The Application Of Schema Theory In The Study Of Business Translation

Schema is a concept of philosophy originally, it refers to the background knowledge pre-existing in people's mind. It is believed that new information can be comprehended and certain inferences can be made during the process of comprehension through the effective activation of related schemata from the perspective of schema theory. With the development of cognitive linguistics, schema theory has been widely adopted in the researches concerning language comprehension and foreign language teaching issues such as reading and listening comprehension.Since translation could be considered as the cognitive process of meaning transformation between ST and TT, some scholars tried to study translation from the perspective of schema theory in recent years. The author tries to apply schema theory to the study of business translation based on the previous study about schema and translation.In this thesis, the author utilized literature research method, descriptive research method,empirical analysis and comparative analysis,consulted a large number of literature and solve the following questions: 1. What are the working mechanism of schema and the translation process? 2. How does schema work in translation process? 3. How does schema theory instruct business translation?1 .As for the translation process, the author analyzed that in the translation process,ST is turned to TT through translator's encoding and decoding, and it is transmitted to target readers through readers' re-decoding. Target reader is the terminal in translation process. In the working mechanism of schema, people need to activate the pre-existing schemata in the mind, adjust them and make them corresponding to the new information in order to achieve correct comprehension.2.Concerning how schema operates in each step of the translating process, the author regarded the translation activity under the instruction of schema theory as a dynamic process of comprehending ST and generating TT. The translator activates his schemata of SL to decode and matches schemata of TL to encode, and adjust his comprehension and expression to complete the translation.3.In terms of the application of schema theory in business translation,schema theory instructs business translation in four aspects according to the classification of schemata:linguistic schema, content schema,stylistic schema and cultural schema. In the fields of language, the translator need to activate proper linguistic schemata including terms,abbreviations, etc., match proper semantic selection of polysemy, convert word classes and word order and adjust sentence structure and voice according to the linguistic characteristics of TL. In the field of content,the translator need to activate business-related professional knowledge in SL, including professional terms, polysemy and new words;having comprehended SL, the translator should activate and match corresponding content schemata in TL. In the field of style, the translator need to distinguish the style of ST, such as advertising style, officialese style, contract style, etc., then activate relevant stylistic schema and select proper style in TL while translating. In the field of culture, the translator may encounter cultural schema accordant,cultural schema default and cultural schema conflict, so the translator need to substitute, compensate or adjust cultural schema to achieve successful translation. The author analyzed the instruction of schema theory to business translation form four dimensions of language, content, style and culture, which is expected to provide a new perspective for the study of business translation.