商务英语中的模糊信息及其翻译技巧

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Introduction

Today, with China’s entry into the WTO and its increasingly flourishing international

trade all over the world, more and more people have come to believe that business is

playing a vital role on the markets both at home and abroad. Since the world economy is

growing at a faltering pace, China’s huge domestic market has caught the interest of

international companies at large with its stunning growth and vibrancy. As a matter of

fact, many Chinese-foreign joint ventures and multinational companies have undertaken

the task of ensuring stable and rapid business expansion into the Chinese market —the

most fetching the world has ever witnessed since China opened its door to the outside

world. It can frequently be seen how these enterprises are building the so-called “world

factory” in a drive toward economic supremacy. Taking into account the fact that a

booming foreign trade and economic cooperation all across the nations of the world

have to be conducted in alien lands and cultures where language barrier may present a

serious problem, business people with little or no knowledge of the language of their

foreign counterparts will find it hard to make themselves understood or to see the

hidden purposes behind commercial activities. Hence the vital importance of a

knowledge of the foreign language involved and that of competent translators and

interpreters.

A new discipline —fuzzy linguistics, came into being in 1965 when Lotfi A.Zadeh

brought forward the fuzzy sets. Vague language is deliberately chosen to accomplish its

particular communicative goal through implication that goes beyond the information

given by a definite response. It is obvious that fuzzy expressions are of high practicality

in modern business activities. It is quite natural that people tend to express their

thoughts and feelings in a vague and uncertain way when they do not wish to make their

real intentions known or when they are unsure of what to say. People might add

“however, but there is an exception to…” besides their comments on what others have

said or done to leave room for (further) communication and to avoid conflicting with

others directly. People well versed in commercial activities are aware that one way to

keep themselves from getting into an embarrassing situation when expressing a point

which might be construed as threatening or impolite to the partners, is to be vague. They

use the so-called ‘cross-connected-belt’ language by virtue of being vague to achieve

their special communicative goal in business. That is the magical function of vague

language, which makes it possible for each facet of a business dealing to be performed

as smoothly as can be by resorting to the particular pragmatic and semantic functions

thereof.

Fuzzy Messages in Business English and Their Translating Skills

What, then, is vague language? What does vagueness refer to? What is the pragmatic

function of fuzzy messages? How should we properly deal with the fuzzy messages in

business English translation in terms of fuzzy linguistics? Are there any specific

translating skills for the fuzzy messages in business English translation?

Vague language has been studied by Charles S. Peirce and some other researchers since

as early as 1902. Ullmann and Wittgenstein traced from Plato to Byron a recurrent

feeling of the inadequacy of language to express thought, particularly because of its lack

of precision, noted that such vagueness is in fact an advantage. Another approach to

vagueness is found in the more psychologically-oriented work of Deese (1974). He

holds that vagueness of communication is inherent in the structure of our ideas, rather

than in the language system. Lakoff (1973), an American linguist, as well as MeCawley

(1981), applies Zadeh’s fuzzy set theory to the study of meaning. Lakoff points out that

there is a certain degree of fuzziness around componential boundaries. As Dr Channell

points out, ordinary language leaves room for people to be vague. In 1997, Kempson

used “vagueness” as a general term to refer to all language uses that have somewhat

unclear characteristics. In China, there are several linguists whose research falls into

the scope of fuzzy linguistics, fuzzy semantics etc. Professor Tieping Wu, who has been

devoted to the development of research into fuzzy linguistics for almost 30 years, is the

inaugurator in this field. Professor Anshi Shi, Professor Yuanren Zhao, and more and

more scholars have laid great emphasis on fuzziness of language.

English styled with fuzzy messages and combined with the feature of exactness, brings

flexibility and retractility into the interpretation of the text by varying the degree of

exactness and fuzziness. It is this type of variation that is one of the ingenious

operational ways of business strategy and that represents the friendly cooperative spirit

of the two parties involved in the business transactions. Many business people are not

aware of the frequency of fuzzy expressions in their business activities (until it is

pointed out to them) and this fact is in itself of interest. It shows that fuzziness in

business English is part of their taken-for-granted world for some particular

communicative goal. For instance, at a trade negotiation meeting the buyer demands the

offer:

“How about the unit price if we buy ten thousand more?”

