硕士学位论文 - BISU
硕士学位论文
北京第二外国语学院
题 目： 商务信函的语用翻译探究
系 别： 应用英语学院
专 业： 英语语言文学
研究方向： 国际商务英语
指导教师： XXX 教授
年 级： 2010届
姓 名： XXX
2010年 5 月 30 日
On Pragmatic Approach to the Translation of Business Letters
By
XXX
A Thesis Submitted
in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of Master of Arts
in English Language and Literature
Supervised by Professor XXX
Institute of Linguistics and Applied Linguistics
Beijing International Studies University
Beijing
May 2010
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中文摘要
作为商务沟通的主要形式，商务信函在商务活动中发挥着不可替代的作用。它大大促进了国际商务与贸易的发展。因而，商务信函翻译质量的好坏将会影响到交际的成功与否。本论文要解决的核心问题是探究如何实现商务信函翻译的语用对等。除引言和结论外，本论文分为四章。
第一章对商务信函做了全面分析，涵盖了从信函性质、形式、功能到更为重要的信函语言特点分析的方方面面，它们对信函的翻译均有重要影响。基于以上分析，本章提出了商务信函翻译的要求和指导原则。
第二章系统描述语用学和语用对等的概念，对语用翻译做了详尽的分析。实现语用对等是翻译的理想目标，也是衡量翻译效果的准绳。
受其性质和功能的影响，商务信函十分注重对礼貌的传达。通过对比中英文化在礼貌原则上的差异，第三章分析了商务信函中的礼貌原则，并通过例证给出了几种旨在实现礼貌对等的翻译策略。
第四章着重探讨了关联理论指导下的商务信函翻译。关联理论要求译者承担双重角色，既要做原语信息的接受者，又要做目标语的交际者。它要求译者提供最大关联语境以便目标语读者能以最小的努力获取说话者的交际意图。
语用翻译理论为商务信函的翻译提供了强大的解释力。
关键词：商务信函；语用对等；对等效果；礼貌；关联理论
Abstract
As the primary form of business communication, business letters play an indispensable role in business activities and contribute considerably to the rapid development of international trade and business. Therefore, the translation of business letters seems critical to the successful communication. It is the focus of this thesis to explore how to achieve pragmatic equivalence in the translation of business letters. Apart from introduction and conclusions, the body of this thesis is presented in four chapters.
Chapter One presents the nature, forms, functions and the linguistic features of business letters. All of them exert significant influence on the translation of business letters. Based on the overall analysis of business letters, some requirements and guiding principles for the translation of business letters are also proposed in this part.
Chapter Two elaborates the pragmatic approach to translation by giving a full description of pragmatics and presenting the concept of pragmatic equivalence in translation studies. Pragmatic equivalence is an ideal goal of translation and can serve as the criterion for evaluating the effect of translation.
Business letters pay much attention to politeness, which is determined by its nature and functions. Chapter Three analyses the politeness in the translation of business letters by comparing the Politeness Principle in both English and Chinese cultures. Various strategies are recommended with examples in order to achieve politeness equivalence in the translation of business letters.
Chapter Four discusses the translation of business letters under the guidance of Relevance Theory. It requires the translator to be both a receptor of the source text and a communicator of the target text in translation. It also requires the translator to produce the maximum contextual effect so that the target text reader can infer the communicative intention of the source text reader with minimal effort.
Pragmatic approach to translation provides a strong explaining capacity for the translation of business letters.
Key words: business letters; pragmatic equivalence; equivalent effect; politeness; relevance theory;
Contents
Title page………………………………………………………………i
Chinese declaration…….……………………………………………..ii
中文摘要………….....…….…………………………………………..iii
Abstract…………..…..…………………..…………………….iv
Contents…………..……………………………………………………v
List of Tables ………………………………………………………viii
List of Figures……...…………………………………………………ix
Abbreviations…….……………………………………………………x
Introduction 1
Chapter 1 An Overall Analysis of the Translation of Business Letters 3
1.1 An overview of business letters 3
1.1.1 Nature of business letters 3
1.1.2 Functions of business letters 4
1.2 Linguistic features of business letters 4
1.2.1 Lexical features 5
1.2.2 Syntactic features 7
1.3 The translation of business letters 8
1.3.1 Previous studies 9
1.3.2 Requirements 10
1.3.3 Guiding principles 10
Chapter 2 Pragmatic Approach to Translation 13
2.1 Dynamic description of pragmatics 13
2.1.1 Meaning 14
2.1.2 Context 15
2.1.3 Cross-cultural communication 16
2.2 Pragmatic equivalence in translation 18
2.2.1 Equivalence theories in translation studies 18
2.2.2 Pragmatic equivalence 19
2.3 Pragmatic study of politeness 22
2.4 Relevance Theory 23
2.4.1 Definition of Relevance Theory 23
2.4.2 Optimal relevance 24
2.5 Summary 25
Chapter 3 Politeness in the Translation of Business Letters 27
3.1 Politeness in English culture 27
3.1.1 Grice’s Cooperative Principle 27
3.1.2 Leech’s Politeness Principle 28
3.1.3 Brown and Levison’s face-saving view 30
3.2 Politeness in Chinese context 30
3.2.1 Chinese Politeness Principle 31
3.2.2 Chinese concept of face 31
3.3 Politeness in the translation of business letters 32
3.3.1 Politeness equivalence in translation 32
3.3.2 Politeness in E-C translation 33
3.2.3 Politeness in C-E translation 36
3.3 Summary 39
Chapter 4 Relevance Theory in the Translation of Business Letters 40
4.1 Key points of Relevance Theory 40
4.1.1 Ostensive-inferential communication 40
4.1.2 Context and cognitive environment 41
4.2 Relevance Theory in translation 42
4.2.1 Optimal relevance in translation 42
4.2.2 Writer, translator and target text reader 43
4.2.3 Relevance and cross-cultural communication 44
4.3 Relevance Theory in the translation of business letters 44
4.3.1 Vague language in business letters 44
4.3.2 Relevance and the translation of vague language in business letters 45
Conclusion 51
Major findings of the research 51
Limitations and suggestions 51
Revelations for the teaching of translation 51
Bibliography 53
Acknowledgments 55
List of Tables
Table 1
Comparison between daily expressions and expressions in business letters…….48
List of Figures
Figure 1 Translating Process in RT ………………………………………………42
Abbreviations
|BISU |Beijing International Study University |
|C-E |Chinese to English |
|CP |Cooperative Principle |
|E-C |English to Chinese |
|FTAs |Face-threatening acts |
|PP |Politeness Principle |
|RT |Relevance Theory |
|SC |Source Culture |
|SL |Source Language |
|ST |Source Text |
|TC |Target Culture |
|TL |Target Language |
|TT |Target Text |
Introduction
With the development of economic globalization and the expansion of transnational corporations, the cooperation and trade between China and other countries are booming and deepening. China, the largest exporter and the largest market in the world, is conducting an unprecedented exchange with the world. As the primary form of business communication, business letters play an indispensable role in commercial activities and contribute considerably to the rapid development of international trade and business. Business letters do not only provide information of products and services of one company, but also help it to maintain and improve the relations with its business partners. Therefore, a well-translated business letter counts much in international business. It can convey the information that is equivalent to the original letter, which is necessary to both parties of the communication. However, an only literally translated business letter is not only hard to express the pragmatic meaning of the original letter, but also misleading to its reader sometimes, which will affect the success of a transaction. It is urgent to conduct more researches on the translation of business letters.
For many centuries, translation researchers and practitioners have been working hard to look for the effective and proper ways to convey the intended meaning of the source language (SL) with the target language (TL). They proposed various theories from different perspectives. Many translators try to obtain the equivalence between the two languages and regard equivalence as the ideal aim for their translation. According to Eugene Nida’s (1982:12) functional equivalence theory, translating is interpreted as “reproducing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalence of the source language message, first in terms of meaning and second in terms of style.” Peter Newmark (1988:5)defines translation as “rendering the meaning of a text into another language in the way that the author intended the text.” As translation study and interdisciplinary research develops, pragmatics has been introduced to translation studies. Pragmatic approach to translation throws a new light upon translation study and provides a strong explaining capacity to translation practice. Especially the application of Politeness Principle (PP) and Relevance Theory (RT) provides a significant guidance to the translation of business letters.
To achieve pragmatic equivalence is the ideal goal of the translation of business letters. Among all the pragmatic theories, PP and RT are adopted because they offer much powerful explanatory capacity to the translation of business letters. Business letters pay much attention to politeness, which is determined by its nature and functions. Politeness in business letter translation helps to create a friendly atmosphere, settle disputes, solve problems and improve the relations between partners. Several strategies are recommended in this thesis to achieve politeness equivalence in the translation of business letters. RT believes translation is a complicated activity involving a dual ostensive-inferential process and requires the translator to be both a receptor of the source text and a communicator of the target text in translation. It also requires the translator to produce the maximum contextual effect so that the target text reader can infer the communicative intention of the source text reader with minimal effort. This thesis selects enough examples to illustrate the application of the two theories.
Pragmatic translation becomes increasingly important and more and more researchers realize its huge power in translation. The pragmatic study of the translation of business letters provides a new angle of research in this area. It is hoped that this research can produce some positive results to the study of business letter translation.
Chapter 1 An Overall Analysis of the Translation of Business Letters
1.1 An overview of business letters
Effective communication is critical for the success of business transactions. As the primary form of business communication, business letters play an indispensable role in commercial activities and contribute considerably to the rapid development of international trade and business. Business letters do not only provide information of products and services of one company, but also help it to maintain and improve the relations with its business partners.
1.1.1 Nature of business letters
Business letters are a written form of conversation by post in which the participants with definite purposes take turns to address their counterparts and wait for their response in order to achieve their desired results. As both parties of this type of communication are separated by time and space, they can not see each other or even have never met each other. How can they obtain mutual trust? Apart from the information they get from the chamber of commerce, banks or governmental organizations, how well their counterparts do in dealing with business letters counts much. In business world, good writing means good business. Words are as important as figures. Words make sales, create good will, win new customers and hold old ones. Words can obtain credit, gets bills paid, report on new ideas and products, and launch sales campaigns. If one party can do as well as his/her partner expects, then he/she will be considered as trustworthy. Take enquiry as an example. An importer sends an enquiry asking for quotation or other information to an exporter. If the exporter’s reply to the enquiry is prompt, courteous, helpful and well-written, the importer will have a very positive impression of the exporter and may be glad to cooperate with him.
Business letters play an indispensable role in business communication because they can convey and retain the message clearly and effectively. A well-written business letter can not only provide the information of products or services of one company, but also can cope with or improve the relations with its customers. Usually face-to-face talk is usually considered as the best way of communication. But it is not possible for those businessmen to meet each other face-to-face every time because it is too time-consuming and the cost will be high, especially in international trade. What’s more, even after a face-to-face meeting, the company still needs to sort out a written record. Oral communication like phone call or video conference can get the information across. But they have to calculate cost on the one hand and consider the effect on the other because a statistics shows that people can only retain about 25 percent of what they hear. Oral communication tends to result in misunderstanding or even forgetting about the message. And it is difficult to explain some complicated and professional ideas in oral communication. Consequently, compared with other forms, letters are still the best choice because it is accurate, reliable, and cost-efficient.
Business letters have different forms according to their different purposes, ranging from letters of establishing business relations, letters of enquiry, letters of offer and counter-offer, letters of quotation, to letters of complaints, letters of collection, letters of credit, etc. As modern information technology develops, many new ways of communication like telex, instant message system have emerged. But business letters (including e-mail and fax) still dominate in business communication because of the various functions it fulfils.
1.1.2 Functions of business letters
Business letters perform a variety of functions. From linguistic perspective, it has three functions: informative function, which means business letter can provide information to the counterparts, even advertise the company sometimes; impersonal function, which means it just serves as a way of exchanging ideas of the participants and it also helps to set up and improve relations with business partners; and imperative function, which means it is helpful to arouse the attention, even urge the reader to give response or take actions as the writer expects.
