Business,English,Contract,Translation,Under,the,Guidance,of,Functional,Equivalence,Theory(2)

　Contents

　Abstract ................................................................................................................... I 摘

　 要 .................................................................................................................. II Introduction ............................................................................................................ 1 1 Brief Introduction of Functional Equivalence Theory ........................................ 3 1.1 Basic Concept of Functional Equivalence Theory ........................................ 3 1.2 Previous Studies on Functional Equivalence Theory ................................... 4 2 Background of Business English Contract

　........................................................ 7 2.1 Definition and Classification of Business English Contract ......................... 7 2.2 Features of Business English Contract Translation ...................................... 8 2.3 Principles of Business English Contract Translation .................................. 10 3 Business English Contract Translation Under the Guidance of Functional Equivalence Theory ............................................................................................. 13 3.1 Lexical Equivalence .................................................................................... 13 3.2 Sentence Equivalence .................................................................................. 18 3.3 Chapter Equivalence ................................................................................... 23 3.4 Text Equivalence ......................................................................................... 25 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 27 Bibliography ......................................................................................................... 30 Acknowledgments ................................................................................................ 32

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　 Abstract

　With the accelerating of globalization process and the rising of Chinese international status, the interaction between China and the rest of the world is deepening. The exchanges in politics, economy and trade between China and the world are more and more frequent. International business contract provides guarantee for maintaining business relationships and proceeding business activities, which plays a crucial role in keeping the market order. Therefore, accurate translation of business English contract is the key to lowering trade risks, reducing the legal disputes and ensuring the property and benefits free from being infringed. This paper focuses on business English contract translation under the guidance of functional equivalence theory, expounding the definition of business English contract and previous studies.

　From the perspective of the characteristics and principles of business English contract translation, this paper will analyze how to translate business English contracts, discuss the guiding significance of functional equivalence theory in business English contract translation, and summarize the equivalence strategy of business English contracts in translation practice to provide reference for other learners who want to study business English contract translation.

　Keywords: business contract; functional equivalence; translation strategies

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　 摘

　要

　 随着全球化进程的不断加快与中国的国际地位不断提高，中国与世界各国的互动不断深化，政治与经济贸易方面的往来更加频繁。国际商务合同为维持商务关系和进行商务活动提供了保障，并在维持市场秩序等方面起到至关重要的作用。因此，准确地翻译商务合同是降低贸易风险，减少法律纠纷，保证财产以及其他各方面利益不受侵害的关键。

　本文在功能对等理论的指导下，重点探讨了商务英语合同翻译，阐述了商务英语合同的定义和前人的研究。从商务英语合同翻译的特点和原则的角度分析如何翻译商务英语合同，并将探讨功能对等理论在商务英语合同翻译中的指导意义，总结商务英语合同在翻译实践中的翻译策略,为商务英语合同翻译的学习者提供参考。

　 关键词：

　商务合同；功能对等；翻译策略

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　 Introduction

　In the process of economic and trade interaction between China and other countries in the world, the use of business English contracts is increasing. Business English contracts’ role in guiding economic and trade activities shouldn’t be underestimated. At the same time, the field of economic trade is a broad field of knowledge, including economics, finance, law, accounting, etc.. Therefore, this paper chooses one of these perspectives, that is, the translation of business English contracts, and studies the Chinese translation of business English contracts from the perspective of functional equivalence theory.

　It is worth mentioning that the translation of business English contracts requires the translators to possess a variety of knowledge and skills, which requires good English expression ability and reserves of professional vocabulary terms and solid background knowledge in the case of huge cultural differences between different countries. Even if graduates from a major directly related to business trade, if they want to translate business contracts accurately, it would be also difficult. So translating business English contract is a test of the cultural level and a deeper requirement for translators. Be aware that, given the huge cultural differences, many words have different English and Chinese meanings, and it is difficult to achieve absolute equivalence so that translators may cause ambiguity in translation. So what must be emphasized here is that the absolute equivalence is not reached, but we take the most basic equivalence, which is also the theoretical angle written in this paper, that is, “functional equivalence theory”. This paper will be divided into three chapters. The first chapter will describe the definition and classifictaion of business English contract, and describe previous studies of business English contract. In addition, the first chapter will also discuss features and principles of business English contract to make readers learn about the business English contract. For features of business English contract, lexical features, syntactic features and discourse features will be introduced. At the same time, accuracy principle and professional principle in business English contract will be explained in this chapter.

