本科畢業(yè)設(shè)計-商務(wù)合同中漢譯準確性的研究

AbstractAstheinternationaltradeisincreasing,thecommercialcontractismoreandmoreimportanttothedevelopmentofworld’seconomy,becauseitensuresthesuccessofthebusiness.Faithfulnessisveryimportanttotranslation,especiallytothecommercialcontract,becausebothoftheChineseandEnglishcontractsshouldhavethesamelegaleffect.Thispaperpointsoutthatthecommercialcontracttranslationrequiresnotonlythecorrectnessoflogic,butalsothestylisticfaithfulnessthatisasimpotantasthecorrectnessoflogic.Byanalyzingthecommercialcontracttranslationanditsstylisticfeaturessuchaslongsentences,formality,dignityandsoon,thispaperdescribestheapproachesandmethodstoachievethefaithfulnessintranslation.Keywords:commercialcontract;faithfulness;translation;stylisticfeatures;formality

中文摘要隨著國際貿(mào)易的增加，商務(wù)合同對全球經(jīng)濟的發(fā)展越來越重要，它保證了商務(wù)活動的順利進行?！靶拧睂τ诜g來說，非常重要，尤其是商務(wù)合同的翻譯。因為合同的中英兩個版本應(yīng)該具有相同法律效力.本文指出商務(wù)合同翻譯不僅要做到邏輯準確，同時文體準確也是同樣重要。通過分析商務(wù)合同具有的長句,正式，嚴謹?shù)任捏w特點及其翻譯，說明達到翻譯準確性的途徑和方法。關(guān)鍵詞：商務(wù)合同；準確性；翻譯：文體特征；正式1.IntroductionNowadays，astheworld’seconomyisglobalizing,thecommercialcontractbecomesmoreandmoreimportant.Thecontractthatstipulatesmutualrightsandobligationsisachievedbycertainlegalprocedure(楊芳,1998:7),thusithasgreatbindingforcetobothparties.Sequentially,thecontractensuresthebusinesstradegoessmoothly.AsEnglishcontract’stranslation,ithasthesamelegaleffectastheoriginaltext.Soitimposeshigherrequirementforthefaithfulnessofcontracttranslation.Faithfulnessrequiresthecontracttranslationtobesoofficial,rigorous,succinctandpalpableintranslatingthesentencesthatthepartiescancommunicateclearlyandfulfilltheirobligationcorrectly.Ontheonehand,itiseasytoachievethisfaithfulness，becausethecontracthasafixeddiscoursepattern.Forexample,acommercialcontractisgenerallydividedintothreeparts:preamble(head),bodyandfinalclauses(tail).Theymustbewritteninsuchanorder.Thesethreepartsincludesomerelativelyregularandessentialelements,withoutwhichacontractshallnotbeprotectedbylaw.Inaddition,sofarasthebasicformisconcerned,eachcontractiswrittenintheorderofheadings,articlesanddetailedrulesandregulations.Inordertoachievetheorderlylanguage,alltheheadingsandarticlesshouldhavethesamestructureandgenerallyspeaking,Nounphrasesareoftenpreferredinheadings.Ontheotherhand,toachievethefaithfulnessisverydifficult.EnglishandChinesehavegreatdifferencesinexpressionhabit,whichleadstothedifferentrequirementsforcontractwording.SohowtoachievethefaithfulnessinEnglishcommercialtranslation?2.LiteratureReview2.1DefinitionoffaithfulnessFaithfulnessisoneofcriteriaoftranslating.YanFuproposed“faithfulness,expressiveness