From practical perspective, business letters fulfill the following functions. First, they serve as a written contract, having legal power and binding to both parties. For example, as long as either party accepts the offer or counter-offer of the other, it means a contract has been signed. In addition, business letters also function as company’s business record and publicity materials. They help to build up the image of the company, to create good will, to win new clients and keep the old ones.
1.2 Linguistic features of business letters
The nature and functions of business letters determine its linguistic features which meanwhile exert great influence on its translation. Next the linguistic features of business letters will be explored from both lexical and syntactic perspectives.
1.2.1 Lexical features
A. Use of formal words
As a product of careful and long-time pondering, business letters are very formal writing, in which a large number of formal words are commonly used. Although it tends to be colloquial in form recent years, formal and common words are still much more commonly used than informal words, which demonstrates the importance of formality and politeness in business letters.
1) We are pleased to advice you that your order No. 103 has been dispatched in accordance with your instruction. (Zhang & Li, 2003: 165)
In this sentence, the formal words “advice” “dispatch” and “in accordance with” replace “tell”, “send” and “by” or “under” respectively.
2) We will meet you half way by offering a discount of 5% in view of our long pleasant relations. (ibid)
In this sentence, the use of “in view of” instead of “for” shows its formality.
3) All offers and sales are subject to the terms and conditions printed on the reverse side hereof. (ibid)
In this sentence, the use of the archaic word “hereof” which means “of the offer letter” is another way of showing formality.
There are many other examples, using “duplicate” instead of “copy”, “otherwise” instead of “or”, “with regarding to” instead of “about”, etc.
B. Use of terms
Another lexical feature of business letters is the use of terms, which are accurate and professional in conveying meaning. Terms are an unalienable part of business letters. They are used to express some specific facts and convey business concepts. The use of terms helps to save time, improve efficiency, avoid ambiguity and lower the cost. These terms have been summed up in the long-standing business practice and become idiomatic. Those words take on the meanings specialized in business circle and seem much different from their meanings in common English.
Business terms are used in business letters. For example, the word “quotation” means “a group of words or a short piece of writing taken from a book, play, speech, etc. and repeated because it is interesting or useful”(引用) in common English. But it means “a written statement of exactly how much money something will cost”（报价单） as a business term. There are other examples like, “acceptance”, “collection”, “draft”, “negotiate”, “offer”, etc.
Besides, some professional terms are also employed in business letters. For example “average” means “the amount calculated by adding together several quantities and then dividing this amount by the total number of quantities”(平均数) in common English. But it takes on the meaning of “damage to or loss of a ship or the goods it carries”（海损）in insurance. There are other examples like “coverage” “policy” “premium” “underwriter” in insurance, “bill of exchange” “invoice” “debit and credit” “loan” “reimburse” in banking, “arbitration” “penalty” in law, “liner & charter ” “demurrage & dispatch money” “seaworthiness” in ocean transport, etc.
In addition to business and professional terms, some abbreviations of terms also appear in business letters. For example, CIF (cost, insurance and freight), FOB (free on board), L/C (letter of credit), ICC (International Chamber of Commerce), IMF (International Monetary Fund), ft (foot), PCS (pieces), CTNS (cartons), FCL (full container load ), etc.
Furthermore, some words having different meanings in common English acquire similar meanings in business areas, such as offer and quotation, pamphlet, brochure and sales literature, financial standing and reputation, contract and confirmation and so on. In addition, business writing absorbs many foreign words into English in the communication with other countries. For example, “bona fide” (genuine, real or legal) and “status quo” (present situation) from Latin, “del credere” (payment guaranteed) from Italian, “litchi” “mango” from Chinese, etc.
Finally, as both parties of business extend their foremost attention to time, price, quantity and amount, which are the focus of business negotiation, number, used to indicate the above information, becomes primarily important. The numbers in business letter should be exact and contain no any ambiguity in order to avoid disputes.
C. Use of plain words
Writing falls into literary writing and non-literary writing. Literary writing pursues the artistic and aesthetic appeals. Literary woks gain popularity by means of skillful use of rhetorical structures. Remarkably different from literary writing, the real value of non-literary writing lies in the fidelity and truth involved in the text. Simple, natural words and clear logic are enough to produce a good non-literary writing.
As a significant part of non-literary writing, business letters possesse all the features mentioned above. The major function of business letters is to transfer the accurate message so as to facilitate transactions. Except for the use of some necessary terms, business letters usually use simple words to make it easy to comprehend and to make the intention of the writer explicit. Both strange, flowery, profound words and the figures of speech like metaphor, hyperbole, personification which aims to enhance the vividness of the writing are seldom used in business writings. Besides plain words, the frequently used common words and short sentences in business letters generate an amicable and simple style of writing, which makes the writer and reader feel closer. For example:
Dear Sirs:
Thank you for your interest in our fireworks.
In reply to your enquiry of November 10, we are really so sorry to say that we cannot divulge any of our sales information. We hope this will not bring you too much inconvenience.
Yours truly
(ibid: 170)
This is a very short letter with simple words. It fully demonstrates the conciseness of business letters.
1.2.2 Syntactic features
A. Use of short and brief sentences
As is mentioned above, short and brief sentences are applied with simple words in business letters because “shorter sentences are easier to be understood and can communicate information more effectively” (Pearce et al.1988:98) But business letters are a formal writing in nature. When some complicated ideas are to be conveyed, long and complex sentences are still the best choice because they can better deliver the multi-level logic relations and inter-related meanings.
B. Use of programmed sentence structure
In the long-term business practice, some frequently used programmed sentence structures have been fixed up and widely accepted. For example, when inform the other side the receipt of his/her letter, sentences like “We are in receipt of your letter” “We admit/acknowledge receipt of your letter” are used; when reply a letter, “regarding your letter of” “referring to your letter of” “in reply to your letter of” are used; when tell the other side the information source, “we owe your name and address to” “your name and address has been given by” “… has referred us to you” are used; when ask for reply, “look forward to hearing from you” “please reply at your earliest convenience” are used; when enclose something, “please find enclosed” “we are enclosing” are used.
C. Use of declarative sentence expressing imperative meaning
The two parties of business letters are business partners. They are equal. Therefore, when one party expects something from the other, he/she usually use declarative sentence instead of imperative one.
(4) We would appreciate it if you could send us the shipping instructions immediately.
You confirmation on this point would be appreciated.
(Zhang & Li, 2003: 172)
Further explanation and more examples in this respect will be given in chapter three.
D. Use of polite and euphemistic tone
Business letters attach great importance to the conveyance of polite and euphemistic tone because politeness can leave a very pleasant impression on the reader so as to enhance relations between the writer and reader. A polite letter can decline the request without undermining the business relations. It is necessary to learn how to express your dissatisfaction in a euphemistic way. Compare the following two sentences.
(5) a. You have to replace the damaged records.
b. We will appreciate it if you replace the damaged records.
(ibid: 173)
Sentence a is too direct and blunt. It will inevitably make your partner lose face and your business relations may be endangered.
Further explanation and more examples in this respect will also be given in chapter three.
1.3 The translation of business letters
As China’s entry to WTO, the business activities and communication between China and other countries become more and more frequent. The role of business letters seems more prominent in promoting international trade and communication. Consequently, it is imperative to conduct research on the translation of business letters.
1.3.1 Previous studies
According to the records of CNKI, there are totally 139 papers published from 2001 to the February of 2010 concerning business letter research. Among those papers, four of them concern the teaching of business letters; thirty one concern the analysis and application of Politeness Principle in business letters; eighty six concern the linguistic analysis and the writing of business letters, such as the analysis of lexical and syntactic features, the analysis of vague language, the analysis from the perspective of register or discourse, the analysis of pragmatic principles and so on; eighteen concern the translation studies of it. Among the eighteen papers concerning business letter translation, fifteen focus on the study of translating strategies; one studies it with the help of skopos theory, one with dynamic equivalence theory and one analyses the application of register theory; and only one paper concerns pragmatic study of it. This paper, entitled Pragmatic Skills of Translation of Business Letters, is written by Chen Shaokang and was published on the fifth edition of Journal of Shaoguan University (Social Science) in 2002.
Referring to CNKI, we can also find that forty three master’s theses were published from 2001 to 2009. Twenty two of them focus on the linguistic analysis and the writing of business letters, such as the analysis of lexical and syntactic features, the analysis of vague language, the analysis from the perspective of register or discourse, the analysis of pragmatic principles and so on; fourteen concern the analysis and application of Politeness Principle in business letters; five concern the translation studies of it. Among the five papers concerning business letter translation, three discuss the translating strategies from the angle of Politeness Principle; one studies it with the help of skopos theory and one with the help of Genre analysis theory. Although there are eleven papers offer the pragmatic analysis of business letters, none of them introduces pragmatic theory into the translation studies of business letters.
After consulting some books concerning business letters, we can find that most books offer a good guidance on how to write business letters but concern the translation little. There are also some popular translation textbooks like An Introduction to Enterprise Translation written by Xu Jianzhong, published in 2001, English-Chinese Translation for International Business and Chinese-English Translation for International Business written by Zhang Xinhong and Li Ming, published in 2007. They offer a very good guidance to the study of practical translation. But the translation of business letters only accounts for a small part of those books and the writers do not elevate the translating of it to a high theoretical level since the target users of the those books are limited to undergraduate students .
1.3.2 Requirements
Based on the linguistic features of business letters discussed above, some specific requirements for the translation of business letters can be made as follows.
First, translators must possess a good command of English vocabulary as well as the business and professional knowledge since there are plenty of terms in business letter.
Second, although business letters tend to be colloquial, they are still a type of formal writing. They function as contracts to some extent. So the translators have to use some formal words in their translation, especially to avoid spoken language in it.
Third, there is a 7C principle in business letter writing, which can also serve as a guideline for business letter translation. The 7C refers to correctness (everything in the letter should be correct), conciseness (be short and clear), clearness (use words easy to be understood), completeness (provide sufficient information as the customer needs), concreteness (use concrete words, especially the words concerning time, number, etc.), courtesy (use polite words to create a friendly atmosphere), and consideration (the writer have to put himself in the reader’s position). Translators have to observe this principle in their translation.
1.3.3 Guiding principles
According to pragmatic equivalence theory we discussed in chapter two, it is the ultimate goal of translation to achieve equivalent effect. How can a translator produce a translated version with the same effects upon readers as that of the original version?
Eugene A. Nida (1982:12) interprets translating as “reproducing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent of the source language message, first in terms of meaning and second in terms of style”. Li Changshuan elaborates that “translation can reflect the exact truth: it can fulfill the functions that the original texts intend to do: the language in the translation should follow the habitual use of target language in collocation and grammatical structures and also the expressions that seem strange to the target readers are not accepted; the translation must carry a clear meaning, refusing the use of words that tend to mislead the target readers.” (Li, 2004:27) Liu Fagong (2002) proposed his criterion for business translation: faithfulness, exactness, and consistency. All those criteria are referential to the translation of business letters.
Based on the above criteria, we can sum up our own principle that business letter translation should follow, that is, “faithful in meaning, accurate in diction, consistent in terms and equivalent in function”.
“Faithful in meaning” connotes that the translated version should be faithful to the original version, i.e., convey the precise meaning of the original version and reflect the real intention of the writer. “Accurate in diction” means the translator should select the right words in the TT to convey the meaning of the ST as accurately as possible. It includes the accurate and clear conveyance of concepts, the correct reference between object and the referent, and the exact expression of numbers and units, etc. The following example offers a good illustration for the two principles.
(6) 客商从开发区企业分得的利润汇出境外时，免征所得税。
Profits gained by the investors and businessmen from the Development Zone enterprises will be exempted from tax when remitted out of China.
