中英文化差异在商务英语翻译中的体现

题 目：论中英文化差异在商务英语翻译中的体现

Abstract .................................................................................................................................. II Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 1

1. Cutural Differences in Business Translation ......................................................... 3

1.1 Culture Differences ........................................................................................................ 3

1.1.1 Definition of Culture ........................................................................................... 3

1.1.2 Understanding of Cultural Difference ............................... 错误！未定义书签。

1.2 Cultural Differences Representation in Business Translation ..... 错误！未定义书签。

1.2.1 Different Understanding of the Same Animal ................... 错误！未定义书签。

1.2.2 Different Understanding of the Same Color ...................... 错误！未定义书签。

1.2.3 Different Understanding of the Same Number .................. 错误！未定义书签。

2. Causes of Cultural Differences between English and Chinese错误！未定义书签。

2.1 Different Religious Beliefs Between English and Chinese ......... 错误！未定义书签。

2.1.1 Culture Influenced by Confucianism in Chinese ................................................. 3

2.1.2 Culture Influenced by Christianity in English ................... 错误！未定义书签。

2.2 Different Modes of Thingking between English and Chinese..... 错误！未定义书签。

2.3 Different Geographical Location between English and Chinese . 错误！未定义书签。

2.4 Different Values between English and Chinese ........................... 错误！未定义书签。

3. Influences of Cultural Differences on Business Translation错误！未定义书签。

3.1.1 Representation in the Trademark Translation .................... 错误！未定义书签。

3.1.2 Representation in the Denomination Translation .............. 错误！未定义书签。

3.1.3 Representation in the Advertising Design Translation ...... 错误！未定义书签。

3.2 Strengthening Cultural Sense in Business Traslation .................. 错误！未定义书签。

3.1 Representation of Influences of Cultural Differences in Business Translation错误！未定义书签。

3.2.1 Enhancing Intercultural Communication and Business English Translation错误！未定义书签

3.2.2 Exploring Unequal Information Caused by Cultural Differences错误！未定义书签。

4. Conclusion ....................................................................................... 错误！未定义书签。 Works Cited ......................................................................................................................... 10

论中英文化差异在商务英语翻译中的体现

摘要：国际商务英语是人们从事国际商务活动时经常使用的英语。它是以国际商务为语言背景的应用性英语学科。不同的民族有着不同的宗教信仰，地理位置，思维方式和价值观念，因此，从事国际商务英语翻译的人员必须掌握本国与异国的民族文化差异。本文侧重分析文化差异在商务英语翻译中的表现。首先从对宗教信仰，思维方式，地理位置及价值观念的不同所导致的文化差异分析入手，然后从动物，色彩，数字三个方面深入探究，从而阐述了文化差异在商务翻译中的具体体现,进而探索了文化差异对商务翻译的影响。

关键词：文化，文化差异， 商务翻译， 文化意识

Reflection of Cultural Differences between China and England in

Business English Translation

Abstract: International business English is a common language used in engagement in international business activities for the translators. It serves as an applicable English discipline, which takes international business as language background. Different nations have different religious beliefs, thinking modes, geographical location and cultural values. Whereupon, the translators engaged in business English should master the cultural differences between native countries and foreign countries. This paper mainly analyzes the embodiment of cultural differences in the international Business English translation. This paper firstly starts with cultural differences between English and Chinese resulting from the different religious beliefs, modes of thinking, geographical location and values, then elaborates the reflection of cultural differences in the international Business English translation from the three aspects (animals,

colors, and numbers). Finally it discusses about the influences of cultural differences on business translation.

Key Words: culture, culture difference, cultural sense, business translation

Introduction

When the human being emerged in the ancient time, culture also emerged. At the same time, since the historic development pace of the human being begun to be accelerated, there were a lot of scholars devoted to studying the concept of culture. the British anthropologist Taylor in his book Primitive culture(1992) mentioned: “culture or civilization, in terms of its comprehensive national meaning, is a certain complex integration including knowledge, belief, art, moral, law, customs as well as the other abilities and habits acquired as a social member.” On the analysis of culture definition, Claire (2001) believed that sociologists and anthropologists have a definition in common that culture is the achievements shared by human group or society, which not only include value, language and knowledge, but also do the object of material.

