The Common Use and Translation Skills of English Abbreviation in Daily Life

張鑠 鄭宇

【Abstract】Along with growing of international exchange， business negotiations， global projects of the foreign corporations， English has become the most effective international language for more speakers. It also brings about a brand new word formation， which provides people with a fast and convenient information exchange platform——Abbreviation. This article discusses it from these four aspects： Original， Form， Significance， and Translation to see the presentation， linguistic features and application value.

【Key words】 abbreviation； common use； structure

1.Introduction

Abbreviation is a short form of written word or phrase used in place of the whole word while still remaining original meaning. It is very common in modern language and is closely connected with our life and job.

Owing to international business activities， the abbreviation had been promoted its value and became well-known all over the world. International business activities are multinational， more and more evidence has shown a tendency of globalization with the increase of international communication， international business and trade made astounding advances.

At the very beginning， there were no computers and network， buyer and seller across the sea have to make contact with each other through telegraph， telephone and printer which were slow and costly at that time. Realistic condition restricted people that they must put it in a proper way to remember and record core idea. Abbreviation happens to be the best tool to save time and communication costs. Some famous modern linguists conclude that it reflects the theory of languages economy and efficiency. As a result， people in business area have created a good deal of abbreviation.

2.The Common Use

2.1 The Basic Areas

It is generally accepted that Abbreviation is increasingly widespread and truly plays a crucial role in every field. Whatever you hang out with friends or walking in the street， even bustling in noisy cities， it is easy to overlook something impressive with hints. Blow is evidence of how widely the abbreviation affects us.

We suppose that you will drive to CBD （Central business district）， trying to pay cash for a gift for GF （girlfriend）. Several onlookers gathered at the base of the Carrefour building watching and discussing APECs progress （Asia-pacific economic cooperation） and live images beamed onto a LCD screen （Liquid Crystal Display）. No wonder the API （Air Pollution Index） goes into “healthy” again. We firmly convinced that abbreviation is in every corner in our life.

Most institutions have short names. For instance： OPEC （organization of petroleum exporting countries）， UNESCO （United Nations educational， scientific and cultural organization）， WWF （World wildlife fund）， ISO （International organization for standardization， WTO （World Trade Organization）. When scanning the headlines online， those names never fail to be simplified in forms if they should be recorded， and abbreviation can be used instead of lengthy and complicated forms. It is not only applicable for institutions but enterprises and corporations as well. For instance， many companies in Fortune 500 use abbreviation names or brands， such as IBM （International Business Machine）， MEI （Matsushita Electric Industrial）， BP （British Petroleum）， HSBC （Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation）. Most global brands also use abbreviation names such as LV （Louis Vuitton）， DHC （DAIGAKU HONYAKU CENTER）， LUX （Luxury）. Companies put a high value on brand names， not just as the representative of soul and spirit but more chances that appeal to customers by an impressive catchy name， and first impression is often the last impression after all.

2.2 High Realm

It is a well-known fact that abbreviation definitely plays a great role in giving information and guidance. It is essential and necessary in most fields that demand for great records in details， such as scientific research.

For example： when testing the “Conservation of energy” in physical field of expertise， people have to take abundant examples， analyze typical cases， utilize tables and statistics to give descriptions directly. In this process， all the parameters， physical quantities as well as functional relationship should be recorded and expressed exactly. It would be more likely to make mistakes with full names due to negligence， and main focus would have been taken seriously above all instead of putting the cart before the horse.

For example， in IT area： SCADA （Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition）， 3D （Three Dimension）， FDDI （Fiber Distributed Data Interface）， PSTN （Public Switched Telephone Network）， MRI （Magnetic Resonance Imaging）， MOS （metal-oxide-semiconductor）； in Math area： Max （Maximum）， BIT （Binary Digit）， Min （Minimum）.

The pouring of abbreviation should go back to one of the earliest international trade with communication equipment. In that era， there was no Internet which opens the door of information sharing and exchanging globally. Two sides of business separated by mountains and oceans connected each other with telephone， telegraph， which is costly and wasting resources a lot. People would suffer great losses if every word of business should be passed on to the other side， so to speak. Then it turned out to be a form that can be admitted by most people with least words possible， while maintaining the main idea of the message sender. It is abbreviation that greatly reduces the cost and additional expenditure. So in the realm of international trade， abbreviation should be discussed in more details below.

In terms of， trade terms are divided into four essential parts with the first letter of EFCD in 13 categories， including EXW， FCA， FAS， FOB， CPR， CIF， CPT， DES， DAF， DOU， DEQ and DDP. For example： FOB （Free on Board）， it refers to a delivery type that seller performs his duty of delivering goods when the cargo ships arrive at the port of loading appointed time， place， and related contents. It not only simplifies contents but standardizes this negotiation to some extent.

