A Study Of English Translation Of Chinese Business Contracts Based On The Principle Of Appropriateness

With the increasing growth of trades between China and other countries, the C-E translation of the business contracts plays a more and more important role. Contracts are legal documents in which the rights and obligations of parties concerned are stipulated, and the inappropriate translation might give rise to some trade disputes. The task of translation of contracts is to reproduce the original meaning and style of the original text in the target language, so that the target audience are able to get the original meaning expressed in the original text although they interpret the translation version from the perspective of their own language and culture. Negatively affected by the language framework of the original text, lack of the necessary legal knowledge and unaware of the cultural differences between China and the English-speaking countries, a translator may give a version in which there are expressions that do not conform to the usages in the target language or cannot embody the stylistic features of contracts as a legal text, or even a version that expresses a different meaning in the context of the target language rather than the original meaning in the original text, which results in a failure to fulfill the task of the translation.The principle of appropriateness requires the adaptation of the words to the context where the words are used, so that the words can accurately, clearly, vividly and convincingly express the desired thoughts and feelings. The writer proposes that the principle of appropriateness be used as a guidance for the English translation of Chinese business contracts, which requires the translator to be well equipped with the knowledge of the languages, cultures and specialized fields involved and to have a thorough understanding about the differences between the two languages and two cultures involved, respectively. On the basis of the above analysis, the methods of conversing, restituting, corresponding, borrowing and blending are employed, so as to assist the translator in getting rid of the restriction of the original language for the adaptation to the usages in the target language, stepping away from the original culture for reproducing the original meaning in the target language, keeping the use of professional and formal words for reflecting the earnestness and authoritativeness of the version, so as to fulfill the task of the translating.