試談文化差異對(duì)商務(wù)英語翻譯的影響畢業(yè)論文

1、本科生畢業(yè)論文本科生畢業(yè)論文 試談文化差異對(duì)商務(wù)英語翻譯的影響試談文化差異對(duì)商務(wù)英語翻譯的影響 院院 系系： 人文與社會(huì)科學(xué)系人文與社會(huì)科學(xué)系 influences of cultural differences upon business english translation june 5, 2009 acknowledgements it was really a laborious task to accomplish a b.a thesis. many people gave me support and help in the process of writing the pap

2、er. upon the completion of this paper, i would like to give my gratitude to all those who have granted me help on the paper and on my four-year study in this school. first, id like to give my gratitude to my dear teacher, supervisor mr lin zhiyuan, who generously gave me his kindly help and instruct

3、ions during the whole process of my paper-writing. i also owe a special debt of gratitude to the other teachers of mine, as they have given me valuable suggestions on my chosen of topic and essay structure of the dissertation. very special thanks also go to those reference books and websites. they h

4、ave provided me with valuable materials and information and given me some good suggestions. then id like to give my many thanks to my classmates who helped me a lot with my information collecting and paper-polishing. most important of all, i want to give my thanks to my mother university and all the

5、 teachers in the college. 摘要摘要 隨著世界經(jīng)濟(jì)全球化趨勢(shì)的發(fā)展，中西方國家之間的貿(mào)易往來日益頻 繁，商務(wù)活動(dòng)所展現(xiàn)出的不僅是一種經(jīng)濟(jì)活動(dòng)，而且還是一種文化上的交流。 商務(wù)英語翻譯作為不同語言的人們之間進(jìn)行商業(yè)交流的交際過程和交際工具 就顯得尤為重要。自跨文化交流活動(dòng)以來，翻譯實(shí)踐就與文化產(chǎn)生了不可分 割的聯(lián)系。文化加速了翻譯的發(fā)展，而翻譯又促進(jìn)了文化的傳播，文化與翻 譯的發(fā)展相得益彰。隨著全球經(jīng)濟(jì)一體化時(shí)代的到來，地域不再局限人們的 交流空間，跨文化交流愈加頻繁。頻繁的跨文化交流加速了文化碰撞的呈現(xiàn)， 商務(wù)英語翻譯中出現(xiàn)的文化因素也越來越多。這對(duì)于譯者來說是個(gè)挑戰(zhàn)，

6、因 為英語和漢語有諸多差異之處，所以很難把地道的英語譯成能為大多數(shù)中國 商務(wù)者所接受的漢語；同樣，讓普通的英語國家的商務(wù)者通過譯文來理解地 道的漢語也不容易。如何克服這些由文化差異所引起的翻譯障礙是譯者需要 面對(duì)的一個(gè)大問題。本文將分析文化差異與商務(wù)英語翻譯實(shí)踐的關(guān)系以及文 化差異對(duì)商務(wù)英語翻譯造成的影響，通過舉出充分的例子來分析文化差異對(duì) 商務(wù)英語翻譯造成的影響并提出如何克服由文化差異引起的翻譯障礙的方法。 本文目的是借助商務(wù)英語翻譯使人們能更了解文化對(duì)語言的影響并有效地進(jìn) 行商務(wù)交流。 關(guān)鍵字：關(guān)鍵字：商務(wù)英語；文化差異；翻譯實(shí)踐 abstract with the development

7、 of the economic globalization, business activities are being carried more and more frequently between china and other english-speaking countries. business english translation is not only displayed in economic activities, but also a kind of cultural exchange. since the moment cross-cultural communic

8、ation exists, business english translation practice has close relationship with culture. culture speeds up the development of translation, while translation helps to spread culture. with the age of globalization coming, communication across cultures happens more and more frequently. this is a challe

