从目的论看商务合同翻译.docx

从目的论看商务合同翻译.docx

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从目的论看商务合同翻译

ReviewonCommercialContractTranslation

FromthePerspectiveofSkoposTheory

Abstract:

Internationalcommercialcontractsareoneofthemostimportantlegaldocuments.Duetotheirspecialfunctionsandcomplicatedsentencestructures,translatorsoftenfindtheyarerestrictedincreationduringtheprocessoftranslation.Therefore,somescholarscometotheconclusionthatSkoposTheory,whichtakeflexibilityseriouslytoenablethetranslatordoanexcellentjobforthetargettextreaders,cannotbeappliedtocommercialcontracttranslation.Thisthesisstartsfromtheconceptandfeaturesofinternationalcontracts,andmoveontothebaseandprinciplesofSkoposTheory.ThenitgivesareviewofcommercialcontracttranslationundertheguidanceofSkoposTheory.FinallyitsuggestsSkoposTheoryshouldbeattacheddueimportancetothetranslationofcommercialcontracts.

KeyWords:

CommercialContract;SkoposTheory;TranslationPurpose;TextType

 从目的论视角评析商务合同的翻译

摘要：

国际商务合同是最重要的法律文件之一，由于其具有特殊的功能和复杂的句子结构，在英汉互译过程中译者发挥创造性有一定局限，所以有学者认为目的论强调更好地服务于译文读者，具有很大灵活性，因而并不适用于商务合同文本的翻译。

本文从国际商务合同的概念及特点出发，阐述了目的论的理论基础，分析了目的论的内容和原则。

评析了在目的论指导下商务合同的翻译，并建议译者在翻译商务合同文本的过程中，也要注意运用目的论的指导。

关键词：

商务合同；目的论；翻译目的；文本类型

1.Introduction

Inthetrendofeconomicglobalizationandintegration,internationaltradeisbecomingmoreandmorefrequent.Commercialcontractsasanecessaryprocedureinforeigntradecontinuetoplayasignificantroleinprotectinginterestsofbothparties.Sincethecontractisaparticulartype,whichhaslegaleffects,theworkoftranslationshallbedonemorecarefullyincasetheambiguityorincompletenesswouldarousedisagreementandevencontroversy.

FunctionalistTranslationTheoryisamajorbreakthroughinthehistoryoftranslationinthatitbringsupanewstandardfortranslators—thatistranslatorsshouldbedismissedfromtheoriginaltextsandpaymoreattentiontothepurposetheyintendtoachieveandthereceiversofthetargettexts.Therefore,thetranslatorcandeploydifferenttranslationmethodsaccordingtodifferentneeds.

ThisthesisgivesabriefintroductiontoSkoposTheoryandconcludesfromitscontentsandprinciplesthatSkoposTheorycanbeguidanceforcommercialcontracttranslation.Andinthelightofthistheory,certainstrategiescanbeemployedincommercialcontracttranslation.

2.OverviewofCommercialContracts

Commercialcontractsareessentialcomponentsoftheinternationaltrade.Theyplayasignificantroleinclarifyingtheresponsibilitiesoftheinvolvedpartiesandprotectingtheirinterests.Asoneformoflegaldocuments,thecommercialcontracthasitsdistinguishedfeatures.Thusthemethodofcontracttranslationdiffersbothfrompureliteraryworksinwhichfreetranslationismorewidelyusedandfromsimpletechnologicaltermswhereliteraltranslationisemployed.

2.1ConceptofInternationalCommercialContract

Ingeneralterms,theinternationalcommercialcontractisreferredtothecontractthatincludesbusinessoftwoormorecountries.Thecontentsofcommercialcontractsaredeterminedbythepartiesthatareincluded.Itmainlyincludestheclausesliketitlesornamesofthepartiesandthedomicilesthereof;technicalconditions,quality,standard,specificationsandquantitiesofthesubjectmatterofthecontract;termsofprice,amountandwayofpaymentandvariousadditionalcharges;compensationandotherliabilitiesforbreachofthecontracts.

2.2FeaturesofCommercialContracts

Employedasanappliedstyle,commercialcontractarerequiredthatthewordsandsentencesinthecontractshouldbasicallybeaccurateandrigorous.Meanwhile,asmentionedabove,commercialcontractdistinguishesthemselvesasoneformoflegaldocumentswherenoambiguityisallowed.

2.2.1LexicalFeature

PeterNewmark（1994,56-57）statedthatwordsandphrasesarethemostfoundationalandindependentunitsinalllanguages,anauthenticintegrationofwhichwouldshowthebasictechniqueofanexcellenttranslator.Onthecontrary,ambiguitywillriseifthetranslatormisusesimportantwordsandphrases.

“Anapparentlexicalfeatureisthatarchaicwordsareextensivelyusedincommercialcontracts,whichmakesthelanguagemoreseriousandrigorous”,GuanLifang（2010:

8）said.Generallyspeaking,thesearchaicwordsare“here”,“there”,and“where”combinedwithprepositionslike“in”,“on”,“after”,etc.

（1）IfeitherofthePartiesfailstofulfillitsobligationsunderthisContract,itshallcompensatetheotherpartyforallitseconomiclosersresultingtherefore.