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　The second chapter will introduce theoretical basis of functional equivalence theory. It will proceed from basic concept of functional equivalence theory to foreign and domestic studies of functional equivalence theory. The last chapter will introduce the main topic

　“ business English contract translation under the guidance of functional equivalence theory”. In this chapter, lexical equivalence, sentence equivalence, chapter equivalence and text equivalence will be introduced. Lexical equivalence will be analyzed from

　legal vocabulary, loanwords, professional terms and synonyms in business English contract. Sentence equivalence will be discussed from three aspects of polite formula, passive sentence and clause equivalence. Chapter equivalence will be introduced from two aspects of text cohesion and text format.

　At last, this paper will be made a conclusion for the aspects that the translator should pay attention to in the future translation process and the research direction of sentence equivalence under the theory of functional equivalence in the future.

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　1 Brief Introduction of Functional Equivalence Theory The functional equivalence theory proposed by Nida in the 1980s broke the previous principle of static translation. It is believed that the equivalence of the translation form means to reproduce the style and characteristics of the original language as much as possible.

　This chapter will start with the basic concept of functional equivalence theory and its foreign and domestic research, so that readers can have a more comprehensive understanding of functional equivalence theory. 1.1 Basic Concept of Functional Equivalence Theory Functional equivalence theory mainly gives a specific standard for the conversion of source and target languages, and reduces the differences between the two. Eugene A. Nida started from the perspective of linguistics and conducted research based on the essence of translation studies, thus proposed a “dynamic equivalence” translation theory, that is, functional equivalence theory. In the process of translation using functional equivalence theory, the use of language is appropriate and natural, and is equivalent at the level of semantics and style, which ensures that the translation shows the style characteristics and spiritual connotation of the source language in the form of language form and cultural connotation.

　Nida believes that the importance of meaning in translation is first, followed by form. His equivalence principle breaks the previous static translation principle. He believes that the equivalence of the translation form means to reproduce the style and characteristics of the original language as much as possible; the equivalence of the translated content refers to the reader-centric translation method, making the reader understand the meaning of the text in the context of the original language. Therefore, translators should pay attention to the meaning and spirit of the original text when they translate, rather than sticking to the pursuit of formal equivalence. Translators can also use appropriate methods to reconstruct the form and semantic structure of the original text, so as to achieve the purpose of dynamic equivalence. The essence of translation is communication. If the translated information does not have communicative function, the information will be not useful. To make the reader understand the translation and achieve the purpose of

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　communication, the translation must take into account all relevant factors of language communication activities.

　In short, in the translation process, the translator should start with the reader, original text, and expression methods, and analyze the original text thoroughly. Then the translators switch a translation similar to the original communicative function, extracting the content of the original text, diluting the form of the text, and then using the translated text as the carrier to express the content accurately and smoothly. This is like “old wine in a new bottle”, the substance remains unchanged, what changes is the external form and the carrier. This is the essence of the “functional equivalence theory”, that is, the difference between language and culture is not an insurmountable obstacle in translation activities, but rather different expressions that are essentially the same combine the content of the source language with the expression of the target language to obtain a new expression. The process is the translation activity under the guidance of “functional equivalence theory”. 1.2 Previous Studies on Functional Equivalence Theory Many scholars at home and abroad have conducted in-depth research on functional equivalence theory. These studies have made great contributions to the development of theory. The following is the foreign and domestic studies of functional equivalence theory. 1.2.1 Foreign Studies on Functional Equivalence Theory Beekman pointed out that “Nida’s functional equivalence theory makes theorists and translators believe that a good translation must be able to convey the meaning and dynamics of the original text at the same time [1] ”. Mildred

　pointed out that “Translation is the process of studying and analyzing of the vocabulary, grammatical structure and communication of the original text, then reproducing the meaning of the original text with natural acceptance words”. Mildred’s definition for translation is in common with Nida’s functional equivalence theory.

