The unequivalence in Business English translationIntroductionThe communication between people from different culture background is the process of cross-culture contact in-fact. As different nation has different historical process, ranging form manners and customs to culture traditions, therefore, it is a need for translators who are engaged in international business translation that cognize and get deep understand of the diversity between local and exotic culture. As well, they should take every measure to vanish these diversities in their translation. In the translation, translators must search the accurate words so that make the exotic culture reappear in the target language.1 The culture factors in unequivalenceWhen being occupied in international business English translation, we are not only to pay close attention to the transmission of cultural information, but ensure the cultural information equivalence which is on the basis of 4Es standard that are Dynamic Equivalence and Formal Equivalence. However, it is rather hard to embed the cultural information in the target language, consequently, it is almost impossible that we obey the 4Es standard strictly in translation. Generally speaking, cultural differences are caused by following several factors:1The difference in cognizing thingsFor example, in the western legends, dragon stands for vicious monster, although it is a symbol of propitiousness in Chinese hearts. In Middle Age, dragon is a kind of evil animal, and in Bible, the devil, Satan, is regarded as “a great dragon”. On the other hand, dragon can be used to describe a shrew.Thus, the image about dragon is totally dissimilar in China and western counties, so it must be careful in translation. In Asia, the four well-developed countries and regions, which are Korea, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong and Singapore, are called Four Asia Tigers by the most westerners; while in Chinese, we all call them Four Asia Dragons. According to the culture equivalence, the former one may be fit more, because in westerners’ hearts, tiger is a kind of doughty animal, and at least a tiger cannot be easy to let people recall the horrible image. Further more, in the Oxford English Dictionary Additions Series Ⅱ, the “tiger”is explained as “A nick name for any of the more successful smaller economics of Ease Asia, esp, those of Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea. So making the “Four Asia Dragons”change the “Four Asia Tigers” is fit more for the equivalence in the aspect of cultural information.2 The difference in color cultureDespite there are some similarities in different cultures of color understanding, but they may have different feelings, even totally contrary. Its reason lies in national geographic location, historical and cultural background and different customs. For example, “blue” in English-speaking courtiers have the implication of depression. In United States, “blue Monday” means that people would be ina bad mood on Monday; “blue sky” stands for “useless”. So when translatingthe Chinese brand “Blue Sky”, we can’t just translate it literally, otherwise, thewesterners regard it as “useless thing”. In addition, the Egyptians and Belgians look on blue as an unlucky color. In Chinese, blue generally won’t cause “melancholy”or “unlucky”impression. Nonetheless, the world famous brand “Blue Bird”isn’t “sad”car, or how could it be a great brand known around world. Blue bird is a kind of blue songbird come from North America, and its meaning in cultural orientation is happy. So the actual meaning is driving for happy. But in China, most people couldn’t feel the Chinese, “fu”, only do enjoy the feels of the symbol about wealth and reflect.In English-speaking nations, people believe that red stands for brutal and unlucky, and red means to bleed. However in China, red is a happy and lucky color. In the Chinese traditional marriage ceremony, the new couples are used to put on in red. In business, the businessmen hope “open red”; when being profitable, they will get the “red profits”; and the employees will get the “red bags” if they do well in work.3The difference in numerical cultureAll is known that, in the west, “13”is considered as an unlucky number, whose reason is related to the story in the Bible that Jesus was sold by his thirteenth follower-----Judas. So in the western countries, people usually avoid using this number. In China’s traditional culture, the digital “13”has no such cultural meaning, but with the influence of western culture, the recent implication is also acceptable to people.In China’s pronunciation, the “nine”has the same sound as “long”, so naturally “nine”has the ame meaning as “long”in China. For example, the Chinese emperors all worship the number “nine”, hoping his country has long peace. As the same reason, there is a medicine brand named “999”, but in English culture, the “nine” has not the same implication. In addition, we can’t put “666”or such like trademark goods export into British, because “666”stands for the symbol of devil.