商务信函的语用翻译.docx

1、商务信函的语用翻译硕士学位论文北京第二外国语学院题 目： 商务信函的语用翻译探究 系 别： 应用英语学院 专 业： 英语语言文学 研究方向： 国际商务英语 指导教师： XXX 教授 年 级： 2010届 姓 名： XXX 2010年 5 月 30 日On Pragmatic Approach to the Translation of Business Letters ByXXXA Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Artsin English Lang

2、uage and Literature Supervised by Professor XXX Institute of Linguistics and Applied LinguisticsBeijing International Studies UniversityBeijing May 2010北京第二外国语学院学位论文写作声明和使用授权说明学位论文写作声明本人郑重声明：所呈交的学位论文（论文题目： ），是本人在导师的指导下，独立进行研究工作所取得的成果。除文中已经注明引用的内容外，本论文不含任何其他个人或集体已经发表或撰写过的作品或成果。对本文的研究做出重要贡献的个人和集体，均已在文

3、中以明确方式标明。本声明的法律结果由本人承担。 论文作者签名： 日期： 年 月 日学位论文使用授权说明本人（姓名）_学号_所呈交的论文（论文题目： ）完全了解北京第二外国语学院关于收集、保存、使用学位论文的规定，即：按照学校要求提交学位论文的印刷本和电子版本；学校有权保存学位论文的印刷本和电子版，并提供目录检索与阅览服务；学校可以采用影印、缩印、数字化或其它复制手段保存论文；在不以赢利为目的的前提下，学校可以将学位论文编入有关数据库,提供网上服务。（保密论文在解密后遵守此规定）论文作者签名： 导师签名： 日期： 年 月 日中文摘要 作为商务沟通的主要形式，商务信函在商务活动中发挥着不可替代的作

4、用。它大大促进了国际商务与贸易的发展。因而，商务信函翻译质量的好坏将会影响到交际的成功与否。本论文要解决的核心问题是探究如何实现商务信函翻译的语用对等。除引言和结论外，本论文分为四章。第一章对商务信函做了全面分析，涵盖了从信函性质、形式、功能到更为重要的信函语言特点分析的方方面面，它们对信函的翻译均有重要影响。基于以上分析，本章提出了商务信函翻译的要求和指导原则。第二章系统描述语用学和语用对等的概念，对语用翻译做了详尽的分析。实现语用对等是翻译的理想目标，也是衡量翻译效果的准绳。受其性质和功能的影响，商务信函十分注重对礼貌的传达。通过对比中英文化在礼貌原则上的差异，第三章分析了商务信函中的礼貌

5、原则，并通过例证给出了几种旨在实现礼貌对等的翻译策略。第四章着重探讨了关联理论指导下的商务信函翻译。关联理论要求译者承担双重角色，既要做原语信息的接受者，又要做目标语的交际者。它要求译者提供最大关联语境以便目标语读者能以最小的努力获取说话者的交际意图。语用翻译理论为商务信函的翻译提供了强大的解释力。关键词：商务信函；语用对等；对等效果；礼貌；关联理论Abstract As the primary form of business communication, business letters play an indispensable role in business activities a

6、nd contribute considerably to the rapid development of international trade and business. Therefore, the translation of business letters seems critical to the successful communication. It is the focus of this thesis to explore how to achieve pragmatic equivalence in the translation of business letter

7、s. Apart from introduction and conclusions, the body of this thesis is presented in four chapters. Chapter One presents the nature, forms, functions and the linguistic features of business letters. All of them exert significant influence on the translation of business letters. Based on the overall a

8、nalysis of business letters, some requirements and guiding principles for the translation of business letters are also proposed in this part. Chapter Two elaborates the pragmatic approach to translation by giving a full description of pragmatics and presenting the concept of pragmatic equivalence in

9、 translation studies. Pragmatic equivalence is an ideal goal of translation and can serve as the criterion for evaluating the effect of translation.Business letters pay much attention to politeness, which is determined by its nature and functions. Chapter Three analyses the politeness in the transla

10、tion of business letters by comparing the Politeness Principle in both English and Chinese cultures. Various strategies are recommended with examples in order to achieve politeness equivalence in the translation of business letters. Chapter Four discusses the translation of business letters under th

11、e guidance of Relevance Theory. It requires the translator to be both a receptor of the source text and a communicator of the target text in translation. It also requires the translator to produce the maximum contextual effect so that the target text reader can infer the communicative intention of t

12、he source text reader with minimal effort. Pragmatic approach to translation provides a strong explaining capacity for the translation of business letters. Key words: business letters; pragmatic equivalence; equivalent effect; politeness; relevance theory; ContentsTitle pageChinese declaration. 中文摘要

13、.iiiAbstract.iContents.vList of Tables iList of Figures.ixAbbreviations.xIntroduction 1Chapter 1 An Overall Analysis of the Translation of Business Letters 31.1 An overview of business letters 31.1.1 Nature of business letters 31.1.2 Functions of business letters 41.2 Linguistic features of business