and

elegance”asthestandardsoftranslation(from張培基，2006:8)Nida(from馬會娟,2003:9)hasemployed“functionalequivalence”todescribehisviewoftranslationfaithfulness.Nidafurtherdevelops“functionalequivalence”bydividingitintotwolevels:theminimallevelandthemaximallevel.Theformerisdefinedas“thereadersofatranslatedtextshouldbeabletocomprehendittothepointthattheycanconceiveofhowtheoriginalreadersmusthaveunderstoodandappreciatedit”.Thelatterisdescribedas“thereadersofatranslatedtextshouldbeabletounderstandandappreciateitinessentiallythesamemannerastheoriginalreadersdid”.Themaximalleveloffunctionalequivalenceisanidealandisrarelyachievedexceptforthosetextsofroutineinformation,whichhavelittleornoaestheticvalue;whereastheminimallevelisrealisticandatranslationbelowthislevelisunacceptable.Agoodtranslationalwaysliesinbetweenthetwolevels.Asforfaithfulnessofcontracttranslation,LiuMiqing(劉宓慶,1998:10)stressesthatthemainaimofcontractsistorecordfactsandthatasaresult,whatispursuedinthetranslationofcontractsisnotfloridrhetoricbutfaithfulandaccuratetransmissionoftheoriginalsense.WangChunhui，ascholarandpracticinglawyerinforeignaffairs,holdsthatthetranslatedtextshouldconveyveraciouslyandthoroughlytheoriginalsense,withoutanydistortion,omissionoroverstatement(王春暉,2001:11).Tocomeuptothiscriterionintranslationofcontracts,twoimportantaspectsshoulddrawourattention.Oneisaccurateandexactchoiceofwordsinthetranslationoftechnicaltermsandsomekeywordsincontractsbecausethesewordshavestrictlegaldefinition.Forexample,Weoftenassociate“formalwith”“正式的”,but“正式批準”shouldbetranslatedinto“officialapproval”while“正式簽署”shouldberenderedinto“dulysign”.(劉宓慶,1998:10)Thefaithfulnessistheprimarytranslationstandardtoobey.Sothesecondaspectforconcernistranslationshouldhavecomprehensivecarefortheoriginaltext,style,language.Thefollowingaretheexamples：(1)Thetermshallcountfromthetimethesuppliesorserviceshavebeeneffectedintheirentirelyandfromthereceiptofthedulyissuedinvoice.Discountshallalsobedeductibleifthepurchaseroffsetspaymentagainstreceivablesorbecauseofdeficiencieswithholdspaymentofareasonableamount,thetermshallcountfromthetimedeficienciesarecompletelycorrected.付款期限是從供貨或服務(wù)全部完成并且收到正確開簽的發(fā)票的時間開始計算。如果采購員要抵消應(yīng)收款項或因不良品要扣留合理的金額，這些折扣都可以扣除，時間從產(chǎn)品的缺陷得到完全糾正的時間開始計算。The“deficiencies”abovereflectsthewriter’sdissatisfactionandview,Inordertoexpresstheoriginalcontent,thetranslatordoesn’ttranslateit“缺乏”，but“缺陷”byoriginalcontent.(2)Iftheorderconfirmationdiffersfromtheorder//(JIT)deliveryschedule,itshallbebindingonthepurchasedepartmentonifithasacceptedsuchconfirmationinwriting.如果訂單或交貨計劃的確認與歐司朗要求的有差異,而歐司朗采購部書面接受這個訂單確認,那么這個訂單確認有約束力。TotranslateChinesetextfaithfultotheoriginal,thetranslatorshouldhaveagoodunderstandingofitatfirst,andsecondly,expresstheunderstandingcorrectlyinanotherlanguage.Thetranslationstandardofgoodunderstandingandcorrectexpressionarenotaneasything.However,faithfulnessshouldbeourpursuitandwhereweshouldmakeaneffortto.Aslongasthetranslatorhasintensiveconcentrationandceaselesseffort,anincreasinglylevelofpoliticalmind,language,cultureandspecialty,thestandardcanbeachievedbycontinuouspracticeandexperiences.2.2HowtoachievethefaithfulnessintranslationTherearetwostepstoachievethefaithfulness(楊芳,1998:7).Theyareillustratedasbelow.2.2.1A(i)Analyzethelogicofthesentencestructureanddividethesentenceinsensegroups.(ii)Identifytheimmediateconstituentsofthewholesentence--subject,predicateandobject,fromanoverallgraspofthestructureofthesentence.(iii)Identifyallsubordinate,clauses,modificationandelements.(iv)AnalyzethefunctionofclausesandphrasesExample:(3)(Theunionleaders)(declared)(thattheultimateaimoftheirstrugglewastoincreasepayandimprovedworkingconditionsfortheworkers.)Itisnotdifficulttofindoutthatthewordsinthebracketsaresubject,predicateandobject,ofthesentence.Wecantranslatethemainclauseofthesentence(“Theunionleaderdeclared+thatclause”)firstlyas“工會領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人宣稱……”andthenanalyzeagain.Therearethreepredicateconfigurationsinthissentence.Theirpredicateverbsare“declared”,“wastoincreasepay”,and“improved”.Wecanhaveabetterunderstandingonthissentenceaftertheanalysis.2.2.2Theapplicationoft(i)LiteraltranslationWemusttranslatetheoriginalEnglishinaccordancewiththeChinese.Example:(4)Followingthehugefloodsof1998,(thegovernment)(prohibited)(logging)intheupperreachesoftheYangtzeRiverinordertoprotectforestsandreduceflooddangers.Thebracketinthesentenceisthemainclause.“followingthehugefloodsof1998”,“intheupperreachesoftheYangtzeRiver”—thesewordsarepartsoftheadverbialwhicharethecomplementsandmodifiesoftheentiresentence.WecanuseliteralandsequentialtranslationmethodafterweAnalyzethesentence.Thissentencecanbetranslatedinto例如，在1998年特大洪水過后，為了保護森林和減少水患，政府明令禁止在長江上游伐木”。(ii)ReversetranslationWiththedifferenthabitsandcustoms,EnglishandChineseareindifferentordersofexpression,andsometimesevencompletelyopposite.Sothetranslationmuststartfromthebackoftheoriginalsentence.Example:(5)Aluminumremainedunknownuntilthenineteenthcentury,becausenowhereinnatureisitfoundfree,owingtoitsalwaysbeingcombinedwithotherelements,mostcommonlywithoxygen,forwhichithasastrongaffinity.

