Techniques of Translating Business English Correspondence into Chinese.docx

Techniques of Translating Business English Correspondence into Chinese.docx

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TechniquesofTranslatingBusinessEnglishCorrespondenceintoChinese

TechniquesofTranslatingBusinessEnglishCorrespondenceintoChinese

1.Introduction

“BusinessEnglishisaspecialtermgiventoEnglishbynon-Englishspeakingnationsforinternationaltrade.InBritain,itiscalledCommercialEnglishorCommercialcorrespondenceorcommercialLetter”（胡鑑明,2001:

3）.

InEnglishspeakingcountries,allcorrespondencesneededbothindomesticandforeigntradesarewritteninEnglish.However,innon-Englishspeakingcountries,correspondenceforinternationaltradeisalsoneededtobewritteninEnglishbecauseEnglishisthemostwidelyusedlanguageinthisfield.

WiththeexecutionofthereformandopeningpolicyandthesuccessofChina’senteringintoWTO,internationalbusinesstranslationisbecomingmoreandmoreimportant.Today,manycoastalcitiesinourcountrywhereactivitiesofinternationaltradehavebeenincreasinghavebecomemoreandmoreindustrializedandcommercialized.Therefore,businessEnglishtranslationplaysaveryimportantroleininternationaltrade,andthequalifiedtranslatorsareurgentlyneededinourcountry.

BusinessEnglishcorrespondencesarenotliteraryworks,sotheydon’tneedtheflowerylanguage.Oneisrequiredtoexpresshisownviewsaccuratelyandproperlywithaplainlanguage.Thepurposeistomakethereadersunderstandandtocatchthereader’sattention.Therefore,abusinessEnglishcorrespondenceandthetranslationofitmustbeaccurateandappropriate,oritwillbringgreatinconvenienceorlossininternationalbusinesses.InordertoobtaingoodqualitytranslationofbusinessEnglishcorrespondence,translatorsmustunderstandthelanguagefeaturesbetweenBusinessEnglishcorrespondenceandBusinessChinesecorrespondence.

2.ThelanguagefeaturesofbusinessEnglishcorrespondence

ThefunctionofthebusinessEnglishcorrespondenceistoconveybusinessinformation.IthasitsownlanguagestylewhichformsthelanguagefeaturesofbusinessEnglishcorrespondence.TherearesevenlanguagefeaturesofbusinessEnglishcorrespondence:

completeness,concreteness,clearness,conciseness,courtesy,considerationandcorrectness.

2.1Completeness

IfonewantstowriteasuccessfulandhighlyeffectivebusinessEnglishcorrespondence,hislettermusthavetwoaspects:

completenessoffactsandcompletenessofexplanation.

Forexample:

Supposeabusinessmaniswritingalettertohissuppliertellinghimthathisgoodswerenotdeliveredontime,hislettershouldincludethefollowing:

（a）Remindinghimofhispromiseoftimelydelivery.

（b）Hebrokehispromise.

（c）Whatlosseshasthiscausedyou?

（d）Askingforcompensationifthereisanyagreementonthat.

（e）Expectingnosuchthingwillhappenagain.（胡鑑明,2001:

11）

2.2Concreteness

ABusinessEnglishcorrespondenceshouldbespecific,definiteandpersuasivebutnottobevague,generalandabstract.Forexample:

（1）a.Wewishedtoconfirmourtelexdispatchedyesterday.

b.WeconfirmourtelexofJuly2nd,2000（concrete）.（廖瑛,2003:

4）

（2）a.Ourapplesareexcellent.

b.Ourapplesarejuicy,crispyandtender（concrete）.（胡鑑明,2001:

9）

Insentencesbinthetwoexamples,“July2nd”,“juicy”,“crispy”,and“tender”aredefiniteandspecific,containingconcretemessage,whileinsentencesa,“yesterday”and“excellent”arevagueandabstract.

2.3Clearness

ClearnessisanimportantlanguagefeatureinbusinessEnglishcorrespondence.Thefinalpurposeof“clearness”istomakesurewhatonewroteissoclearthatitcan’tbemisunderstood.Clearnessmeans:

1）Onesentenceforonemeaningonly.

2）Theremustbealogicalrelationshipbetweenrelevantsentences.Noreversionorrepetitionallowedtoappear.（胡鑑明,2001:

4）

Theitalicwordsinthetwoexamplesbelowarenotclearenough.

（3）“Fluctuationintheexchangerateafterthedateofcontractsigningwillbeforthebuyer’saccount.”

Improved:

“Anyincreaseordecreaseintheexchangerateafterthedateofcontractsigningwillbeforthebuyer’saccount.”（胡鑑明,2001:

4）

（4）“Theyhavealsoadecidedadvantageinregardtofreight.”

Improved:

“Theyhavealsoadecidedadvantageinregardtofreightcharges.”（胡鑑明,2001:

4）

Theauthorshouldpayattentiontotheword“freight”whichhasdifferentmeanings:

“freightcharges”,“cargo”,or“transportation”.

2.4Conciseness

Concisenesscansavethetimeofboththewriterandtheaddressee.Concisenessmeanstheauthorshouldclearlyexpresswhathewantstodowithafewwordsintheconditionofconsideringcompleteness,concretenessandcourtesy.Forexample:

（5）Wordy:

Iwishtoexpressmyheartfeltgratitudetoyouforyourkindcooperation.

Concise:

Thankyouforyourcooperation.

（6）Wordy:

wehavebeguntoexportourmachinestotheforeigncountries.

