商务英语信函写作中的语言特点及写作技巧全英文.docx

商务英语信函写作中的语言特点及写作技巧全英文.docx

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商务英语信函写作中的语言特点及写作技巧全英文

1Introduction

BusinessEnglishcanberegardedasanapplicationofEnglishlanguageincommercialoccasions,aimingatenablingspeakerstocommunicateandinteracteffectivelyusingthemostcorrectandclearestbusinesslanguage.BusinessEnglishCorrespondenceisanimportantcarrierofinternationalcommercialactivitieswhichisusedtodelieverinformation,addresscommercialissuesandasawayofcommunication.

Lexiconisanimportantfactorofapassage.InthewritingofbusinessEnglishcorrespondence,weshouldpayparticularattentiontotheselectionoflexicon.Differentwordsmaycarrydifferentmeaningandeventhemoodofthemcanbeverydistinct.Therefore,itisofgreatnecessitytodoresearchofthefeaturesoflexiconinthewritingofbusinessEnglishcorrespondence.

Thisthesisattemptstodosomeresearchesonthefollowingsubjects:

TohaveagoodknowledgeofcharacteristicsoflexiconinbusinessEnglishcorrespondence.TomakesenseofthereasonwhythebusinessEnglishcorrespondencehavesuchrequirementsoflexicon.Toprovidesomesuggestionsthatlearnerscanimprovetheirwritingskills.

2DescriptionofBusinessEnglishcorrespondence

DefinitionofbusinessEnglishcorrespondence

Nowadaysmoreandmorepeoplechoosetoworkincompaniesanddocommercialwork.AsChinajoinedtheWTO,enterprisesareallchoosingtoopentheirmarketsandexpandthemintotheinternationalworld,thusmakingEnglishinevitablybecomethemostusedlanguageintheworld.Andinthiswayanewsubjectappearedthatwecallit“businessEnglish”.IntermsofbusinessEnglish,werefertothelanguageusedinordertoadapttothejobmarketwhosecontentsincludealotofaspects（Kansi,1983;134）.UnlikethegeneralEnglishlearners,peoplewholearnbusinessEnglisharemoretargetedandspecialized.

Businesscorrespondencemeanstheactofcommunicatingbymeansofcorrespondencesorthecorrespondencesbetweencorrespondents（曹菱,2000;87）.Itisthemainwayfortraderstodobusiness,exchangecommercialinformationandconsultandgiveanswerstocommercialquestionsininternationaltrade.Besides,itisareflectionofdifferentcultures,socialbackgroundsandrepresentativeofinterestsofbothpartiesofatradingactivity.BusinessEnglishcorrespondencesisdifferentfrompersonalcorrespondences,foritismoreformalandcanbealegaldocumentforbothenterprisestodobusinesstransactionanddealwithcommercialdisputes.ThisisaseriousproblemthatbusinessEnglishcorrespondencewritersshouldpayattentionto.

Differentfromthestatecorrespondenceorpersonalcorrespondences,businessEnglishcorrespondenceshasitsowncharacteristicsbothinthearticlestyleandlanguage（Ober,1998;98）.Inparticular,itishighdemandedofthecorrectnessandstandardsoflanguage.Thebusinesscorrespondenceshouldbeclear,concise,concrete,andofcourtesyinlanguage.

AssortmentofbusinessEnglishcorrespondence

Itcancategorizebusinesscorrespondencesintothreekinds.Theyareasfollows:

Thefirstkindisinaccordancewiththeletters’content.Wehaveinvitationletters,sellingletters,employingletters,andetc.Intermsoftherolethebusinesslettersplaysincommercialactivitiesofenterprises,wehavenegotiatingletterswhichaimsataddressadispute,friendlyletterswhichisusedtokeepafriendlytouchwithanothercompany,andetc.Thelastisthecorrespondence,whichisusedtogivesomeinformation.Theinformationmaybegoodorbad.

Inaword,wecanclassifythebusinesscorrespondencesfromdifferentperspectivesjustasthewaymentionedabove.Sometimes,eachkindisnotsoisolatedfromothers.Besideswehavementionedabove,therearealsomanykindsofbusinessEnglishcorrespondencessuchaslettersforsettingupbusinessrelationships,conclusionofbusiness,salescontractorconfirmation,salespromotion,orderandfulfillment,productsshipment,shippingadvice,insurance,claim,askingforanagent,processingtrade,compensationtrade,andetc.

