The characteristics of business English and translation skillsWord格式.docx

The characteristics of business English and translation skillsWord格式.docx

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2.1.1.UseofAbbreviations

Theword‘abbreviation’,strictlymeansashorteningorabridgment,commonlyreferstoaletteroragroupofletterstakenfromasinglewordorphrase,andusedforbrevity’ssake,torepresentthatwordorphrase.

InbusinessEnglish,abbreviationsareveryoftenusedtosavespaceandtime.ThisconformstotheconcisenesscharacteristicofbusinessEnglish.However,whenweusetheabbreviations,weshouldknowtheirmeaningsandknowwheretheyareappropriate.InbusinessEnglish,mostabbreviationshavethefixedmeanings.

1）InternationalTradeTerms

FOB（=freeonboard）

CIF（=cost,insuranceandfreight）

2）InternationalTradeAbbreviations

F.A.Q（=fairaveragequality）

D.W.T（=deadweighton）

3）AbbreviationsandSimplifiedWordsCommonlyUsedinCablesandTelexes

PLS（=please）

ASAP（=assoonaspossible）

4）CountryCodes

CN（=China）

US（=UnitedStates）

AbbreviationsofbusinessEnglishhaveaspecialsysteminexpressiondifferentfromtheoneofdailyEnglish.IfweflouttheuniquecharacteristicsofbusinessEnglishabbreviationstorenderthosefrequentlyusedabbreviations,itisimpossibletoservesuccessfullyfortheinternationaltrade.

2.1.2.UseofCompounds

ManycompoundsareusedinbusinessEnglish,whichcanberarelyseeninotherwrittenstyles.

Vacuum-packed

Encouragementpolicy

Thereon

Whereof

2.1.3.UseofFormalWords

Let’slookatthefollowingexamplefirst.

"

Thiscontractcanonlyaltered,amendedorsupplementedinaccordancewithdocumentssignedandsealedbyauthorizedrepresentativesofbothparties."

Here,manyformalwordssuchasamend,supplement,documents,authorize,representativesareused.

InbusinessEnglish,formalwordsareveryoftenusedtoachieveaformaltone.Suchexamplesaremoreoftenfoundinbusinesscontracts.Forinstance,

1）Thedraweeisrequiredtopaythebillacertainnumberofdaysaftersight.

‘Require’ismoreformalthan‘need’.

2）Withregardtothepayee,thedrawermayuseoneofthefollowingmethods.

‘Withregardto’ismoreformalthan‘about’.

Wemaylistmoreexamplesasfollows:

Intheeventof/if

Forthepurposeof/for

Priorto/before

Infavorof/for/to

Supplement/addto

Certify/prove

Inaccordancewith/by

2.1.4.UseofTechniqueTerms

BusinessEnglishiscloselyrelatedtothespecialfieldofknowledge.Therefore,therearealotoftechniquetermsinbusinessEnglish.

Let’slookatadialoguefirst:

A:

Ihavebeenreviewingthebudgetandafewthingsworryme.

B:

Whatarethey?

Ithinkweneedtoreducesomeofourdebt.

Howdoyouthinkweshoulddothat?

Weshouldliquidatesomeofourinvestments.

B:

Whichones?

A:

Well,Idon’treallyunderstandwhyweownpartofXYZ

Ihaveneverreallyunderstandthateither.Welosemoneyeachyear.

Thenthat’sapotentialplace.Idon’twanttotouchstaff.

Iagree.Weareunder-staffedifanything.

Iwantyoutoprepareacashflowprojectionifwedivest.

I’llpreparesomethingforyouASAP….

Insuchashortdialogue,wecanseemanyvocabulariesofeconomyandtrading,suchasbudget,debt,liquidate,investment,cashflowandsoon.Inordertocompletelyunderstandthisdialogue,weshouldfirstunderstandthosetechnicalterms.So,tolearnbusinessEnglish,weshouldalsolearntherelatedknowledge.