This kind of request enables the buyer to plough around the real intention of the seller

and meanwhile to conceal his own motive without difficulty when it seems impossible

Introduction

to get to know what the other side has got in his or her mind. Let us look at the

following request:

“We are ready to buy ten thousand more. Please reduce your unit price by five percent.”

In spite of the stand-to-reason intention on the part of the buyer, it is he himself who has

placed himself on a bad wicket in the business transaction. It can be seen from the

above instance that fuzzy messages may play a vital role in business dealings. Although

fuzziness in language has been studied for more than 90 years, the research into its

regularity has not constituted a systematic theory. Fuzziness and exactness are not

mutually exclusive in any language system, as is the case in business English that has

the language feature--- the coexistence of fuzziness and exactness. Fuzziness in

language use bears compatibility and relativity with the interpretation of meaning. The

capability of coping with the fuzzy messages in the source text is a decisive factor of

measuring the quality of translation of the target text. In this thesis, the author hopes to

make a deeper understanding of the fuzzy messages in business English from the

perspectives of semantics and grammar in the fuzzy linguistics, aiming to sum up the

specific techniques for translating the fuzzy messages in business English in order to be

better able to use fuzzy messages in business activities.

In addition, the thesis analyzes the cognition and translation of the fuzzy messages in

business English from the viewpoint of fuzzy linguistics in the hope of finding a better

way to handle the fuzzy messages in business English translation. The first chapter of

the paper starts with the general notion of vagueness from the linguistic point of view

and then goes on to distinguishes between four major linguistic concepts: fuzziness,

vagueness, generality and ambiguity, both theoretically and pragmatically. Several tests

are discussed in the perspectives of semantics, syntax and pragmatics in this chapter.

The second chapter gives a detailed explanation of the cognitive understanding of

linguistic fuzziness by making an analysis on the commonly seen expressions and the

significance of using the fuzzy messages in business English. The third chapter aims to

analyze the features of business English itself and discuss a few of the aspects of the

translation of business English into Chinese, along with the general prerequisites and

criteria of business English translation. The specific translating skills of the fuzzy

messages in business English, mainly from the perspectives of semantics and syntactical

structure, are dealt with in the last chapter. And finally, a summing-up of the author’s

understanding and some practical applications are given in the Conclusion.

Fuzzy Messages in Business English and Their Translating Skills

Chapter I Vagueness of Natural Language

We have seen that there are, in English, a number of ways of ‘being vague’. Vagueness

has been observed to occur widely in language use. In this connection, a number of

questions may naturally arise, e.g. which words and expressions may count as vague

language in English? If words and expressions are vague, could we reasonably expect

communication to be fairly efficient and successful? And is vagueness the same as

fuzziness? In this chapter, I set out to point out the difference between some linguistic

concepts as regarding fuzziness by making use of several tests discussed from the

perspectives of semantics, syntax and pragmatics.

1.1 What is vague language

1.1.1 Introduction

Language is deceptive; and though English is subtle it also allows a clever person---one

alert to the ambiguities of English---to play tricks with mock precision and to combine

vagueness with politeness. English is perfect for diplomats and lovers. (Paul Theroux,

The London Embassy)

Some of the most interesting questions are raised by the study of words whose

job it is to make things fuzzier or less fuzzy. (Lakoff 2:195)

People have many beliefs about language，of which one of the most important is that

‘good’ usage involves (among other things) clarity and precision. Hence, it is believed

that vagueness, ambiguity, imprecision, and general woolliness are to be avoided. Thus,

Patridge in his Usage and Abusage:

The ideal at which a writer should aim, ---admittedly it is impossible of

attainment, ---is that he writes so clearly, so precisely, so unambiguously, that

his words can bear only one meaning to all averagely intelligent readers that

possess an average knowledge of the language used. (1947: 372)

I would like to begin by showing that this is rather too simple a view, and likely to be

positively misleading as an instruction to those learning how to write---especially

second language users of English. There is plenty of vagueness in the daily use of

English, both written and spoken. However, I want to say that people are not ‘bad’

Chapter I Vagueness of Natural Language

writers but ‘competent’ writers. It is important to appreciate that one of the ways they

demonstrate their competence is through their use of a degree of vagueness, which is

right for the purpose of their communication. This is the key to understanding that

vagueness in language is neither all ‘bad’ nor all ‘good’, what matters is that vague

language is used appropriately.