(Liu, 2002:45)
This translation is not faithful or accurate because the original has been distorted. First, “分得的利润” should be translated into “dividend” instead of profit. “Profit” means “money that one gains by selling things or doing business, after your costs have been paid”. However, “dividend” refers to “a part of a company’s profit that is divided among the people with shares in the company”. So it is clear that dividend is only a part of profit. Although the local government will offer some preferential policies to attract investors, it is impossible that all the profit is exempted from tax because that means the government get nothing from it. Second, the translation of “所得税” into “tax” undoubtedly broadens its scope. “Personal income tax” is the equivalent version of “所得税”. So the mistranslation of the two key words will result in unfaith to the original text on one hand, but more seriously, also the heavy loss to the government on the other. Faithfulness and accuracy should be the essential principle in the translation of business letters.
Since there are such a large number of terms used in business letters, the translation of those terms seems critical to the success of the entire mission. The notion of terminology equivalence has been proposed and becomes an important part of translation equivalence. The principle of “consistent in terms” is designed to achieve terminology equivalence. It requires translators to use commonly or even internationally accepted terms in their translation rather than unknown names or personalized translations which may confuse the readers. Translators should be well aware of both English language knowledge and business knowledge to put those terms across. The lack of either of them will eventually result in the failure of the translation. What should be especially noted is that the translator should not interpret those terms crudely without real understanding. If they are not quite sure about one term, they have to consult the professional reference books.
“Equivalent in function” means the priority should be given to the accurate conveyance of meaning and style instead of linguistic form in business letter translation. In order to achieve the equivalent effect, sometimes translators have to shake off the fetter of the original sentence structure.
In chapter three and four, the pragmatic equivalence of business letter translation will be further discussed from the perspective of politeness and Relevance Theory respectively.
Chapter 2 Pragmatic Approach to Translation
2.1 Dynamic description of pragmatics
The modern usage of the term pragmatics is attributable to the philosopher Charles Morris (1938), who was concerned to outline the general shape of a science of signs, or semiotics. Within semiotics, Morris distinguished three distinct branches of inquiry: syntactics (or syntax), being the study of “the formal relation of signs to one another”, semantics, the study of “the relations of signs to the objects to which the signs are applicable”, and pragmatics, the study of “the relation of signs to interpreters” (1938:6). Since Morris’ introduction of pragmatics, as a comparatively new branch of study in the area of linguistics, it has aroused more and more interest of researchers and has been applied to a variety of areas. Although it is not easy to give a precise and comprehensive definition to pragmatics, some researchers have offered their own understanding from different perspectives. Some are quoted below.
• From the speaker’s/writer’s perspective:
Pragmatics is the study of the ability of language users to pair sentences with the context in which they would be appropriate. (Levinson, 1983: 24)
Pragmatics is the study of speaker meaning. (Yule, 2000:3)
Pragmatics is the study of how speakers of a language use sentences to effect successful communication. (Dai, 2002:84)
• From the listener’s/reader’s perspective:
Pragmatics is concerned with the study of meaning as communicated by a speaker or writer and interpreted by a listener or a reader. (Yule, 2000:3)
Pragmatics is the study of how more gets communicated than is said.
(Yule, 2000:3)
• From the perspective of context:
Pragmatics can be defined as the study of how utterances have meanings in situations. (Leech, 1983: 13)
Pragmatics is the study of relation between the language and context that is basic to an account of language understanding. (Levinson, 1983: 21)
It is learned from the definitions aforementioned that the essence of pragmatics is to lead the ultimate research into language use and understanding in human communicative process: (i) in terms of context, pragmatics is concerned with the study of meaning in a specific situation; (ii) in terms of speaker meaning, pragmatics has more to do with the analysis of what people mean by their utterances than what the words or phrases in those utterances might mean by themselves; (iii) in terms of listeners’ understanding, pragmatics explores how listeners make inferences about what is said in order to arrive at an interpretation of the speaker’s intended meaning. It is difficult to say which definition is the best one because they differ from one another merely in emphasis and preference. However, no matter what emphasis or preference they lay, each of them highlights two basic concepts: meaning and context. In order to have a sound and complete understanding of pragmatics, let us analyze the two concepts respectively.
2.1.1 Meaning
In traditional linguistic study, semantics is regarded as the study of meaning. As the process of communication is essentially a process of conveying and understanding meaning in a certain context, pragmatics can also be considered as a kind of meaning study. Since both pragmatics and semantics are linguistic studies of meaning, then how are they related and how do they differ?
Dai (2002) explains that they are related to each other in that as a comparatively new branch of study in the area of linguistics, the development of pragmatics resulted mainly from the expansion of the study of linguistics, especially that of semantics. According to the traditional linguistic theory, language should be studied as a self-contained, intrinsic system. Any serious study of language cannot afford to investigate the use of language and extra-linguistic factors were not to be considered. Therefore, semantics considers meaning of language as something intrinsic and inherent, i.e. a property attached to language itself. It studies the static meaning, the meanings of words or sentences isolated from language use. For several decades this spirit has been the dominant tradition of linguistic study. But gradually linguists found that it would be impossible to give an adequate description of meaning if the context of language use was left unconsidered. But once the concept of context was taken into account, semantics spilled over into pragmatics. “What essentially distinguishes semantics and pragmatics is whether in the study of meaning the context of use is considered.” (Dai, 2002:85) Pragmatics studies the dynamic meaning of language in various contexts.
Regarding meaning, there are another two concepts: sentence meaning and utterance meaning. According to Dai (2002), sentence meaning usually refers to the abstract, intrinsic property of the sentence itself in terms of predication; but when we think of a sentence as what people actually utter in the process of communication, it becomes an utterance. “The meaning of a sentence is abstract, and decontextualized, that of an utterance is concrete, and context-dependent. The meaning of an utterance is based on sentence meaning; it is the realization of the abstract meaning of a sentence in a real situation of communication, or simply in a context.” (ibid: 87) Sentence meaning is fixed and literal, while utterance meaning of the same sentence may be quite different in different contexts.
We can see that semantics concerns with sentence meaning, which is the linguistic knowledge itself, while pragmatics concerns with utterance meaning, which refers to the information that cannot be known from language itself alone but have to be inferred according to the social, cultural, physical or psychological context.
Opposite to semantic analysis, pragmatic analysis is designed to catch the utterance meaning rather than the sentence meaning. In this sense, pragmatics is the study of how listeners/readers make inferences with the help of various contexts so as to restore the information the sparkers/writers intend to send. The task of the hearer is to find out the invisible meaning hidden behind the words and sentences on the basis of context, in which the real intention of the speaker is also embedded.
2.1.2 Context
From the previous part, we can find out that context plays a significant role in the comprehension of meaning. Context determines the speaker’s/writer’s use of language and also the listener’s/reader’s interpretation of what is said/written to him. Let’s take a very simple example. The sentence “It is cold in here.” might be said by the speaker to ask the hearer to turn on the heater, or to leave the place, or to put on more clothes, or to apologize for the poor condition of the room. How it is to be understood depends on the context in which it is uttered and the intention for which the speaker utters it.
Then what is context? In a narrow sense context means the parts of a piece of writing, which surround a word or a sentence and which influence or help to understand its meaning, i.e. the position of a word or sentence in a larger paragraph of language. Obviously this definition is only a superficial description from the semantic perspective. But when the notion of context is expanded to language use, this explanation is far from satisfactory to illustrate many phenomena. Only when the speaker and hearer understand each other well can a communication be successfully conducted. Apart from their language knowledge, other conditions, such as time, place, person, surroundings and occasion, also contribute much to their mutual understanding. No communication can be conducted without a certain objective or background. Consequently, in a larger sense context can be “generally considered as constituted by the knowledge shared by the speaker and the hearer.” (ibid: 85) Whether a communication can be successful or not depends on how well the listener/reader knows about the context, or the shared knowledge.
Dai (2002) explains that the shared knowledge covers various components, language knowledge making the basic part of it. The first language knowledge is the knowledge of language they use. If the parties in a communication want to get a correct mutual understanding, they have to know one language in common. The second language knowledge is what has been said before or mentioned in previous text. As communication is not a stationary but a dynamic and ongoing process, once it is initiated, the utterances will keep occurring one after another and become closely connected with each other. If the hearer wants to understand this utterance, he/she has to refer to the former one(s).
In addition to language knowledge, the knowledge beyond language makes the major part of context. It includes (i) background knowledge i.e. the knowledge about the world in general, a kind of knowledge in encyclopedia style, such as common sense, social norms and cultural assumptions. (ii) scene knowledge: i.e. the knowledge about the specific situation in which linguistic communication is taking place. It comprises time, place, person, surroundings, occasion, etc. (iii) the knowledge about each other. It means that either party in the communication knows the other party possesses this knowledge. This knowledge is important for the success of communication because it is the basis for both parties to make pragmatic inference.
2.1.3 Cross-cultural communication
With the rapid development of research, pragmatic study has been enriched and enhanced. It does not only focus on the pragmatic study of language itself but also covers some interdisciplinary pragmatic research. Generally pragmatics of today falls into the following categories: pragma-linguistics, cognitive pragmatics, societal pragmatics, developmental pragmatics, inter-language pragmatics and cross-cultural pragmatics. As economic globalization develops and multinational companies expand, cross-cultural communication becomes increasingly common. Since pragmatics studies the meaning in context, cultural background is no doubt a significant part of context. Cultural differences exert profound influence on the interpretation of the speaker meaning. In order to avoid pragmatic failure, even cultural conflicts, the study of cross-cultural pragmatics seems critical.
Cross-cultural pragmatics focuses on the pragmatic problems when people conduct cross-cultural communication with their second/foreign language. As each language has its own distinct cultural feature, the cultural feature of one’s mother tongue will inevitably influence the result of cross-cultural communication to a certain extent. For example, the reaction of Chinese to other’s compliment is completely different from that of Americans: the Chinese always express their refusal to show their modesty because Chinese regard modesty as a traditional virtue while the Americans accept the praise and say thank you to show their happiness and frankness.
(1) A: Your handwriting is wonderful.
B: Thank you.
Such a conversation seems natural and understandable to Americans. However,
A: Your handwriting is wonderful.
B: No, it isn’t good at all. I am only a beginner. (He, 2004:17)
This conversation will make westerners feel puzzled or even embarrassed just because of the cultural differences.
Cross-cultural pragmatics is also closely related with translation. It provides some reasonable explanation and directions for the understanding of translating principles, under which a lot of wonderful translations have been made. For example, “coca cola” was translated into “可口可乐”, BMW into “宝马”, “safeguard” into “舒肤佳”, etc. All the translations take cultural differences and the function of the text into consideration instead of sticking to the literal meaning of the source language. So the translator can discard the bond of the original words and achieve pragmatic equivalence. However, translations beyond cultural contexts can never convey the theme and flavor of original works, and even give rise to many great failures. The example of Chinese brand “白象” and “金鸡” once was translated into “White Elephant” and “Golden Cock” respectively. However, “white elephant” refers to expensive but useless things and the word“cock”in English is a taboo, scolding the sex organ of a male. As brands, it is no doubt to have damage to the image of the products and make foreign consumers loathe them. So it is not advisable only sticking to the literal meaning without considering the pragmatic effect of cultural background in translation.
2.2 Pragmatic equivalence in translation
The major task of translation is to establish a certain type of correspondence between the SL and the TL. The essence of correspondence has been understood as “faithfulness”, “fidelity” or “equivalence” in translation. The word “equivalence” does not mean that it aims at absolutely equivalent expressions in translation. There are no two identical leaves in the world and even twins are not exactly alike. So the ideal of exact equivalence is unlikely to be achieved because there are few absolute synonyms between two languages and something is always lost (or even gained) in the translating process. Translation equivalence doesn’t mean absolute, complete and total equality or similarity but a rough correspondence at the syntactic, semantic and pragmatic levels.