Analysis：Thissentenceconsistsofonemainsentence,twoReasonadverbialsandoneattributiveclause.“Aluminumremainedunknownuntilthenineteenthcentury”isthemainclause，andalsothecentralcontentofwholesentence,whichhasfourpredicateconfigurations.ForChinese,thecausesshouldusuallycomebeforetheresults.Thus,wecantranslatetheoriginaltextintoreverseorder:“鋁總是跟其他元素結(jié)合在一起，最普遍的是跟氧結(jié)合；因為鋁跟氧有很強的親和力，由于這個原因，在自然界找不到游離狀態(tài)的鋁。所以，鋁直到19世紀才被人發(fā)現(xiàn)”。(iii)SensegrouptranslationInalongsentence，thesubjectorthemainclausedoesn’thaveacloserelationshiptothemodifyingcomponents.ThustranslationcanbedividedintomanyshortsentencesaccordingtotheChinesehabits,andthelongsentence’sclausesorphrasescanbetranslatedintoasentence.Sometimesitisnecessarytoaddtheappropriatewordstoensuresentencetranslation.

Example:(6)Alltheyhavetodoispressabutton,andtheycanseeplays,films,operas,andshowsofeverykind,nottomentionpoliticaldiscussionsandthelatestexcitingfootballmatch.