　Wilss emphasized that “Because Nida’s functional equivalence theory can achieve effective translation, so it can be applied to translation practice [2] ”. Venuti believes that “The functional equivalence theory has also eased the translators’ debates on “domesticization” and “foreignization” from the

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　perspective of language and culture [3] ”. And these two scholars’ studies and recognition directly illustrates the practical feasibility of using functional equivalence theory. It can be said that the “functional equivalence theory” finds the balance between “domesticization” and “foreignization” from different angles.

　Lao Long believes that from a microscopic perspective, “functional equivalence” has solved the long-term fight of “intention translation” and “straight translation”. The “functional equivalence” theory gives translators and scholars a lot of constructive ideas, thinking that the target language can reproduce the meaning of the source language as completely as possible in different language structures. The “equivalence of functions” theory allows translators exercise their freedom without restraint. The translation activity no longer entangles the barrier between language and culture, but establishes a bridge between the original text and the translation to the greatest extent and dilutes the reader’s sense of strangeness to the original text as much as possible, so that the reader can easily receive the information of the translation. 1.2.2 Domestic Studies on Functional Equivalence Theory In China, Jin Di proposed the “equivalence theory” on the basis of the “functional equivalence” theory and applied it to the translation of “Ulysses [4] ”. The feasibility of “functional equivalence” theory in practical translation is illustrated from the side. Ma Huijuan conducted a comprehensive and systematic study of Nida’s translation theory, analyzing the research status of the theory of functional equivalence in the translation, clarifing the misunderstandings of the functional equivalence theory in the translation, and discussing the debates and sources of the translation equivalence theory [5] .

　Tan Zaixi

　made a comprehensive and systematic summary of the formation process of Nida’s translation theory and its profound connotation [6] . He believes that Nida’s “functional equivalence” theory brought modern linguistics, semiotics, communication and aesthetics into the field of translation. Not only does it break the shackles of traditional ideas on a macro level, but also provides a new perspective for translation studies. It can be said that it is a more detailed study of translation, implementing new ideas, concepts and methods into translation practice activities. It has a pivotal guiding significance for translation activities and also lay a solid foundation for modern translation studies.

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　In addition, in the HowNet database, searching with “functional equivalence theory” as the key word shows that there are a total of 453 articles in various core journals and magazines. This shows that the applicability of functional equivalence theory is highly recognized and has practical guiding significance. As far as translation standards are concerned, Chinese translator Yan Fu put forward “faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance”. The basic requirements for more recent translations are found in Eugene Nida’s works: (1) Meaningful; (2) Convey the original ideas and forms; (3) Have a natural and easily acceptable form of expression; (4) A similar response can be produced.

　Eugene Nida’s fourth point of view is a supplement to the predecessors’ principles of translation, emphasizing the importance of response to readers in modern. His reader response theory was published in “Science of Translation” published in 1994. It is proposed to describe “reader response theory” as a “dynamic equivalence”, and then for the misunderstanding caused by “dynamic” was changed to “functional equivalence” in the 1980s. The so-called “functional equivalence” means that in the process of translation, there is no need for rigid correspondence between the original language and the surface of the target language, but to achieve functional equivalence between the two languages. Nida has developed a new set of translation theories in the process of translation of the Bible from the concrete reality, and finally made it one of the classics of translation studies.

