Министерство образования и науки Российской Федерации Государственное образовательное учреждение высшего профессионального образования
«Хабаровская государственная академия экономики и права»
Н. И. Эмерель
Английский язык
English for contracts
Учебное пособие
Хабаровск 2010
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ББК Ш 143.21
X 12
Английский язык. English for contracts : учеб. пособие для студентов экономических вузов, изучающих курс английского языка для профессионального общения и владеющих английским языком на уровне intermediate / сост. Н. И. Эмерель. – Хабаровск : РИЦ ХГАЭП, 2010. – 116 с.
Рецензенты : Т. Н. Лобанова, доцент каф. ЛМК ТОГУ, канд. пед. наук; И. Г. Гирина, завкафедрой переводоведения и межкультурной коммуникации ИЛМК ДВГГУ, канд. пед. наук.
Утверждено издательско-библиотечным советом в качестве учебного пособия
© Хабаровская государственная академия экономики и права 2010
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ПРЕДИСЛОВИЕ
Учебное пособие предназначено для студентов экономических вузов, изучающих курс английского языка для профессионального общения и владеющих английским языком на уровне intermediate.
Цель пособия – развитие навыков и умений перевода контрактов и написания статей контракта на английском языке.
Пособие содержит необходимую информацию о жанровых особенностях контракта: структуре; лексических, грамматических и стилистических особенностях языка данного документа. Структура контракта представлена образцами основных статей коммерческого контракта. Учитывая сложность их составления, для каждой статьи дан перевод на русский язык. Образцы статей сопровождаются подробным словарём; набором фраз, используемых для обсуждения условий контракта; диалогами, иллюстрирующими переговоры в связи с заключением и исполнением контрактов. Комплекс упражнений включает различные виды деятельности: чтение и анализ содержания и языковых особенностей статей контрактов, упражнения для закрепления языковых навыков и задания коммуникативного характера (ведение переговоров, телефонных бесед и переписки, связанных с подписанием и исполнением контракта), которые завершаются написанием соответствующей статьи.
В качестве заключающего этапа студентам предлагается деловая игра по составлению контракта, которая предполагает активное использование всех умений и навыков, приобретённых в процессе изучения курса делового и профессионального английского языка, начиная с написания письма-запроса и заканчивая подписанием контракта.
При составлении пособия были использованы тексты типовых контрактов, в частности договора купли-продажи, являющегося наиболее распространённым типом коммерческих сделок.
В пособие включён справочный материал, содержащий информацию о способах платежей, принятых в международной торговле, и базовых условиях поставок (Incoterms), а также даны образцы документов, сопровождающих международные торговые сделки.
Пособие может быть использовано специалистами, занимающимися внешнеэкономической деятельностью.
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INTRODUCTION
International business can take various forms such as exporting and importing, turnkey projects, transactions in patents, licences, know-how, services, joint venturing, joint banks, mixed commissions and many other forms.
A contract forms the basis of a transaction. It is drawn up to give legal expression to the intentions of the partners and to guarantee that the obligations contained in the contract will be fulfilled.
A contract is any legally binding agreement between two or more parties. To be effective according to law, it is essential that the parties to the contract have legal power and freedom of contract; they must intend it to be binding; they must be agreed on the purpose of the contract and the purpose must not be illegal; there must be valuable consideration, i.e. some payment or service or sacrifice must be promised by each party; and the meaning of the agreement must be clear enough to be understood.
A legally complete contract will arise between two parties when all six elements are present: 1) offer, 2) acceptance, 3) mutual assent, 4) capacity, 5) consideration, and 6) legality.
1) An offer is a proposal made by one party to another indicating a willingness to enter into a contract. A person who makes an offer is called an offerer. The person to whom an offer is made is called an offeree. Making an offer is actually the first step in creating the contractual relationship between the two parties.
2) Acceptance means that the offeree agrees to be bound by the terms set up by the offerer in the offer.
3)If a valid offer has been made by the offerer and an acceptance has been made by the offeree, then the parties have agreed to the terms, and mutual assent exists between them.
4)Capacity (legal competence) is the legal ability to enter into a contractual relationship. All parties to a contract must be legally competent (have legal capacity) to manage their own affairs and must have the authority to enter into binding agreements.