合营一方如不履行本合同或公司章程的义务，违约一方，得赔偿另一方因此而遭受的经济损失。

Anotherimportantlexicalfeatureistheusageofmodalverbs.AccordingtoWuLirongandZhangGuang（2010:

10-11）,“themodalverbsinEnglishimplytheattitudeandnotionsofthespeaker,ortheyareattachedwithcertainsubjectivevisions.”Incommercialcontracttranslation,choosingtherightmodalverbsisofsignificantimportanceforaccuracyandseriousness.Inacontract,“shall”isacceptedas“坚持”anditexpressesastrongwilinganddetermination.Ifonepartyfailstofulfilltheobligationsreferredtoby“shall”,itwilldefinitelybecountedasaviolationofthetreatyandthepartywillhavetoshouldertheresponsibility.However,themeaningof“will”islessstrictcomparatively.

2.2.2SyntacticFeature

Themostdistinctivefeatureincontractclausesistherigorouslogic,sophisticatedstructureandclearexpression.Asismentionedbefore,thepurposeofthecontractistodividethelineofresponsibilitiesanddutiesbetweenthetwopartiesinaction.Toemphasizetheintegrityandstrictness,ellipticalsentencesorwordslike“etc.”or“andsoon”areseldomemployedinthecontract.Wordslike“about”areeliminatedinthesentencetoavoidanyambiguity.Instead,verylongcompoundsentencesareappliedinordertoaddmoreinformationandthereforetobemoreclear.

（2）Thesellermustdelivergoodswhicharefreefromanyrightofclaimofathirdpartybasedonindustrialpropertyorotherintellectualproperty.

卖方所交之货必须是任何第三方均不能根据工业产权或其他知识产权享有任何权利或提出任何要求的货物。

3.SkoposTheory

Datedbacktothe1970s,theappearanceofGermanyFunctionalistTranslationTheorygaverisetogreatinfluence.Definingtranslationasanintentionalaction,itputanendtothediscussionofwhethertranslatorsshoulduseliteraltranslationorusefreetranslation.FunctionalistTranslationTheory,fromtheperspectiveofthefunctionandpurposeoftranslation,stressesthatdifferentstrategiesandmethodscanbeemployedaccordingtodifferentpurposesthetranslatorwantstoachieve.

3.1TheoreticalBasis

FunctionalistTranslationTheoryfocusesonthefunctionalismandsocialandculturalfactors.Meanwhileitintendstoabsorbandlearncommunicationtheory,behavioraltheory,articlelinguistics,anddiscourseanalysistheory.EventuallyFunctionalistTranslationTheoryhasdevelopedintoitsownparticularschooloftheorysystem.

TheemergencyofthistheoryisasymboloftransformationfromlinguisticscombinedwithEquivalenceTheory,whichattachesmoreimportancetoformandequality,toatheorythatpaysmoreattentiontothefunctionoftranslationandthesocialandculturalfactors.Translationisconsideredasabehaviorunderfunctionalisttheory.So“theimportantpointsofthetheorylieinthreeaspects:

adescriptionoftheessenceoftranslation,ananalysisontheparticipantsoftranslationprocess,andanillustrationoftheprinciplesoffunctionaltranslation”,Nord（2001:

33-34）stated.MainrepresentativesofthefunctionalisttheoryareReiss,Vermeer,ManttariandNord.

3.2ExplanationofSkoposTheory

SkoposTheoryisthemostsignificantoneinFunctionalistTranslationTheory.ProposedbyVermeerandperfectedbytheothermainrepresentatives,thetheoryfocusesonthepurposesthetranslatorswanttoreach.“Skopos”isaGreekwordwhichmeans“aim”or“purpose”,accordingtoWangJinquan.（2000:

15）.Itemphasizesthattranslationisabehaviorthatshouldbebasedontheoriginaltext,butsimultaneouslythebehaviorshouldhaveitsownintentionandresults.InSkopostheory,purposeisthemostimportantprincipleindecidingwhichtranslationmethodshouldbeapplied.Inotherwords,targettextisdeterminedbytranslationpurpose.

Therearethreeexplanationsreferringtothis“purpose”:

theintentionofthetranslator,thecommunicationalobjectiveofthetargettext,andthepurposethatonewantstoachievebydeployingaspecificmethodoftranslation.UndertheframeworkofSkopostheory,thereceiversofthetranslatedtexthaveahigherstatusthanthoseoftheoriginaltext,becauseitisbelievedthatreceivershavetheirownculturalbackground,expectationandcommunicationaldemands.Therefore,everypieceoftranslatedtextshouldbeproducedtosomecertainaudience.

4.ReviewofSkoposTheoryonCommercialContractTranslation

SkoposTheorygivesprioritytothetextfunctionandtranslationpurpose,whichmeansthattranslationshouldbedonebyanalyzingtheoriginaltextandaccordingtotherequirementsofthereceivers.Consequently,thetranslatormustdistinguishthestyleanddefineitsfunction.

Ashasbeendiscussedbefore,commercialcontractsshouldbeinformativetextsinceitsmostimportanttaskistogiveclearandcompleteinformationtothereceivers.ThisbringspreconditiontomakearesearchonthetranslationofcommercialcontractsunderSkoposTheory.

4.1ThePrinciplesAppliedtoContractTranslationinSkoposTheory

SkoposTheorysystematicallymakesastudyintheperspectiveofthecommunicationalfunctionofthetext.Thetheoryandtheprinciplesprovideeffectiveinstructionfunctiontoappliedtranslation.Sincethecommercialcontractca