The E-C Translation Of Commercial Contracts Under The Guidance Of Skopos Theory

Presently, China, the world's second-largest economy that ranks only after the United States, has greatly strengthened its commercial communications with the rest of the world, especially with the countries in which English is the native language.Therefore, driven by economic globalization, commercial contracts play a vital role in the business activities between the signing parties and the signing countries. To some extent, a well-translated contract not only enables both sides to construct a sound commercial relation but also enables them to minimize misunderstandings and economic losses caused by inappropriateness in translation.As a branch of pragmatic translation, the translation of commercial contracts is characterized by objectivity, preciseness and conciseness. A commercial contract abounds with archaic words, technical terms, complex prepositional phrases and long and passive sentences. All these present an enormous challenge to the translator's language ability and professional expertise. Thus, the preciseness and conciseness of a translated commercial contract guarantee the success of commercial activities.Since the translation of commercial contracts is a highly purposive activity, the report conducts a case study of the translation of LNG Terminal Use Agreement, on the basis of Skopos Theory, by exploring difficulties and appropriate strategies involved in the translation; meanwhile it analyses the pros and cons of the translation,so as to provide reference for those who translate the similar texts.The report is composed of four parts. The first part offers a brief introduction to the translation project, mainly the background and the original text. The second part deals with the translation process such as the preparation of the translation practice,the selection and application of translation strategy, the process of translation and translating proofreading. The third part discusses the problems and solutions in terms of vocabulary, voices and sentence structures, as well as the features of a commercial contract. In the last part, a summary has been reached by concluding the translation practices and the gain and loss the author has experienced in the process oftranslation.