On Pragmatic Approach to the Translation of Business Letters.doc

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1、商务信函的语用翻译探究 On Pragmatic Approach to the Translation of Business Letters 中文摘要 作为商务沟通的主要形式，商务信函在商务活动中发挥着不可替代的作用。它大大促进了国际商务与贸易的发展。因而，商务信函翻译质量的好坏将会影响到交际的成功与否。本论文要解决的核心问题是探究如何实现商务信函翻译的语用对等。除引言和结论外，本论文分为四章。第一章对商务信函做了全面分析，涵盖了从信函性质、形式、功能到更为重要的信函语言特点分析的方方面面，它们对信函的翻译均有重要影响。基于以上分析，本章提出了商务信函翻译的要求和指导原则。第二章系统描述语

2、用学和语用对等的概念，对语用翻译做了详尽的分析。实现语用对等是翻译的理想目标，也是衡量翻译效果的准绳。受其性质和功能的影响，商务信函十分注重对礼貌的传达。通过对比中英文化在礼貌原则上的差异，第三章分析了商务信函中的礼貌原则，并通过例证给出了几种旨在实现礼貌对等的翻译策略。第四章着重探讨了关联理论指导下的商务信函翻译。关联理论要求译者承担双重角色，既要做原语信息的接受者，又要做目标语的交际者。它要求译者提供最大关联语境以便目标语读者能以最小的努力获取说话者的交际意图。语用翻译理论为商务信函的翻译提供了强大的解释力。关键词：商务信函；语用对等；对等效果；礼貌；关联理论Abstract As the

3、 primary form of business communication, business letters play an indispensable role in business activities and contribute considerably to the rapid development of international trade and business. Therefore, the translation of business letters seems critical to the successful communication. It is t

4、he focus of this thesis to explore how to achieve pragmatic equivalence in the translation of business letters. Apart from introduction and conclusions, the body of this thesis is presented in four chapters. Chapter One presents the nature, forms, functions and the linguistic features of business le

5、tters. All of them exert significant influence on the translation of business letters. Based on the overall analysis of business letters, some requirements and guiding principles for the translation of business letters are also proposed in this part. Chapter Two elaborates the pragmatic approach to

6、translation by giving a full description of pragmatics and presenting the concept of pragmatic equivalence in translation studies. Pragmatic equivalence is an ideal goal of translation and can serve as the criterion for evaluating the effect of translation.Business letters pay much attention to poli

7、teness, which is determined by its nature and functions. Chapter Three analyses the politeness in the translation of business letters by comparing the Politeness Principle in both English and Chinese cultures. Various strategies are recommended with examples in order to achieve politeness equivalenc

8、e in the translation of business letters. Chapter Four discusses the translation of business letters under the guidance of Relevance Theory. It requires the translator to be both a receptor of the source text and a communicator of the target text in translation. It also requires the translator to pr

9、oduce the maximum contextual effect so that the target text reader can infer the communicative intention of the source text reader with minimal effort. Pragmatic approach to translation provides a strong explaining capacity for the translation of business letters. Key words: business letters; pragma

10、tic equivalence; equivalent effect; politeness; relevance theory; ContentsTitle pageiChinese declaration.ii中文摘要.iiiAbstract.ivContents.vList of Tables viiiList of Figures.ixAbbreviations.xIntroduction1Chapter 1 An Overall Analysis of the Translation of Business Letters31.1 An overview of business le

11、tters31.1.1 Nature of business letters31.1.2 Functions of business letters41.2 Linguistic features of business letters41.2.1 Lexical features51.2.2 Syntactic features71.3 The translation of business letters81.3.1 Previous studies91.3.2 Requirements101.3.3 Guiding principles10Chapter 2 Pragmatic Appr

12、oach to Translation132.1 Dynamic description of pragmatics132.1.1 Meaning142.1.2 Context152.1.3 Cross-cultural communication162.2 Pragmatic equivalence in translation182.2.1 Equivalence theories in translation studies182.2.2 Pragmatic equivalence192.3 Pragmatic study of politeness222.4 Relevance The