9、nge for translators, because there are many discrepancies between english culture and chinese culture, it is hard to translate idiomatic english into chinese that can be accepted by most chinese traders. also, how to let average english traders understand idiomatic chinese is not easy. how to overco

10、me the barriers caused by culture is a big problem that translators need to facethis thesis is to analyze the relationship between cultural differences and business english translation practice and the influence of cultural differences on business english translation. by giving plenty of examples th

11、e thesis analyzes the influence of cultural differences on business english translation and tries to offer some approaches to overcome the barriers caused by cultural differences in business english translation practice, so as to help people communicate more effectively. keywords: business english;

12、cultural difference; translation practice table of content acknowledgements. i 摘要.ii abstract.iii table of contents.iv introduction.1 part one survey of cultural differences and bet. 2 1.1 definition of cultural differences.2 1.2 importance of business english translation . . .2 1.3 interaction of c

13、ultural differences and bet.3 part two a detailed analysis of the influences of cultural differences.4 2.1 trademark.4 2.1.1 ambiguity of trademark.4 2.1.2 inelegance of trademark.5 2.1.3 misunderstanding of trademark.5 2.2 advertisements.6 2.2.1 different cultural values.7 2.2.2 different thought p

14、atterns.7 2.2.3 different aesthetic standards.9 2.3 commercial activities.9 2.3.1 difference in business negotiation. 10 2.3.2 difference in business notion.10 2.3.3 difference in business etiquette.11 part three proper stretagies to deal with the cultural differences in bet13 3.1 requirements for t

15、ranslators.13 3.2 treating cultural differences correctly. .13 3.3 reinforcing cultural exchange.14 conclusion .15 works cited.16 introduction international corporation and communication are gaining increasing development since china entered into world trade organization. business english as a bridg

16、e linking china and foreign countries is playing a more crucial role, and is gaining increasing popularity. business english translation involves the conversion of two different cultures. although culture is very complicated, we can roughly classify it into three categories in scope: (a) material cu

17、lture which refers to the natural environment ;(b) instituted culture which refers to social system, religious system, customs and national psychological etc;(c) mental culture which refers to peoples mentalities and behaviors, their beliefs, perceptions, concepts of value, thought patterns etc. the

18、 cultural differences have greatly affected the various aspects of business activities, and determine the success or failure of business activities. unsuccessful business translation will not only bring significant economic losses, but will also affect the image of the enterprise and even the countr

19、y. from home and abroad business english translation research, although the translator noted the impact of the cultural differences for translation between east and west, it is still a lack of systematic attention to cultural differences, there is also a unilateral cognition, which will make the rea

20、ders get unnecessary misunderstandings. to do an excellent translation work, it is even more important to grasp two cultures than to master two languages, because the word will materialize its meanings only in a particular culture. therefore, it is extremely necessary to understand the cultural diff

21、erence in the background of globalization. in order to master english and successfully complete the task of business english translation from english into chinese, successful know about the cultural differences is essential. therefore, in this paper, the author attempts to discuss the problem of tra

22、nslation of business english from the cultural perspective in detail. part one survey of cultural differences and business english translation now, the economy is becoming more and more globalized and the culture is becoming more and more integrated. people need communicate between different nationa

23、l cultures, geography, characteristics of the times, while, during the process of exchange translation is very important. the translations origin is the exchanging of culture, while, communication and cultural exchanges result the translation. 1.1 definition of cultural differences over the years, d

24、ifferent scholars have different opinions towards the definition of cultural differences, and it has been defined in many ways. however, most of these definitions put emphasis on different aspects of cultural differences according to the definition put forth by nida, cultural differences refer to th

25、e differences between historical heritage, social customs and cultural tradition between different countries and religions, which are the reflection of the history developing. from the above explanation, we may have an understanding about the culture on the whole. cultural differences is broad and i

26、t involves many aspects, so it is very difficult to give an accurate definition. generally speaking, we can consider that, cultural differences refers to the different cultural values, different thought pattern, different social norms and different communication styles among different people from di

