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Ⅰ.Introduction
Since the beginning of the 21st century, international business activities has become more and more frequent among countries. With China’s position on the world stage becoming higher day by day, China has also become more and more active in the international market.
Nowadays, English, as one of the most popular and important official languages in the field of economy and trade ,is commonly used in international business. According to related statistic, almost 90% of the 1.6 billion English-speaking people, including people who use it as mother tongue, a second language or a foreign language, deal with business English [1], from which we can see how widely the business English is used.
One of the important features of language is its functionality. Business English follows the rule without exception. The business that we carry out exist in different fields, such as trade, finance, insurance, investment, tourism, labor services, etc, while none of the above business activity can go on smoothly and successfully without a contract, which is the written form of business English.
Contracts, as the basic and significant guarantee for normally carrying on and smoothly accomplishing a trade, play an important role. Therefore, in terms of international business, the translation of business contracts becomes especially important.
General principles of translation are not efficient for business contract translation due to the traits of contracts and contractual language. This paper analyzes the features of contractual translation through the study on contracts and contractual language. The author puts forward the view that the specific criteria for contractual translation should be “faithfulness and accuracy; expressiveness and smoothness”. With examples taken from business contracts translation and problems occurred in personal practice, the author bring forward some methods dealing with the translation of words, in which the author studies the application of the criteria to real practice.
This paper will discuss the issue of translating business contracts by the following steps: analyzing the traits of contracts and contractual language, putting forward the specific criteria for contractual translation and studying the application of the criteria on the basic language element ---- word.
Ⅱ.Contracts
2.1 Basic Concept
According to the 85th regulation of the Contract law of the People's Republic of China, a contract “shall be an agreement whereby the parties establish, change or terminate their civil relationship”.
[2] In the General rule of the civil law of the People's Republic of China, contracts are defined as “agreements between equal natural persons, legal persons and other organizations for the purpose of establishing, altering and terminating mutual civil rights and obligations”.[3] Correspondingly, the definition given on an American web site Legal Definitions goes as” A contract is basically an agreement between two or more people which creates an obligation to do, or not do, something. The agreement creates a legal relationship of rights and duties. If the agreement is broken, then the law provides certain remedies”.[4]
2.2 Traits
From the concept quoted above, one distinct trait of contract is explored. That is its legal nature. To put it concretely, we say that a contract is a kind of juristic act. This act is mandatory to the right and obligation relationship formed between the parties involved and is admitted and protected by the country.
2.3 Function and Effect
The legal nature of contracts makes them the most important documentary evidence for the involved parties to carry out business and protect their rights and profits. Once a contract is made, its sanction of law comes into effect. So contracts are always in association with law. As the philosopher David Humor said, “Law and edict are made and promulgated by words.”[5] As an instrument of expression, language must be consistent with the traits of the language environment it is used. Therefore, it will have its own features at the same time.
Ⅲ. Contractual Language
3.1 Features
In the process of making a contract, in order to make sure of the integrality and perspicuity of the contract, identify the right and obligation of the involved parties, and avoid different interpretations, contract makers gradually endue contractual language some features: being rigorous, accurate, and normative. These are the three main features of contractual language. And it is these features that result in high demand in contract translation.
3.2 Embodiment of the Features
Naira, in his monograph Language, Culture and Translation, viewed language as” being formed by four elements: phonetics, words, sentence structures and writings”.
[6] Except the phonetic feature, the other three are all written. S forms of language o the features of contractual language can be mainly studied from three aspects: words, sentence structures and writing formats. To put it concretely, for example, the format of both English and Chinese contracts is very similar, which goes from general principles to detail clauses, from the macro part to the micro part. In terms of sentence structures, the sentences using in contracts are often in statement form. Questions, imperative sentences and exclamatory sentences are never adopted. The sentences are usually with additional components like adverbial clauses, attributive clauses, etc, which are used to make sure of the integrality and perspicuity of the contract, identify the right and obligation of the involved parties, and avoid the possibility of making mistakes or causing different interpretations.
Ⅳ. Criteria of Contract Translation
4.1 General Translation Criteria
After viewing the traits of contracts and contractual language, we can get down to the criteria for business contract translation.
