A Comparative Study On E-C Translations Of Business Correspondence And Contracts From The Perspective Of Tenor

The thesis will mainly discuss relevant translating issues about tenor of two kindsof business text–business correspondence and contracts. Tenor primarily originatesfrom Register Theory. Tenor, field and mode are three variables of register. Differentfrom the other two, tenor highlights interpersonal meaning and emphasizes theimportance of participants. As is known to all, business correspondence and contractsare typical business text, and together they run through international business activities.As trade parties, namely, participants, are always involved, it will be logical to make acomparison between them on the basis of tenor.Speaking of business text translation studies, two major research inclinationsprevail. One is about theories guiding translation and the other is on translation practicecomments. Besides Dynamic Equivalence and Functional Translation, some linguistictheories like Systemic-functional Grammar and Functional Stylistics are also employedto guide business text translation studies. The study object of translation practicecomments incorporates the characteristics, translation criteria, strategies, principles,techniques and mistranslations of business text. However, the previous research isrestricted within the single study on business correspondence or that of contracts. Theyare rarely put together to make a comparison.The thesis will capitalize on Poyton and Martin’s tenor classification theory andHalliday’s interpersonal meaning realization system, and construct a theoreticalframework of tenor realization. Based on that, it will make a layer-by-layer analysis onbusiness correspondence and contracts from the aspects of status, contact, affect, moodand modality, and look for the similarities and differences of translation principlesbetween business correspondence and contracts. Then, it will propose similar anddifferent points about their translation techniques.The thesis will employ qualitative research methods, including analysis bysynthesis, induction and deduction, to integrate theory introduction with case studies. Itwill cover lexicon, grammar, and discourse of business correspondence and contractsand prove the feasibility of tenor translation in business text. At first, the thesis will clarify the definition of business correspondence andcontracts, point out the significance of the research, and come up with the object andscope of the research. In literature review, it will probe into the recent theoretical andpractical research achievements of business text at home and abroad, and show clearlythe existing problems. With tenor at its core, it will explore the origin andclassifications of tenor and the relationship between tenor and interpersonal meaningsystem. Thereupon, a theoretical framework based on them will be constructed. It willanalyze the embodiment of tenor in business correspondence and contracts from theperspective of tenor realization in detail. Finally, it will put forward macro-translationprinciples and micro-translation techniques on tenor.The study finds that a certain relation exists between tenor and interpersonalmeaning realization and translators should pay enough attention to them. Theirintegration will help translators systematically and completely analyze implicitinterpersonal meaning of business text, and optimal workable translation principles andtechniques.Significance of the research: the study on tenor may lead people to attach moreimportance to interpersonal meaning and enrich its connotative meaning. Thetranslation study of tenor in business correspondence and contracts will shed some lighton the translation of some other business text, for instance, bidding documents,commodity instructions, business newspaper articles, etc.Innovative points of the research: it makes a more objective and dialecticalclassification of tenor; it maximally integrates tenor with interpersonal meaningrealization; it methodically elucidates tenor translation in business correspondence andcontracts; it poses universal and respective macro-translation principles andmicro-translation techniques of business correspondence and contracts; it combinestranslation studies with linguistics, economics and law, and it extends the researchvision of translation studies.