5)Consideration, i.e. the mutual exchange of benefits and sacrifices, is the thing of value promised to one party in exchange for something else of value promised by the other party.
6)Legality of a contract means that parties cannot be allowed to enforce a contract that involves doing something that is illegal.
All contracts are agreements, but not all agreements are contracts. An agreement may or may not be legally enforceable. For example, an agreement to take a friend to a football game would not be legally enforceable because the friend has not given anything in exchange for that promise. To be enforceable, an agreement must conform to the law.
Questions.
1.What are the basic forms of international business?
2.What makes the basis of any transaction?
3.What is a contract?
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4.What are the two contracting parities?
5.What is an offer?
6.Can it be an acceptance if the offeree changes the terms?
7.What does the mutual assent suppose?
8.What is a consideration and why is it an important element of a contract?
9.What makes the contract illegal?
10.Are all agreements contracts?
Types of contracts
According to the purpose and contents contracts may have different classifications. There are import and export contracts. They reflect different positions of buyers and sellers in trading. Contracts may be divided into administrative-managerial, financialeconomic, advertising, scientific-technical, and artistical-publicational contracts. Functional sphere of their circulation can be easily guessed from the names of contract types in this classification. Contracts may be differentiated by the subject of a deal. There are export contracts for the sale of oil products, machinery tools, grain, timber, the supply of goods, etc. Contracts also may be classified in accordance with the ways of delivery specified by the International Commercial Terms (Incoterms).
These are types of contracts most frequently used in business activities.
контракт на выполнение проектноизыскательских работ контракт на выполнение техникоэкономического обоснования
контракт на выполнение технического проекта объекта контракт на командирование специалистов
контракт на обучение местного эксплуатационного персонала контракт на оказание технического содействия в строительстве объекта контракт на оказание технического содействия в эксплуатации объекта контракт на покупку
контракт на поставку комплектного оборудования контракт на проведение научных
исследований и разработок контракт на проведение научных
исследований, разработок, испытаний и оценок контракт на продажу
contract for carrying out design and survey work (s)
contract for the preparation of a feasibility report
contract for the preparation of a detailed project report
contract for the sending of specialists
contract for training local operating personnel
contract for rendering technical assistance in the construction of a project
contract for rendering technical assistance in project operation
purchase contract (contract for the purchase of …)
contract for the supply of complete equipment
research and development contract
research-development-test-and-evaluation contract
sale contract (contract for the sale of…)
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контракт на продажу лицензий и «ноу-хау» контракт на разработку
контракт на строительство объекта на условиях «под ключ»
contract for the sale of license and knowhow
developmental contract
“turn-key” contract
Questions.
1.What are the main classifications of contracts?
2.What are the most frequent types of contracts?
3.Do you have any experience of writing contracts? If so, describe your experience.
The most frequent among a variety of basic transactions are those connected with commercial activities. Therefore, the samples given in this book will present different clauses of commercial contracts. All commercial activities in foreign trade may be divided into basic ones associated with the conclusion of foreign trade contracts and auxiliary ones ensuring their successful performance: financing, settlement of payments, carrying the goods, insurance and others. These activities involve document writing in English which requires its stylistic realization in written English.
Linguistic peculiarities of contracts in English.
The style of official documents has its own features which are reflected in the forms of different documents. They are peculiarities of the vocabulary, grammar and syntactic constructions which should be strictly observed.
Stylistic peculiarities. The text of a contract is a typical realization of formal Business English which has its specific stylistic features. A contract or agreement should be formal, complete, clear, concrete, correct and concise.
A formal contract or agreement requires consideration of neatness and attractive arrangement. Completeness of any contract suggests the scope of all significant facts that have reference to the issue of the agreement. Contracting parties are expected to explain on what, how, and when they are going to deal with each other. The next element, - clearness, - is one of the most important, because much depends on it. Clearness could be reached by the use of simple short words, phrases and paragraphs where the both parties to a contract explain their intentions and issues. The component which is closely connected with the previous one is concreteness. Concreteness of a contract or an agreement is a part of any legal document. Besides that, the longer the document is, the more attractive and vivid its contents should be. The next two components are also significant. They are correctness and conciseness. Correctness involves proper grammar use (tense-aspect forms of the verb, verbals, articles, etc.), vocabulary use, punctuation and formal style. Grammar should be checked with a special care; otherwise it may produce a poor impression of the document and nonseriousness of your interests. Conciseness is usually achieved by the use of minimum words to express maximum of information. As it has been noted above, any contract should be simple and clear, concise and brief.