As we all know, since the existence of translation, the criteria for the process is always under discussion. Nowadays the principle of faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance (which in Chinese is “信、达、雅” ) advocated by Yan Fu is still the general guide in Chinese translation fields. According to my own understanding, for the three criteria, faithfulness is the basic requirement, which is a necessity for any kinds of translation. Expressiveness is the central factor. It makes the translation work understandable, so it is an important criterion for a successful translation. Then Elegance pays attention to rhetoric, which reflects the aesthetic pursuit in a translation course, and is the most a
dvanced level among the three.
4.2 Specific Criteria for Contractual Translation
The particularity of different translation activities requires the integration of the general principles with practical translation work. The contractual translation is even more such a case. Contracts’ feature as documentary evidence for the involved parties to carry out business and protect their rights and profits brings forward the requirement for the translation of them.
A correct comprehension of the original text is the chief factor for the translation. And the effect of contracts and the features of contractual language require that the translation be faithful to the original text and as accurate and expressive as possible. To put it concretely, we here name the criteria for contractual translation as faithfulness and accuracy, expressiveness and smoothness.
Ⅴ. Application of the Criteria
5.1 General Guide Principle
Sappier mentioned,” the real meaningful part of language is the words made up by a series of sound, or the meaningful part of a word, or a phrase.”[7] So the study of words is the most basic study, which is also of equal importance. The author will go on further study focusing on the basic language element ---- word.The view of context is a general principle in dealing with word translation. Most words in both Chinese and English have more than one meaning. In different language environment, a word may carry different meanings. Forth pointed out “the meaning of a word is changing according to the context it is used in”[8]. Darioff also said “the meaning of a word with multi-interpretations is always revealed through the context it is used in.”[9] The style of the contract has very strong logicality. The relation between words and words, sections and sections, is interdependent and they restrict each other. So we should understand the meaning of a word and choose a proper interpretation all-roundly and objectively, rather than isolatedly, statically and one-sidedly while translating. When we come across the problem of choosing words, no matter they are synonyms or words with multi-interpretations; we should keep in mind the view of context and try to make the translation faithful, accurate, expressive and smooth.
In the practice of contract translation, if the translator ignores the above principles and treat the translation arbitrarily, problems may easily occur.
E.g.1 shows the disobedience to the criteria. We’ll analyze some improper translation.
E.g.1 The Engineer shall be at liberty to object to and require the Contractor to remove forthwith from the Works any person employed by the Contractor in or about the execution or maintenance of the Works who, in the opinion of the Engineer, misconducts himself, or is incompetent or negligent in the proper performance of his duties, or whose employment is otherwise considered by the Engineer to be undesirable and such person shall not be again employed upon the Works without the written permission of the Engineer.[10]#p#分页标题#e#
The translation given in the sample is “工程师有权要求承包商立即解雇其雇佣来执行合同的人员，这些人员在工程师看来未履行职责或不称职。被解雇的人员未经工程师的书面同意，不得再被雇佣。”
This translation obviously disobeys the principle of faithfulness. The original components “any person employed by the Contractor in or about the execution or maintenance of the Works” is generally translated as “执行合同人员”, which is improper for the message the words actually cover. It extends the range of the original meaning. “执行合同人员” has a wider connotation. It may refer to the administration staff of the company or legal advisers who don’t have direct relation to the construction and are not intervened by the engineers. So the message here has a wider range of meaning than the one the text conveys. It should be put into “施工或工程维护人员”. Besides, “misconducts himself, or is incompetent or negligent in the proper performance of his duties” which means “行为不端，不能或疏于准确履行其职责”，is also improperly translated into “未履行职责或不称职”. Moreover, the missing translation of the whole part “whose employment is otherwise considered by the Engineer to be undesirable” makes the meaning of the given version far away from the original message.
According to the principles given above, the following version may be better. 工程师有权反对并要求承包商立即从工程中解雇由承包商雇佣的参加或有关工程施工或维护的任何人员。只要工程师认为其行为不端，不能或疏于准确履行其职责，或因其他原因被工程师视为雇佣不当便可执行；未经工程师书面同意，此种人员不得再受雇于工程。
5.2 Practical Methods
5.2.1 Choice of Synonyms
Synonyms occupy quite a large amount in English. They are also commonly seen in contracts. When coming across synonyms, the translator must make correct choice. Otherwise, the improper choices of synonyms may have bad effect on the right and obligation of the involved parties and even cause dispute on the performing of contracts. So how to choose synonyms is one of the problems needed to be concerned. There the author will introduce three aspects to be considered for choosing synonyms: considering the connotation, considering the grammar and considering the style.