With the globalization of the world economy, the communication and exchanges among countries have been encouraged and strengthened. Therefore, more frequent intercultural communication has been widespread. However, lack of correct and abundant mastering of cultural differences will hinder from good understanding of business English. For people engaged in business translation, they must have a good command of knowledge of cultural differences to accomplish effective and successful business translation. This paper focuses on analyzing the cultural differences between English and Chinese reflected mainly in business translation, which can be presented by such concrete differences in the understanding of animals, colors and numbers. After that, the author tries to come up with some specific factors, which result in cultural differences between Chinese and English. Only when we have an adequate understanding and a good command of the cultural differences between English and Chinese can we achieve an effective and successful business translation. Last but not least, the author makes a brief discussion on the concrete presentation of influences of cultural differences in business translation. So the paper is divided into five parts: Part one is the introduction of the paper. Part two mainly discusses such attributes as different religious beliefs, thinking modes, geographical location and cultural values. Part three mainly analyzes the culture differences representation in business translation. It involves different

understanding of colors, animals and numbers between Chinese and English. Part four points out the influences of cultural differences in business translation. It will be explored at such specific aspects as trademark, denomination and advertising design translation. Finally, the author appeals to the translators for the necessity they should strengthen cultural sense in business translation. Part five is the conclusion of the paper.

1. Cultural Differences in Business Translation

From the ancient times till now, cultural differences between China and the West have already been acknowledged by many people. In the second chapter, embarking on the definition of culture and cultural differences, I will mainly discuss about cultural differences reflected between Chinese and English, which involve different understanding of colors, animals, and numbers as follows.

1.1 Culture Differences

In the next chapter, I will analyze the definition of culture to make for the understanding of culture and cultural differences, paving the way for the next chapters.

1.1.1 Definition of Culture

When the human being emerged in the ancient time, culture also emerged. At the same time, since the historic development pace of the human being begun to be accelerated, there were a lot of scholars devoted to studying the concept of culture. Previous researches were concluded on 梁启超, 1922), all of which came to a common conclusion that: Culture is the sum total of unique beliefs, customs, systems, objectives and technology that a certain society form possesses.

With regard to the definition of the culture, it is a demanding problem, which is reflected at the aspects of the various opinions about it and its colorful content. As a result, as for the definition of the culture in cultural study, it is its clarification and analysis that is greatly indispensable. We should not neglect the phenomenon of the definition of culture formed by the problem of it. The phenomenon of cultural definition is manifested on many opinions of it. At present, the acknowledged opinion from the academic field is that the British anthropologist, Taylor, who is called “the Father of Anthropology”, is the first one to have the possession of great influence on defining culture. He produced a certain classical definition of

1992) he mentioned: “culture or civilization, in terms of its comprehensive national meaning, is a certain complex integration including knowledge, belief, art, moral, law, customs as well as the other abilities and habits acquired as a social member.” Apparently, the definition conveys the explanation that culture is the total of human creation in the process of social development, which includes material technology, social rules and the spirit of ideas. From then on, the definition of culture given by Taylor has become the origin of the phenomenon of culture definition. In addition, later generations have approval and disapproval of it; at the same time, some new ideas have been put forward. As for what the culture means, up till now, there have been more than 200 kinds of definitions. Undoubtedly, culture definition itself has become a certain interesting academic phenomenon under frequent debate.

Besides, on the phenomenon of culture definition, there exists some kind of typical condition which is the different definition of culture among all the disciplines. For example, with regard to the definitions of culture made by anthropologists, the American anthropologist Culture can be understood by learning. (2) Culture derives from the sum of components such as biology, environment, psychology and history. (3) Culture has structure. (4) Culture can be divided into every aspect. (5) Culture is dynamic. (6) Culture can be changed. (7) Culture manifests the regularity and can be further analyzed by way of scientific methods. (8) Culture is the tool of adapting the individual to the entire environment and the means of expressing the creativity. He believed: “Anthropologist can compare the description of culture with the map.” However, it is clear that map isn’t a specific patch but the abstract description of particular areas. If map has been charted precisely, people will not get lost on watching it; on the contrary, if culture gets the correct description, people will recognize the existence of a certain kind of lifestyle with particular natures and get acquainted with the mutual relationship between them.