27、fferent countries and cultural backgrounds. 1.2 importance of business english translation in the background of economic globalization, business activities have becoming more and more frequently. it is said that there are almost 1.6 billion people who use english as their first language or second la

28、nguage and most of them use business english everyday in the world. therefore, the business english translation plays an important role in the progress of communication. in 2010, shanghai expo will be held in shanghai china. at that time, many enterprises and economic organization will come to inves

29、t in china, thus chinese enterprises may get lots of opportunities to grow and develop. therefore, when communicating with foreign investors, the business english is very important. however, during the progress of communication, someone who is not familiar with english may counter lots of trouble. o

30、n this condition, the business english translation is in badly needed for them. 1.3 the interaction of cultural differences and business english translation with chinese reform and opening-up policy are pushing forward continuously, the business activities between china and the world are becoming in

31、tensive and frequent. thus, business english translation is marked with strong cultural consciousness. someone believes that anyone who is competent in english is able to deal with the translation. that is just the wrong attitude result in the failure of translation. for example, “six” is an unpopul

32、ar figure, and people regard it as an unlucky number in western culture. however, in china, people often use the number “6” as the trademark of commodities which they think it can bring good fortune, such as “666”, “金六?！?and so on. when these products are exported to the western countries, they will

33、 receive a cold welcome. the reason is that six is also a symbol of devil in the western culture. the above example shows how important cultural differences mean to business english translation. so, it is critical to pay special attention to cultural differences for the translator. thus, the failure

34、 of translation will be reduced and avoided on a certain degree. part two a detailed analysis of the influences of cultural differences nowadays, a number of products have been exporting to the international market. however, most of them fail to capture the market. the reason for that mainly lies in

35、 the improper marketing strategies and advertising campaigns. in other words, the neglect or unawareness of cultural differences can result in the failure. 2.1 trademark trademark is the sign of product, which plays an important role in sale. it is the concentration of commodities distinct character

36、istics, the core of commodities culture, and the powerful weapon for an enterprise to participate in international competitions. it is not only a logo, also a lure, the final goal of which is to attract customers and sell commodities. the well-known trademark often guarantees the products quality, w

37、hich is a symbol of the reasonable price and good service. trademark translation conforms to the conception of semi logy. trademark translation is the process from decoding to coding and the process of re-creating and further processing. that is to say, trademark translation is the transplantation o

38、f two kinds of cultures. a good trademark translation may bring an enterprise huge wealth, whereas a bad one may let an enterprise suffer great loss. therefore, an enterprises future is closely linked with trademark translation. at the same time, trademark translation can widen the linguistic resear

39、ch field, enrich the connotation of linguistics, and accelerate the combination of linguistic theoretic research and its practical application. 2.1.1 ambiguity of trademark when we export products to foreign countries, we always overlook the culture shocks. as a result, these neglects make the trade

40、marks unpopular and affect the sales of products. sprite is the meaning of wizard and goblin in english. at the eve of halloween, children often dress themselves up as wizards or monsters, and ask for candy from house to house. however, in china, the wizard and the fairy is symbol of evil. that will

41、 not be acceptable to consumers by the literal translation. therefore, the trademark of “雪碧” can be accepted by consumers easily in china, which makes the consumers have a cool feeling. another translation happens to be politically inappropriate. when introduced to foreign countries, the chinese tra

42、demark of canvas shoes“大鵬”is rendered as “roc”, which is a sort of giant bird in arabic fables. however, “roc” happens to be the abbreviation of “republic of china”. obviously, the translation stirs up inappropriate political associations. 2.1.2 inelegance of trademark as we all know, the same words

43、 in different backgrounds may have different meanings. however, many translators usually overlook this problem during the process of translation of the logos. for example：translation by using chinese phonetic letters coincides with english words with derogatory sense. the typical example is“馬戲撲克”.th