2.2.1 Equivalence theories in translation studies
Translation is a complicated process of comparison and transformation between languages, which inevitably involves a theory of equivalence. Equivalence can be said to be the central issue in translation although its definition, relevance, and applicability within the field of translation theory have caused heated controversy, and many different theories of the concept of equivalence have been elaborated within this field in the past fifty years. The theory of equivalence has been studied by many scholars-Jakobson, Nida and Taber, Catford, House, Wilss and Newmark. Their studies of equivalence are in relation to the translation process, with different approaches, and have provided fruitful ideas for further study on this topic. For instance, we have“equivalence in difference” (Jacobson, 1959:232),“closest natural equivalent”(Nida, 1964:159),“communicative equivalence” (Jager 1973:47-61), “formal equivalence” vs. “dynamic equivalence” (Nida & Taber，1982:200).
Among those translation theorists in the study of translation equivalence, Eugene A. Nida and his dynamic equivalence theory is the most influential one and must be mentioned when we do some research on “equivalence”.
Nida first uses dynamic equivalence and starts to use the term functional equivalence in his later study. The terms “function” and “functional” seem to provide a much sounder basis for talking about translation as a form of communication, since the focus is on what a translation does or performs. (Nida, 2001:91). Nida’s functional equivalence theory is based on “the principle of equivalent effect”, in which “the relationship between receptor and message should be substantially the same as that which existed between the original receptor and the message.” (Nida, 1964: 159) Therefore，functional equivalence is to be defined in terms of the degree to which the receptors of the message in the receptor language respond in it substantially the same manner as the receptors in the source language. Such responses can never be identical，especially when the two cultural and historical settings are extremely different, but there should be a high degree of response equivalence, otherwise the translation is a failure to accomplish its purpose. Nida gives paramount importance to the notion of “naturalness”. He claims that the main aim of “equivalent effect” is to achieve “the closest natural equivalent to the source language” (ibid). Actually, “naturalness” as a basic key-word in Nida’s theory relies on the adaptation of grammar, cultural references and lexicon of the source text. It goes without saying that Nida gives priority to the preservation of the text meaning on its style, since it allows the translator to create the same equivalent effects.
Functional equivalence provides new perspective toward translation. The research before it focuses on the relationship between source text and the target text. While the approach of functional equivalent translation introduces that the relationship of receptors to the target language text should be equivalent to that of the source language receptor to the source language text. It shifts the focus from the comparison of a pair of texts, the source language and the target language texts, to a comparison of the two communication processes involved.
In conclusion, according to the research results of former theorist, equivalent effect，to which both functional equivalence and pragmatic equivalence attach great importance，tends to be the major criterion for evaluating the translation of business letters. This thesis mainly tries to find out how to achieve equivalent effect under the guidance of pragmatic equivalence. A qualified translator should not be limited to the literal meaning，and should make his translated work a pragmatic equivalence of the original so that the reader of the translation will respond to the translation in the same manner as the readers of the original to the original text.
2.2.2 Pragmatic equivalence
An experienced interpreter shared one of his interpreting experiences with us: once he was invited to be the interpreter of an American lecturer, who wanted to relax the tired audience with a funny story in his speech. But the interpreter knew if he interpreted the story word for word, it would be not funny at all because of the different cultural backgrounds. So he asked for the permission of the lecturer that as long as he could make the audience laugh, it would be all right no matter in what way he interpreted it. It turned out that his interpretation achieved the goal of making everyone present burst into laughter.
It is easy to learn from this interesting story that the interpreter seemed to be, consciously or unconsciously, applying the pragmatic approach to translation. In order to achieve the equivalent result: making the audience relaxed, the interpreter discards the entire original text
Pragmatic approach to translation successfully finds out the common aspects of pragmatics and translation and creatively introduces pragmatic theories into translation study. Pragmatic approach to translation throws a new light upon translation study and provides strong explaining power to translation practice as well. Any translation under the guidance of pragmatic translation approach can be called pragmatic translation. As an interdisciplinary translation concept, it is mainly applied to the translation of practical texts which covers political, economic, social and cultural areas. Remarkably different from literary translation which usually emphasizes on the unification of artistic and aesthetic results, pragmatic translation puts emphasis on achieving the pragmatic and communicative equivalence in the course of translating.
It is the ultimate goal of pragmatic translation to achieve pragmatic equivalence. Pragmatic equivalence and functional equivalence have much in common in that both of them require the ST and TT have equivalent effects on their receptor groups respectively. Then it can be regarded as a special case of functional equivalence in a broad sense, but they have some differences in some specific ways. Pragmatic equivalence mainly refers to the equivalence between ST and TT on both pragmalingustic level and socio-pragmatic level.
A. Pragmalinguistic equivalence
Firstly, pragmalinguistic equivalence is to be discussed. Pragmalinguistics focuses primarily on the study of linguistic phenomena from the point of view of their usage. Pragmalinguistics in translation lays emphasis on pragmatic force or illocutionary force, which refers to the implicit meaning of a given message. Opposite to explicit meaning, implicit meaning is unstated, below the surface, and contains the real intention of the speaker/writer. “Translation aims to translate the speaker’s/writer’s intention.” (He, 1997：195) But how can a translator interpret the speaker’s/writer’s intended meaning accurately and reproduce it appropriately? Implicit meaning is critical for the understanding and recognition of the real intention of the speaker. The translators must have a clear and deep perception of the implicit meaning contained in the ST. In addition, pragmaliguistic equivalence requires that, on linguistic levels such as lexicon, semantics and syntactics, the translators use the closest and most natural equivalent expressions in the TL to convey the original ideas, with more attention to the context than to the form of the SL text.
(2) 争取运动成绩和精神文明双丰收。
For a good harvest both in sports and morals (He, 2004: 204)
In the translation, “丰收”and “精神文明” are just literally rendered into “harvest” and “morals” respectively. But according to Longman Dictionary, moral means “standards of behavior, esp. in matters of sex.” The translation surely can not convey the intention of the designer of the slogan. “For better athletic records and sportsmanship” may be a better version.
(3) The vendor shall deliver the goods to the vendee by June 5.
卖方须于6月5日前将货交给买方。 (Liu, 1999:75)
The translation is not accurate enough in that the translator does not fully understand the word “by”. The use of “by” here means “June 5” is still valid. So the better translation should be “卖方须于6月5日（包括5日）前将货交给买方。”
B. Socio-pragmatic equivalence in translation
In addition to pragmalinguistic equivalence, socio-pragmatic equivalence also needs to be taken into full consideration in pragmatic translation. Socio-pragmatics refers to the pragmatic studies which examine the conditions on language use that derive from the social and cultural situation. In translation, this consideration depends on the translator’s beliefs as well as his/her social and cross-cultural knowledge. The role of the translator is to recreate the author’s intention in another culture in such a way that enables the TC reader to understand it clearly. If the translator holds a correct perception of the social norms and cultural backgrounds of the TC, the equivalent effect can be achieved, vice versa. The translators are required to have a good command of inter-lingual and cross-cultural knowledge, a comprehensive understanding of the social, cultural backgrounds of the SL and TL, and finally make an evaluation about the acceptability of the translated text.
To achieve translation equivalence, the translators are to facilitate inter-lingual and intercultural exchange. They must observe carefully the cultural habits or idiosyncrasies of the TL readership in order to choose the appropriate and familiar, acceptable expressions; they may also try to provide the readership with the relevant knowledge such as the stylistic properties or backgrounds about the translation work so as to open a window to them.
2.3 Pragmatic study of politeness
According to Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary, polite is defined as “behaving in a way that is socially correct and shows awareness of and caring for other people’s feelings.” Then we can infer that politeness means “the act of being polite”. Specifically, it can be expressed as the practical application of good manners or showing regard for others. “In both the East and the West cultures, politeness has long been regarded as an indispensable part of language. There exists a wide-ranging use of politeness and polite language that have clearly demonstrated people’s fondness and importance of this particular linguistic device.” (Li Tong, 2003:29) As a universally observed standard of behavior in every social group, politeness contributes substantially to maintaining social order, enhancing friendly interpersonal relations, reducing conflicts and misunderstandings. Politeness is a sign of social progress, having a close connection with almost every aspect of human life. The goal of politeness is to make all of the parties relaxed and comfortable with one another.
As an important part of pragmatic study, researches on politeness have been conducted for a long time. Many scholars proposed their own theories from different perspectives. Grice’s Cooperative Principle (CP), Leech’s Politeness Principle and Brown and Levison’s face-saving view are all influential theories concerning this topic and have made great contribution to the development of pragmatic study.
Based on the theories of western scholars and with the combination of Chinese culture, Chinese researchers have developed Chinese Politeness Principle. Gu Yueguo, the most influential scholar in this area, has summed up the essential elements of Chinese “limao” as the following four notions: respectfulness, modesty, attitudinal warmth, and refinement (Gu, 1990: 239). According to the four notions of Chinese politeness, Gu (1990) proposed four maxims of Politeness Principle: the Self-denigration Maxim, the Address Maxim, the Tact Maxim and the Generosity Maxim.
Politeness is an important feature and basic requirement for business letters. The task of a translator is to fully convey the politeness of the ST in the TT so as to achieve the politeness equivalence.
Politeness Principle and politeness equivalence in translation will be further explained in chapter three.
2.4 Relevance Theory
Relevance Theory, proposed by Dan Sperber and Deirdre Wilson in their book Relevance: Communication and Cognition in 1986 (second edition in 1995), is one of the most influential theories in the study of cognitive pragmatics. It regards language communication as a cognitive process, an ostensive-inferential process, closely related to people’s psychological activities. It provides a new approach to the study of human communication and information transfer.
2.4.1 Definition of Relevance Theory
In their book, Sperber and Wilson advocate that all the maxims in human communication can be reduced to a single principle of relevance. To understand relevance theory, it is advisable to get to know what relevance is. They give several definitions to “relevance”. The first one relates it to a context.
An assumption is relevant in a context if and only if it has some contextual effect in that context. (Sperber & Wilson, 1995:122)
But relevance is also a comparative concept. It does not only depend on the effect produced by it but also on the effort required to process it. So they have improved on the previous one by adopting an extent-conditional format later.
Extent condition 1: an assumption is relevant in a context to the extent that its contextual effects in this context are large.
Extent condition 2: an assumption is relevant in a context to the extent that the effort required to process it in this context is small.
(ibid: 125)
This definition can be illustrated in the following formula.
This formula clearly shows that relevance is a matter of balancing contextual effects against processing effort: other things being equal, an assumption with greater contextual effects is more relevant; other things being equal, an assumption requiring a smaller processing effort is more relevant. (ibid) There are two principles involved in understanding relevance, one about cognition, the other about communication: (1) Human cognition tends to be geared to the maximization of relevance. (2) Every act of ostensive communication communicates a presumption of its own optimal relevance. (ibid: 260)
Their second definition of relevance of relevance relates it to an individual.
An assumption is relevant to an individual at a given time if and only if it is relevant in one or more of the contexts available to that individual at that time. (ibid: 144)
The last definition they offer involves the characterization of relevance “not just as a property of assumptions in the mind, but also as a property of phenomena (stimuli, e.g. utterances) in the environment which lead to the construction of assumptions.” (ibid: 150-151) A speaker cannot directly present a hearer with an assumption. All a speaker or writer can do is to present stimulus in the form of sound or a written mark. The presentation of this stimulus changes the cognitive environment of the hearer/reader, making certain facts manifest or more manifest. Consequently, the audience can mentally represent these facts as strong or stronger assumptions and even use them to derive further assumptions.
From the definitions of relevance mentioned above, we can conclude that principle of relevance refers to“every act of ostensive communication communicates a presumption of its own optimal relevance” (ibid: 260) Relevance theory regards communication as a cognitive process which requires the hearer to make inference on the basis of the context given by the speaker. Its goal is to establish the optimal relevance between the context and the hearer’s assumption, which ultimately helps the hearer to understand speaker’s intention.