14、 letters 41.2.1 Lexical features 51.2.2 Syntactic features 71.3 The translation of business letters 81.3.1 Previous studies 91.3.2 Requirements 101.3.3 Guiding principles 10Chapter 2 Pragmatic Approach to Translation 132.1 Dynamic description of pragmatics 132.1.1 Meaning 142.1.2 Context 152.1.3 Cro

15、ss-cultural communication 162.2 Pragmatic equivalence in translation 182.2.1 Equivalence theories in translation studies 182.2.2 Pragmatic equivalence 192.3 Pragmatic study of politeness 222.4 Relevance Theory 232.4.1 Definition of Relevance Theory 232.4.2 Optimal relevance 242.5 Summary 25Chapter 3

16、 Politeness in the Translation of Business Letters 273.1 Politeness in English culture 273.1.1 Grices Cooperative Principle 273.1.2 Leechs Politeness Principle 283.1.3 Brown and Levisons face-saving view 303.2 Politeness in Chinese context 303.2.1 Chinese Politeness Principle 313.2.2 Chinese concept

17、 of face 313.3 Politeness in the translation of business letters 323.3.1 Politeness equivalence in translation 323.3.2 Politeness in E-C translation 333.2.3 Politeness in C-E translation 363.3 Summary 39Chapter 4 Relevance Theory in the Translation of Business Letters 404.1 Key points of Relevance T

18、heory 404.1.1 Ostensive-inferential communication 404.1.2 Context and cognitive environment 414.2 Relevance Theory in translation 424.2.1 Optimal relevance in translation 424.2.2 Writer, translator and target text reader 434.2.3 Relevance and cross-cultural communication 444.3 Relevance Theory in th

19、e translation of business letters 444.3.1 Vague language in business letters 444.3.2 Relevance and the translation of vague language in business letters 45Conclusion 51Major findings of the research 51Limitations and suggestions 51Revelations for the teaching of translation 51Bibliography 53Acknowle

20、dgments 55List of TablesTable 1Comparison between daily expressions and expressions in business letters.48List of FiguresFigure 1 Translating Process in RT 42Abbreviations BISUBeijing International Study UniversityC-EChinese to EnglishCPCooperative PrincipleE-CEnglish to ChineseFTAsFace-threatening

21、actsPPPoliteness PrincipleRTRelevance TheorySCSource CultureSLSource LanguageSTSource TextTCTarget CultureTLTarget LanguageTTTarget TextIntroductionWith the development of economic globalization and the expansion of transnational corporations, the cooperation and trade between China and other countr

22、ies are booming and deepening. China, the largest exporter and the largest market in the world, is conducting an unprecedented exchange with the world. As the primary form of business communication, business letters play an indispensable role in commercial activities and contribute considerably to t

23、he rapid development of international trade and business. Business letters do not only provide information of products and services of one company, but also help it to maintain and improve the relations with its business partners. Therefore, a well-translated business letter counts much in internati

24、onal business. It can convey the information that is equivalent to the original letter, which is necessary to both parties of the communication. However, an only literally translated business letter is not only hard to express the pragmatic meaning of the original letter, but also misleading to its

25、reader sometimes, which will affect the success of a transaction. It is urgent to conduct more researches on the translation of business letters. For many centuries, translation researchers and practitioners have been working hard to look for the effective and proper ways to convey the intended mean

26、ing of the source language (SL) with the target language (TL). They proposed various theories from different perspectives. Many translators try to obtain the equivalence between the two languages and regard equivalence as the ideal aim for their translation. According to Eugene Nidas (1982:12) funct

27、ional equivalence theory, translating is interpreted as “reproducing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalence of the source language message, first in terms of meaning and second in terms of style.” Peter Newmark (1988:5)defines translation as “rendering the meaning of a text into an

28、other language in the way that the author intended the text.” As translation study and interdisciplinary research develops, pragmatics has been introduced to translation studies. Pragmatic approach to translation throws a new light upon translation study and provides a strong explaining capacity to

29、translation practice. Especially the application of Politeness Principle (PP) and Relevance Theory (RT) provides a significant guidance to the translation of business letters. To achieve pragmatic equivalence is the ideal goal of the translation of business letters. Among all the pragmatic theories,

30、 PP and RT are adopted because they offer much powerful explanatory capacity to the translation of business letters. Business letters pay much attention to politeness, which is determined by its nature and functions. Politeness in business letter translation helps to create a friendly atmosphere, se

31、ttle disputes, solve problems and improve the relations between partners. Several strategies are recommended in this thesis to achieve politeness equivalence in the translation of business letters. RT believes translation is a complicated activity involving a dual ostensive-inferential process and requires the translator to be both a receptor of the source text and a communicator of the target text in translation. It also requi