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　2 Background of Business English Contract The business English contract is the basis for the development of the foreign trade and economic trade, the guarantee of the legitimate rights and interests of the trade party. The business English contract and its translation have become a bridge connecting buyers and sellers. This chapter will introduce business English contracts’ definition, classification, features and translation principles, which help translators learn more business English contract. 2.1 Definition and Classification of Business English Contract Article 2 of the “Contract Law of the People’s Republic of China” stipulates that “Contracts are established between natural persons and legal persons with equal subjects, and established agreements by other organizations to change or terminate the relationship between civil rights and obligations”. A business contract refers to the formal signing of each party’s rights and obligations in accordance with the law when carrying out some kind of business cooperation between the parties concerned. An agreement must be followed by all parties. It can be seen that the business English contract is the product of the parties’ consensus. A lawfully established contract takes effect from the date of establishment and is legally binding, which provides legal protection for avoiding trade frictions effectively. Special attention should be paid here. According to the Economic Law, commercial English contracts can be divided into many forms, such as formal contracts, letters of intent, memoranda, agreements, entrusted purchase orders, etc., but no matter what form they take, they should be signed in writing. After a dispute has occurred, it can be submitted to the court as evidence. Su Hong believes that a business English contract is a general form of contract. It is a clause that all parties observe in order to clarify their rights and obligations in business transactions. In international trade activities, if the parties have no special requirements for the contract goods. It is generally carried out in the form of commercial contracts [7] . Ke Bingheng conducted a preliminary discussion on contract translation skills and strategy selection.

　In the following decades, more and more scholars have begun to pay attention to the research of business Englsish contract translation and have achieved fruitful results. Currently, business English contract research

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　monographs are blooming, and endlessly emerging. Lan Tian

　introduced the basic knowledge, stylistic features, and translation skills of international business contracts in detail, listing a large number of real cases for specific analysis [8] ; Wang Xiangguo gave a detailed description of the structure of business English contracts and introduced contents of the main clauses in the contract [9] . Business English contracts could be divided into many kinds. Commonly used business English contract include: sales or purchase contracts, technology transfer contracts, compensation trade contracts, negotiation contracts, sino-foreign joint venture contracts, engineering contract contracts, futures trading contracts, agency agreements and processing contracts for materials. Although there are many classifications of business English contracts, the structure of business English contracts is generally relatively fixed, generally including three parts: the preface, the body and the end of the covenant. The first part is the preface, which generally includes the name of the contract, the contracting parties, signing date and place, etc. The second part is the body, which is the main part of the contract, which mainly stipulates the rights and obligations of the parties to the agreement, and the specific conditions of the commodities traded (such as: product name, quantity, packaging, quality, specifications, unit price, total value, etc.), delivery and validity period, port of shipment and destination, insurance and confidentiality clauses, payment terms, breach of contract clauses, force majeure clauses, dispute resolution and applicable laws, etc. The third part is the end, which mainly includes the relevant explanations of the signatures of the parties to the agreement, the language of the contract, the number of contracts signed and the validity of the contract. 2.2 Features of Business English Contract Translation A business English contract is a style with a legal character, so the business English contract has its own lexical

　features, syntactic features and discourse features. By studying these features of business English contracts, it is helpful to choose a proper translation strategy for the translation of business English contracts.

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　2.2.1 Lexical Features

　 (1) Use of Professional Vocabulary Example 1: The seller guarantees that it is the legitimate owner and/or holder of the licensed know-how and/or patent and has the right to grant the license thus to the Buyer. Translation: 买方保证自己是该许可专有技术和/或专利的合法的所有人和/或拥有者, 而且保证自己有权许可该项技术给买方。

　Comments: “Licensed know-how”is professional vocabulary. “Licensed know-how” in this case refers to the production, use and sale of licensed products, including technical specifications, production procedures, design processes, drawings and all other technical materials that are authorized by the patent. (2) Use of Synonyms Example 2: The seller guarantees that it is the legitimate owner and/or holder of the licensed know-how and/or patent and has the right to grant the license thus to the Buyer. Translation: 买方保证自己是该许可专有技术和/或专利的合法的所有人和/或拥有者, 而且保证自己有权许可该项技术给买方。

　Comments: “Owner and holder”is synonyms, the meaning is “the person who has something”; licensed know-how and patent”is synonyms, the meaning is “proprietary technology”. (3) The Frequent Use of Cumbersome Words Example 3: The contract shall be valid for 10 years from the effective date of the contract. The contract shall become null and void automatically on the expiry of the contract’s term of validity.

