbeexpressedinaccuratelanguageandidioms."Clear"meansthatthedocumenthasaprominentthemeandadistincthierarchy.Itscontentshouldbeclearandunderstandable,andthereshouldbenoambiguityorambiguity.Modernbusinesscontractshavestylisticfeaturessuchasstylizedtextualstructure,entriesofexpressivestructure,formalstandardizationofwords,completecontentandpertinence.Theformatofthecontractisfixedandstandardized,whichreflectsthetightnessofthetext.Contractagreementislegallybinding.Inordertoavoidanymisunderstandingandambiguity,ithasformedthecharacteristicsofrigorouswordingandexactwording,andconstitutestheuniqueinsuranceandstabilityoflegallanguage.Translatingbusinesscontractsshouldnotonlygraspthebasiccharacteristicsofcontractagreements,butalsofollowtheprinciplesofaccuracy,rigourandstandardization.ChapterVBusinessEnglishTranslationStrategiesBusinessEnglish,asakindofEnglishwhichisinvolvedorusedininternationalbusinesscontacts,includesallaspectsofbusinessactivities.WithChina'sopeninguptotheoutsideworldanditsaccessiontotheWorldTradeOrganization,thenumberofbusinessEnglishtranslationshasincreaseddramatically,andmoreandmoreattentionhasbeenpaidtothequalityoftranslation.BusinessEnglishisabranchofESP.Itisnotessentiallydifferentfromordinarynglish.SoitisthesameasordinaryEnglishintranslation.BusinessEnglish,however,isrelatedtospecificmajorsandoccupations,soithasitsownspecific"business"characteristics.Therefore,thetranslationofbusinessEnglishhasitsownparticularityandneedsspecialattention.ThispaperintendstoanalyzethetranslationstrategiesofbusinessEnglishfromthelinguisticfeaturesofbusinessEnglish.5.1.Takingculturaldifferencesintofullconsideration,languageisacommunicativetoolinbusinessactivities,sotheimpactofculturaldifferencesisdirectlyreflectedinbusinessnegotiations,advertising,productintroduction,contractformulationandotheraspects.比如“亚洲四小龙”这一词语，英文的原词是“thefourAsiantigers”，而不是“thefourAsiandragons”就反映出了鲜明的文化对照.在中国数千年的文明史中，龙象征着天上的神灵，威武雄壮、生气勃勃.而西方文化中，dragon（龙）是指凶恶的鬼怪，tiger（虎）被认为是“勇猛，富于进取精神”的象征.Therefore,itisnotenoughtouseonlyafewdictionariesinbusinessactivities.Onlybygraspingtheprofoundconnotationsofvariousculturesandcorrectlyunderstandingtheirmeaningscanwebetterplaytheroleoflanguagecommunicationandcommunication.5.2.CorrectunderstandingofprofessionalvocabularybusinessEnglishinvolvesallaspectsofinternationaleconomicactivities,andthemeaningofwordsisveryprofessional.Therearequitealotofbusinessvocabularyininternationaltrade,internationalfinanceandothereconomicspecialties,soitisveryimportanttounderstandthesevocabularycorrectly.例如“Libor”，是国际金融专业词汇，是国际金融市场上制定国际金融贷款利率的基础标准，其含义是“伦敦同行间同业投放利率”（LondonInterBankcomOfferedRate）.Withthedevelopmentoftheinternationalfinancialmarket,theuseofthiswordhasgraduallyevolvedintotheuseofitsabbreviation,whichisnotfoundinordinarydictionaries.Someprofessionalvocabulary,althoughitcanbefoundinordinarydictionaries,isalsodifficulttoexplainitsspecificmeaninginbusinessEnglish.如“nayorigin”这样的词汇，一般词典解释为：“nay”一般用于开会表决时的否定用语；“origin”是发源地，起源的意思.而在国际贸易中应解释为“未说明产地”.5.3.AttentionshouldbepaidtothepracticalcommunicativefunctionofbusinessEnglish.Inbusinessactivities,theclearertheintentionbetweencustomers,thesmootherthecommunicationwillbe.Inthelong-terminternationalbusinessexchanges,manytypicalbusinessidiomshavebeenformed,whichareconciseandpractical.EspeciallyinimportandexportcorrespondenceEnglish,therearemanysuchtypicalsentences.如，关于“支付”的套语有：“OurusualtermsofpaymentarebyconfirmedirrevocableL/Gavailableatsight.”而普通英语很难用如此简洁的语句表达出来.5.4.Topreventtheomissionoftranslation,becausethetranslationofbusinesscontractsinvolvestheinterestsofbothparties,sometimesaworddifferencemayleadtoirreparablemistakes.Therefore,thetranslatorshouldhaveahighsenseofresponsibility,ameticulousattitudetoworktopreventtheomissionoftranslation.例如：某工程项目在订购“水轮机自动控制仪表”时，被译为controlinstrumentsforautomaticcontrolledhydro-turbine,实际上这个“控制仪表”分自动型或非自动型，应译为auto-controllinginstrumentofhydro-turbine才能配套.这里的“auto”一字如果不能及时发现漏译，购回的设备不配套，就会造成重大经济损失.5.5.Inordertoensurethequalityoftranslation,carefulproofreadingisanindispensablestepintranslationwork.Whetherthetranslatedtextisfaithfultotheoriginaltext,whetheritissmoothandfluent,whetherthelanguageisstandardized,whethertherearemistranslationsandomissions,etc.,shouldbepaidgreatattentionto.Thespecificmethodofproofreadingcanberevisedbythetranslatorhimself,andthenbeproofreadbyothers.Thismethodofmutualcorrectioncanensurethecoherenceofthewholetranslationandtheunificationofterminology,sothatthetranslationmeetsorapproachesthetranslationcriteria.ConclusionBusinessEnglish,asaspecificcourse,emphasizesnotonlytheleveloflanguage,butalsotheimprovementofpracticalcomprehensivequality.TheseincludeWesternmanagementconcepts,workpsychology,howtodealwithforeignersandsoon.Fromtheperspectiveofbusinesscommunication,businessEnglishwritingabilityisrequiredtobepractical,technicalandtimely.Thesecharacteristicsbecomeindispensablewritingskillsinthecurrentbusinesscommunicationperspective.Differentfromthetraditionalrequirementsofvocabularyandgrammar,businessEnglishwritingpaysmore