44、e version “maxi puke” reminds the english consumers of something revolting and unpleasant, for maxi means big in english and “puke” indicates vomited food or drink. as we all know, “雄雞” is a trademark name for a clock in china, this trademark is not only indicates the function of the clock but also

45、fits for chinese culture. moreover, cocks are mascots in ancient china, and they are always used on ceremonial occasions. but for the westerners, the word “cock” contains obscene meaning, and it is usually avoided in formal english. if the producers in china use “cock” as the trademark name, the ima

46、ge of the product may be damaged. when exporting to the western market, the original english trademark name for the“雄雞”was “golden cock”，but changed into “golden rooster” latterly . this trademark name is more suitable and attractive for the westerners. so, we should pay more attention to the transl

47、ation of the elegant name of trademarks on condition that we understand the cultural differences. 2.1.3 misunderstanding of trademark it is not enough for advertising translators only to know the literal meaning of an ad, for it may be endowed with extended meaning and cultural implication. fully co

48、mpetent advertising translators are supposed to have a good command of religions, traditions, ethnic attitudes, the spirit of community, and purchasing habits of the target countries. otherwise, the translated ads might go against the original intention of the producers. in the western culture, peac

49、ock is considered as an unlucky animal. it is often used to describe a person who is walking on air. so, in western countries, if we use the word peacock as the trademark, the misunderstanding may occur. so, the“孔雀” tv set does not use the trademark “peacock” but “uranus”, which is a name of a star.

50、 on the contrary, peacock is an auspicious animal for the chinese, because people believe it is a good sign that peacock spreads its tail. therefore many chinese commodities like to use the trademark name “孔雀”, for example one chinese watch trademark “孔雀”. the shanghai-produced pen trademark as“白翎”

51、could receive welcome in english- speaking countries, for the trademark is translated as “white feather”. unfortunately, “white feather” is a symbol or mark of cowardice in english. it derives the connotation from the belief that white feather in a gamecocks tail is a sign of a poor fighter. the eng

52、lish idiom, “show the white feather”, means “sneak away at a critical juncture”. therefore, “white feather” is used to represent caitiffs. the translation nullifies the strengths of the company on the international market and becomes a disadvantage that fails to serve the interests of the producers

53、or those of the distributors. 2.2 advertisements following the economic enhancing, the economy becomes global and every nations products, come to the world markettherefore, the advertisement plays a decisive role. advertisement is closely related to the culture. the purpose of an advertisement is to

54、 persuade target customers to buy the advertised products or services. thus, it is a most important task to be aware of the differences between chinese culture and western culture. some defects and even unsuccessful advertisements are made because of the poor quality of translation. this paper proce

55、eds from problems in advertising translation that the translators do not have a good command of the nation-specific culture and is too adhesive to the advertisements superficial meaning while there are a lot of cultural factors hidden in the present advertising translation. in fact, advertisement tr

56、anslation requires more than just rendering sentences into another language. translators have to convert the ideas and thoughts behind the sentences into the target language by applying the knowledge of the target culture. cultural differences greatly affect the advertisements and the sale of produc

57、ts, because people have different cultural values, thought patterns and aesthetic standard which influence peoples judgment between east and west. 2.2.1 different cultural values culture values can be classified into many categories, but we would like to discuss about collectivism and individualism,

58、 because they are the main factors which can determine the success or not in the intercultural business communication. let us take a look at the differences between collectivism and individualism. chinese culture puts emphasis on the values of collectivism, so the advertisements of chinese products

59、also put emphasis on family and affection. take the advertisement of “孔府 家酒” for example, this trademark name reminds people of family and affection. therefore, it fits for chinese peoples values and easily gets success during the promotion of the product. on the contrary, westerners focus on themse

60、lves and develop the value of individualism, so most of the advertisements in western countries are always individual-centered. for example, the advertisement of “just do it（想做就做） ” which is promoted by nike company, is a typical demonstration of such spirit. thus americans show the courage to chall