Besides， when we talk about price， payment， insurance， nations， abbreviation will be used a lot. For example： T/T （Telegraphic Transfer）， M/T （Mail Transfer）， D/D （Demand Draft）， D/P （Documents against payment）， D/A （Documents against acceptance）， FPA （Free Particular Average）， WPA （With particular average）， AR （All Risks）.

3.Structure

The word-building methods mainly consist of homonym， abbreviation， overlap， metaphor， metonymy， and explaining a word in another way. Abbreviation is an essential part of this field. When categorizing types of abbreviation in accordance with the structuring rule， it can be divided into two sorts of forms： Initialism， and Acronym

3.1 Initialism

Initialism refers to a word formation putting every initial word in one phrase together to make up a new word， it is the basic body of English abbreviation， as well as the most common abbreviation shape， and there are three forms of initialism.

It is all letters stand for entire word. For example： CoD （Cash on delivery）， CIO （Chief Information Officer）， USB （Universal Serial Bus）， IPR （Intellectual Property Right）， CPU （Central Processing Unit）， WWW （World Wild Web）， HEC （Harbour Entry Control）， IPO （Initial Public Offerings）， AQI （Air Quality Index）， DoF （Degree of Freedom）.

Initialism has advantage of normalization， full accuracy， and it is easy to recognize， and is most often used as names of organization， notes， prices. For example： DoC （document）， P/L （Packinglist）， INV （invoice）， LTX （Telex）， REF （reference）， STL （style）， PRC （price）.

3.2 Acoronym

This method of structuring was used from 1943， it is similar to the way of initialism， there are also differences， that in initialism method， people read each letter of the phrase while in acronym， people read it in terms of rules of pronunciation.

This way almost used in the names of institutions. For example， NATO （North Atlantic Treaty Organization）， NASA （National Aeronautics and Space Administration）， APEC （Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation）， OPEC （Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries）， NASDAQ （National Association of Securities Dealer Automated Quotation）， MOFCOM （The Ministry of Commerce of the Peoples Republic of China）. However， acronym has its own disadvantage， and it cannot strengthen the memory of the phrase， because when people think of one word， few of them can first remember what each letter stands for， the first impression must be the Chinese meaning when spelling it. For example： AIG （American International Group）， FAO （Food Agricultural Organization）， ASEAN （Association of Southeast Asian Nations）， PAS （Pacific Astronomical Society）.

There are also other words besides names of institutions using acronym. For example： SARS （Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome）， AIDS （Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome）， AMIS （Automatic Immune Integrated System）， VAT （Value Added Tax）， HEC （Barbour Entry Control）， NIC （Network Information Center）， IELTS （International English Language Testing System）， PETS （Public English Test System）， NEET （Not in Education， Employment or Training）.

4.Translation Strategy

Abbreviation is complicated with simple forms which is hard to be balanced .It is easy to stay equivalence in meaning with its fixed semantic value. However abbreviation has no literal meaning， so that it is difficult to maintain equivalence in meaning in form during the process of translation.

4.1 Free Translation

Free translation refers to restoring English abbreviation back to corresponding full names， translating them into Chinese and expressing after compressing process. Despite these minor complications， this is still the basic way people remember the abbreviation， especially in the names of institutions.

For example： T/T （Telegraphic Transfer）， M/T （Mail Transfer）， D/D （Demand Draft）， D/P （Documents against payment）， D/A （Documents against acceptance）， FPA （Free Particular Average）.

4.2 Literal Translation

According to the pronunciation of abbreviation， translating it directly into Chinese， this method is called literary translation. It is accepted by people mostly because it is indeed easy to memorize and remind.

For example： NAS-DAQ， DOW JONES， Hongseng Index， OPEC （歐派克）. However there is a disadvantage that people have to remember corresponding Chinese on the basic of pronunciation in a long time. There are also other useful ways like extended translation and zero translation. For example， we can “FedEx” the files to you before 8 a.m. When translating this sentence， people say express directly though it is Federal Express Company， and it is the way of extended translation. Besides that， there are many words like DVD， MP3， people are familiar with their abbreviative forms， so it is unnecessary to translate them into Chinese， and this way is called zero translation.

5.Conclusion

Abbreviation， as a linguistic phenomenon， is the product of the times in English. It comes from a fusion of a strong trend that the development of science and technology cause the globalization of the world economy and the integration of the financial market. For its own unique features and pragmatic strong vitality， the number is inevitably bound to increase dramatically during the last 30 years. In fact， it is the mirror of social development of English-speaking countries. That would be more effective and convenient if we grasp the key to memorize abbreviations and wield them on the job in the future.

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