Abstract

With the open-door policy and China’s successfully joining the WTO, modern business English translation plays an ever-increasing role in international trade, and the same is true of the translation of business English correspondence. Many scholars at home and abroad have contributed a lot to the theories of translation for business English, but this thesis focuses on the features of business English correspondence and the skills to translate business English correspondence. As the main communication tools, business correspondence will be the very important literary proofs when disputes arise. Therefore, business correspondence translation must be accurate and appropriate, or it will bring great inconvenience or losses to international businesses. 

The thesis is composed of five parts. Part One gives a brief definitions to translation, business English and business English correspondence. Part Two gives introduction to the current situation of business English correspondence. Part three makes a contrastive study on the characteristics of business English correspondence from three aspects. In the following part, the author gives a very detailed discussion on translation skills and principles in business English correspondence. And in concluding part, some suggestions are given during the translation of business English correspondence.

Keywords: business English; business English correspondence; characteristics; translation skills; translation principles

Contents

Abstract

摘  要

1. Introduction-1

    1.1 Definition of translation-1

    1.2 Definition of business English-1

    1.3 Definition of business English correspondence-1

2. Overview of Business English correspondence-2

    2.1 Origin of the study-2

    2.2 Researches both at Home and Abroad-2

3. Characteristics of Business English Correspondence-4

    3.1 Stylistic features-4

    3.2 Morphological features-7

    3.3 Syntactical features-8

4. Translation Skills and Principles-9

    4.1 How to translate words-9

        4.1.1 Omission-9

        4.1.2 Addition-10

        4.1.3 Extension-11

    4.2. How to translate long sentences-12

        4.2.1 Division-12

        4.2.2 Sequential-Order Translation-13

        4.2.3 Reverse-Order Translation-13

    4.3. Translation Principles-14

5. Conclusion-14

References-16