A Text Analysis Model In Business Contracts Translation

The thesis aims to construct a text analysis model in business contract translation with the methodologies of literature integration, case study and qualitative analysis.On the basis of functional translation theories, Nord created an exhaustive translation-oriented text analysis model which is characterized by the analysis of extratextual factors outside the text and intratextual factors inside the text. It is a general model without directing to any specific text types. Nord deemed that her text analysis model could be applied to all types of texts translation, whereas the author believes that a certain text is in need of a specific text analysis model. Therefore the author devotes to thread Nord’s model together with business contracts translation to construct a text analysis model in business contracts translation in the thesis. On the one hand, combining with the characteristics of business contracts translation, the author tries to build up a translation-oriented business contracts analysis model which is of greater pertinence to solve the problems occurred in business contracts translation. The model is both identical to and different from Nord’s model. On the other hand, the model is applied to several practical analyses of business contracts translation so as to prove the feasibility and practicability of it.The author first examines the researches on business contracts and their translation studies at home and abroad and then inquires into the definition, characteristic and text type of business contracts, Nord’s Translation-Oriented Text Analysis Model as well as its development backgrounds and theoretical foundations. Hence the author expounds a translation-oriented business contracts analysis model. The extratextual factors in the model that the author works out are contractors, contractors’ intention, medium & channel, place of communication, time of communication, motive for signature and business contracts function, while the intratextual factors include subject, content, presuppositions, business contracts composition and non-verbal features. Nord defined the procedure of analyzing extratextual factors first as “top-down” analysis; otherwise the procedure of analyzing intratextual factors first is referred to as “bottom-up” analysis. These two procedures all can be used in the newly constructed model. A translation-oriented business contract analysis example which quoted the procedure of “bottom-up” analysis is employed in the thesis.The text analysis model in business contracts translation is constructed by integrating the characteristics of business contracts with their translation practices. It enjoys more targeted influences than Nord’s model does on selecting appropriate and comprehensive strategies for business contracts translation.