Translation in International Trade between the Canary Islands and Africa: The Case of English

Abstract

Translation and Interpreting are required in foreign trade activities when two parties that speak different languages, and belong to different cultures, decide to trade goods and/or services. These companies expandingin international markets operate in a multicultural and multilingual framework where linguistic diversity plays a significant role in new trading arrange-ments and negotiations; hence the need for translators and interpreters specialized in international trade. During the course of negotiations,we are able to find different stages in which the variety of texts involved isconsi-derably diverse. These stages are, for instance, the purchase order, the logistic (related to transport and insurance) and payment in a multicultural context.Socorro Trujillo compiled a texts classification in the field of international trade and divides texts into informative docu-ments, official or administrative documents, transport documents and financial documents. Each sectionof documents integrate a wide variety of text types, among which, we would like to highlight the invoices, that contain the information of the products, their price and conditions, the packing list, that describe the product and its packaging, among otheraspects, sea Bill of Lading, through which it is proved that the merchandise is on board and that is very relevant in this framework, the airway bill of lading, and the financial guarantee, in which the bank takes action. Apart from the text typology describedby this author, that will entirely be taken into account in this Research, we have also consulted other authors that describe several types of documents that are used in international trade. In the case of advertising brochures, thesecan have a positive effect in a company when they work as sales incentives, whose translation requiresunderstanding the recipient culture. Technical reports and certificates are documentsmainly issued by professionals that provide services such as engineering services. Their translation can be essential for knowledge exchange and transfer on a global scale. Finally, it is also relevant to underscore the importance of commercial correspondence, that works as a communicative instru-ment between companies located in different countries, and that can determine whether a trade happens or not. There is a wide range of functionsregarding commercial letters, that also correspond toemails, like presentation letters, letters including invoices, letters defining the conditions of a purchase, letters including transport conditions, etc. In this sense, and in a technological world, it is also appro-priate to mention SMS’s, that work in a fast way, especially in commercial contexts, as well as WhatsApptexts, that havea big social influence. All these types of documents have been considered in this Research, with the specific purpose of envisaging the mostfre-quentlytranslated documents from or into English in international trade between the Canary Islands and Africa.