商务英语翻译技巧浅析 Analysis of bussiness english Translation

1 Introduction

Business English refers to the professional English used in the business

world,that is, in international business and foreign trade, and it could be called a

special variety of English. With the rapid development of global economic

integration, international economic exchanges and business contacts are becoming

increasingly frequent.we should be aware of the fact that business English is playing

a very important role in these activities.Business English covers different lines of

business and a wide range of business events and activities,including business letters

contracts,fairs and shows,talks and negotiations,marketing and advertising,shipment

and insurance,and so on and so forth.And this alone accounts for the great difficulty

of business English translation.When we do business English translation,we must not

only adhere to the basic principles and standards of translation,but also need to grasp

some common translating methods and techniques.There are five sections in this

essay.The first part is the introduction of the business English,I introduced the

definition and the special fields of business English.The second part is the literature

review.In this section,I studied some books home and abroad about business English

translation,and also introduced some popular ideas.Although there are many different

opinions about business English translation techniques,we should still pay more

attention on the basic methods.So in the third part,I analysis three basic methods of

business English techniques.The forth part is the conclusion,I concluded the main

idea of my essay.The last part are the references.

2 Literature Review

With the deepening of globalization of the world economy, international business

intercourse has been in a much more frequent trend.translators in all lines are begin

to study the translation of the business English,especially about the standards and

techniques of translation.

商务英语翻译技巧浅析 Analysis of bussiness english Translation

2.1 Study on Business English Translation Abroad

Translation is a means by which communication is possible between nations

using different languages.It involves two languages and requires a wide range of

knowledge.

Nida: “Translation consists in the reproduction in the receptor language of the

message of the source language understood the original message.(Nida,Eugen

A,Charles R. Tabel..The theory and Practice of Translation ,1965[M])[1]

However,Business English contains many different professional vocabulary.

Many General English words used in business English have completely different

meaning .Business English sentence translation is also more difficult than General

English.The standard of Business English even higher than General translation.

Peter Newmark,a famous English translation theorist and educator. In 1981, in

his book "Approaches to Translation",he proposed two major translation strategies

"Semantic Translation" and "Communicative Translation",which became the

translation milestone of the western countries in the history(Beijing Electric Power

College Academic Press,No. 20, 2010).But in Business English translation,we can't

apply the communicative approach fully, we can refer it appropriately.

2.2 Study on Business English Translation at Home

As to the translation in China, what we should first mention is Yan Fu’s

three-character translation standard, namely, faithfulness, expressiveness and

elegance, which has exercised great flounce on our translation work since it was

founded 100 years ago.Beside,Zhang Hong, Li Ming think that the Business English

"translators should not only fluent in two languages to its culture and familiar with

the translation skills, but also must be familiar with business knowledge,

understanding of all areas of business characteristics and expressions of language. "

（2010，20） [3]Mr. Liu Fagong's "true, accurate, and unity " principle in Business

English translation adapted the special nature of business English.(2004，86)[4]

商务英语翻译技巧浅析 Analysis of bussiness english Translation

To some extent, These standards can be neither wholly applied to business

translation.

Though Yan Fu’s translation standard is suitable for literary translation, it does

not surely meet the needs in business translation.

In my opinion, “conciseness” “accuracy” and“elegance”are relative to the

readers.“Faithfulness” is the perquisite in standardized business English, but Commercial English translation requires translators to transfer completely the

messages through the professional business English. Such as the following

translation:

1)Original text:Because we no longer carry that product ,we will either replace

it with a comparable model or refund the purchase price ——you make the decision.

Target text:由于我们不再运送这批产品，我们是将它放回同一等级还是退还产品的

购买价格，你做决定。

Such translation has no mistakes, either. But it doesn’t meet the conditions of

foreign trade letters. Business letters should use foreign trade terms and should be

concise and accurate. Compared with the translation below:

因我商店已无此型号的产品出售，建议更换类似型号或退款，两者任你选择。

We can see that translators should not only understand the original language,

but also should know the author’s thought and his expression features. Translators

have to be good at translating the target accurately.

3 Translation Techniques of Business English

As we all know, in some aspects, business translation is much more difficult than

literary translation. Because, besides linguistic competence and translation

techniques, the translators have to master commercial knowledge and understand the

linguistic characteristics and expression styles in various fields of business

English.So when we do business English translation,we should try to learn some

skills.

