Abstract:

At present, there are many studies on prepositions themselves and on prepositions in business English, but there are few studies on prepositions in international business correspondence. This thesis aims to investigate the translation and function of prepositions in international business correspondence, hoping to be beneficial to people engaged in international trade to accurately translate and precisely convey the information. The author gives a summary and a supplement to the previous research and investigates from four aspects: 1. Prepositions; 2. International business correspondence and prepositions; 3. The translation of prepositions in different forms in international business correspondence; 4. The function of prepositions in international business correspondence. Through further study on these four aspects, the author arrives at a conclusion: prepositions play a subtle and important role in international business correspondence; to translate prepositions precisely, it is a must to understand the basic meanings of prepositions and command professional business knowledge.

Key words: prepositions; international business correspondence; translation; function

摘要：

目前，对英语介词本身的研究和对介词在商务英语中的研究很多，而对于介词在外贸函电中的研究甚少。本文旨在探讨外贸函电中介词的翻译及其功能，希望有助于从事国际贸易的人员更加准确地翻译，更加精确地表达信息。笔者通过对前人研究的总结和补充，从4个方面进行探讨：介词，外贸函电与介词，不同形式的介词在外贸函电中的翻译，介词在外贸函电中的功能作用。通过对这4个方面的进一步探讨，得出结论：介词在外贸函电中起着微妙而重要的作用，要想准确翻译介词，必须理解介词的基本词义，掌握必要的专业商务知识。

关键词：介词; 外贸函电; 翻译; 功能作用

1. Introduction
With the constantly deepened reform and opening up, cultural communications and economic activities between China and other nations have been growing in frequency and in volume, especially after China entered WTO. In the process of international trades, international business correspondence plays a very significant role. The international business correspondence serves as a bridge for trading parties. As different languages are generally used in different countries, and information is conveyed mainly through words in the correspondence, the accuracy of language translation is crucial to a successful trade transaction, and in this thesis, the translation of prepositions in English and Chinese languages will be discussed. In the process of translation, the role of prepositions should never be underestimated. Yan argued that prepositions play a subtle role in understanding the semantics. In business English, there exists a large number of prepositions in terms, sentences and formulas. They make business English simple and concise (2004). As Yan said, prepositions are in a very important role in the business English. Therefore, the translation of prepositions is extremely vital.