A Comparative Analysis of English and Chinese Thinking Patterns in Business English Correspondence Translation

Abstract

With the increasingly frequent and close business cooperation between China and foreign countries, foreign trade English has become a necessary tool for communication among all countries. As one of the important parts of that, business English correspondence plays an indispensable role in the effective communication between the two sides. Moreover, the proper translation of business correspondence can bring more business opportunities to companies. However, due to the differences between English and Chinese thinking patterns, there are still some problems in business English correspondence translation. 

The previous studies mainly focus on the influence of English and Chinese thinking patterns on business English correspondence. Yet there is a lack of a comprehensive study of English and Chinese thinking patterns and its specific performance on the translation of business correspondence. Thus, this paper, with the purpose of remedying the limitation, makes a comparative analysis of English and Chinese thinking patterns in business English correspondence translation. 

This paper is divided into five chapters: the first chapter is introduction to business English correspondence; the second chapter introduces thinking patterns; the third chapter is the differences between English and Chinese thinking patterns and the embodiments in business correspondence translation; the fourth chapter is the reasons for differences between English and Chinese thinking patterns; the fifth one is the ways to cultivate transnational thinking patterns. In short, translators can benefit a lot from this paper.

Key words: thinking patterns; business English correspondence; translation