Translation：“他們所必須做的只是按一下開關(guān)。開關(guān)一開，就可以看到電視劇、電影、歌劇，以及其他各種各樣的文藝節(jié)目。至于政治問題的辯論、最近激動人心的足球賽更是不在話下?！?iv)Combinationofparaphrasetranslationandliteraltranslation.Infact,intheprocessoftranslating,translatingalongEnglishsentencedoesn’tjustsimplyneedonetranslationmethod,butsometimeamixeduseofvariousmethodsisneeded.EspeciallywhensomelongEnglishsentencescannotbesimply,convenientlytranslatedbyanyoneofabovemethods,weneedacarefulanalysisinaccordancewiththesequenceoftime,orthelogicalorder.Withtheuseofparaphrasetranslationandliteraltranslation,wecanmaketheoriginaltexttranslationfaithfultoChinesecustomsandexpressinghabit.Example:(7)HesaidthathewasassuredbytheStateDepartmentthattheU.S.Translation：“他說，國務(wù)院向他擔(dān)保美國愿意同他的國家恢復(fù)正常關(guān)系?！盜naddition,inEnglish,somefixedphrasescannotbeliterallytranslatedanddeservemoreattentionintranslation,suchasallbut(幾乎，差不多),asanything(非常地)anythingbut：根本不apartfrom：除了butfor：要不是byfar：遠不，……得多bynomeans：根本不byanymeans：無論如何dueto：由于exceptfor：除了farfrom：遠非incontactwith：與……聯(lián)系insteadof：而不是onaccountof：因為onthebasisof：根據(jù)onlyto.Totheabovestudiesonfaithfulnesstranslation,obviously,thereisaweakpointthatistheneglectofthestylisticfeatures,whichplaysamoreimportantroleinthebusinesscontracttranslation.3StylisticfaithfulnessinthetranslationofEnglishcommercialcontract3.1StylisticFeaturesofCommercialContractandTranslationLikeothervarietiesofEnglish,contractEnglishpresentssomestrikinganduniquestylisticfeatures.

3.1.1LongsentencesOneofthemoststrikinggrammaticalfeaturesofcontractEnglishisthetendencytouselongsentences,whicharecapableofexpressingcomplexideaswithaccuracyandprecisionbecausetheymaycontainmanymodifiers(丁往道,1994:4).Inacontract,sentenceswhichmayrunaslongas6-7linescanbefoundhereandthere,greatlyoutrunningtheaveragelengthofanEnglishsentence(王佐良,1987:5).Becausethecorrectnessofcontractclauseshascloselyrelationshipswiththeexerciseofrightsandperformanceofobligations,contract’ssentencesarenecessaryandessentialtoconveyallthesensesoastocoverallimaginablesituations,conditionsorrequirements.Thetranslationshouldleavenospaceformisunderstandingandmisinterpretationwhichmaycausedisputesandevenheavyeconomiclossesatlast.Asaresult,contract’ssentencesareinevitablylongandcomplex.Sentencesconsistsofmanysubordinatingdevicesasparticiples,participialphrases,prepositionalphrases,restrictiveattributiveclauses,non-restrictiveattributiveclausesandadverbialclausesinordertoconveyalltheinformationinalogicallypreciseway.Example:(8)AnyfailureordelayintheperformancebyeitherpartyheretoofitsobligationsunderthisAgreementshallnotconstituteabreachhereoforgiverisetoanyclaimsfordamagesifandtotheextentthatitiscausedbyoccurrencesbeyondthecontrolofthepartyaffected,including,butnotlimitingthegeneralityoftheforegoing,actsofgovernmentalauthority,actsofgod,strikesorconcertedactsofworkmen,fires,floods,explosions,wars,riots,storms,earthquakes,accidents,actsofapublicenemy,rebellion,insurrection,sabotage,epidemic,quarantinerestrictions,shortagesoflabor,materialsorsupplies,failuresbycontractorsorsubcontractors,transportationembargoes,failuresordelaysintransportation,rules,regulations,ordersordirectivesofanygovernmentoranystate,subdivision,agencyorinstrumentalitythereofortheorderofanycourtofcompetentjurisdiction.(袁振.2009:11)Translation：本協(xié)議任何一方未能履行其本協(xié)議下規(guī)定的義務(wù)或有所延誤，如果是由于發(fā)生該方無法控制的事件所造成的，則在此范圍內(nèi)不構(gòu)成對本協(xié)議的違反，也不得引起任何損害賠償?shù)囊蟆＿@類事件在不局限于上述一般概念的前提下包括：政府的行為、自然界的行為、工人罷工或聯(lián)合行動、火災(zāi)、水災(zāi)、爆炸、戰(zhàn)爭、暴亂、風(fēng)暴、地震、事故、社會公敵的行為、叛亂、暴動、破壞、傳染病、隔離控制、勞動力、原材料或物質(zhì)短缺、承包者或分承包者未履約、禁運、運輸方面未能履約或延誤、任何政府或國家、下屬各部門、機構(gòu)或組織的條例、規(guī)定、命令或指示、任何有管轄權(quán)的法院的法令。Thissentencewith133wordsincludesaprepositionalphrase“intheperformancebyeitherpartyheretoofitsobligationsunderthisAgreement”modifyingthesubjectofthissentence“anyfailureordelay,”anadverbialclauseintroducedby”ifandtotheextentthat“andaparticipialphrase”including,butnotlimiting“followedbyalonglistofpossibleeventsExample:.(9)Whereservants,agentsorsubcontractorsoftheCompanycarryoutworkunderthedirectionoftheClient,theClientshallbefullyresponsiblefor,andindemnifyandholdharmlesstheCompanyagainstanyclaim,lossordamageofanykind,whetherarisingincontract,innegligence,inequityorbystatuteorunderanylawconnectedinanywaywiththeServices,ProjectorrelationshipestablishedbythisAgreement.(袁振.2009:11)Translation：公司員工、代理人或分包商在客戶指導(dǎo)下履行工作的，客戶對因公司員工、代理人或分包商的作為或不作為而造成的任何索賠、滅失及損毀，無論是基于合同、過失、衡平法、制定法而發(fā)生還是基于與服務(wù)、項目或本協(xié)議確立的關(guān)系相關(guān)的法律規(guī)定而發(fā)生，也無論程度大小，均應(yīng)承擔(dān)全部責(zé)任，必須就此向公司賠償，并保證公司免于損失。

