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Words that are easily confused when translating contracts into English When translating business contracts into English, improper word selection often results in words that do not convey the intended meaning or have ambiguous meanings, and sometimes even express completely different meanings. Therefore, it is extremely necessary to understand and master the differences between words that are easily confused. Now let's look at some very confusing words. 1. Abide by and comply with abide by and comply with both mean "obey". But when the subject is "people", the English translation of "obey" must be abide by. When the subject is impersonal, the English translation "comply with" is used. Eg. Both parties should abide by/all activities of both parties should comply with the provisions of the contract. Both parties shall abide by/All the activities of both parties shall comply with the contractual stipulations. 2. change A to B and change A into B. The English translation of "change A to B" should be "change A to B", and the English translation of "change A into/exchange into B" should be "change A into B". The two should not be confused. Eg. Change the delivery date to August and convert US dollars into RMB. Both parties agree that change the time of shipment to August and change US dollar into RMB. 3. ex and per, the prepositions ex and per derived from Latin have different meanings. When translating goods "carried" by a certain ship in English, use ex, goods "carried away" by a certain ship use per, and goods "carried" by a certain ship use by. Eg. The last cargo shipped/carried/carried by the "Victoria" will arrive in London on October 1st. The last batch per/ex/by SS "Victoria" will arrive at London on October 1. (SS = Steamship) 4. in and after When the time of "how many days later" is translated into English, it often refers to the exact day of "how many days later", so the preposition in must be used, but not after, because the preposition after refers to any inaccurate day of "how many days later". Eg. The cargo was shipped by "Dongfeng" on November 10 and arrived at the Port of Rotterdam 41 days later. The good shall be shipped per MV "Dong Feng" on November 10 and are due to arrive at Rotterdam in 41 days. (MV= motor vessel) 5. on/upon and after When the English translation is "... arrives, then...", use the preposition on/upon instead of after, because after means that the time of "after" is unclear. Eg. The invoice value must be paid on delivery. The invoice value is to be paid on/upon the arrival of the goods. 6. by and before When the English translation ends time, such as "before a certain day of a certain month", if the written date is included, use the preposition by. ； If the written date is not included, that is, it refers to the day before the written date, the preposition before must be used. Eg. The seller must deliver the goods to the buyer before June 15th. The vendor shall deliver the goods to the vendee by June 15. (or: before June 16, indicating that June 15 is included. If June 15 is not included, it will be translated as by June 14 or before June 15. ) Key details should be handled carefully when translating a contract into English. Practice has proven that the areas where errors are prone to occur in English translation contracts are usually not the large descriptive clauses, but some key details, such as: Money, time, quantity, etc. In order to avoid errors, when translating contracts into English, some limiting structures are often used to define the exact scope specified by the details. 1. Limitation of liability As we all know, the responsibilities of both parties must be clearly stated in the contract. In order to translate the authority and scope of the responsibilities of both parties, fixed structures of conjunctions and prepositions are often used. Here are some examples of the most commonly used structures: 1) and/or commonly used and/or English translation of the content of "A and B + A or B" in the contract, so as to avoid missing part of it. Eg. The shipper shall be solely responsible for any damage caused by the above goods to the ship and/or other goods on board. The shipper shall be liable for all damage caused by such goods to the ship and/or cargo on board. 2) by and between commonly used by and between emphasizes that the contract is signed by "both parties", so both parties must strictly perform the responsibilities conferred by the contract. Eg. The buyer and seller agree to purchase and sell the following goods according to the following terms and sign this contract. This Contract is made by and between the Buyer and the Seller, whereby the Buyer agrees to buy and the Seller agrees to sell the under mentioned commodity subject to the terms and conditions stipulated below. 2. Limited time English translation of time-related words should be handled very strictly and carefully, because the time requirements of the contract must be accurate. When translating start and end times in English, the following structure is often used to define the exact time. 1) Double prepositions Use double prepositions to translate the starting and ending time including today's date into English. Eg. Starting from September 20, Party A no longer has the right to accept any orders or receipts. Party A shall be unauthorized to accept any orders or to collect any account on and after September 20. Eg. Our company's condition is that cash payment be made within 3 months, that is, no later than May 1. Our terms are cash within three months, ie on or before May 1. 2) not (no) later than "not (no) later than + date" is often translated as "not later than a certain day of a certain month". Eg. Within one month from the date of signing this contract, that is, no later than December 15, Party B must ship the goods. Party B shall ship the goods within one month of the date of signing this Contract, ie not later than December 15. 3) Corresponding forms of include Commonly used corresponding forms of include are: Inclusive, including and included are used to limit the time including the current day. Eg. This certificate is negotiable in Beijing and is valid until October 1. This credit expires till October 1 (inclusive) for negotiation in Beijing. (or: This credit expires till and including October 1 for negotiation in Beijing.) If not including October 1, the English translation is till and not including October 1. 3. Limited amount In order to avoid leakage, forgery or alteration of the amount, the following measures are used to strictly control the English translation. 1) The English translation of the repeated amount in capital letters must repeat the amount in capital letters after the lowercase letters and in brackets. Even if there are no capital letters in the original contract, it is necessary to add capital letters in the English translation. Add "SAY" before capital words to mean "uppercase” ； Add "ONLY" at the end. It means "whole". Must pay attention: The amounts in lowercase and uppercase letters must be consistent. Eg. The hiring party must pay the hired party US$500 per month. Party A shall pay Party B a monthly salary of US $500 (SAY FIVE HUNDRED US DOLLARS ONLY). 2) Correct use of currency symbols When translating amounts into English, attention must be paid to distinguishing and correctly using various currency name symbols. “$”Can represent both "USD" and currencies in some other places ； And "￡" not only represents "pound", but also represents the currency of some other places. Must pay attention: When an amount is written in numbers, the amount number must be next to the currency symbol, e.g.: Can $891,568, cannot be written as: Can $891,568. In addition, the translator should pay special attention to whether the amount contains a decimal point (.) or a section number (,), because these two symbols can easily cause clerical errors. If you are slightly careless, the consequences will be disastrous.