　Translation:

　本合同的有效期从合同生效之日起算起共计 10 年, 有效期满后, 本合同自动无效。

　Comments: In the above example, “null and void” is a typical cumbersome word. Null and void also belongs to the Latin, which means “there is no legal effect and binding force”, and it is consistent with the meaning of the common word “void” in modern English. Because “null and void” have the same

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　meaning, so they are both translated as “invalid”.

　2.2.2 Syntactic Features From the syntactic point of view, conciseness and clarity，strict logical thinking are the biggest features of business English sentences. Business letters now mainly embody this feature of conciseness and clarity. Their sentences are succinct and short, and often use parallel sentences, short sentences and short compound sentences. In business English contracts, syntactic mainly reflects the logical thinking of rigor. Most of these texts use compound sentences and long sentences with a declarative tone, so that their expressions have complete logic. During the contract period, due to typhoons, floods, earthquakes, fires, wars, or other unpredictable events that cannot be prevented and avoided, resulting in both parties cannot perform the contract according to the agreed conditions or directly affect the performance of both parties to the contract. The party that have the above force majeure accident shall immediately notify the accident situation to the other party by telegram, and shall provide valid proof of the reason for the delay in performance within 15 days, or the details of the partial failure to perform the accident and the specific reasons for the contract.

　In addition, a large number of applied sentence patterns and fixed sentence patterns used in business English contract constitute an internationally accepted set of formulaic language—Polite Formula sentence patterns [10] . 2.2.3 Discourse Features When business English with a very wide range is applied, the specific text structure has specific requirements to the specific text genre. For example, structure itemization and formatting of textual expressions are the main features of business English contracts. The terms are complete, formal and specific.

　At the same time, in business correspondence, the principle of politeness is widely used. Regardless of the genre, the practicality is always emphasized. In addition, conveying information is its most basic function, which achieves a certain communicative purpose. Therefore, the common features in business English discourse are fixed format, strict wording, clear level, complete and compact content, and polite expression [11] . 2.3 Principles of Business English Contract Translation In the process of Business English contracts translation, the principles of

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　accuracy and professionalism must be followed to achieve the business English contracts’ rigor. The below will expalin accuracy principle and professional principle of business English contract translation. 2.3.1 Accuracy Principle The general basic requirement of English translation is the principle of accuracy [12] . Therefore, in the translation of business English contract, the principle of accuracy is also an important basic principle that must be followed. In addition to the general content’s accuracy, the principle of accuracy also has its own unique requirements in the business English contract.

　A high-accuracy business English contract requires that every word and every clause in the contract are implemented to the greatest degree of accuracy. Due to a small word error in the contract, it may become the focus of future disputes between the two parties. Therefore, in the translation of business English contracts, the principle of accuracy must be applied to the words that involve every detail. In each word, the specific rights and obligations of both parties must be accurately and clearly defined. Based on the strict requirements for accuracy, it is also inevitable to actively abandon some translation methods in order to make the translation achieve graceful effects. Because the graceful and literary way of the translation is very likely to make the translated content added or deleted, which is not suitable for the accurate translation of business English contracts. In addition to the above-mentioned reasons for beautification, artificial additions or deletions may change and tamper the contract contents of both parties, affecting the validity and authenticity of the contract. 2.3.2 Professional Principle The professional principle of business English translation is a basic criterion [13] . Business English itself is a highly professional language category. Whether it is the need for translation work or the nature of the language itself, professional principles are a basic guidelines. The principle of professionalism exists in the business English contract has a richer content. The business English contract is determined by its special nature. It is not only a form of legal document, but also a category of business trade. This makes an important difference between foreign trade contracts and other foreign trade work.

