Lexical Features and Translation of English Business Correspondence

1、lexical features and translation of english business correspondenceabstractenglish business correspondence plays an important role in foreign trade. in english business correspondence, the lexicon is a key aspect which can influence the effect of communication: this thesis is a study on lexical feat

2、ures and translation of english business correspondence .key words: english business correspondence; lexical features; translation摘要商務(wù)英語信函在對(duì)外貿(mào)易中起著很重要的作用。而在商務(wù)信函中，詞匯又是影響交際效果的一個(gè)主要方面。本文是對(duì)商務(wù)英語信函的詞匯特點(diǎn)及翻譯展開的研究。關(guān)鍵詞:商務(wù)英語信函； 詞匯特征； 翻譯introductionbusiness english is a very wide concept. on the one hand, it incl

3、udes many fields, from the economic policies and legal regulations of governments to the correspondence, contract, agreement, documents and advertising of a certain transaction; everything concerning economic and trade is included (wang enmian 1993). on the other hand, because of the large variety o

4、f business english, the styles are therefore rich, including legal styles, theoretical styles, journalistic styles, correspondence styles and advertising styles, etc. and correspondingly they have different language features (zhang delu, 1998:125). the formality of lexicon is an important feature of

5、 busiriess english other than advertising english. firstly, there are more formal and spoken words, which appears clumsy. secondly, there are usually archaic words in legal texts to increase its solemnity and formality. thirdly, due to large coverage of business english, such as industry, trade and

6、laws, the technical terms are also rich and complicated. some of the terms have fixed meanings and some vary with the occasions. fourthly, there are many borrowed words from other languages which can strengthen the formality, for example, re (latin), force majeure (french). 1.lexical features of eng

7、lish business correspondencethe most striking lexical feature of business correspondence lies in its jargons, which refer to those words that can only be understood by the insiders involved in the field. take the word “balance”,a polysemy,for example,it usually means 平衡 in chinese, while it refers t

8、o,more often than not,余額in business letters. that can be proved by the following sentence: the balance of $300 will be paid in one week. the meaning of“balance”obviously differs from that in the sentence: riders need a good sense of balance.moreover,most of the specific terms are fixed in form, exac

9、t in meaning, and accurate in translation,which can be proved by these phrases:letter of credit(信用證),force majeure(不可抗力),all risks(一切險(xiǎn)),etc.besides,some ordinary terms become specialized in business correspondence. for instance,“accept” denotes “willingly receive”(接受);however, it switches to the mea

10、ning of “sign a bill of exchange to say that somebody promises to pay”(承兌),just like in the sentence “we request you to accept the draft drawn on you.”.the example will further demonstrate how this term turned into a specialized one: we have drawn on you at sight a draft for the invoice value to be

11、collected through the bank of china.here,“collect”is not equal to 收集,but to 托收 instead. another lexical feature of business correspondence are possessed with consists in its conciseness. specifically speaking,there exist numerous abbreviations in business writing to keep the letter brief. four kinds

12、 of abbreviations can be found in business correspondence, namely initialing, clipped word, blend, and acronym. abounding in those words, business correspondence needs expertise. some abbreviations as well as its corresponding translations are listed as follows: wto for world trade organization (世界貿(mào)

13、易組織);b/l for bill of lading (提單);d/p for document against payment (付款交單) etc. 2.technicals of translation2.1convey the information of business correspondence accurately accurately convey information of jargons in the business correspondence, in particular to the general terms described .for example,

14、 “shipping advice” is “運(yùn)輸建議”rather than “已裝船通知”。2.2identifying the normal meaning and technical meaning no matter we do c-e or e-c translation, we cant just find the word from a dictionary. we should identify its technical meaning based on business english features. in business english, many words h

15、ave their special meanings. for example,1) our company is ready to foot the bill.這筆費(fèi)用我們公司愿意負(fù)擔(dān)。 2) they missed the last bus, and had to fool it. 他們未趕上最后一班公共汽車，不得不走著去了。 as a noun, foot means “l(fā)owest part of the leg, below the ankle”. as a verb, it means “walk”. but in business english, it means “pay s

16、omebody for something”.2.3omission 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) its a pleasure for us to offer you the goods as follows.非常榮幸向貴方報(bào)盤如下（omit “for

17、us”）2) the purpose of insurance is to provide protection against financial loss at a reasonable cost.保險(xiǎn)的目的是以合理的代價(jià)為經(jīng)濟(jì)損失提供保障。（omit “a and the”）2.4adding necessary words generally speaking, translators cant add or omit the meaning of the original expression. but it doesnt mean that translators cant cha

18、nge any word in the original text. as english and chinese are two different kinds of languages. they have their own features. so, 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 psychologyhow to use design, both in