Concise:

wehavebeguntoexportourmachines.（廖瑛，2003:

14-15）

2.5Courtesy

CourtesyisaveryimportantlanguagefeatureofBusinessEnglishcorrespondence.Acourteousexpressioninalettercanhelptosetupanhonestandenthusiasticimpressiontothereaders.Courtesynotonlymeanspoliteness,butalsomeanscaringabouttheinterestsofthecustomersandofferingthecustomersconvenienceintheirwork.

Inordertobecourteous,oneshouldusetheexpressionwiththemeaningofjoy,thanks,regretorwithrequestingtone,suchasplease…,thankyoufor…,weareafraid…,wewouldsuggest…,andsoon.Forexample:

Wearepleasedtoinformyouthatthecommoditiesyouareinterestedinfallwithinthescopeofourbusinessactivities.（王乃彦，2005:

20）

2.6Consideration

Considerationmeansoneshouldputhimselfinthepositionoftheoppositeparty.Forexample,aletterpromotingone’sownproductshouldtelltheprospectivebuyerwhatbenefithewillgetifhebuysthegoods.Thus,itwillbeeasiertoarousehisinterestanddesiretobuy.Forinstance:

Acceptanceofourofferfrommanycustomershasproventhatourpricesarereasonable.Yourorderinquantitieswillsurelyaccordwiththemarketdemandatyourendandbeofgreatbenefittoyourcompany.（胡鑑明,2001:

10）

2.7Correctness

CorrectnessmeanstheexpressioninbusinessEnglishlettersmustbecorrect.Thefacts,wordsandfiguresmustbeaccurateandcan’tbeoverstatedorunderstated.Forexample:

（7）Thisproductisabsolutelythebestoneonthemarket.

（8）Thisproductisthebestonewecansupply.（廖瑛，2003:

26）

Inexample（7）,itisverydifficulttoguaranteethatthisproductisabsolutelythebestoneonthemarket,soitisoverstated.Andexample（8）clearlystatesthefact,soit’sbetter.

3.ThelanguagefeaturesofbusinessChinesecorrespondence

3.1Exactness

Exactnessmeansaccuracyandappropriateness.Inordertomakeabusinesscorrespondenceexact,theauthorhadbetterusestandardChinesewordsandpayattentiontothedifferencesofsynonyms,suchasthewords“优良，优秀”.Boththetwowordshavethemeaningof“goodness”,butalsohavedifferentgrades.Theword“优秀”isusedtomodifybothhumanandthingsandtheword“优良”isalwaysusedtomodifythings.Andthensuitableprepositionalstructuresshouldbeused.Theuseofprepositionalstructurecanmakesentencesmuchmoreaccurateandprecise.Forexample,peopleusuallyuse“为”，“为了”，“由于”toshowthepurposeorcauseanduse“根据，依据，遵照”toexpressthebasisorway.

3.2Conciseness

BusinessChinesecorrespondenceisclearinmeaningandshortinsentencestructure.Inordertobeconcise,oneshouldavoidusinglongandwordysentences.Oneshouldusemoreimperativesentencebecauseitismoredirectandclearandcanavoidsomeunnecessarymistakes.Besides,subjectlesssentencewhichcanmakethesentencemoreconciseshouldbeusedcorrectly.Forexample:

ifabusinessmanwantstoexpresshisappreciationtotheotherpartofthisbusinessforhiscooperation,hewillsay“感贵方真诚合作”,butdonotsay“我方感贵方真诚合作”.Thereasonisthesecondsayingiswordy.

3.3Plainness

Asisknowntoall,officialdocumentsaredifferentfromliteraryworks.Theaimofliteraryworkistoamusereaders,buttheaimofofficialdocumentsistostatetherealmattersandtrytosolvethem.So,whenwritingbusinessChinesecorrespondence,theauthorjustneedstoexpresstherealproblemsandrequirementsconcisely.Avoidtheambiguousexpression.Forinstance:

thewords“大约，大概，几乎”shouldnotbeusedinbusinessChinesecorrespondence.InordertomakeabusinessChinesecorrespondenceplainandclear,theconcretewordsorfigurewordsshouldbeusemorefrequently.

3.4Seriousness

SeriousnessisalsoanimportantlanguagefeatureofbusinessChinesecorrespondence.Inordertomaintaintheseriousnessinbusinesscorrespondence,thewritershouldpayattentiontoseveralthings.Firstly,heshoulduseformalwords,Forexample,using“积累资金”insteadof“攒钱”.Secondly,heshouldusepropercustomarywords,forexample,using“贵”insteadof“你”andusing“本”insteadof“我”.Finally,heshouldusesomeclassicalChineseproperly.Forexample,using“业经”insteadof“已经过”andusing“妥否”insteadof“妥当不妥当”.

4.ThetranslationprinciplesofbusinessEnglishcorrespondence

Inrecentyears,manyscholarsandtranslatorshavedevotedtheirmindstothetranslationofbusinessEnglish.Althoughthereisn’tanauthoritativecriteriafortranslationofbusinessEnglishcorrespondence,thethreeprinciplesbelowarecommonlyaccepted.Theyarefaithfulness,smoothnessandexpressiveness.AnauthornamedHuSanningsaid,“Byfaithfulness,wemeantobefaithfulnotonlytotheoriginalcontents,totheoriginalmeaningandviews,butalsototheoriginalformandstyle.Bysmoothnessandexpressiveness,wemeannotonlyeasyandreadablerendering,butalsoidiomaticexpressioninthetargetlanguage,freefromstiffformulaandmec