2.1.5.UseofShootandSimpleVerbs

Manybusinesspeoplefeelthatsimplewordsaremoreimpressivethanthosepompousones.Readersmaygetlostinthemazeoflongwordsandoftenmissthemeaning.So,shootandsimpleverbsareoftenusedinbusinessEnglish.Forexample,

Prefer‘approval’to‘approbation’

Prefer‘improve’to‘ameliorate’

Prefer‘consider’to‘giveconsiderationto’

2.2.SyntacticFeaturesofBusinessEnglish

2.2.1.SentenceLength

Generally,longandcomplicatedsentencesaremoredifficultforthereadertounderstandthanshorter,simpleones.Longsentencescanmakebusinesslettersclumsyanddifficulttoreadandthushinderclearcommunication.Whileshortonesareeasytoorganizeandarecomparativelycasualandcolloquial.Shortsentencesareoftenusedindailyandunofficialbusinesscorrespondence.Forexample,

1）Onwhattermsdoyousupplyspareparts?

2）Wearereadytoofferyou5%discountaccordingtousualpractice.

However,itisdifferentinlegalbusinessdocumentssuchascontracts.Theofficiallegaldocumentsemphasizethelogicline.Weneedtoexpressclearlynotonlythekeymeaningbutalsotheexceptionsorlessvitalissues.Thusitisunavoidableforthosedocumentstouselongandcomplexsentences.Forexample,

Byirrevocable,transferable,anddivisiblebanker’sacceptanceletterofcredittocoverthetotalvalueofeachmonthly（orlotof）shipmentasstipulatedabove,tobeavailablebydrafts,at…dayssight,toreachthesellers…daysbeforetherespectivetimeofshipmentstipulatedabove（orwithin…daysafterreceiptoftheseller’sadvice）andtoremainvalidfornegotiationinChinauntilthe15thdayaftertherelativetimeofshipment."

Atranslatorshouldbearinmindthestylisticrequirementsofdifferentstylesandchoosethemostproperexpression.

2.2.2.UseofProgrammedSentenceStructure

Let’slookatsomeexamplesfirst.

Ordinaryversion:

Becauseofbothparties’goodcooperation,theabovepartiesareverysatisfied.Wewelcomeyourrequirementtocontinuethecooperation.

Professionalversion:

Owingtothefactthatthroughourclosecooperation,theabove-mentionedcontracthasbeenexecutedsmoothlytothesatisfactionofbothparties,wewelcomeyouroffertocontinuethecooperation."

ThecontextandcommunicationfunctionofbusinessEnglishcompelpeopletouseprogrammedsentencestructure,whichdiffersgreatlyfromtheChineselogicandthecommonwayindailyEnglishtranslation.ThustheordinarytranslationlogiccannotmeettheneedsofprofessionalbusinessEnglishtranslationinthisaspect.

2.2.3.UseofStrongOpeningSentences

Inmanybusinessletters,wecanseethesentencesarealwayswrittenstrongly,goingstraighttothepointandexpressingthesubjectoftheletter,insteadofmakingsomelong-windedreferencestothecorrespondencereceived.

Let’scomparethefollowingexamples.

Version1:

LongandWeak

Togiveyouageneralideaofourproducts,weencloseacompletesetofleafletsshowingvariousproductsbeinghandledbythiscorporationwithdetailedspecificationsandmeansofpacking.

Version2:

ConciseandStrong

Weencloseacompletesetofleafletsforyoutohaveageneralideaofourproducts.

Fromtheaboveexamples,wemaynoticethatstrongopeningsentencesaremorestraightforwardandconcise.Americansbusinesspeoplemaintainthatthespokenstyleusedinbusinesslettersproducesafriendlieratmosphere.Justlikeexamplesofversion2,thestrongopeningsentencebearscolloquialcharacteristics,whicharedirect,short,andclear.Thiskindofopeningsentencesenablesthereaderstograspthemainpurportofaletterwithinashorttime.

2.3.WordingFeaturesofBusinessEnglish

2.3.1.UseofthePresentTense

BusinessEnglishoftenusesthepresenttensetoemphasizeanactual,principledandeffectivemode.Othertensesareusedasnecessarycomplementarities.Forexample,

"

Ifyouhavechildren,domakeapointtobuyabottleforthem.Abottleof300tabletswilllastamonth,anditpaysineverywaytomakeaninvestmentinhealthandbodybuilding.Ifyoufeelaswedothatthisisafairandadvantageousproposition,pleasesimplyfillout