The Translation of Business Letters.docx

The Translation of Business Letters.docx

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TheTranslationofBusinessLetters

TheTranslationofBusinessLetters

　　Abstract:

Businesslettersarerichinjargonandassociatedwithbusinessactivities.TranslatorsofEnglishbusinesslettersusesevenCsprinciplestoanalyzesomedrawingproblems.Theclassificationofbusinesslettersarelistedinthethirdpart.Inchapterfour,methodsandexamplesonthetranslationofEnglishbusinesslettersareprobed.

　　Keywords:

translationbusinessletters

　　一.Introduction

　　Beingdifferentformdomestictrade,translatorswhotakeupforeigntrademustknowabouttheprofessionalknowledgeintheirworkingonE-mails,contracts,etc.Wecancommunicatewiththebusinessmenabroadthroughthefollowingchannels:

communicationinwrittenform;attendanceattheexportcommoditiesfairs;contactatexhibitionathomeorabroad;thefirstoneismostconstantlyusedinbusinessactivities.ItisnoteasytotranslateEnglishbusinessletters,foralargenumberofjargonsisembedded.Comparedwithpersonalletters,therearemanyprinciplesinthetranslationofbusinessletters.Inthisarticle,TherelevantprinciplesandmethodswillalsobetoucheduponthetranslationofEnglishbusinessletters.

　　二.PrinciplesforthetranslationofEnglishbusinessletters

　　Duringthewritingofbusinessletters,thesevenCsprinciplesincludingcompleteness,conciseness,consideration,concreteness,clarity,courtesyandcorrectnessareabidedbyandarealsosuitableforbusinessletters’translation.

　　2.1Correctness

　　Correctnessisthebasicprincipletotranslateanybusinessletters.Anymistakemayleadtothecollapseoftrade.Giventhis,attentionshouldgototwoaspects-numberandjargon.NumberinEnglishiswrittendifferentlyfromChinese.Ifa“0”isomitted,alossofthousandsofdollarsmayoccur;andifjargonistranslatedincorrectly,awholelettermaybemisunderstood.Forinstance,confirmingbankiscalled“保兑银行”inChinese,butnot“确认银行”.Hereareanothertwoexamples:

　　①Themarkethereforthisproductisactive,andthebestpricewecanofferisus＄150oroverperlongton.

　　错误翻译：

该产品在本地的销售看好，我方出价可达每长吨150美元以上。

　　正确翻译：

该产品在本地的销售看好，我方出价可达每长吨150美元或以上。

　　②ThevendorshalldeliverthegoodstothevendeebyJune15

　　卖方须于6月15日前将货交给买方。

　　Weallcanseethatthistranslationisnotcorrectenough,thissentencemeans“ThevendorshalldeliverthegoodstothevenderbeforeJune16”Thatistosay,thedayofJune15shouldbeincluded.

　　2.2Conciseness

　　Concisenessisalsoakeycriterion.Iflettersaretranslatedliterally,thereaderswillbepuzzledandbecomereluctanttocontinuehisreading.Thefollowingexampleistranslatedindifferentways:

　　DearSirs:

　　Thankyouforyourinterestinourfireworks.

　　InreplytoyourenquiryofNovember10,wearereallysorrytosaythatwecannotdivulgeanyofsalesinformation.Wehopethiswillnotbringyoutoomuchinconvenience.

　　Yourstruly

　　Chinesetranslation:

　　承蒙贵方对我们的烟花感兴趣，十分感谢。

　　兹复贵方11月10日询价函，我们非常抱歉的奉告，我们不能泄露我方任何销售情况。

我们希望这不会给贵方带来很多不便。

　　Thisbusinessletterisveryshort,twoadverbs（really,too）andadescriptiveadjective（much）isonlyusedinthisletter.Fromtheaboveletter,wecanfeeltheconcisenessofbusinessletters.

　　2.3Completeness

　　Asforcompleteness,itisthemostimportantprincipleintranslatingletterscontainingtermsofpayment,insuranceandshipment,Muchattentionshouldgotoeachterm,Thoughasentenceseemstoolongandcomplicated,thewriter’smeaningshouldbetranslatedcompletely.Forexample:

　　Ourtermsofpaymentarebyconfirmed,irrevocableL/Cpayablebydraftatsight,tobeopenedinyoufavorwithin20daysafteryouracceptanceofyourorder.

　　我们的支付条款是你方接受我方订货20天内开出以你方为抬头的，保兑的，不可撤销的，凭即期江票支付的信用证。

　　ItseemsthatthisChineseversionisverbalizedforitsabundanceofattributives,buttheomittingofanyofitsattributivewillmakethesentenceincomplete.

　　2.4Courtesy

　　Duringthetranslationofbusinessletters,politenessandfriendlinessarecertainlyrequired,especiallyinthetranslationofcounter-offer,declining,complaints＆claims.Therefore,someeuphemismscanbeused.Herearetwogroupsofsentences,trytocomparethetwosentencesofeachgroup.

　　①A:

Wehavenotreceivedyourpaymentofthebalanceofus＄5,000.

　　B:

Weregrethavingtoremindyouthatwehavenotreceivedyourpaymentofthebalanceofus＄5,000.

　　②A:

Yourletterisnotclearatall,Icannotunderstandit.