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Though the language of contract is very formal, and the vocabulary is very specific, which is connected with its character and a great number of legal terms, it should not be archaic. It should be clear enough in its meaning. The style, however, should not be too simple. To make agreements and contracts more polite the following stylistic devices are recommended: complex sentences joined with conjunctions are preferable, rather than short sentences; passive constructions rather than active; full forms rather than abbreviated forms, where necessary. The right tone should be neutral. Inappropriate vocabulary, idioms, phrasal verbs are not allowed at all.
The both contracting parties should not experience any difficulties in obtaining information; they should be able to understand what is written. Misunderstandings are caused by a lack of thought and care. It may happen if a lot of abbreviations, figures and prepositions are used. Abbreviations are very useful, because they are very quick to write and easy to read. But the both parties are expected to know what the abbreviations stand for. If one of the partners is not absolutely certain that the abbreviations are easily recognized he / she should not use it. The symbol &, which means in English and, is used in some terms like C&F (Cost and Freight), C&I (Cost and Insurance). But it is marked as # in contract texts. The symbol № is used instead of the word number. In American English the symbol # means number as well, but it is used in different tables and graphics, and not in the text. It is never used, however, to denote numbers of houses. Very often in contracts Latin abbreviations are used, for example e.g. (for example), et al. (and others), etc. (and so on), v.v. (quite the opposite), i.e. (that means). Also they use English abbreviations ltd. (limited), Bros. (brothers), encl. (enclosed), dols. (dollars), etc. The use of figures instead of words for sums can create many problems for people. To avoid any possibility of confusion, it is necessary to write sums in both figures and words, e.g. $ 9.897.44 (nine thousand, eight hundred and ninety-seven dollars, forty-four cents). It is also a norm to put only dollars (pounds, etc.) in words and cents (pence, etc.) in figures only, e.g. $ 100.50 (one hundred dollars and 50 cents). Spelling rules, punctuation and grammar use should all be checked over thoroughly. A special attention should be paid to titles, names, addresses, references, prices, specifications, enclosures, etc., which are also of a great importance in the texts of contracts.
Grammatical peculiarities. On the whole, grammar of any contract may be characterized as rather simple and formal. Simple here means lack of diversity of variants which occurs in every document which is not legal.
Tenses. The most used tenses are the Indefinite and Perfect tenses, both in Active and Passive Voices.
Sellers have sold and Buyers have bought. – Продавец продал, а покупатель купил. Sellers sell and Buyers buy. – Продавец продаёт, а покупатель покупает.
Complex analytical forms of the verb, such as the Continuous and Perfect Continuous Tenses, are absolutely not used in any way. The specific character of any contract provides rare usage of the past tenses.
Modal verbs. In order to express the meaning of “должен”, “обязан” in contracts the verbs shall, will, to be to are used instead of must:
The Sellers shall deliver. – Продавец должен поставить (поставит, поставляет).
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The Buyers will pay in advance 10% of the total value of the contract. – Покупатель должен оплатить (оплатит, оплачивает) 10% общей стоимости контракта авансом.
Payment is to be effected within 10 days. – Платёж должен быть осуществлен
(осуществляется) в течение 10 дней.
Another way to express obligations of the Parties is to use the verb to undertake
(брать на себя определённые обязательства, функции).
The Sellers undertake to secure the proper packing of the goods. – Продавец обязуется обеспечить надлежащую упаковку.
Modal verb should is often used in conditional sentences (Conditional Subjunctive) and does not have the meaning of advice/recommendation.
Should the Buyer fail to open the Letter of Credit in time, they are to pay the penalty. –
Если Покупатель не откроет аккредитив вовремя, он будет обязан уплатить штраф (неустойку).
Articles. In every contract, there are Buyers and Sellers and these words can be used either with the definite article or without it. Nevertheless, they are always capitalized.