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　In addition to legal English, there is also professional business English. Generally speaking, legal English is a more difficult course to master than business English. This is because the legal system in the West is earlier than in China for hundreds of years. This kind of law with a strong historical and cultural color in the West must not only have a good understanding of the current Western legal provisions, but also have a deeper grasp of relevant historical events and historical background to learn legal English.

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　3 Business English Contract Translation Under the Guidance of Functional Equivalence Theory Unlike literary translation, business English contracts, as a practical style, translators should focus on the two aspects of semantic accuracy and language style, and less consider the influence of culture, context and other factors in translation. This chapter will use functional equivalence theory, combined with specific translation practical cases, from the four levels of vocabulary, sentence, chapter and text to discuss business contract translation strategies. 3.1 Lexical Equivalence In the process of translating business English contracts, vocabulary translation occupies a large proportion. Considering the rigor of the business English contract, the accurate translation of words in the contract is of considerable importance. The exact translation that the translator pursues is consistent with the meaning equivalence guided by Nida’s functional equivalence theory. Therefore, it is scientifically feasible to use Nida’s functional equivalence theory as the theoretical basis for the study of lexical translation in business English contracts. 3.1.1 Translation of Legal Vocabulary in Business English Contract As a branch of legal English, contract English fully reflects the characteristics of legal English. The extensive use of legal vocabulary in business English contracts not only enhances the formality of the contract text, but also increases the difficulty of translation.

　The connotation of legal vocabulary is different from the common meaning in everyday language, which requires translators have certain legal expertise, otherwise it is very easy to cause misunderstandings and translation errors.

　The translation of business contracts requires that the translation not only achieves equivalence of meaning at the language level, but also equivalence of legal effects at the functional level. Therefore, translators should use legal terminology to reproduce the legal style of the original text accurately, rigorously, concisely, and formally the rigor and solemnity of the legal text can be showed fully.

　The specific case analysis is as follows: Example 1: Except in matters where any laws mandatorily prevail, the

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　parties wish this Agreement be governed by international equity and established professional standards [14] . Translation：除法律强制性规定的事项外，双方希望本协议遵照国际衡平法和公认的职业准则。

　Example 2: The governing law shall be Hungarian substantial law [15] . Translation：准据法为匈牙利实体法。

　Comments: It can be seen from the above examples that business English contract contains many professional legal terms, some of which have been formed into a relatively fixed translation. For example, the translation of the three legal names marked in the horizontal line in Example 1 and Example 2 already has an authoritative fixed translation in the world, and the translation only needs to be adopted directly. Example 3: The validity, construction and performance of this Agreement shall be governed by the laws of Antigua and Barbuda. Translation：本合同的有效性、解释和履行适用于安提瓜和巴布达的法律。

　Example 4: Time of shipment: within 15 days after receipt of the advance payment and the L/C of balance value to be accepted by the xx Bank. Translation：装运日期：收到预付款且剰余货款的信用证被 XX 银行承兑后的 15 天内装运。

　Example 5: All payments to be made by the Buyer to the Seller hereunder shall be paid without set-off, counterclaim or required withholding or deduction unless prohibited by any applicable law [16] . Translation：本合同项下卖方支付给买方的所有费用均应支付，不可抵消、反诉、要求扣缴或者扣减，适用法律所禁止的除外。

　Comments: In Example 3, “govern” originally meant “rule”, but it is often translated as “apply to” in legal translation. Similar to the usage of “governing law” in example 2, there is another common translation method, namely “apply to law”,

　where the translation also selects the meaning of “apply to”.

　In example 4, the common meaning of “accept” is “acceptance”, but it is usually translated as “acceptance” in legal translation.

　In fact, there is no essential difference in meaning between the two expressions, but the word “acceptance” is more in line with the legal terminology and can reflect the formality and solemnity of the

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　contract text. ...