2.4.2 Optimal relevance
In communication, the hearer may give one utterance many different interpretations. How can the hearer select the interpretation closest to the message that the speaker intends to convey? According to Relevance Theory, there is one single, general criterion which is precise and powerful enough to help the hearer to evaluate a variety of possible interpretations so as to exclude all but the closest interpretation to the intended information. This criterion is nothing but the principle of relevance. It should be noted here is that what’s important to the hearer is not maximal relevance, which is meant to “yield the greatest possible contextual effects in return for the smallest amount of processing effort” (ibid: 47), but optimal relevance. Maximal relevance means that the hearer’s attempt at interpretation will yield maximal contextual effect at minimal processing cost, while optimal relevance holds that the hearer’s attempt at interpretation will yield adequate contextual effect at minimal processing cost.
Every utterance in communication comes with a presumption of the best balance of effort against effect. On one hand, the effects achievable will never be less than is needed to make it worth processing. On the other hand, the effort required will be never more than is needed to achieve these effects. In comparison to the effects achieved, the effort needed is always the smallest. This amount to saying “of all the interpretations of the stimulus which confirm the presumption, it is the first interpretation to occur to the addressee that is the one the communicator intended to convey.” (ibid: 168-169)
To sum up, an utterance is optimally relevant when it enables the hearer to catch the intended meaning of the speaker without gratuitous processing efforts and when that intended meaning provides adequate contextual effects to the hearer. Optimal relevance represents the ideal goal of getting maximum benefits with minimum processing efforts.
Relevance Theory offers a very strong explanatory power to translation, especially to the analysis of vague language in business letters, which is quite critical for the translator to understand the real intention of the writer. This point will be further explained in chapter four.
2.5 Summary
Translation is one of the most complicated human activities. Human beings have never stopped the research on it. As a new way of translation study, the importance of pragmatic approach to translation has been recognized by more and more translation theorists.
The translation of business letters falls within the scope of pragmatic translation. In the translation of it, what counts is the effective transfer of meaning because that is precisely what the clients want. The ultimate concern should fall on the content of the text but not the formal features. In this thesis, the translation of business letters is studied from the perspective of pragmatics to find out how to achieve pragmatic equivalence in the TT.
To sum up, it is the ideal goal of the translation of business letters to achieve pragmatic equivalence. The translators should work hard to achieve equivalent effect in their translation. In the following chapters we will discuss the application and guiding role of Politeness Principle and Relevance Theory in the translation of business letter.
Chapter 3 Politeness in the Translation of Business Letters
3.1 Politeness in English culture
As discussed in chapter two, politeness is a universally observed standard of behavior in every social group. It is a sign of social progress, having a close connection with almost every aspect of human life. As an important part of pragmatic study, researches on politeness have been conducted for a long time. Scholars home and abroad have proposed their own theories from different angles.
3.1.1 Grice’s Cooperative Principle
In a 1975 article entitled Logic and Conversation, the American philosopher Paul Grice pointed out that an utterance can imply a proposition (i.e., a statement) that is not a part of the utterance and that does not follow as a necessary consequence of the utterance. Grice called such an implied statement an implicature. In order to explain how the speaker can convey more than what is said and how the hearer can arrive at the speaker’s meaning, Grice highlighted that human beings communicate effectively because they are by nature helpful to each other. So based on the concept of implicature, he proposed Cooperative Principle which are the mechanisms or assumptions governing the production and comprehension of the implied statements.
The Cooperative Principle consists of four conversational maxims. They are: (1) Maxim of Quantity. Each participant’s contribution to a conversation should be just as informative as is required. (2) Maxim of Quality. Each participant’s contribution should be truthful and based on sufficient evidence. (3) Maxim of Relevance. Each participant’s contribution should be relevant to the subject of the conversation. (4) Maxim of Manner. Each participant’s contribution should be expressed in a reasonably clear fashion; that is, it should not be vague, ambiguous or excessively wordy.
Generally speaking, these maxims specify that in order to converse in a maximally efficient, rational, cooperative way, participants should speak sincerely, relevantly and clearly with sufficient information provided.
Although Grice’s CP helps to explain the relationship between literal meaning and implicature, it does not tell us why people violate those maxims so often. It gives rise to Leech’s Politeness Principle, a supplement to CP.
3.1.2 Leech’s Politeness Principle
Cao (1998) points out that the maxims in CP are not always strictly observed; rather, for various reasons they are often violated. Some of these violations can be explained by Grice’s conversational implicature. But there are still some other violations that can not be satisfactorily illustrated by Grice’s theory. So it is found that CP alone can not fully explain how people talk. It does not tell us why people are often so indirect in conveying what they mean. It is either not good enough to explain what is the relation between sense and force when non-declarative types of sentences are being considered. This is where Politeness Principle comes in. In 1983, Geoffrey N. Leech, the famous British linguist, proposed the Politeness Principle and tried to offer some satisfactory answers to the unsolved questions. Leech believes the main reason that why people violate Cooperative Principle deliberately is they take politeness into consideration.
(1) Parent: Someone’s eaten the icing of the cake.
Son: It wasn’t me. (Cao, 1998: 189)
In this dialogue, the parent violated the maxim of quantity because he just said “someone” had eaten the icing of the cake instead of scolding the child for that. The reason why he did so is he did not want to embarrass his child, or he wanted to be polite.
For another example, if you want someone to close the door, you could in theory use any of the following sentences.
(2) Shut the door!
I wonder if you would mind shutting the door.
It’s so cold in here. (ibid: 187)
But in practice, the first, a direct command, is seldom used because it seems somewhat rude.
Politeness Principle seems to have a higher regulative role than cooperative principle in that it helps to maintain the friendly relations which are required for smooth and effective communication. This is especially true in some cases, e.g. when we want to get our hearers to do something for us.
Humans everywhere ten to be polite in similar ways, based on two basic social requirements: “No criticism” and “No interference”. Humans want to be approved of, and they do not want to be imposed upon. Consequently, anyone with social know-how will minimize criticism of others and will avoid interfering with their liberty, at least overtly. These requirements of “No criticism” and “No interference” have an effect on language. Any criticism or interference will be a social risk. Therefore, speakers/writers have to balance up the advantages and disadvantages of “straight talking”.
As a supplement to CP, PP has six maxims. Leeeh proposes these maxims to explain how politeness is manifested. When stating his maxims, two terms “self” and “other” are applied since politeness is concerned with a relationship between at least two participants.“Self” is used to refer to the speaker and “other” to the hearer or a third party in a conversation.
Maximize (other things being equal) the expression of polite beliefs;
Minimize (other things being equal) the expression of impolite beliefs.
(i) Tact maxim
a) Minimize cost of others;
b) Maximize benefit to others.
(ii) Generosity Maxim
c) Minimize benefit to self;
d) Maximize cost to self.
(iii) Approbation Maxim
(a) Minimize dispraise of others;
(b) Maximize praise of others.
(iv) Modesty Maxim
(a) Minimize praise of self;
(b) Maximize dispraise of self.
(v) Agreement Maxim
(a) Minimize disagreement between self and others;
(b) Maximize agreement between self and others.
(vi) Sympathy Maxim
(a) Minimize antipathy between self and others;
(b) Maximize sympathy between self and others. (Cao, 1998:187)
Politeness Principle provides us a standard for dealing with interpersonal relations. The observation of the above maxims can promote the success of communication. The PP is instructive in the felicitous choice of words in the writing of business letters. Everyone likes to enjoy the due respect of others. If the caring and respect for your business partner is duly conveyed in your letter, they will feel pleased and the cooperation is likely to be successful. On the contrary, if your partner is hurt by your letter, there will be some negative influence on your relations, even the cooperation will be put in danger.
3.1.3 Brown and Levison’s face-saving view
Politeness can also be interpreted as “the expression of the speakers’ intention to mitigate face threats carried by certain face threatening acts toward another.” (Mills, 2003:6) Politeness consists of efforts to save face for another. What does “face” mean here? There are expressions like “losing face” and “saving face”. It is believed that the concept of face is Chinese in origin and many languages have this term that metaphorically means “prestige, honor or reputation”. Goffman (1955:213) offered us a more detailed definition: The term face may be defined as the positive social value a person effectively claims for himself by the line others assume he has taken during a particular contact. Face is an image of self delineated in terms of approved social attributes.
Brown and Levinson expanded Goffman’s concept of face to their politeness theory and made it the core of their politeness framework, which falls into positive face and negative face. Speakers concern both “positive face”, the need for solidarity with others, and “negative face”, the need for freedom from imposition by others.
3.2 Politeness in Chinese context
Politeness is universal to every social group, but one politeness principle can not be universally applied to any society. The politeness principle is affected by different cultures. Sometimes what the Chinese people considered to be polite may not be the same in western culture. Politeness has the same social functions in both Chinese and Western cultures, and common polite languages in these two cultures are almost the same, but they are different in practical use. These differences often become the source of pragmatic failures in intercultural communication. So it is advisable to discuss the politeness principle in Chinese context.
The concept of Chinese politeness “li” can be traced back to ancient time when Confucius (551-479 B.C.), a great Chinese philosopher and thinker, spared no efforts to restore the social hierarchy and order of the slavery system of Zhou Dynasty. As was expected in ancient China, “li” is hoped to bear the duties of enhancing social harmony and lessening interpersonal tension or conflict in modern Chinese.
3.2.1 Chinese Politeness Principle
During the past hundreds of years, the ancient concept of “li” has eventually evolved into “limao” of today in China. The core of Chinese politeness or limao is “self-denigration and other-respecting”. Gu Yueguo, the most influential scholar in this area, has summed up the essential elements of “limao” as the following four notions: respectfulness, modesty, attitudinal warmth, and refinement (Gu, 1990: 239).
Based on the four notions of Chinese politeness, Gu proposed four maxims of Politeness Principle: the Self-denigration Maxim, the Address Maxim, the Tact Maxim and the Generosity Maxim. According to the notions of respectfulness and modesty, the Self-denigration Maxim has two submaxims: denigrate self and elevate others. If anyone breaks the maxim of denigrating self, he/she will be considered as being impolite or rude. Meanwhile, if anyone breaks the maxim of elevating other, he/she will be considered as being arrogant or self-conceited. According to the notions of respectfulness and attitudinal warmth, the Address Maxim requires the speaker to select an appropriate address term for the conversational partner. This maxim helps to “establish or maintain social bonds, strengthen solidarity, and control social distance” (Gu, 1990:246) since the act of addressing involves recognition of the conversational partner’s social status and identification of the social relation between them. It seems rude or brings about the destruction of social order if addressing terms are misused. As a modified version of Leech’s, Gu’s Generosity and Tact Maxims are two complementary maxims, whose underlying notions are attitudinal warmth and refinement. Under the two maxims, the speaker tries to maximize benefit to other (in compliance with the Generosity Maxim) while the hearer tries to minimize cost to other (in compliance with the Tact Maxim). Breaking the maxims would risk being considered as stingy and greedy respectively.
3.2.2 Chinese concept of face
Mianzi is regarded as the core part of Chinese politeness. Mao defines mianzi as “prestige, or the respect of the group for a man with a good moral reputation.” The differences between Chinese face and Western face are summarized below.
First, their connotation is different. From their definitions we can find out that self-image is the center of Brown and Levinson’s concept of face while public- image is the center of Chinese face. The concept of western face is based on the personal values to which Western culture attaches great importance. It puts emphasis on the individual’s desire and wants and is free from any external pressure or communal judgment. While Chinese face refers to the reputation or prestige gained from other members of the society. It is closely related to the views and judgments of the community.