This contract is made between Rossexport, hereinafter referred to as the Sellers … and India Electric Co., hereinafter referred to as the Buyers.
Although in Russian Продавец and Покупатель are always singular, in English it can be either singular or plural. So, all variants are possible: the Buyers, the Sellers; the Buyer, the Seller; Buyer, Seller. The most common is the first variant and in Preamble these words are usually in quotes: “(The) Seller(s)”, “(The) Buyer(s)”.
Nonfinite forms. The system of non-finite forms of the verb comprises the infinitive, the –ing form and the participles.
Infinitive. The Indefinite Infinitive occurs in contracts in the function of the predicate, expressing obligation and a future action. E.g. Date of shipment to be determined by date of Bill of Lading (to be determined = will be determined). – Датой отгрузки будет считаться (должна считаться) дата коносамента. It is allowed only in texts of contracts and other business documents.
Participles. Each contract also has constructions with participles. E.g. The letter of credit is to be valid for 90 days, all bank charges being at the expense of the Buyers. –
Аккредитив действителен в течение 90 дней, при этом все банковские расходы относятся на счёт Покупателя. Here is a construction with Participle I where it refers to the noun in the General Case, which goes before the participle. It is not common in speech, but it often occurs in contracts. Constructions with the Perfect Participle, however, are rare in contracts. The Past Participle Passive always follows a noun if it has explanatory words. E.g. a telegram received from London; the cheque attached to the letter. If a participle shows only an action which is made upon the subject, it follows a noun. E.g. The Sellers are to inform us of the quantity of the goods loaded. Buyers are to accept or pay for the quantity shipped.
Lexical peculiarities. The lexicon of contract has its own specific features. First of all, it is rather stable. As a rule, words have their only exact meaning. There are no words which are emotionally colored. There are many words which are used in every contract. Practically in every contract there are compounds with where-, here-, there-
(whereas, thereby, herewith, thereto, etc.), hereinafter, the aforesaid,
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The usage of compound words with adverbs here / there and prepositions is also typical of written formal style of English. Their meaning is made up from meaning of their components.
E.g. If shipment of the whole or part is thereby rendered impossible… (thereby = by it; by that means; in that connection – таким образом, в связи с этим,
следовательно). – Если, в связи с этим, отгрузка партии полностью или частично невозможна…
We are sending you herewith the statement of your account (herewith = with it / that -
с тем, с этим, тотчас, немедленно). – Мы высылаем Вам немедленно выписку Вашего счёта. All expenses connected therewith being born by the Buyer (therewith = with it). – Все расходы, связанные с этим, несёт покупатель.
The lease entitles the holder to use the buildings and any lands attached thereto…
(thereto = to it - этому, к тому, туда, кроме того, к тому же, для этой цели).
–Настоящий договор даёт арендатору право пользования указанными строениями и относящейся к ним землей.
Any controversy arising hereunder or in relation to this agreement shall be settled in New York (hereunder = under it, according to – в соответствии с законом,
договором; в силу настоящего договора, закона). – Любые разногласия,
возникающие по данному договору, должны быть урегулированы (разрешены) в Нью-Йорке.
The Seller has agreed to sell said products to the Buyer upon and subject to the terms and conditions hereof (hereof = of it – сего, этого, об этом, отсюда, из этого). –
Продавец согласился продать указанные товары Покупателю на условиях договора и при условии подписания договора.
Though, there is no principal difference between meanings of here- / there- compounds, in some cases this difference may be important. E.g. This Agreement shall be construed and governed by the laws of the United States applicable therein and which shall be observed herein. – Данное Соглашение должно толковаться законами, применимыми в Соединённых Штатах, и которые должны соблюдаться в данном Соглашении. Herein (in or into this place, thing, document
–в этом, здесь, при сём) means and refers to the Agreement. Therein (in or into that place, thing, document – там, туда, в том) means and refers to the United States and laws which are applicable to this Agreement but are not a part of it.
Hereinafter is a very useful word, referred to later in a document, a subsequent part or from this point on in this document (ниже, в дальнейшем). E.g. This contract is made between Continental Supply Co., New York, USA, hereinafter referred to as the
“Seller” and Pragma Ltd., St.Petertsburg, Russia, hereinafter referred to as the
“Buyer”. – Данный контракт заключён между компанией «…», именуемой в дальнейшем «Продавец», и фирмой «…», именуемой в дальнейшем
«Покупатель».
