On Chinese Translation Of English Contracts From The Perspective Of Discourse Analysis

Upon the arrival of economic globalization, economic activities or transactions across national or regional boundaries have become more and more frequent. A contract or confirmation, as an indispensable part of those endeavors, plays an essential role in stipulating rights and obligations of two parties in a certain economic activity or transaction, and becomes one of the main regulators of economic and trade activities between two parties. Therefore, translation of contracts or confirmations, complicated by linguistic and cultural barriers, naturally becomes an inevitable part of translation studies.This thesis proposes to approach Chinese translation of English contracts from the perspective of discourse analysis, paying special attention to the laws of translation in terms of textual function, cohesion/coherence and theme/rheme. Firstly, viewing Chinese translation of English contracts in terms of textual function, a contract is a discourse of conditional function. Accordingly, strict and established textual format and contract terminology shall be adopted as to achieve this function when rendering English contracts into Chinese ones. Secondly, a contract, as one of the most formal law discourses, adopts cohesive and coherent modes different from those of other kinds of discourses. Therefore, this thesis is intent upon approaching Chinese translation of English contracts by cohesion and coherence theories of discourse analysis. Finally, English is a subject-prominent language while Chinese is a topic-prominent language, resulting in different linear sequences of information distribution between the two languages. In light of that, this thesis desires to consider Chinese translation of English contracts by adopting the theme/rheme theories of discourse analysis.This thesis is composed of five parts. In the introduction, the author intends to express the purpose and methodology of writing this thesis, to explicate the practical significance of approaching Chinese translation of English contracts and to elaborate on the theoretical significance of research as it relates to Chinese translation of English contracts from the perspective of discourse analysis. The first chapter is entitled Literature Review. In this chapter, the author will seek to introduce the status quo of discourse analysis and contract translation studies at home and abroad. In chapter two, the author will define such terms as 'discourse' and 'discourse analysis', elaborating on these three aspects of discourse analysis: textual function, cohesion/coherence and theme/rheme. Chapter three is intent upon its emphasis on the stylistic features of English contracts and the basic principles of contract translation. Chapter four, the author will research Chinese translation of English contracts by combining several representative examples with" the theories discussed in chapter two. After studying Chinese translation of English contracts from the perspective of discourse analysis, the thesis maintains, in the Conclusion, that the quality of Chinese translation of English contracts can be enhanced with the help of discourse analysis; it can and should be applied in Chinese translation of English contracts. At the same time, some suggestions will be extended in the Conclusion regarding other aspects of contract translation study.