An Application Of Functional Equivalence To E-C Translation Of English Business Letters

China's economic cooperation with foreign countries steps into a new era with the advancement of economic globalization and Chinese acceleration of reform and opening-up.Economic and trade cooperation between China and foreign countries becomes increasingly frequent.Consequently,the cries of the business translation are demanding,among which business letter translation is of great importance.Precise translation of business letter,it is beneficial to economic exchanges.Therefore,it is necessary for translators to study the translation of business letter.As a pattern of business English,English business letter has its special function and characteristics different from general English not only in diction,sentence structure,but also in textual style.The author hopes that he can resolve the difficulties to some extent which exist in the translation of English business letters with the help of Nida's functional equivalence theory.As for the difficulties existing in the translation process,such as technical term,archaic word and phrase in diction;complex sentence,passive voice in syntax;and completeness,courtesy,accuracy and conciseness in discourse;the author copes with these by employing such strategies or techniques as conversion,amplification,omission,substitution,order adjustment,equivalent information translation,cohesion and coherence and so on.Based on the translation of English Business Letters of Peking Syndicate Limited,this thesis mainly analyzes the linguistic features of English business letter and difficulties encountered in the actual translation.At the same time,the author proposes some strategies and techniques to cope with these difficulties.The whole thesis consists of four parts.In the first part,the author introduces the backgrounds of the project,functional equivalence theory,and the mechanism of quality control.In the second part,the author analyzes the features of English business letter from the aspects of diction,syntax,and discourse.In the third part,the author summarizes some strategies and techniques of English business letters in terms of these features which are mentioned in the second part.In the last part,the author makes some reflections and suggestions concerning the difficulties and problems he encountered so as to provide some help and references for the translators who are dedicated translation of English business letters.