At the aspect of the definition of culture, opinions from sociologists are by far most similar to those from anthropologists. On the analysis of culture definition, Claire (2001) believed that sociologists and anthropologists have a definition in common that culture is the achievements shared by human group or society, which not only include value, language and knowledge, but also do the object of material.

Besides, on the definition of culture, there is a certain phenomenon closely related to it. This phenomenon is when culture is being differentiated and classified various different opinions will be produced. In terms of the differentiation of culture, the most common pair is generalized culture and specialized culture, which is called macro-culture and micro-culture. At this point, the Japanese famous sociologist Fu Yongjian (2004) believed: as we classify society into society with broad sense and society with narrow sense, it is essential to divide culture into generalized culture and specialized culture. Generalized society is the category in opposition to nature; likewise, generalized culture is also used as the category opposite to nature. In this case, technology, economy, politics, law and religion etc can be considered as the content in the field of culture. That is to say, generalized culture is equal to the meaning of generalized society. However, on the other side, specialized culture has content different from the content of specialized society. The latter is the system of social relationship formed by continuous mutual relationship. Nevertheless, as we have discussed above, the former (specialized culture) is the system of symbol existing objectively, which develops from human action but is independent of it.

1.1.2 Understanding of Cultural Difference

In the broad sense, culture is the nature created by people. Generally speaking, everything affected by human race is culture. Culture is the national specific ideology and system of value, which constitutes the living and working activities among people. It is because of specific history and areas that every nation all over the world has formed the specific cultural tradition and model of its own. As a result of the differences of traditional habits, values, religious beliefs, thinking styles etc, numerous differences have been manifested in the culture between the west and east. There are so many reasons contributing to the variety of world culture, some cultural influences are hard to expect, for example, an American merchant once gave a gift of a watch to his fellow’s daughter when she was holding a wedding celebration. Because he didn’t know that the watch is not right gift in China. It is traditionally acknowledged in China that watch is associated with death. Subsequently, his rudeness results in the end of business relationship.

1.2 Cultural Differences Representation in Business Translation

Some specific representations of cultural differences will be reflected in the next passage including different understanding of the same animal, different understanding of the same color and different understanding of the same number.

1.2.1 Different Understanding of the Same Animal

a. Dragon

The Chinese nation has been proud of its identity as the Chinese generations and the descendant of the dragon. However, in western myth legend, the dragon is not lucky animal but the horrible monster standing for the evil. In the British famous epic Beowulf, the vile dragon is taken as the representation of the sinister influence. In the stories of Bible, the demon Satan is regarded as the great dragon. In addition, the word “dragon” in dictionary has another meaning of shrew. From what I have discussed above, associations generated among the English-speaking countries are completely different from those among the Chinese. As far as translation is concerned, it is necessary to apply the principle of “dynamic equivalence” so as to find out the balance point in the process of understanding the different cultures. For instance, four highly developed economic countries and regions of Eastern Asia, especially for those of Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea are entitled as “Four Asian Tigers” by the western. However, if it is translated into “Four Asian Dragons” in English, it is somehow inappropriate. One suggested that it should be translated into “Four Asian Tigers”, which is a better equivalence of culture information. Because tiger is a species of intrepid animal in the western subconsciousness, at least it will not make people think of it associated with a certain horrible animal. Or rather, the word “tiger” (Hornby, 1993) is paraphrased as “A nickname for any one of the more successful smaller economies of East Asia, esp. those of Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea.” ( 任何一个在经济上较为成功的东亚小国或地区，尤其指香港，新加坡，台湾和韩国） Therefore, it is certain that the translation of the Chinese phrase “亚洲四小龙” into “Four Asian Tigers” has basically achieved equivalence in culture information.