“Seven”has a positive meaning in Europe and United States. Therefore, the drink trademark “7-Up”is translated as “QI-Xi”in Chinese rather than just “Seven-Up”. In the minds of English-speaking countries, “7” is equivalent to the Chinese people’s minds of “Eight”. “Seven” is a lucky number as to westerners, trademark such as Mild Seven, Seven-Eleven. But in China, it is just a general figure.2 As to the unequivalenceCultural information transfer is possible mainly through translating to understand other cultures and cultural information of equivalence is also possible. We could rely on MrNida’s“Functional Equivalence”principle. “Equivalence”here cannot be understood mathematicalsense for equivalence, and they are only similar with each other. He thought of the translation should aim at the equivalence in the aspects of information content, manner of speaking, style, language, culture, and social factors and so on. In order to achieve these equivalences, we must ne adjusted in translation.If there are misunderstandings in the form-close translated texts, we must make some change about the texts in characters; we can retain some transliterations aswell, but it is a need to add the footnotes to explain the potential misunderstandings. If the translation is close to the original in form, it may lead to the original associative meanings of misunderstanding, or the heavy losses on the correct understanding of the original style, then that it ask for the necessary adjustments to reflect the original association value is important. For example, Chinese wines “Dukang” translated into English is generally based on sound translation, but when seeing the English trademark Dukang, the English-speaking readers only make it relate to wine, but not thinking of wine master in Chinese history. Therefore, “Dukang” as a trademark, cultural information is not entirely so. However, we might use the Greet god of wine in the name of Bacchus, replacing “Dukang” as the English language marks, so that cultural information is no doubt much better, as Bacchus would let westerners produce more relevant associations.A translation of original must be produced with the accompanying code, which is often called to make a series of adjustments in phonemes, vocabulary, syntax and discourse in various dimensions. For example, Nike, as a trademark, can make English-speaking countries think of victory, good fortune, because the world in Greek mythology, Nike is the goddess of victory. Legendary Nike has long wings, holding on olive branch, bringing victory to the people and gods gift, and she is lucky, the god of justice and beauty. Nile as a sporting goods trademark, we can put it transliterated as “Naike”, implying that Nike is durable, sturdy and beat the opposition in the race. “Naike” can be a good translation, but what Chinese think of is totally different form whatEnglish-speaking people do, and Chinese may not think of the goddess. Cultural information is lost in translation.ConclusionEach nation has its unique culture. East and West have a different philosophy, cultural traditions, so there is bound to cultural differences. In addition, the reason for the difference lies in the different East and West national geography, history, folklore and customs. It is these cultural differences that can make the translatability to be restricted. English translation of international business must pay special attention to these differences and we should also find the relevant point between a foreign culture and their own culture. It is most desirable if the relevant point is a blend of two cultures. However, often due to cultural differences, sometimes it id difficult to find appropriate points, then translator must be on their abilities so that the two cultures can be as close as possible. In accordance with the 4Es standards and Mr. Nida’s principles, we could make appropriate adjustments to bring something exotic to reproduce in the target language.参考文献1.关世杰《跨文化交流学》北京大学出版社；19952.刘醒吾《经贸英语口语》外语教学与研究出版社；19973.李平《国际经贸英语教程》中国国际广播出版社；19994.王学文《新编经贸口译教程》中国对外经济贸易出版社；20015.张培基,喻云根等《英汉翻译教程》上海外语教育出版社, 19886.金惠康《跨文化交际翻译续编》中国对外翻译出版公司,20047.毛荣贵,廖晟《译谐译趣》中国对外翻译出版公司, 20058.李巍《广告设计概论》西南财经大学出版社, 20029.董立津Jason Pugh 《广告专业英语》中南大学出版200110.The Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English Oxford University Press , 1963.11.Jeffrey Sachs:InternationalEconomics:Unlocking the Mysterise of Globalization12.[J].Foreign Policy,Spring,1998.13.Anthony Giddens:The Consequence of Modernity [M].Cambridge Press,1996.14.Samir Amin:The Challenge of Globalization [J].Cambridge Press,1996.15.Jeffrey.A,Frankel:Globalization of the Economy [N].NBER WorkingPaper,No.7858,August,2000.。
