Abstract

Since China enters WTO, a new situation or a new look of development comes to the fore in the global market that China’s development will be impossible without the world’s help and likewise, the prospect of the world needs China’s progress. Under this background, business English contracts come into being and play an increasingly prominent role as an important connection link to trade activities. Evidently, it is becoming more and more urgent to translate business English contracts. First, precisely mastering the linguistic features of them is a necessary premise of accurate translation; Second, Nida’s principle that giving consideration to both designative meaning and associative meaning is just in accordance with the characteristics of business English contracts on performability and judicial judgments. 

This thesis stresses the significance of applying Nida’s functional equivalence to practice and focuses on how to realize equivalence in translating business English contracts. From the aspects of vocabulary, syntax and text, many examples are employed to illustrate the applicability and importance of adhering to functional equivalence in the process of translation.

Key words: business English contracts; linguistic features; functional equivalence 

Contents

Abstract

摘要

1 Introduction.1

2 Literature Review2

2.1 Functional Equivalence.-2

2.2 Studies on Business Contracts-3

2.2.1 Definition of Business Contracts-3

2.2.2 Functions of Business Contracts-4

2.2.3 Previous Studies on Business English Contracts Translation5

3 Linguistic Features of Business English Contracts-6

3.1 Lexical Features of Business English Contracts-6

3.1.1 Frequent Use of Synonyms Juxtaposition-6

3.1.2 Frequent Use of Professional Words-7

3.1.3 Frequent Use of Modal Verb "Shall"-7

3.2 Syntactic Features of Business English Contracts-7

3.2.1 Frequent Use of Long Sentences-8

3.2.2 Frequent Use of Declarative Sentences-8

3.2.3 Frequent Use of Passive Voice-8

4 Application of Functional Equivalence in Translating Business English Contracts 9

4.1 Equivalence at Lexical Level.9

4.2 Equivalence at Syntactic Level-11

4.3 Equivalence at Textual Level.13

5 Conclusion.14

References16