Second, their contents of face are different. Gu noted that negative face in the western notion cannot be applied to the Chinese concept of face since acts threatening the interlocutor’s negative face, such as offering, inviting and promising, will not be considered as offending a Chinese’s freedom, but as sincere behaviors. According to Brown and Levinson’s negative face refers to a person’s need to be autonomous from others while the Chinese mianzi refers to a person’s desire for public acknowledgement of their prestige or reputation. Mianzi is originated from the Confucian tradition that deemphasizes individuals and subordinates them to the group, unlike individuals that seek freedom in the western culture.
3.3 Politeness in the translation of business letters
As a major tool of business communication, business letters attach great importance to politeness. The translator must produce an equivalent effect in politeness in the translation.
3.3.1 Politeness equivalence in translation
As a significant part of pragmatic study, politeness principle exerts remarkable impact on the success of communication. Meanwhile, politeness is also a concept containing rich cultural connotations. The different cultural backgrounds bring about a certain type of social norms, of course politeness principle being a part of it, with their own distinct features. Translators must be well aware of the cultural differences between SL and TL so as to achieve equivalent effect.
We have mentioned in chapter two that to achieve equivalent effect is the ideal goal of translation. When politeness theory is applied to translation studies, the notion of politeness equivalence is put forward. Politeness equivalence, first proposed by House, is one of the critical factors to be taken into account in evaluating whether a translation is functionally equivalent. As the major part of pragmatic equivalence, politeness equivalence requires the translator, based on the features of the language systems of both SL and TL, to reproduce the equivalent politeness effect in the TT as that in the ST. It includes two criteria for evaluating whether the equivalent effect has been achieved: politeness scale and politeness system. Please look at the following example.
(3) 由于原材料成本涨价，我们须提价3%。
A. Due to the rising cost of raw materials we must raise our price by 3%.
B. Due to the rising cost of raw materials we have to raise our price by 3%.
C. Due to the rising cost of raw materials we are reluctantly compelled to our price by 3%.
(Liu, 1999:85)
Although the three translations convey the similar meaning, they differ from each other in politeness degree. The translation of “须” is the key point. Version A, literally equaling “须” with “must”, seems faithful to the original text but it is too tough to express the original intention of the writer. Version B is better because it sounds moderate. Version C fully observes the politeness principle and successfully conveys the intention of the writer: I am sorry but we have no choice except increasing the price. And the equivalent effect in politeness is achieved.
To achieve politeness equivalence, the translator must have a good command of the politeness principles of both SC and TC.
3.3.2 Politeness in E-C translation
When English business letters are translated into Chinese, the translation must conform to Chinese Politeness Principle. The following strategies are recommended to achieve the politeness equivalence.
A. The translation of English personal pronouns
Chinese politeness is characterized by the notions of respectfulness and modesty, which is demonstrated in Self-denigration and Others-respecting Maxim. It is quite similar to the Modesty Maxim and Approbation Maxim in Leech’s PP. Both of them require the writer to minimize praise and maximize dispraise of self and maximize praise and minimize dispraise of others.
It is the custom of Chinese people to use humble terms to refer to self and to use language that is more respectful to address others in communication. The violation of this maxim will be interpreted as being arrogant and self-conceited. But in English there are simply the pronouns like “you” and “I” in a bilateral communication. So in the translation of pronouns used in business letters, in order to achieve politeness equivalence, “you” or “your” is usually translated into “您”or “贵” to show the esteem for your partner while “I”or “my” is normally translated into “敝” or “我” to show your humbleness. The following two examples demonstrate this.
(4) We are pleased to know that you are planning to visit our company on March 8.
我很高兴得知您打算在3 月8 日光临敝公司。
(5) The UK Chamber of Commerce has advised us to get in touch with you concerning digital cameras.
英国商会建议我们就数码相机事宜与贵方联系。
In the above examples, the writer use “敝公司” to refer to “our company” and “贵方” to refer to “you” respectively. In this way, the respect and sincerity of the writer is fully conveyed, the politeness equivalence has been achieved and the distance between the two parties is narrowed. It will be very helpful to establish a mutual trust business relation.
B. The translation of address
According to the notions of respectfulness and attitudinal warmth, the Address Maxim requires the speaker to select an appropriate address term for the conversational partner. This maxim helps to “establish or maintain social bonds, strengthen solidarity, and control social distance” (Gu, 1990:246) since the act of addressing involves recognition of the conversational partner’s social status and identification of the social relation between them. It seems rude or brings about the destruction of social order if addressing terms are mistranslated. Chinese Address Maxim is similar to the Tact and Modesty Maxims of Leech’s PP. Both Chinese and English writers can use address terms to show their respect towards others and denigration of themselves. In business letterss, address mainly appears in the salutation part.
“Dear” is usually used in the address because it is an important marker of politeness in English writing. “Dear Sirs/Madams” is often used when the writer does not know the name of the specific receiver. Its translation “敬启者” , which means “paying tribute to the person who reads this letter”, is equivalent in function and meaning and fully conveyed the respect of the writer. If the writer gets to know the name of the recipients, “Dear Mr./Mrs./Ms.” is normally employed. On this occasion, the translator can not render “dear” into “亲爱的” literally, although it is semantically right. Here “dear” is just a marker of politeness instead of a demonstration of proximity in English business letters. It is better to be translated into “尊敬的（respectful）先生/女士” or simply “致…先生/女士”.
C. The translation of conciseness and formality
As what is discussed in chapter one, conciseness and formality are the important features of business letters. So the translator has to produce the same effect in TT so as to achieve politeness equivalence. Please look at the following examples and compare the two versions of translation.
(6) Please extend your offer for three days.
a. 请将你们的报盘延长三天。
b. 请将你方报盘展期三天。
(7) The offer is subject to the good being unsold on receipt of your reply.
a. 这个报盘以收到你们的答复时货还没有卖掉为有效。
b. 此盘以你方复到时货未售出为有效。
(8) What do your insurance clauses cover?
a. 你们的保险条款包括哪内容。
b. 你们的保险条款中有哪些险别。
(9) We are pleased to advise you that the captioned goods were shipped yesterday
Per S. S. “Da Qing”.
a. 很高兴通知你方, 标题中提到的货物昨大己经由“ 人庆号” 轮船装出。
b. 兹通知, 标题货物已于昨日由“大庆” 轮装出。 (Du, 2005: 79 )
In the examples above, we can find out that the latter versions of translation are usually short and professional because terms are used.
D The translation of other markers of politeness
Tact and Modesty Maxims in Western culture and the Self-denigration and others-respecting Maxim in Chinese culture are the basis of politeness principle. Besides what we have mentioned, there are still some other politeness makers reflecting those maxims. Translators have to bear them in mind and apply them correctly according to the specific context. Here are some examples.
(10) Could you please send us a copy of your latest catalogue?
可否惠寄（赠）我方一份贵公司的最新商品目录？
(11)Yours faithfully Dennis Jackson
丹尼斯 杰克逊 谨（敬）上
(12) Would you agree to our suggestion that future clients should call you?
未知可否让其他客户来电垂询？
(13) I enjoyed meeting you…
很荣幸与您见面
(14) We enclose our new catalogue and price list.
谨附上新的商品目录和价格表。
From the above examples, we can find out that there are many Chinese words indicating the politeness, such as “谨/敬” “惠” “荣幸” and so on. Meanwhile, some English markers can also be found from these examples, such as “should” “could” “would like” and other modal words.
3.2.3 Politeness in C-E translation
When Chinese business letters are translated into English, the translation must conform to English Politeness Principle. The following strategies are recommended to achieve the politeness equivalence.
A. The translation of Chinese address
Chinese people tend to use titles like “李校长” “张局长” “杜经理”to address others. But these addresses “Principal Li” “Bureau director Zhang” and “Manager Du” are seldom seen in English business letters. The translator can just render them into “Mr. Li” “Ms. Zhang” and “Mr. Du”.
B. The translation of soft and euphemistic tone
As an important way of communication, business letters perform dual functions: one is to transmit messages; the other is to enhance the relations between business partners. The second function of business letter needs the translator/writer to use polite, soft and euphemistic language. Any blunt or arrogant expression must be avoided so as not to make the reader lose face, then eventually harm the business relations. How can a translator produce politeness equivalence? The tact and modesty maxims of Leech serve as a good guideline. Please look at the following examples.
(15) 你方价格大大低于我方成本, 我们不能按你价成交。
A. We can not entertain business at your price, since it is far below our cost.
B. We are not in a position to entertain business at your price, since it is far below our cost.
“不能” in the Chinese version is a direct refusal. So the literal translation of it into “can not” in version A sounds imposing and not polite enough. This translation is too blunt and hard to accept for the reader. Version B selects a soft expression “not in a position” instead of using the direct refusal. It helps to save the reader’s face and sounds more agreeable.
(16) 相信贵方会按期发货, 因为迟误势必会给我们造成很大不便和经济损失。
A. We believe you will see to it that the order is shipped within the stipulated time, as any delay would cause us great inconvenience and financial loss.
B. We trust you will see to it that the order is shipped within the stipulated time, as any delay would cause us no little inconvenience and financial loss.
In this example, it is better to translate “相信” into “trust” than “believe” because it gives a stronger sense of trust and can narrow the distance of the reader and the writer. In version B, “很大不便” was translated into “no little inconvenience”, which rounds about and sounds soft. It is better than expressing directly.
Besides, according to the Tact and Sympathy Maxim of PP, the translator had better take a “you-attitude” in their translation. “You-attitude” requires the translators to express their consideration for the benefits of the reader. It makes the translation soft, easy to be accepted and helps to enhance the business relations. For example,
(17) 贵方如想获得大笔交易必须降价2%。
You could benefit from a higher sale with a little concession, say, a 2% reduction.
The Chinese version is polite but sounds tough and imposing. The translation softens the tone by showing the consideration for the reader’s benefits. Even when one party makes mistakes, the other party should not express his arrogance and sharp criticism, which is impolite and harmful to their cooperation. If the translator can produce a euphemistic version of criticism, it will save the face of the reader and helps to improve their relations. Look at the following examples.
（18）贵方如想不致声誉受损，必须于今天支付账单。
By sending your check today, you will be able to maintain your good credit reputation.
（19）贵方来货质量与协议中规定的不符。
It is much to be regretted that the quality of your shipment isn’t in conformity with the agreed specification.
（20）很遗憾，我方必须取消该货物的订单。
Much to our regret, we have to cancel our order for this good.
Actually, both example (18) and (19) are bound to convey criticism against the reader. But the translator does not stick to the literal meaning of Chinese version but express the criticism in a mild way. The benefits of the reader seem to be fully taken into consideration. Example (20) expresses the refusal by showing sympathy. By using “have to” instead of “can not”, the translator makes the refusal easier to be accepted and helps to save the face of the reader.
All those translations successfully achieve the politeness equivalence by observing the maxims of polite principle.
C. The translation of “请”
In Chinese, “请”, as a formal word and an important marker of politeness, is usually used to show one’s deference when asking for other’s help. But in English there are many different expressions containing the meaning of “请” according to different contexts. In order to achieve equivalent effect, the translator must select the most suitable one to meet the requirement of the specific context. Here are several examples.
( 21) 请寄来附有最优惠价格的奔驰轿车目录。
We would appreciate your sending us the catalogue of Benz cars with their best prices.
( 22) 货已备妥, 等待装运, 请指示。
The goods are nearly ready for dispatch and we should be glad to have your instruction.
( 23) 请报椅子的最优惠上海到岸价, 同时请报 最早交货期。
It would be appreciated if you could quote your best prices of CIF Shanghai for chairs, and also let us know the earliest possible date you can make shipment.
From the above examples, we can see “we would appreciate. . . ”, “it would be appreciated (clause)” and “we would be glad to. . . ” are used to convey the politeness of the writer. Those sentence patterns have actually become programmed structures of indicating respect or esteem of the speaker. All of them are the equivalent expressions of “请”. The translator should be familiar with these patterns and apply them according to the specific context. Here below is another example.
(24) 请帮我订一张由纽约到亚特兰大的飞机票.