1.1.2 Defining vague language

In this chapter, I introduce the general notion of vague language by outlining some

previous approaches to it. Interest in vagueness in language use and meaning has been

aroused in a number of disciplines: literary criticism, linguistics, psychology, and

philosophy. And as we are well aware that a great deal of vagueness is present in

language use, a complete theory of language must have vagueness as an integral

component.

There appear to have been two contradictory points of view: one that vagueness in

language is a bad thing, and the other that it is a good thing, Ullmann (1962) in a section

entitled ‘Words with blurred edges’, traced from Plato to Byron a recurrent feeling of

the inadequacy of language to express thought, particularly because of its lack of

precision. He noted also the converse feeling among poets and creative writers, that

such vagueness is in fact an advantage. This idea has also been reflected by

Wittgenstein (1953) who suggests that words are like blurred photographs and adds, ‘Is

it even always an advantage to replace an indistinct picture by a sharp one? Isn’t the

indistinct one often exactly what we need?’

Ullmann goes on to point out another important aspect of vagueness. He notes that:

If one looks more closely at this vagueness one soon discovers that the term is

itself rather vague and ambiguous: the condition it refers to is not a uniform

feature but has many aspects and may result from a variety of causes. Some of

these are inherent in the very nature of language, whereas others come into

play only in special circumstances. (1962: 118)

He attributes vagueness to four factors:

a. genetic character of words;

b. meaning is never homogeneous (i.e. it is context-bound);

c. lack of clear-cut boundaries in the non-linguistic world;

d. lack of familiarity with what the words stand for.

Fuzzy Messages in Business English and Their Translating Skills

Let us consider his four factors in turn. About reason a. he says that what words refer to

are ‘not single items but classes of things or events bound together by some common

element’ (ibid: 118). For example, there is a class of things referred to in English by the

term bird, but if we look at it in more detail, we see that some birds are very typically

‘birdy’ (robin), while other birds (ostrich, penguin) do not feel like typical birds and

lack some of the central characteristics of ‘birdiness’ (flying, perching in the trees). This

inevitably leads to vagueness which is ‘in some ways regrettable, but it is the price we

have to pay for having a means of social communication flexible enough to cope with

the infinite variety of our experiences’. (For a similar view that if language were not

vague, it would not permit adequate communication, see Daitz 1956.) Reason b.

---interpretation of meaning is context-bound. Indisputably so, but Ullmann’s

implication is that context will permit an exact interpretation to be put on any word:

‘Only context will specify which aspect of a person, which phase in his development,

which side of his activities we have in mind’ (1962:124). That is, he holds that

ultimately there are exact interpretations. I shall suggest that there exist at least some

expressions which are always vague and for which a precise interpretation or analysis is

not possible. Reason c. ---the non-linguistic world is vague. Indeed, in any case as far as

our subjective perception of it goes. A standard example here would be to ask oneself

when a hill becomes large enough to qualify as a mountain, or at what precise age a girl

starts to be correctly referred to as a woman. Reason d. ---unfamiliarity. Definitely, as

we shall see from analyzing some samples of conversations where people seem to be

not quite sure of what they are talking about. Ullmann’s points seem acceptable, but I

think he confuses causes and effects. That is to say, c. and d. are facts about the world

and the people living in it, which in turn are reflected by, even necessitate, the capacity

of language to express vagueness that is a. and b., among other factors. So, linguistic

vagueness is not gratuitous ---it is caused (like many other observed characteristics of

language) by the world (in the most general sense) in which language is used. The

language system permits speakers to produce utterances without deciding beforehand

which facts are ‘ to be excluded ‘or which ‘to be included’ by them.

Another approach to vagueness is found in the more psychologically oriented work of

Deese (1974). He holds that vagueness of communication is inherent in the structure of

our ideas, rather than in the language system. His argument is that vagueness is not a

concept, which applies to language, but rather to the ideas which language expresses.

Obviously it is impossible to separate language from the ideas it expresses. In my

opinion, therefore, it is just another way of attempting to make the analysis of language

less complicated by shifting the problem away from linguistics and to psychology.

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摘要：

Introduction1IntroductionToday,withChina’sentryintotheWTOanditsincreasinglyflourishinginternationaltradeallovertheworld,moreandmorepeoplehavecometobelievethatbusinessisplayingavitalroleonthemarketsbothathomeandabroad.Sincetheworldeconomyisgrowingatafalteringpace,China’shugedomesticmarkethascaughtthe...

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