Thisisacomplexsentencehavingaltogether69words,withtheadverbialclauseservants,agentsorsubcontractorsoftheCompanycarryoutworkunderthedirectionoftheClientintroducedbywhereasaconditionandthedifficultyinunderstandingliesinthemainclause,wherethereisanothershortenedadverbialclausewhetherarisingincontract,innegligence,inequityorbystatuteorunderanylawconnectedinanywaywiththeServices,ProjectorrelationshipestablishedbythisAgreementintroducedbywhether.

3.1.2FormalityanddObviously,contractsarestipulatedbyimposingofobligationsandconferringofrights;moreover,contractsbecomeakindoflegaldocumentsbindinguponthepartiesconcernedandanevidenceforthesolutionofdisputesifthecontractisvalidinlaw.Therefore,contractEnglishisveryformal,evendignified.Sofarasstyleisconcerned,contractsfallintothefrozenstyleaccordingtoJoosMartin,who,inhisbookTheFiveClocks,describestherangeofformalityashavingfivelevels:frozen,formal,consultative,casualandintimate.InJoos’analysis,thefrozenlevelisusedforwrittenlegaldocuments,whichsurelyincludecontracts,orhighlysolemnspeech(JoosMartin,1961:9).ItcanbeusuallyseenthattheformalityanddignityofcontractEnglisharebestshownintheuseofarchaicwords,loanwordsandtechnicaltermsattheleveloflexis.(i)FrequentemploymentofarchaicwordsUnlikeothervarietiesofEnglishwhereoldvocabularyisnotoftenused,contractEnglishisfullofsomanyarchaicwords,suchashereby,hereof,hereto,hereunder,hereinafter,hereafter,thereby,therefrom,thereunder,thereof,therefore,wherebyandwhereof.Thesearchaicwordsnotonlymakecontractshighlyformalanddignifiedbutalsoshortenthecontractuallanguagesothatcontractsaregivenastrongformalfeatureandapartfromlanguagerepetitionandambiguity.Thesearchaicwordsaremainlyformedbyhereorthereorwhereplusapreposition,mostofwhichareregardedasadverbs,generallyactingasattributivemodifiersoradverbialmodifiersinsentences.Thefollowingshowsthemeaningsofthesearchaicwords.herebymeansbythismeansorbyreasonofthis;hereofmeansofthis;heretomeanstothiscontract;hereinmeansinthis;hereundermeansunderthis;hereinaftermeanslaterinthiscontract;therefrommeansfromthat;thereofmeansofthat;thereundermeansunderthat;…Archaicwordsinsentences:(10)TheSellerherebywarrantsthatthegoodsmeetthequalitystandardandarefreefromalldefects.Translation:賣方在此保證：貨物符合質(zhì)量標準無瑕疵。