A. Please help me book a plane ticket for the trip from New York to Atlanta.
B. I would greatly appreciate your helping me to book a plane ticket for the trip from New York to Atlanta. (Liu, 2002:45)
In this example, version A is completely correct in grammar and equivalent in meaning. Although “please” is used to indicate politeness, but compared with version B, it sounds not so sincere and soft in tone. It sounds like an order instead of polite request. By using “I would greatly appreciate”, version B sounds softer and more agreeable.
3.3 Summary
Politeness is a significant part of pragmatic study. To achieve politeness equivalence in translation accounts for much in the pragmatic translation of business letters. Both Chinese and Western politeness principles provide us with a helpful tool and general guideline. A well-translated business letter can not only convey the necessary messages concerning business activities but also helps to maintain and enhance their pleasant business relations. It helps reduces the disputes and conflicts in business transactions and eventually contributes to the smooth development international trade.
Chapter 4 Relevance Theory in the Translation of Business Letters
4.1 Key points of Relevance Theory
From the definition of RT discussed in chapter two, we can get to know that RT regards language communication as a cognitive process, an ostensive-inferential process, closely related to people’s psychological activities. Context is a very important notion in pragmatic study. But according to RT, context has been expanded to a psychological concept which refers to the communicators’ “assumptions about the world” or cognitive environment rather than the external environment of the communicators.
4.1.1 Ostensive-inferential communication
As for communication, there are two models: code model and inferential model. The former is traditional and regards communication as an encoding and decoding process; the latter, developed by Sperber and Wilson, considers communication as an ostensive-inferential process involving the manifestation of the communicator’s informative and communicative intentions. According to relevance theory, from the speaker’s side, communication is an act of making clear one’s intention, which is called ostensive acts; and from the hearer’s side, communication is an act of sparing no efforts to infer the intention of the speaker according to the context, which is called inferential act. In other words, a complete characterization of communication is that it is ostensive-inferential. In this process, the speaker conveys his intention, in an explicit or implicit way on the basis of his assessment on the hearer’s cognitive environment and the communicative context. Meanwhile, the hearer will, under the guidance of relevance principle, infer the speaker’s intention on the basis of the given context. Therefore, relevance is context-dependent and comparative because utterances vary according to the degree of relevance they achieve in certain context. The goal of relevance theory is to achieve the optimal relevance, and ultimately the success in communication. Please look at the following example.
(1) A: Do you like rugby?
B: I am a New Zealander. (Wu, 2009:198)
In this dialogue, B does not reply A with a direct answer but provides a context for him to infer: B is a New Zealander. Then according to his cognitive environment A can make an assumption: New Zealanders love rugby very much. Based on the assumption and the ostensive message of B, A can make an inference and find the relevance between them and finally catch the communicative intention of B: I love rugby very much.
4.1.2 Context and cognitive environment
The context in relevance theory is different from that in traditional pragmatics, which is discussed in chapter one. In relevance theory, the context of utterance is “the set of premises used in interpreting it” (Sperber & Wilson, 1995:15) Compared with traditional concept of concept, it is more a psychological concept: “A context is a psychological construct, a subset of the hearer’s assumptions about the world” (ibid) Therefore, according to relevance theory, context refers to the communicators’ “assumptions about the world” or cognitive environment rather than the external environment of the communicators. As for cognitive environment, Sperber and Wilson define it as follows:
A cognitive environment of an individual is a set of facts that are manifest to him. A fact is manifest to an individual at a given time if and only if he is capable at that time of representing it mentally and accepting its representation as true or probably true. (ibid: 39)
The concept of cognitive environment takes into account the various external factors but lays the emphasis on the information they provides and its mental availability for the interpretation process.
Gutt gives a further explanation to cognitive environment:
The cognitive environment of a person comprises a potentially huge amount of very varied information. It includes information that can be perceived in the physical environment, information that can be retrieved from memory—in itself a vast store of information, including information derived from preceding utterances plus any cultural or other knowledge stored there-and furthermore information that can be inferred from these two sources.(Gutt, 2000:27)
From the definition we can see that cognitive environment covers a wide range of information. Since so much information can be served as the context of an utterance, the crucial question for successful communication is: how do hearers manage to select the actual, speaker-intended assumptions from among all those assumptions made on the basis of their cognitive environment? The answer is to find out the optimal relevance in communication.
4.2 Relevance Theory in translation
With the rapid development of Relevance Theory, its influence has expanded far beyond the area of pragmatics and has been applied to translation studies. Gutt, a cognitive pragmatist, studied translation from the angle of relevance theory and put forward the relevance translation theory in his book Translation and Relevance: Cognition and Context (2000).
4.2.1 Optimal relevance in translation
According to relevance translation theory, translation, like other types of human communication, is also an ostensive-inferential process. Furthermore, as an inter-lingual and cross-cultural communication, translation is a much more complicated activity than intra-lingual communication because there is a dual ostensive-inferential process in it: one concerns the writer and the translator and the other concerns the translator and target reader.
[pic]
Figure 1 Translating Process in RT (He, 2004:198)
[pic]
Figure 1 clearly illustrates the process. Based on the principle of relevance of the source text, the translator first has to figure out the source text writer’s communicative intentions, or the assumptions the writer intends to convey. Then on the basis of his understanding of the source text writer’s intention and the cognitive environment of the target text reader, the translator transmits the original information to achieve equivalence between the source text and the target text. The translator takes double roles in the process: both the receptor of the source text and the communicator of the translated text. The task of the translator is to produce the same effect caused between the translated text and the translated text reader as that between the source text and the source text reader, or the pragmatic equivalence. Similarly, Gutt claims “The translator will design her/his translation in such a way that it resembles the original closely enough in relevant respects” (2001: 46). This implies that translation is interpretative resemblance—the sharing of explicatures and implicatures—between the original and the translation with varying degrees. The more closely they resemble each other, the more explicatures or implicatures they share. Hence, what a translator should do is to coordinate the effort of both the source text writer and the target text reader in their pursuit of optimal relevance. So we can see that to pursue optimal relevance is a specific realization of pragmatic equivalence. Therefore, optimal relevance can serve as a guideline for pragmatic translation.
4.2.2 Writer, translator and target text reader
According to relevance translation theory, translating process is a dual ostensive-inferential process in which the source text writer, the translator and the target text reader are involved. It is different from traditional theories which lay emphasis on the relation between the source target writer and the translator. Relevance translation theory takes into consideration the difference of cognitive environment between the source text writer and the translator, the translator and the target text reader. It requires the translator to produce the same contextual effect in the translated text as that in the source text, which finally helps the target text reader to find the optimally relevant contextual effect with minimal effort. For example, an Englishman said: “It is as significant as a game of cricket.”(Wu, 2009:198) If it is literally translated into “这事和看板球比赛一样重要”, I believe it does not make any sense to Chinese or it may cost much efforts of Chinese listeners to figure out the speaker’s intention because the majority of Chinese people have no idea of cricket. Therefore, the translator must examine carefully the cognitive environment of both the English speaker and the Chinese listener and find out the optimal relevance between them. By doing so, the translator may translate it into “这件事和吃饭一样重要” because “吃饭” is usually considered to be given the top priority in the life of Chinese people. Since this translation provides enough contextual effect to the Chinese listener, it will cost him/her little effort to process and the intention of the speaker will be fully conveyed.
4.2.3 Relevance and cross-cultural communication
Translation can be said to be the most complicated human activity which involves not only linguistic difficulties but also cultural obstacles. It requires the translator to have a good command of both language knowledge and cross-cultural capabilities. Only when the translator possesses a profound knowledge of the tradition, customs, history, religious belief, and geographic features of both source and target languages can he/she find out the optimal relevance so as to figure out the speaker’s communicative intention. For example, usually there is a slogan reading like this “高高兴兴上班去,平平安安回家来”(Zhang, 2001: 287)at the construction site in China. If the translator does take cultural differences into consideration and translates it literally into “Go to work happily, and come back safely”, the native speakers of English cannot feel the best wish for the construction workers contained in the sentence. If the translator can find the relevance between the sentence and western culture, he will realize “Good luck!” is the optimally relevant translation.
4.3 Relevance Theory in the translation of business letters
Relevance Theory is mainly used to explain and translate vague language in business letters.
4.3.1 Vague language in business letters
Since L.A. Zadeh published his Fuzzy Sets in 1965, the research on fuzziness has been conducted in various areas, including business communication. However, according to traditional idea, especially the “7Cs” principle, business letters should be concrete, correct and concise enough without any fuzziness if possible. Therefore, the study of vague language in this field has been long neglected. But in reality vague language is observed to be widely applied in business letters.
Fuzziness is different from ambiguity. Ambiguity means one language symbol has two or more than two meanings in one specific context and those different meanings exert negative influence on the correct understanding of the text. It is unintentional and refers to something that should, and can be avoided by making further effort. However, fuzziness means indefiniteness. It refers to the language symbols with clear core meaning but vague extensions. Usually, vagueness of language is hard to be removed because it results from the nature of language. Vague language is commonly used in our life, objectively or subjectively. Sometimes it is applied intentionally by the speaker for a certain purpose. So when we try to explain vague language, we have to take pragmatic factors into consideration.
Although business letters require conciseness and concreteness, Cheng Tongchun (2000) pays special attention to the basic concept of vague language and its application and pragmatic functions in international business letters. According to him, vague language in business letters mainly fulfills three pragmatic functions, namely, strengthening the correctness of the expressions, enhancing more flexibility for both the writer and the reader, and making expressions more implicit, euphemistic, and polite. We can say vague language plays an indispensable part in business letters to some extent. The skillful use of vague language can help the reader to find out the optimal relevance. In business letters, the writer can provide the reader ostentation through the use of vague language, by which the reader can figure out the communicative intention of the writer. Vague language can produce a communicative effect that accurate language can not achieve. The use of vague language won’t hinder the smooth communication. Instead, it can promote communication and helps to achieve the desired pragmatic effect.
4.3.2 Relevance and the translation of vague language in business letters
Relevance translation theory requires the translator to produce the same contextual effect in the translated text as that in the source text, which finally helps the target text reader to find the optimally relevant contextual effect with minimal effort. When translate the vague language, the translator must understand the use of vague language does not aims to conceal the true information but to manifest the writer’s intention in a more flexible way. The translator must produce a version that has the same contextual effect with the source text. The translation should not add to difficulties or inconvenience for the reader to infer the writer’s intention. In order to attain this goal, two strategies for the translation of vague language are offered here: one is to maintain the vagueness of the source text; the other is to convert vagueness into clearness.
A. Maintain the vagueness of the source text in translation
On some occasions, vague language is used to indicate the writer’s politeness. It is recommended to maintain the vagueness in translation to achieve the politeness equivalence. And it is not difficult to figure out the relevance for the target reader. Please look at the following examples.
(2) I regret to say that we cannot agree to your request for technical information regarding our software security systems. The fact is that most of our competitors also keep such information private and confidential.
获悉贵公司来信索取本公司有关软件保密系统的技术资料，但鉴于同行向
来视该资料为机密文件，本公司亦不便透漏，尚祈见谅。
In this example, the writer uses the vague expression “our competitors” as an excuse to express his refusal to the reader’s request in a polite way because direct refusal will make the reader lose face and finally hurt their business relations. It is advisable to maintain the vagueness in the translation so as to observe the politeness principle.
3) To solve the problem, I propose that on receipt of an order, our sales staff contact you to verify it.
为了使该问题得以妥善解决，特此提议在接到订单后，由本公司销售人员
与贵公司复核。
In this sentence, “I propose” is used to express the euphemistic tone of the writer. And “提议” in the translation conveys the equivalent message.
As we mentioned in chapter two, exactness, especially exactness in number and time, is the basic requirement for the writing and translation of business letters. But on some specific occasions, vagueness is necessary and can produce better effect as it provides better ostentation and clearer optimal relevance to the reader. So there is no doubt to adopt the strategy of maintaining the vagueness in the translation. The following examples demonstrate it.
