This thesis tends to study English business letters translation from the perspective of functional equivalence, in order to seek reasonable translation strategies connected with stylistic features of English business letters。 The purpose of the paper is to provide guidance on English business letters translation in theory and practical application through the study of English business letters from the perspective of functional equivalence。 This thesis consists of four chapters。 The first chapter introduces the purpose and significance of the study。 The second part introduces current studies of business English and the study and the development of functional equivalence theory。 Chapter three reviews seven stylistic features of English business letters and its corresponding translation strategies。 Chapter four is conclusion which summarizes the whole study, then points out some limitations and proposes some suggestions of further study。 

2。 Literature Review

In the first chapter, the importance of English business letter has been introduced, this part mainly introduced current studies of business English and the study and the development of functional equivalence theory。 

2。1 Current studies of English business letters translation

In China, there are many classic translation theories in the field of literature。 For instance, Yan Fu’s “faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance”, which is one of the most influential translation theories in our country; Lu Xun’s “rather faithful than smooth”; and Xu Yuanchong’s “competition”。 However, in the field of business English, there is lack of appropriate translation theories, let alone English business letters translation。 Some translation theorists have prejudice against business English translation。 Business English texts are regarded as stereotyped and simple, and could hardly compare with literary translation。 In addition, some people believe that anyone who masters two languages and some international business knowledge can translate well。

Maybe we do not know a lot about business English translation。 Eugene A。 Nida once made a comment on current situation of translation in China, “But unfortunately too many Chinese theorists and practitioners have focused primarily on elegance and quite naturally concentrated their efforts on literary texts”。 (Nida 127) 文献综述

However, with urgent need for business English translation today, more and more people realize that traditional translation theories have their own sense of limitation in business English translation for there are many differences between business English and literary English。 As a result, some scholars and translation theorists have done some research to explore some new principles and strategies of business English translation。

In recent years, there are many famous scholars who have made great contributions to business English translation。 For instance, Professor Liao Ying holds the view that written business English based on seven Cs(Completeness, Clearness, Concreteness, Conciseness, Courtesy, Consideration and correctness ) in his book English for International Business—Theory, Language and Practice(2005); Professor Liu Zhengqian describes clearly that practical writing of business English has the features of seven Cs in his book On the Translation and Writing of Business English; Professor Jia Wenbo published a book Pragmatic Translation with a Functional View about business English translation; Professor Liu Fagong has stated that the business English translation should be “faithfulness, Exactness and Consistency” in his article “Exploring into the principles of Chinese—English Business Translation”;　

Foreign studies about business English are restricted on teaching methodology or the language traits instead of translation of business English。 Ellis and Johnson told us that business English has three general characteristics, namely sense of purpose, social and clear communication in their book Teaching Business English。