(11)ThedepositpaidbytheBuyersshallnotberefundediftheBuyersfailtomakefullpaymentwithinthetimehereinspecified.Translation:如果買方在本合同中規(guī)定的時間內(nèi)未付清貸款，買方的保證金就不能退還。(12)Beforecommencingtheconstruction,theContractorshallsubmittheplansandspecificationsthereforetotheOwnerforapproval.Translation：在開始施工之前，承包商應(yīng)將為此編制的施工計劃和詳細說明交房產(chǎn)主批準。

(ii)LoanwordsMostofFrenchandLatinwordsexpressthemselvesclearlyincontracts,whichischaracteristicofcontractEnglish. BecausecontractEnglishisextensivelyborrowedfromFrenchlegalterminologyaftertheNormanConquest,FrenchelementhasagreateffortinEnglishandtherearemanyoriginalFrenchwordslikeverdict,warrant,statute,etc.SinceChristianitywasintroducedintoEngland,LatinlegaltermshavegraduallybeenintroducedintoEnglishandwordssuchasbasis,declaration,registerwhichcomesfromtheoriginofLatin.WordsofGreek,FrenchandLatinoriginsaremostlyformalorlearnedwords(丁往道,1994:5).Thus,theformalityandsolemnityofcontractsareenhancedbytheseFrenchandLatinwords.TheuseofFrenchandLatinlegalterms,whichhavekepttheiroriginalforms,isthemostdistinctivepointincontractEnglish.Forinstance,forcemajeure(不可抗力),bonafideholder(善意持票人),proratataxrate(比例稅率),defactoagreement(事實上的協(xié)定),etc.(iii)TechnicaltermsLiuMiqing(劉宓慶,1998:10)haspointedoutthataspecializedandtechnicalvocabularyisthefirstandmostobviouswaytoregulateadomainofsocialexperienceoractivity,theemploymentoftechnicaltermsisanothermarkedfeatureofcontracts.Generally,thetechnicaltermsininternationalbusinesscontractscanbedividedintothreecategories:legalterms,businesstermsandcommonwordsforspecialpurpose.AccordingtoModernEnglishStylistics,(徐有志,1992:10)contractsfallintothevarietyoflegaldocuments,whichcoversawiderange:statutes,decrees,legalprovisions,economiccontracts,commoditywarranty,deedsoftrust,insurancepolicies,willsandtestaments,leasesandinstallmentplans,etc.Therefore,itiscertainthat,incontracts,therearesometechnicalwordsusedonlyinlegaldocumentslikesubstantivelaw(實體法),infringement(侵權(quán)),inthepresenceof(見證人),covenants(契約)，etc.Suchlegaltermsareuniquetothisvarietyandraisetheauthorityofcontracts(徐有志,1992:10)Moreover,becausecontractsarerelatedtovariousfieldsofbusiness,mostofbusinesstermscanbeeasilyfoundincontracts,suchasequityjointventure(合資經(jīng)營企業(yè)),articlesofassociation(公司章程),letterofintent(意向書),sublicense(分許可證),know-how(專有技術(shù)),andnegotiableinstruments(可流通票據(jù)).Appositebusinesstermscanconciselyandaccuratelyconveytheintendedcontent.Atlast,commonwordsareusuallyconvertedintotechnicalwordswithonlyoneoftheirmeaningsincontractssuchasaction(訴訟),negligence(過失),limitation(時效),counterpart(文件副本),prejudice(損害),execution(簽訂)andparty(當事人).Usingcommonwordsinsuchaspecialwayhelpsmarkoutatextbelongingtothefieldoflegaldocuments.Inconclusion,technicaltermsaregenerallymoreconciseandcomprehensive,andalsoindispensableinsuccinctandclearcommunication,notonlyapartfromanydisputableunderstandingbutalsoshowadegree