11商英(2)班1140108332 胡文丹

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论文题目 The Linguistic Features of English

Business Contract

系 别： 英语语言文化系

专 业： 商务英语 班 级： 11商务英语2班

姓 名： 胡文丹

学 号： 1140108332

课程名称： 商务谈判

任课教师： 尹雪艳

定稿日期： 2014年5月31日

Contents

The usage of professional language.........................1

Archaisms.......................................... 2

Synonyms ..................................... 2

The law language ....................................... 3

The using of “Shall” ................................... 4

The using of “Should” ............................... 4

The structure of sentence ................................5

Conclusion ............................................. 5 Reference .......................................................................................

The Linguistic Features of English Business Contract

胡文丹

Abstract As a unique law document , English business contract has its own distinctive linguistic features. This articles discusses some special linguistic features in contract, in order to make people acquaint themselves with it , master the professional knowledge and translate it in a adequately way .

Key words English business contract linguistic feature translation

Karla C. Shippey, Juris Doctor gives a definition of Commercial Contract: “A Commercial Contract , in simplest terms, is merely an agreement made by two or more parties for the purpose of transacting business”. English business contract is a law document to make sure the business can go smoothly. English business contract has precise structure, veracious phrase logy . Only when ones notice this that he could master the professional knowledge completely.

The structure of English business contract always is “开头+文体正文+结尾” ,and its function is stating terms clearly and assuring the business man’s obligations .

1．The usage of professional language

In INCOTERMS 2000 《2000年版本国际贸易属于解释通则》，there are 13 terms ,such as FOB (Free On Board 船上交货)，CIF (Carrier、 Insurance 、Freight

成本、保险和运费)，EXW (Ex Works 工厂交货)，etc. All these phrases has its own special usage.

Knowing the professional knowledge will do a great help when you sign a contract with the opponents，like these phrases: drawers(出票人)，drawn(开具)，draft(汇票)，etc.

Besides the phrases, the sentences of the contract are formal and obey the accuracy. For example : The World International Property Organization (WIPO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO), to establish a mutually supportive relationship between them, and establishing appropriate for cooperation between them, agree as follows; it will translate into Chinese :“世界国际产权组织和世界贸易组织，希望与他们建立相互支持的关系，为了建立适合他们之间的合作，同意如下……”，here, “desire” is more formal than “wish” and “want”, and compare with “in order to”,“with a view to ”is more formal.

From above examples, we can’t hardly notice that when ones uses the phrases or sentences in contract ,he should focus on the accuracy of words, not just use the ordinary words, in case some misunderstanding.

2.Archaisms

Archaisms ,nowadays seldom appear in our daily usage , while in English business contract, its structure always is “adverb (here / there / where)+ preposition （in / by / after / to ）”. Such as : hereinafter= in the following part of this contract; later in this contract 在下文；hereto=to this 至此，因此；whereas= considering that ; but 鉴于; whereby= by what , by which 由是，凭那个； etc. As Chen Baibi figured that the words what I just talked about up to over 30. When we see these archaisms in the contract, we will translate “here” into “this”, “ there” into “that”, etc. These could help to understand the meaning more easily.

For example: The specific contents and procedures of auditing accounts are detailed in Appendix 4 hereto (译文：详细目录和审计程序见附录4.) . Here, we can notice that “hereto” means “to this Appendix 4”, if we couldn’t understand the meaning, it will cause some problems.

Another example :in witness where of, the parties have executed this Contract

in duplicate by their duly authorized representatives on the date first above written.(作为协议事项的证据，双方授权代表在上面首次写明的日期，正式签署本协议，一式两份)。

We could not understand the meaning and of course we would make some mistakes when we sign the document with our opponents ,thus will cause some unavoidable loss for our party.

3、Synonyms

We hardly use synonyms to repeat the same word in our modern English. In English contract, in order to assure the terms and in case the misunderstanding, people would use lots of synonyms to emphasis the matter.

From the Lexical category , it would be divided into noun , adjective , proposition , subphonemic . Noun: power and authority , kind and nature , etc .Verb: alter and change , bird and obligate , make and enter into , etc. For example : If the contract shall duly perform and observe all terms , provision ,conditions, and stipulations of said contract , this obligation shall be null and void but otherwise shall be remain in full force and effect.（如果承包人切实履行并遵守所有上述合同的所有条款，条件及规定，本保证书所承担的义务即告终结束，否则这种义务应保持有效。） In this term, null and void will translate into “无效”，terms, provision, conditions and stipulation will be translated into “条款” .

To make the contract more formal, people who will sign the document should notice this, and use the words more carefully，or it would cause some problems.

For example: Once salesmen allow consumers to buy products and consumers pay for products in market, consumers have the right to ask for commercial invoices from the markets. If we do not notice the details in this term, we will translate it into “一旦售货员同意将货物卖给顾客且顾客付款完毕，他们有权向超市索取发票。” It sounds right ,while it would make people misunderstanding the sentence, as the sentence mentioned “them”, if we could not translate it in details, that we could not make clear that whether “them” represent “the seller” or “the consumer”. So the correct translation is : 一旦售货员同意将货物卖给顾客并且顾客付款完毕，顾客