英文商务合同的语言特点及翻译原则_英语论文

Analysis on the Language Features and Translation Principles of English Business Contracts

摘要

自中国2001年加入世贸组织之后，随着经济的发展和信息全球化进程的加快，跨国商务合作交流日益频繁，商务合同翻译的重要性不言而喻。但由于缺乏专业背景以及英汉文化差异显著，导致目前不少商务合同的翻译存在或多或少的问题。而正是由于这些问题的存在才会引发法律纠纷，造成巨大的经济损失，甚至还可能造成国际市场秩序混乱。因此，商务合同的翻译需要有具体的翻译原则和一些可行的建议指导。因此，本文作者简单地分析了英文商务合同翻译的基本原则并在此基础上提出了一些合理可行的建议。

本文首先是对国际商务合同的概述，并简要介绍了英文商务合同翻译中的词汇特点和句子特点。然后从英文商务合同翻译的“忠实原文，用词准确”“译文完整，文体规范”“达意通顺，条理清晰”等方面出发，进一步阐述英文商务合同的翻译原则。接着列举了一些翻译英文商务合同的建议，如熟悉与商务英语相关的专业知识；使用专业术语翻译；分清该商务合同的种类。在本文的最后一部分，作者表明英文商务合同的翻译并不是一成不变的，应该学会变通和灵活运用各种翻译技巧，根据翻译的基本原则在不同的场合和语境中采用不同的翻译策略。总之，英文商务合同翻译的前提是要忠实于原文，其次要准确理解合同中的词义，注意翻译中的措辞免生歧义，使整个译文融于一体。

关键词：英文商务合同；词汇特点；句子特点；翻译原则；建议

Abstract

Since China’s entry into the WTO in 2001, with the development of world economy and the advancement information globalization, transnational business cooperation and communication has become increasingly frequent which makes the importance of business contract translation become evident. However, because of the lack of professional backgrounds and the remarkable differences between English and Chinese cultures, at present, there exits more or less problems with the translation of business contracts. However, it is these problems that trigger legal cases and cause great economic losses, but also disrupt international market order. Thus it can be seen that the translation of business contracts needs the guidance of specific basic principles and translation techniques. On that account, this paper analyses the basic principles and lists some reasonable and feasible suggestions. 

Firstly, this paper is the overview of international business contracts, and generally introduces the lexical features and syntactic features of English business contracts. The second part expounds the translation principles of English business contracts from aspects like “being faithful and accurate”; “being complete and normative” and “being coherent and organized”. The third part gives some suggestions of translating English business contracts, such as being familiar with the professional knowledge related to business English, using terminology, and distinguishing the species of the business contracts . In the last part, the writer indicates that the translation of English business contracts are not invariable. We should learn to be alternative and remain flexible in using different kinds of translation techniques, and employ different translation strategies according to the basic translation principles in different situations and contexts. Anyway, the translation of English business contracts must be given priority to faithfulness, and then grasping the meanings of words correctly, paying attention to the wording in translation lest causing ambiguity to blend together the whole translation.

Keywords: English Business Contract; Lexical Features; Syntactic Features; Translation Principles; Suggestions

Contents

1 Overview 1

2 Lexical Features of English Business Contracts 1

2.1 Use of Legal Language and Specialized Vocabulary 1

2.2 Use of Foreign Words  2

2.3 Use of Archaisms 2

2.4 Use of Synonyms and Relevant Words  3

2.5 Use of Modal Verbs 3

3 Syntactic Features of English Business Contracts 4

3.1 Use of Long Sentences4

3.2 Use of Passive Sentences  5

3.3 Use of Conditional Sentences 5

4 Translation Principles of Business contracts 5

4.1 Being Faithful and Accurate  5

4.2 Being Complete and Normative 6

4.3 Being Coherent and Organized  6

5 Some Suggestions for Translating English Business Contracts 7

5.1 Being Familiar with the Professional Knowledge Related to Business English 7

5.2 Using Terminology 7

5.3 Distinguishing the Species of the Business Contracts  7

5.4 Using Normative Written Language for Translation 8

5.5 Guaranteeing Impeccable Contents8

5.6 Being Pithy in Wording 8

Conclusion 10

Bibliography11