5.2.1.1 Considering the Connotation
Considering the connotation is one of the effective ways. The synonyms may seem very similar in the surface meaning. However, when we study their connotation, we’ll find that they actually possess individuality as well as commonness.
E.g.2 “to perform a contract ” and “to fulfill a contract ” are both commonly used in contracts which can be translated as “履行合同”. They are the same from the surface consideration. However, when we go deeper into their connotation, we’ll see the deference in their usage. The legal meaning of “perform” is “to do what one party is obliged to do by a contract;”, and the one of “fulfill” is “to do everything which is promised in a contract”. So the contract emphasizes that one party of the contract has fulfilled the concrete obligation prescribed in the contract, it should be “fulfill a contract”, Meanwhile, if the contract emphasizes in general that every responsibility and obligation of both sides defined in the contract should be fulfilled, relatively, “perform contract” is more suitable.
5.2.1.2 Considering the Grammar
Sometimes the choice of synonyms is made according to certain rule of grammar and sentence structure.
E.g.3 合资经营企业的一切活动应遵守中华人民共和国法律。[11]
The Chinese word“遵守”is equivalent to “obey, observe, abide by, comply with” in English. When choosing from these words, we need to consider from the grammatical aspect. The subject of the sentence is “活动”（activity）, so here we should use “comply with” which means “to act in accordance with a provision, rule, demand”.
While for “observe and abide by”, they shall be used in sentences with the parties as the subject. So the whole sentence can be put as: All the activities of a joint venture shall comply with the provision of laws, decrees and pertinent regulations of the People’s Republic of China.
5.2.1.3 Considering the Style
We have mentioned that the contractual language is rigorous, accurate, and normative. So the choice of synonyms should also be faithful to the contractual style. The translator should choose formal and normative words in contractual translation.
E.g.4售方有权不经通知取消本确认书。[12]
“To have the right”, “ to keep the right” and “to reserve the right” are all correct for the translation of“有权”. But “reserve” is special word for legal English, which means “to have a specified power of right in law”. So here we should use “reserve”. Like for “版权所有”， the English expression is “All rights deserved”. For the word “取消”,in English, there are “cancel, abolish, call off”, etc. But “rescind” has the exact meaning of “cancel a contract or an agreement”. So the whole text can be put as “The seller reserves the right to rescind the Confirmation without further notice.”
5.2.2 Words with Multi-interpretations
In contractual English, the phenomena of one word with multi-meaning or one meaning expressed by several words is comparatively common. To understand these meanings and words thoroughly, still we should think about the context and choose carefully according to the specific situation.
Take " reference " as an example, the general meaning of the word is "参考", but it has different meanings in different context. So, we can't translate it into “参考” everywhere.
(1) Thank you for your letter reference DT/Zi NO.102, of 29th, March.[13]
Reference here means “number which makes it possible to find a document which has been filed”. So it is “编号” in the example. The sentence should be put as “感谢你方3月29日编号为DT/Zi NO.102的来信。”
(2) We have had only one order from ABC Co., Ltd., so we regret we cannot give you a
(3) reference from long experience.[14]
Reference here means “statement about a company’s abilities”. So we put it as “资信情况”。The whole sentence is “我们仅接受ABC有限公司的一笔定货，很遗憾我们不能提供具有长期交往经历的资信情况。”
(4) Reference is made to your Sales Confirmation No. 1529.[15]
Reference here means “mentioning or dealing with”(谈到). The whole sentence should be “现谈到你方的第1529号销售确认书。”
(5) The Buyers ask for credit and have given the Bank of China, Beijing as a reference.[16]
Reference here means “person who reports on someone’s character or abilities”(资信备询人) the whole sentence is “买方要求记账交易，并提出中国银行北京分行作为资信备询人。”
(6) The Sales Company is given the same power with reference to apportioning the commission.[17]
Reference here is used in the phrase “with reference to” which means about or concerning sb or sth (关于).
The whole sentence is “关于佣金的分配问题，应授予销售公司同样的权利”
The above is only a part of explanations of “reference”, it is obvious that if we always put “reference” into “参考”，there will be problems not only on the meaning conveying, but also on the effect of the clause.