The aforesaid (spoken or referred to previously – вышесказанный,
вышеназванный, выше упомянутый, ранее указанный) is a cliché which is more preferable in texts of contracts instead of its less formal equivalents: the abovementioned, the above-written, as was written / said before, and the like. E.g. the aforesaid documents should contain references…– Вышеупомянутые документы должны содержать ссылки…
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In contracts are often used words of the Latin origin: pro rata (пропорционально, в
соответствии), pari passu (равно, наравне и одновременно), inferior (низший, худший, and низкого качества), superior (высший, лучший, and высшего качества), extra (дополнительный), and French words: force majeure (форсмажор, чрезвычайные обстоятельства), amicably (мирным путём, дружески).
GENERAL TERMINOLOGY
время вступления контракта в силу выполнение контракта
надлежащее выполнение контракта точное и своевременное выполнение контракта возникать в ходе выполнения контракта
проверять выполнение контракта
дополнение к контракту
контракт
действительный контракт долгосрочный контракт по настоящему контракту
недействительный контракт основной контракт срочный контракт
изменения и поправки к контракту аннулировать контракт выполнять контракт
заключать контракт нарушать контракт обсуждать контракт расторгать контракт
нарушение контракта
обязательства сторон по контракту
контрактные обязательства несвоевременное выполнение обязательств своевременное выполнение обязательств
санкции за невыполнение обязательств
effective date of contract fulfillment of contract, performance of contract, implementation of contract proper performance of a contract
due and faithful performance of a contract
arise in the course of the implementation of a contract
check the performance of a contract supplement to contract, addendum to contract
contract valid contract
long-term contract, period contract under the present contract
void contract prime contract
terminal contract, fixed-term contract alterations and amendments to a contract annul a contract, cancel a contract execute a contract, perform a contract, fulfill a contract
make a contract, conclude a contract infringe a contract, break a contract negotiate a contract
terminate a contract
infringement of a contract, breach of a contract
obligations (commitments, liabilities) of the parties under the contract contractual obligations
nonfulfilment of contractual obligations in (on) time
fulfilment of contractual obligations in (on) time
sanctions for the nonfulfilment of contractual obligations
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нести ответственность за невыполнение контрактных обязательств брать на себя обязательства
выполнять обязательства по контракту нарушать обязательства по контракту не выполнять обязательства по контракту освобождать от дальнейших обязательств по контракту передавать права и обязанности по контракту третьей стороне принимать на себя обязательства по контракту
переговоры по контракту
многосторонние переговоры предварительные переговоры в ходе переговоров переговоры на высоком уровне вести переговоры
вступать в переговоры срывать переговоры
подписание контракта
в течение … дней с даты подписания контракта контракт, подписанный должным
образом уполномоченными лицами
подрядчик
покупатель положение контракта
согласно положениям контракта
приложение к контракту
перечисленный в приложении приложенный к контракту
упомянутый в приложении как указано в приложении к контракту
проект контракта проформа контракта расторжение контракта срок действия контракта
истечение срока действия
статья контракта
пункт контракта
bear responsibilities for the nonfulfilment of contractual obligations
undertake
meet one’s obligations under the contract break one’s obligations under the contract default (on) one’s obligations
relieve from further obligations,free from further obligations, exonerate from further obligations transfer one’s rights and obligations to a third party
assume obligations under the contract, assume responsibilities under the contract (contract liabilities)
negotiations under the contract, talks under the contract
multilateral negotiations preliminary talks
in the course of negotiations high-level talks
conduct negotiations, carry on negotiations, negotiate
enter into negotiations disrupt negotiations (talks) signing a contract
within … days of signing a contract
contract, duly signed by authorized representatives
contractor buyer provision
under the provisions of the contract appendix to contract
listed in appendix
attached to contract, annexed to contract, enclosed with contract
mentioned in appendix
as per appendix to contract draft contract
contract form cancellation of contract term of contract
expiry of a contract term, expiration of a contract term
contract clause, contract article para, item