3.1 Choosing the Exact Words

商务英语翻译技巧浅析 Analysis of bussiness english Translation

Words that are common in daily life might have quite different meanings in business life or in office usage.So we should pay more attention on these words.

3.1.1 Identifying the Basic Meaning and Extended Meaning

In business English, one kind of words will change their basic meaning to extend meaning when used in different contexts. In such a situation, translators should deal with them flexibly. For example,

The word "credit":

(他从顾客那里赢得了诚实商人的信誉。)

2) (。)

3)(除非贵方已立有信用贷款，否则我方运送的货物都要货到付款。)

4)How much do I have standing to my ----you still have a balance of 1500 yuan.(1500。)

In business English, the meaning of some words are not unique. In above examples, the basic meaning of credit do not change. But the translations of it are different. Another example,

5)China, which posted its highest growth rate in a decade, is Asia’s new star performer.

十年中,中国的发展速度是最快的,它是亚洲新出现的最出色的经济发展国。 We are familiar with “star”, which means “famous or brilliant singer,

performer, sportsman, etc.” Here, “star performer” extends its basic meaning to “the excellent developing country.”

3.1.2 Identifying the Normal Meaning and Technical Meaning

No matter we do C-E or E-C translation, we can’t just find the word from a dictionary. We should identify its technical meaning based on business English

features. In business English, many words have their special meanings. For example,

商务英语翻译技巧浅析 Analysis of bussiness english Translation

We should determine the true meanings of words in the context.

3.2 Omission and Supplement

As English and Chinese are two different kinds of languages.They have their own features.So, translators sometimes can omit or add some words if necessary.

3.2.1 Omission of Unnecessary Words

In English language, the articles, pronouns and verbs sometimes only have the grammatical function. So, translators can omit those words if necessary. For example,

1)It’s a pleasure for us to offer you the goods as follows.

非常荣幸向贵方报盘如下（omit “for us”）

2)The purpose of insurance is to provide protection against financial loss at a reasonable cost.

保险的目的是以合理的代价为经济损失提供保障。（omit “a and the”）

3.2.2 Omission of Cumbersome Words

As what I’ve pointed out that one standard of business English translation is conciseness. So, when we translate business English into Chinese, we can omit some cumbersome words. For example,

商务英语翻译技巧浅析 Analysis of bussiness english Translation

1)On the other hand, advertisement and commercials do many important things for society: they convey business information, facilitate communication and help keep the business world moving.

另一方面，广告也为社会做了许多工作：传递商品信息，便于相互沟通并促使商界得以正常运作。

Here, we omit “and commercials”.

3.2.3 Adding Necessary Words

translators sometimes can add some words if necessary.But it should loyal to the original meaning. For example,

1)The most successful manufacturers make it their business to understand consumer psychology—how to use design, both in marketing and production, to make their products “speak” to the consumer.

最成功的制造商总是把了解消费者心理，即在营销和生产中如何运用设计 来让产品向消费者“表达情感”，作为职责。

If translating “speak to the consumer” literary into “向消费者说” doesn’t suit the Chinese expression. While translating it into “表达情感” will be much more suitable.In most case,you cannot copy the original structure or translate word for word.you can add some words in order to get a clear and full reproduction of the source message or original thought.

3.3 For Specific Terms, Can Be an Appropriate Interpretation of Translation.

As for the positions, names of the organizations to explain the scope of their duties or business to promote the communication of the unfamiliar words to produce an object of rational knowledge, to promote the effective pattern formation. Such as: business for 6 months, the company has ends meet. Translated as: After six months of trading the company broke even.

To ensure that the other party a clear meaning of the translation, should fill translated: The company is now in a situation where income from sales equals costs.

商务英语翻译技巧浅析 Analysis of bussiness english Translation

Because, if the other person is American, it was his understanding schemas will be: in operation for 6 months, has a slight profit.

4 Conclusion

In short, business English translation has its own special laws.Translators in the specific operation must apply with flexibility, while ensure the original informations passed to the translation as the premise.What's more, to translate accurately,concisely and elegantly, to standardize terminology and language of good business purposes. Only do we manage all the above translating techniques well, can we use them to help us do translation a lot. Meanwhile, translators should follow the standards of translation. It is the basic requirement for a good translator. And translators also should improve themselves day by day in order to completely meet the requirements in such a changeable world.