b. Sheep

The cashmere products from our country have been maintaining great prestige in international market. However, a factory in the north of China once exported a certain slap-up cashmere quilt with Chinese brand of “ 好羊”, which was directly translated into “Goats”, at last, it had drastically terrible selling. What caused this lies in the fact that in addition to its original Chinese meaning “ 山羊” , the word “ goat ”has another connotation of “lovelace”. Consequently, with such an English trademark, no matter how good the quality of this cashmere quilt is and how comfortable it is to use, those young girls as well as housewife will never be willing to put it over the bed.

c. Elephant

Although it is plausible in semantic information that our Chinese famous battery with Chinese brand “白象” is translated into English brand “ White Elephant”, in terms of culture information, this is ambiguous translation because the meaning of white elephant in the western countries refers to “things without use even needing cumbersome dealing”. This connotation originates from a legend story: once upon a time, there was a king, who took aversion to a minister subjected to him. To punish the minister, the king gave a present of one white elephant; subsequently, the minister found that this elephant was very troublesome; nevertheless, it was just because of the gift from his king that he did not dare to transfer it to another person and even butcher it; instead, he had to attend on it carefully. Eventually, as the elephant had an exceedingly strong appetite, the minister had been thrown into a poor situation by feeding on the elephant. In conclusion, the English-speaking natives will never be allowing themselves to buy the battery with English trademark “White Elephant”, for the consumers are reluctant to buy “things without use even needing cumbersome dealing”. Then, what should the trademark be translated into according to the principle of dynamic equivalence? We should consider choosing an animal “lion” representing might and power to displace the original improper translation in the way that the final translation is “Brown Lion”. Imaging that the battery bought is so much powerful, the customers must be very satisfying. From the specific examples above, we can arrive at a conclusion that the equivalence of literary meaning in the practice of translating has already failed to meet the need of daily

communication; therefore, dynamic equivalence can guarantee the success of communication message.

Some translators are afraid to encounter the phenomenon of cultural differences in translation. Therefore, the concept of “Zero-Translation” proposed by professor Qiu Maoru (1991) has been adapted to some languages by the choice of realization of the transliteration method, which is a translation method of translating the vocabulary of original language into that of target language on the basis of pronunciation in the hope of failure to making any mistake to escape avoiding the ignorance of culture. Nevertheless, cultural diversity is widespread, thus, it is hard to reach the expectation of making no mistake. For example, once there was greatly popular lipstick called “芳芳” in Chinese among the women, which had been translated into “Fang Fang” in English, yet it had not been expected that the word “fang” in Longman Dictionary of contemporary English (Edison Wesley, 2001) denotes a long sharp tooth of an animal , such as a dog or a poisonous snake. In this case, no one have his inclination to the female lipstick which is liable to make the people associated with the terrifying scene, apparently, this is a unsuccessful translation case.

As I have discussed above, not only does a good translator need to keep well informed of all-embracing translation theories, but also he should get acquainted with main cultural differences between the nations.

1. Etiquette in International Business Negotiation

1.1 The Definition of Business Etiquette

In the business activities, the two sides would like to reflect respect, so they need some codes of conduct to constrain people when they are doing business negotiations. Business etiquettes consist of instrument etiquette、manners、exchange of letters、telephone communication and other skills. As to business occasion, business etiquette can be divided into office etiquette、banquet etiquette and so on. When we conduct business negotiation, we should express our sincerity in proper ways, meanwhile we pay more attention to the environment、atmosphere、historical culture. Conversation is the core in business negotiation, moreover complying with etiquette plays a vital role in successful negotiation. A negotiator who knows well and can apply expertly is competent business personnel.

Works Cited

2000.

Freeman, Rebecca and McElhinny, Bonnie. “Language and Gender.” Ed. Mckay, Sandra Lee and Hornberger, Nancy H. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2001, 218-280. th ed. New York: Merriam-Webster, 2003. Schulz, Muriel. “The Semantic Derogation of Women.” Cameron, Deborah. London: Routledge,1990, 134-147.

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