13、ory232.4.1 Definition of Relevance Theory232.4.2 Optimal relevance242.5 Summary25Chapter 3 Politeness in the Translation of Business Letters273.1 Politeness in English culture273.1.1 Grices Cooperative Principle273.1.2 Leechs Politeness Principle283.1.3 Brown and Levisons face-saving view303.2 Polit

14、eness in Chinese context303.2.1 Chinese Politeness Principle313.2.2 Chinese concept of face313.3 Politeness in the translation of business letters323.3.1 Politeness equivalence in translation323.3.2 Politeness in E-C translation333.2.3 Politeness in C-E translation363.3 Summary39Chapter 4 Relevance

15、Theory in the Translation of Business Letters404.1 Key points of Relevance Theory404.1.1 Ostensive-inferential communication404.1.2 Context and cognitive environment414.2 Relevance Theory in translation424.2.1 Optimal relevance in translation424.2.2 Writer, translator and target text reader434.2.3 R

16、elevance and cross-cultural communication444.3 Relevance Theory in the translation of business letters444.3.1 Vague language in business letters444.3.2 Relevance and the translation of vague language in business letters45Conclusion51Major findings of the research51Limitations and suggestions51Revela

17、tions for the teaching of translation51Bibliography53Acknowledgments55List of TablesTable 1Comparison between daily expressions and expressions in business letters.48List of FiguresFigure 1 Translating Process in RT 42Abbreviations BISUBeijing International Study UniversityC-EChinese to EnglishCPCoo

18、perative PrincipleE-CEnglish to ChineseFTAsFace-threatening actsPPPoliteness PrincipleRTRelevance TheorySCSource CultureSLSource LanguageSTSource TextTCTarget CultureTLTarget LanguageTTTarget TextIntroductionWith the development of economic globalization and the expansion of transnational corporatio

19、ns, the cooperation and trade between China and other countries are booming and deepening. China, the largest exporter and the largest market in the world, is conducting an unprecedented exchange with the world. As the primary form of business communication, business letters play an indispensable ro

20、le in commercial activities and contribute considerably to the rapid development of international trade and business. Business letters do not only provide information of products and services of one company, but also help it to maintain and improve the relations with its business partners. Therefore

21、, a well-translated business letter counts much in international business. It can convey the information that is equivalent to the original letter, which is necessary to both parties of the communication. However, an only literally translated business letter is not only hard to express the pragmatic

22、 meaning of the original letter, but also misleading to its reader sometimes, which will affect the success of a transaction. It is urgent to conduct more researches on the translation of business letters. For many centuries, translation researchers and practitioners have been working hard to look f

23、or the effective and proper ways to convey the intended meaning of the source language (SL) with the target language (TL). They proposed various theories from different perspectives. Many translators try to obtain the equivalence between the two languages and regard equivalence as the ideal aim for

24、their translation. According to Eugene Nidas (1982:12) functional equivalence theory, translating is interpreted as “reproducing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalence of the source language message, first in terms of meaning and second in terms of style.” Peter Newmark (1988:5)def

25、ines translation as “rendering the meaning of a text into another language in the way that the author intended the text.” As translation study and interdisciplinary research develops, pragmatics has been introduced to translation studies. Pragmatic approach to translation throws a new light upon tra

26、nslation study and provides a strong explaining capacity to translation practice. Especially the application of Politeness Principle (PP) and Relevance Theory (RT) provides a significant guidance to the translation of business letters. To achieve pragmatic equivalence is the ideal goal of the transl

27、ation of business letters. Among all the pragmatic theories, PP and RT are adopted because they offer much powerful explanatory capacity to the translation of business letters. Business letters pay much attention to politeness, which is determined by its nature and functions. Politeness in business

28、letter translation helps to create a friendly atmosphere, settle disputes, solve problems and improve the relations between partners. Several strategies are recommended in this thesis to achieve politeness equivalence in the translation of business letters. RT believes translation is a complicated a

29、ctivity involving a dual ostensive-inferential process and requires the translator to be both a receptor of the source text and a communicator of the target text in translation. It also requires the translator to produce the maximum contextual effect so that the target text reader can infer the comm