4) At present, we are interested in extending our range and would appreciate your catalogues and quotations. If your prices are competitive we would expect to transact a significant volume of business.
现欲扩展业务范围，盼能惠赐商品目录和报价表， 如价格公道，本公司
必大额订购。
The writer intentionally uses the vague expressions “extending our range” and “a significant volume”. The former does not offer the specific area that the company plans to enter because it is the secret of the company. The latter just offers a vague number to show his intention of buying but leave room for maneuver at the same time. Their Chinese translation “扩展业务范围” and “大额” achieve the equivalent effect through maintaining the vagueness.
(5) We would be very grateful if you could take a few moments to send us the names of three or four organizations that match our requirements.
如能拨冗寄来数个符合上述要求的代理商商号，则感激不尽。
The use of “a few moments” and “three or four” makes time and number vague respectively. However, it is the vague time and number that clarifies the demand of the writer and offers the reader the ostentation for the optimal relevance. It can be inferred that “a few moments” implies the writer is not meant to take the reader too much time and “three or four” means “at least three”.
(6) Could we meet some time this month to discuss the hypermarket proposal?
未知能否于本月会面，商谈有关特大自助市场的建议呢？
The writer also uses a vague time to express his polite request. It makes the writer’s request soft and polite rather than demanding. The reader may be more than glad to accept the request.
If-clause is a vague expression because it usually expresses the writer’s intention in a roundabout way. In business letters, it is also frequently in an attempt to be polite through leaving room for the reader. The reader can easily find the intention of the writer because the optimal relevance is better manifested through vagueness. So the successful communication can be achieved and the transaction will be fulfilled. Please look at the following example.
(7) If you would like to set up an appointment during non-exhibit hall hour, please call me.
如能安排与非展出时间面谈，烦请电复。
There are still some markers of vagueness in English, such as about, almost, around, nearly, a little bit and so on. Those words are usually used to soften the tone or avoid absoluteness and leave room for the writer.
All the examples we discuss in this part clearly illustrates the effective use of vague language. It can express a definite meaning and clear intention of the writer in a polite and flexible way and it helps the reader to find the optimal relevance. So it is advisable to maintain the vagueness in translation on most occasions.
B. Convert vagueness into clearness
On some rare occasions, the translator needs to clarify the vague language in business letters because it can highlight the intention of the speaker and reduce the difficulty of the reader in finding the relevance. For example,
(8) Only when reliable access to outside financing is available can a project for foreign direct investment be termed viable.
只有在国外经营获利的情况下，对外直接投资项目才能付诸实行。
In the ST, “reliable access to outside financing” is vague and making money is not clearly stated. But in the translation, the translator make it clear through adding “获利” to it. Through this way it makes the precondition of the project and the intention of the speaker more evident. Meanwhile, it maximizes the contextual effect and reduces the effort of the reader to the minimal level.
(9) 如贵方能将尿素报价降至每吨1200 法郎，我们可定购150 至180 吨。
If you can reduce your price of urea to 1200 francs per ton, we may be able to place an order of 150-180 tons. (Liu, 2002:45)
The original version is not clear enough. It needs the translator to clarify vague information. But the translation does not do very well in this respect. First, the use of “ton” seems still vague because there are “metric ton” “long ton” and “short ton” in international trade. As units of weight, they are different. The translator should clarify it according to the fact. It is advisable for the translator to render “吨” into “metric ton” as it is widely used in Chinese export. Second, the use of “franc” is not exact enough since there are French franc, Swiss Franc, Blgian Franc, and Luxembourg Franc. The translator must make it clear; otherwise disputes may arise from the ambiguity. So “If you can reduce your price of urea to 1200 French francs per metric ton, we may be able to place an order of 150-180 tons.” may be a better version.
Here below is a table used to display how exact the expression of time and number is in business letter. The translator has to bear in mind the differences between daily expressions and expressions in business letters in order to make the vague information clear.
Comparison between daily expressions and expressions in business letters
|Original version |Daily expression |Expressions in business letters |
|一周以内 |In a week |in one week or less |
|7月10日前 |before July 10 |on or before July 10 |
|从1991到1997 |from 1991 to 1997 |for the years from 1991 on to 1997 inclusive |
|六毫米到十毫米尺码 |all sizes from 6mm to 10 mm |all sizes ranging from 6 mm up to 10 mm inclusive |
|六月上旬 |In early June |within the first 10 days of June |
|六月中旬 |In middle June |within the first 10 days of June |
|六月下旬 |In late June |within the first 10 days of June |
|八月下旬 |In late August |within the last 11 days of August |
|自11月11日起 |from November 1 |from & including November 1 |
Table 1 (Liu, 1999:75)
C. Delete vague information
Deletion of vague expressions does not mean to delete the meaning conveyed by them at will. Instead, the deletion only occurs at the level of form. That is, to discard the linguistic form of source language, while presenting the vague information with explicitly vague expressions. When it is hard to maintain both the form and the content at the same time, the form is always the first to be sacrificed so as to realize the communication intention. For example:
(10) We as the Seller reserve the right to lodge a claim for direct losses sustained, if any.
作为卖方，我们有权对遭受的直接损失提出索赔。
(11) Without allowing partial shipments, the goods are to be shipped by a steamer at port on the West Coast as per a bill of lading to be dated not later than April 30, 2006.
货物应从西海岸的一个港口的一艘轮船装运，其提单日期不得迟于2006年 4月30日。
(12) As direct steamers to your port are few and far between, we have to ship via Hong Kong more often than not.
直达你方港口的货轮极少，我方只好经常有香港转运。
The examples above have conveyed the meaning through the vague expressions like “if any” “without allowing partial shipment” “more often than not”. So the translation should omit it for avoiding repetition and the addresser’s communication intention can be recognized by the addressee without any more efforts.
D. Convey writer’s intended meaning with vague language
According to Relevance translation theory, translation is a process of communication, in which the major task of translators is to get the intended meaning of the writer across while costing the minimal efforts of the reader. The use of vague language in business letters seems opposite to the principle of exactness. But actually vague language can help to produce the effect that exact expressions can never achieve. It does not only help the writer to remain polite but also help to provide the reader with the ostentation of optimal relevance, based on which the reader can figure out the communicative intention of the writer with little effort. Please look at the following examples.
(13) We know that you, as any good business persons, would appreciate those who meet their obligations.
我们知道，您和所有出色的商人一样十分敬重履行义务之人。
(14) We know how much you must want your credit to remain in good standing.
我们知道您一定希望保持您良好的信誉。
(15) The terms of sale are described on the invoice we sent you, and perhaps you overlooked them.
销售条款写在我们寄给你方的发票上，或许你们没有发现。
It can be learned that the writer conveys his/her criticism through vague language rather than using pointed critique in the three examples. When translate them, the translator must maintain the vagueness in certain respects so as to remain polite and save the reader’s face on one hand and try to highlight the writer’s communicative intention on the other.
To sum up, no matter what strategy we take, maintaining the vagueness, clarifying the vagueness, or deleting the vagueness, the purpose is same, i.e., to achieve pragmatic equivalence in translation through maximizing contextual effects and minimizing the processing effort of the readers.
Conclusion
Major findings of the research
Translation is one of the most complicated human activities. For hundreds of years many scholars have contributed considerably to the study of it and proposed many different theories, among which pragmatic approach to translation may be the most feasible one. It successfully finds out the common aspects of pragmatics and translation and creatively introduces pragmatic theories into translation study. Any translation under the guidance of pragmatic translation approach can be called pragmatic translation. It is the ultimate goal of pragmatic translation to achieve pragmatic equivalence. Pragmatic equivalence mainly refers to the equivalence between ST and TT on both pragmalingustic level and socio-pragmatic level.
Pragmatic equivalent effect tends to be the major criterion in evaluating the translation of business letters. In order to achieve the pragmatic equivalence, the translator must identify the intended meaning of the ST and select the appropriate expressions to convey it in the TT. A qualified translator should not be limited to the literal meaning，and should make his translated work a pragmatic equivalence of the original so that the reader of the translation will respond to the translation in the same manner as the readers of the original to the original text.
Limitations and suggestions
The examples used in this thesis are all from some textbooks of business letters. If the business letters used in real communicative activities can be collected, the study will be more convincing. Furthermore, a lot of useful books and academic articles are beyond my obtaining while this research was being conducted. This is just a tentative work, which needs further research by researchers in this field.
Most present studies focus on politeness of business letters. Future studies can expand the study to other fields of pragmatics. Moreover, pragmatic equivalence is just an ideal goal of pragmatic translation. How to make the ideal come true and how to clearly define “equivalence” can be the focus of future studies.
The above further research target is just my bold assumption on this topic. Further exploration needs to be done to find out whether it is feasible or not.
Revelations for translation teaching
Based on what has been discussed in the previous parts, we can find out some revelation to the teaching of translation.
Cultivating students’ pragmatic competence
Pragmatic competence refers knowledge of how language is related to the situation in which it is used. It “places language in the institutional setting of its use, relating intentions and purposes to the linguistic means at hand”. (Chomsky, 1980: 225) As well as knowing the structure of a language, we have to know how to use it. There is little point in knowing the structure of “Can you lift that box?” if you can’t decide whether the speaker wants to discover how strong you are (a question) or wants you to move the box (a request).
As an inter-lingual and cross-cultural communication activity, translation study is conducted inevitably on the basis of pragmatics and cross-cultural studies. Pragmatic competence is critical to language learners, translators in particular. A good pragmatic competence can help the translator to better understand the source text, find out the communicative intention of the writer more easily and avoid pragmatic failures.
Recognizing the significance of context
Context plays a significant role in the comprehension of meaning. Context determines the speaker’s/writer’s use of language and also the listener’s/reader’s interpretation of what is said/written to him. Teachers must lead students to recognize the importance of context in their learning.
The role of context in translation seems more important because even the same sentence will take quite different meanings in different contexts. The misunderstanding of the context will result in the wrong translation.
Learning by doing
Business letters is a major tool of business communication and is frequently used in business transactions. It has its own features but evolves with practice all the time. Teachers should not just teach students what is said in the textbook because the knowledge in the book usually lags behind the development of the practice. When the translation of business letters is under discussion, it is advisable to apply first-hand materials and true-to-life examples to teaching. It will be very helpful for students to get to know the authentic materials and the latest development of business letters. Meanwhile, teachers have to give students adequate assignments to practice after class.
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中国知网优秀硕士论文索引
Acknowledgments
I am deeply indebted to a number of people who have given me their instruction, support and encouragement without which the thesis could not have been completed.
First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Professor XXX, who not only has given me constant and valuable advice during my writing of this thesis, but also has gone over my drafts meticulously and offered critical comments on it. Without her supervision, this thesis could never have reached its present form.
My sincere gratitude also goes to Professor XXX, Professor XXX, Professor XXX and all my teachers from BISU who have given excellent lectures and great help, which are indispensable to the completion of this thesis. Their expertise in different fields have broadened my vision in the study of business English and constructed the infrastructure of any works of mine.
I would like to extend special thanks to Professor He Ziran. His works on pragmatics usher me into an amazing world of study.
I would also like to extend my thanks to those people who have given me much help in my data collecting because without them I would not have the experience of collecting, entering, analyzing, and interpreting such a wonderful set of data.
I also give my hearty thanks to all my colleagues and friends who have offered generous help and useful suggestions in the process of writing this paper.
Last, but not least, I am obliged to my parents, my wife and my lovely son. Their encouragement and tolerance have helped me through every desperate moment in writing the thesis till the end.
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contextual
Contextual effect
————————
=
Relevance
Processing effort
Translator
Target text reader
Source text writer
Inference 2
Inference 1
Ostentation 1
Ostentation 2
Target text
Source text
Communicator 1
Receptor 1/Communicator 2
Receptor 2
................
................
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