毕业论文课题相关文献综述

Literature Review

1. The study of business translation skills at home

For these years, the quality of business translation has been higher since the business all over the world is rapidly expanding. It urges some of the business translators to look for a translating standard to follow. Most of the standards put forward by some scholars share a similar translating principle: faithfulness, expressiveness, and elegance. Ye Yulong think that the standard of business English is loyalty, smooth and purity. (1998:21) Liu Fagongs point of view is very similar to Yes. His standard of business translation is loyalty, smooth and unity.(1999:59) Based on these theories, Zhang Xinhong and Li Ming point out a principle called loyalty, purity and unity. (2003:14) They combine both of the standards to try to make the translation principle more integrated. Most of those who want to draw up a perfect standard believe in that loyalty is the most important principle in business translating.

Others are skeptical at these standards. Business English covers a lot of fields, such as commercial letters, commercial advertisements, business negotiation, business contract and so on. As a result, they hold the opinion that these different types of text files require various translating skills. (Ma Huijuan, 81) Many scholars agree that it is impossible to figure out a translating standard due to the complexity of business text files. Peng Ping is against the opinion that loyalty or equivalence can be qualified to be followed by the translators. In her article, she presents three main principles according to her analysis of the readers different needs. They are accurate words, normative terms and appropriate tone. Firstly, in the business text files, the words should be chosen formally and carefully. The purpose of translation is to ensure the readers to understand the requirements and rules correctly. It will decide directly whether the business activity will go on or not. The accuracy of the translation is always connected with the interests of both sides during the trading. Its vital for the translators not to neglect any details in order to translate the original information faithfully. For example, the numbers in the business text files need special care. In different cultures, the expressions of numbers are quite different, which sometimes will cause misunderstanding or mistakes. Furthermore, some phrases such as as early as and at least often appear in the foreign business correspondences. It may cause unnecessary dispute and huge loss if mistranslated. Secondly, since business text files involve economy, trade law and so on, its inevitable to come across some business terms. Improper choices of business terms may lead to some misunderstandings in cross-cultural situations. 信用证should be translated to letter of credit instead of credit card. Some common terms can be given special meanings in the business materials. The term make an offer doesnt mean give help in the contract. It is a terminology that relates to some business act. Thirdly, the tone in the business texts is always appropriate and decent. The phrases be requested / obliged and be appreciated are often used to show solemnity and seriousness in the business letters. In Chinese, the theory of debasing selves and respecting others is popularly advocated. When translating, the tone needs careful attention to avoid inappropriateness. (Peng Ping, 20-21)

2. The study of business translation skills abroad

The English translation theorist Newmark comes up with his own new theory. He applied the stylistic, discourse analysis, functional grammar, cross-cultural communication and other aspects to translation. The core of Newmarks translation theory was semantic translation and communicative translation, which was the most important and distinctive part of it. In his Approaches to Translation (1981), Newmark divided the texts into expressive function, informative function, vocative function, aesthetic function, phatic function and metalingual function. He wrote that when translating different types of texts, different translation methods should be used. Semantic translation was used for expressive function while communicative translation was used for informative and imperative function. Semantic translation focuses on the original texts. It follows the authors basic opinions. Communicative translation concentrates more on the contents of the texts and it is more reader-oriented. In 1990s, Newmark raised correlative approach to translation, which symbolized his translation theory more and more systematic.