5.2.2.1 Considering the Connotation
When dealing with the choices of words with multi-interpretations, we may adopt the following methods: considering the connotation, considering the part of speech, considering the profession and considering the collocation
For instance, one example is about the Chinese word “正式”.“正式合同”is formal contract, “正式批准” is “official approval”, “正式签署”is duly sign. In the three phrases, “正式”is translated into different forms. It is because the word “正式” has different connotation in different phrases. To be concrete, in the first phrase, “正式”means being made in written form, according with rules and regulations. While in the second phrase, “正式” means having official authoritativeness. The third one means, “to adopt proper and correct way by the party's legal representative or the formally authorized agent”.
Also like for the Chinese word “保税”. “保税区” is free trade zone. “保税仓库” is “bonded warehouse”, “保税保险” is “bonding insurance”, “保税卡车” is “customs bonded vehicle”, “保税库交货价” is “delivery in bond”.#p#分页标题#e#
5.2.2.2 Considering the Part of Speech
Some English words, although with the same written form, have different part of speech, therefore, the meanings are different due to it.
E.g.5 Arbitration of all questions in dispute under this contract shall be at the choice of either party….[18]
E.g.6 Our products are manufactured from the choice grades of material and will satisfy you in every respect.[19]
In E.g.5, choice is a noun, which means “act of choosing between two or more possibilities”(选择). In E.g.6, choice is an adjective meaning “of very good quality”（优质的）.
5.2.2.3 Considering the Profession
Contractual English may be used in various fields. The meaning of some words needs to be adjusted according to different profession.
E.g.7 The invoice shall be subject to the usual trade discounts allowed by the Consignor.[20]
E.g.8 The Buyer shall lodge a 90-day note in Bank of China, Yaiyuan Branch for discount.[21]
“Discount” in E.g.7 means “amount of money taken off the cost of sth” (折扣). This meaning is commonly used in the field of business trade. While in E.g.8, it means “the amount of money deducted from the face value of a note”(贴现). This is usually used in banking.
Another place requiring translators’ attention is the translation of prepositions. In Chinese, prepositions are semi-empty words. They are often used in front of words or phrases to indicate direction, location, the object and the aim. But there are not as many prepositions as those in English, and the prepositions in English don’t have that many usages either. There are quite a lot of prepositions in English and they are commonly used in expressions. Sometimes, although there aren’t any prepositions in a Chinese sentence, we should understand the logical relation in the original text and maybe need to add proper preposition to reflect the logical relation.
For example,
E.g.9 合同企业期满或者提前终止，应当向工商行政管理机关和税务机关办理注销登记手续。[22]
The translation version is “A contractual joint venture shall, upon the expiration or termination in advance of its term, cancel its registration with administrative authorities for industry and commerce and the tax authorities.” Here “期满或提前终止” is a concept of time, the adding upon reveals the logical relation hidden in the original text.
E.g.10 本合约由甲方和乙方于一九九七年十月二日达成[23]。
This contract is entered into on October 2, 1997 by and between Party A and Party B.
The Chinese word “由” in the original text is put into “by and between” instead of “by”. This adding preposition not only reflects the contractors, but also reveals the contractual relationship between the involved parties.
5.2.3 Dealing with Prepositions
Sometimes in dealing with E-C translation, translators may ignore the strong terminative function of prepositions and make mistakes.
E.g.11 “Site” means the land and other places on, under, in or through which the Permanent Works or Temporary Works designed by the Engineer are to be executed.[24]
The given version is “现场”指建筑工程师设计的永久性或临时性工程所需的土地及其他场地。
The prepositions “on, under, in or through” in the original text is deleted without explanation. This obviously disobeys the criteria we mentioned above. And the lack of specific restriction may cause a lot of problems on rights and profits of the parties during the construction process. For example, how to treat the treasure dig out from the earth? So, the preposition must be translated exactly as the way they are used. The whole text may be put as followed:
“现场”指建筑工程师设计的永久工程或临时工程所需的土地和其他场所，包括地面、地下、范围之内或途径的部分.。
Ⅵ.Conclusion
In conclusion, due to the traits and special effect of business contracts, the contractual translation has its own features and criteria. In the process of translating business contracts, faithfulness and accuracy is the chief criteria, expressiveness and smoothness is the higher-level criteria for a successful translation. For the treatment of word, the view of context is very important. The methods introduced in the paper cannot cover all the effective ways. But the proper application of them may avoid making unnecessary mistakes.
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