30、unicative intention of the source text reader with minimal effort. This thesis selects enough examples to illustrate the application of the two theories. Pragmatic translation becomes increasingly important and more and more researchers realize its huge power in translation. The pragmatic study of t

31、he translation of business letters provides a new angle of research in this area. It is hoped that this research can produce some positive results to the study of business letter translation. Chapter 1 An Overall Analysis of the Translation of Business Letters1.1 An overview of business letters Effe

32、ctive communication is critical for the success of business transactions. As the primary form of business communication, business letters play an indispensable role in commercial activities and contribute considerably to the rapid development of international trade and business. Business letters do

33、not only provide information of products and services of one company, but also help it to maintain and improve the relations with its business partners. 1.1.1 Nature of business lettersBusiness letters are a written form of conversation by post in which the participants with definite purposes take t

34、urns to address their counterparts and wait for their response in order to achieve their desired results. As both parties of this type of communication are separated by time and space, they can not see each other or even have never met each other. How can they obtain mutual trust? Apart from the inf

35、ormation they get from the chamber of commerce, banks or governmental organizations, how well their counterparts do in dealing with business letters counts much. In business world, good writing means good business. Words are as important as figures. Words make sales, create good will, win new custom

36、ers and hold old ones. Words can obtain credit, gets bills paid, report on new ideas and products, and launch sales campaigns. If one party can do as well as his/her partner expects, then he/she will be considered as trustworthy. Take enquiry as an example. An importer sends an enquiry asking for qu

37、otation or other information to an exporter. If the exporters reply to the enquiry is prompt, courteous, helpful and well-written, the importer will have a very positive impression of the exporter and may be glad to cooperate with him.Business letters play an indispensable role in business communica

38、tion because they can convey and retain the message clearly and effectively. A well-written business letter can not only provide the information of products or services of one company, but also can cope with or improve the relations with its customers. Usually face-to-face talk is usually considered

39、 as the best way of communication. But it is not possible for those businessmen to meet each other face-to-face every time because it is too time-consuming and the cost will be high, especially in international trade. Whats more, even after a face-to-face meeting, the company still needs to sort out

40、 a written record. Oral communication like phone call or video conference can get the information across. But they have to calculate cost on the one hand and consider the effect on the other because a statistics shows that people can only retain about 25 percent of what they hear. Oral communication

41、 tends to result in misunderstanding or even forgetting about the message. And it is difficult to explain some complicated and professional ideas in oral communication. Consequently, compared with other forms, letters are still the best choice because it is accurate, reliable, and cost-efficient. Bu

42、siness letters have different forms according to their different purposes, ranging from letters of establishing business relations, letters of enquiry, letters of offer and counter-offer, letters of quotation, to letters of complaints, letters of collection, letters of credit, etc. As modern informa

43、tion technology develops, many new ways of communication like telex, instant message system have emerged. But business letters (including e-mail and fax) still dominate in business communication because of the various functions it fulfils. 1.1.2 Functions of business lettersBusiness letters perform

44、a variety of functions. From linguistic perspective, it has three functions: informative function, which means business letter can provide information to the counterparts, even advertise the company sometimes; impersonal function, which means it just serves as a way of exchanging ideas of the partic

45、ipants and it also helps to set up and improve relations with business partners; and imperative function, which means it is helpful to arouse the attention, even urge the reader to give response or take actions as the writer expects. From practical perspective, business letters fulfill the following

46、 functions. First, they serve as a written contract, having legal power and binding to both parties. For example, as long as either party accepts the offer or counter-offer of the other, it means a contract has been signed. In addition, business letters also function as companys business record and

47、publicity materials. They help to build up the image of the company, to create good will, to win new clients and keep the old ones. 1.2 Linguistic features of business lettersThe nature and functions of business letters determine its linguistic features which meanwhile exert great influence on its translation. Next the linguistic features of business letters will be explored from both lexical and syntactic perspectives. 1.2.1 Lexical features A. Use of formal wordsAs a product of careful and long-time pondering, business letters are very formal writing, in which a large number of formal