　　B:

IfIunderstoodyourlettercorrectly,Iwouldimmediatelyacceptyouroffer.

　　ItisnotdifficulttoseethatthesentenceBofeachgroupisbetterthansentenceA.ThereasonisthatthesentenceBusetheindirectwordstoexpressthesamemeaning,andthekindofexpressioniseasytobeacceptable.

　　Comparedtotheaboveprinciples,theotherthreemaybelesssignificant.YettheyarealsoindispensablethroughthecourseoftranslationTheywillbereferredtoafterwards.

　　三.Classificationsofbusinesslettersandtranslationofeachcategory

　　Generally,theyareclassifiedintolettersonestablishingbusinessletters,enquiry,offer,counter-offer,declining,order,payment,shipment,insurance,andcomplaints＄claims,tencategoriesaltogether.

　　Inaletterrequestingtheestablishmentofbusinessrelations,thewritersalwaysshowshisorherpolitenessandfriendliness.Sothetranslationshouldcarrythefeelingofthewriter.Forinstance,

　　Weshallbeonlytoopleasedtoenterintobusinessrelationswithyou.

　　我们十分乐于同贵公司建立业务关系。

　　Whatneedstodointranslationistobefriendly,courtesy,andsincereandshowthereasonofdecliningclearly.

　　Regardinglettersonorder,payment,shipmentandinsurance,inordertotranslatethemcorrectly,specificallyandclearly,translatorsarerequiredtospendmuchtimeinlearningterminologiesandbusinesspractice,sincethecontentoftheselettersaredeeplyconnectedwithourbusinessactivities.Inthefollowing,severalexamplesintheseaspectsareoffered.

　　CAD=cashagainstdocuments凭单付款

　　ShippingMark唛头

　　Insurancepolicy保险单

　　Copydocument装运单据副本

　　Trimmingcharges平仓费

　　PerformaInvoice形式发票

　　Theaboveclassificationcouldnotcoverallthebusinessletters.

　　四.Strategiesforbusinesslettertranslationandtheirapplication

　　Inthischapter,methodsoftranslationonwords,sentencesandtextswillbehelpfulfortranslatorstosolvesomeproblemsintheEnglishbusinessletters.

　　4.1Jargonandfixedexpressions

　　InEnglishbusinessletters,oncejargonandfixedexpressionsaremastered,understandingthemeaningofthelettersisjustapieceofcake.Forexample:

　　Bulloflanding提单

　　Freightcharges运费

　　Freeonboard离岸价格

　　Costinsurancefreight到岸价格

　　Europeanmainports欧洲主要港口

　　4.2Translationofcommonwords

　　Themeaningofawordisassociatedwiththegrammaticalstructureoftherelevantsentences,therelationshipbetweenthemeaningofthiswordandthatofothers.

　　①themiddledrawerofmydeskdrawer抽屉

　　thedrawerdrewthecheckdrawer出票人

　　②claimknowledgeofsomethingclaim声称

　　claimfordamagesclaim索赔

　　③Industrialaverageswereup.工业股票的平均价格在上涨。

　　Averageisoftwokinds:

generalaverageandparticularaverage.

　　海损有两种：

一种是共同海损，另一种是单独海损。

　　④TheproductwillfindagoodmarketinUSA.

　　此产品在美国会有很多的销路

　　ChinesetableclothsareverypopularinEurope,wewouldliketoworkwithyoutomarkettheminCanada.

　　中国的桌布在欧洲很受欢迎，我们愿同你合作在加拿大销售

　　Fromtheaboveexamples,itcanbeconcludedthattherearegreatdifferencesinmeaningamongthem,accordingtodifferentlinguisticcontext.

　　4.3Translationoffixedsentencepatterns

　　Besidesjargon,businesslettersarealsorichincommonsentencepatterns.Theformedpatternsintranslationcanbeimitatedforsimilarsentences.Forexample,thefollowingsentenceswilleasilyfindtheircorrespondingversionintranslation.

　　Welookforwardtohearingfromyousoon.期盼早日回复

　　Lookingforwardtoyourfavourablereply.静候佳音

　　Marketisdeclining行市下跌

　　Marketisadvancing行市上涨

　　Marketisstrong行市十分坚挺

　　Marketisweak行市疲软

　　五.Conclusion

　　Translatorsmustkeepabreastwiththeadvanceoftheknowledgeinforeigntrade,suchasforeigntradepolicies,regulations,internationalpractice,etc..

　　Atthesametime,sincebusinessletterisaspecialkindofliterarystyle,onlybyabidingbytheprinciplesoftranslationandstudyingtheoriginalletterscarefullycanagoodtranslationofEnglishbusinesslettersbeguaranteed.

　　BIBLIOGRAPHY：

　　[1]诸葛霖，1999，《外贸函电》，北京：

中国人民大学出版社

　　[2]王卫彦，1993，《对外经贸英语函电》，北京：

对外经济贸易大学出版社

　　[3]黎孝先，1994，《国际贸易实务》，北京：

对外贸易教育出版社

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对外经济贸易大学出版社

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立信会计出版社

　　[6]LiuZhenqian,DuanChunyan,WangJun,2001,EnglishTranslationandwritingforbusinessandtrade,Jinan:

ShandongEducationPress

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ShandongEducationPress

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ForeignLanguageTeachingandResearchPress