FunctionofbusinessEnglishcorrespondence

TodayithascomeintoaninformationsocietywiththedevelopmentofinformationtechnologyandtheInternet.BusinessEnglishcorrespondencesplaysanimportantpartininternationaltradingactivitiesduetoitscourtesy,completeness,concisenessandothergoodfeaturesinordertoobtainanddeliverinformation,makeeffectivecommunication,addressrelatedissuesincommercialactivitiesandmaintaingoodandnormaloperatingrelations.Businesscorrespondencemeanstheactofcommunicatingbymeansoflettersortheletters,whichpassbetweencorrespondents（曹菱,2000;76）.Itisthemainwayfortraderstodobusiness,exchangecommercialinformationandconsultandgiveanswerstocommercialquestionsininternationaltrade.Besides,itisareflectionofdifferentcultures,socialbackgroundsandrepresentativeofinterestsofbothpartiesofatradingactivity.BusinessEnglishlettersisdifferentfrompersonalletters,foritismoreformalandcanbealegaldocumentforbothenterprisestodobusinesstransactionanddealwithcommercialdisputes.Allinall,wesummarizeditsfunctionasfollows:

First,itcanimprovetheworkingefficiencyofforeigntradeandreducethecost.Second,ithelpsenterprisestoseekmorenewclientsanddeepentheirrelationswiththecompanies.Third,thebusinessEnglishletterscanpromotetheforeigntradeeconomy.Andfinallyitisboundtoplayanimportantroleinfulfillingtheglobalizationoftrade.

3Basicwritingprinciplesforbusinesscorrespondence

Politeness

Beingpoliteisanimportantprincipleinbusinesscircles.Apolitecorrespondencecanhelpyouwinothers’will.Therefore,itisappropriatetousemorefrequentlywordssuchas“please”,“Iwillbehighlyappreciatedthat...”,Itisourpleasureto…”andetc.Thereareinevitablyconflictsanddisputesinbusinesstransactions.Anditispolitenessthatcanfunctionasalubricanttobreakdeadlocks.Whendoingcompensation,makingcomplaints,andrefusingtoacceptsomerequests,businessEnglishcorrespondences’writersmustbemorepoliteandtrytousewordsnotsoimperative.Whenrespondingtoothers’correspondences,thewritersshallalsousepolitewordsnomatterhowbadtheattitudeoftheotherpartyis.First,thewritersshouldbegoodatusingpassivesentences,whichcanmakeyourwordsmoretemperate.Forexample,thesentence“Youmadeaverycarelessmistake”maybebetterifitischangedinto“Averycarelessmistakewasmade”.Second,thewritersshouldbegoodatusingquestionsentencestoshowpolitenessandeuphemismandconditionalsentencestomakeyourrecommendationssoundsmoretentativeandeuphemistic.

ConcisenessandCompleteness

EmphaticanddescriptivewordsaregoodwaystomakebusinessEnglishcorrespondencemoreeffective.Writerscanchooseabbreviatedwordsinforeigntradefieldsthatarefamiliartopeople.Besides,thesentencestructureshouldbeconciseandsimple.Writersshouldusemorewordstoreplacecomplexsentencesandtrytomaintainthecompletenessandmakesentencesmoreconcise（Baugh,1986;39）.Forinstance,“Aswhatyouhaverequested...”canbesimplifiedinto“Asrequested...”.

Moreover,itisakeyfactortokeepthecompletenessofinformation.Somewordsusedinourdailylifesuchas“theabovementioned”,“theformer”,“respectively”shouldnotbeusedinbusinesscorrespondencesasmuchaspossible.Makesureprovidecompleteinformationtolettheotherpartybeclearatthefirstglance.

Clearness,ConcretenessandCorrectness

ClearnessisthemostimportantprincipleinbusinessEnglishcorrespondence.Anunclearcorrespondencemaycausemisunderstandingandambiguousandeventradingloss.Therefore,writersshouldpayattentiontoselectcorrectwordsandmakeyoursentencesstructureisabsolutelyright.

InbusinessEnglishcorrespondenceswriting,theinformationthatisdeliveredshouldbeconcreteandvividtoavoidtheriskofambiguity.Correctnessnotonlyrequiresthatgrammar,syntax,andmarksandspellingberight,butthecommercialtechnicaltermsshouldberepresentedappropriately.Thecommunicativeeffectswillbegreatlydamagedifmistakesaremadeinspelling,person,punctuationmarks,tense,andetc.Besides,writersshouldusemoreformalwords.Forexample,abbreviationsas“I’ll”,“we’re”shouldnotbeused.

4Lexiconandwritingprinciplesofbusinesscorrespondence

TheDefinitionoflexicology

IntheOxfordAdvancedLearner’sEnglish-ChineseDictionary,thedefinitionoflexicologyisthestudyoftheform,meaningandbehaviorofwords.Technically,lexicologyisabranchoflinguisticsconcernedwiththestudyofthevocabularyofagivenlanguage.Itdealswithwords,theirorigin,development,history,structure,meaningandapplication.ThetermlexicologycontainstwoGreekmorphemes:

lexikonandlogie.Theformermeans“word”,thelattermeans“learning”or“thestudyof”（Nation,2001）.

Reviewofstudiesonlexicalfeatures

ofstudiesonlexicalfeaturesinEnglishforSpecificPurposes

Englishhasbeenmoreandmorefrequentlyusedinvariouscircles.WehavesummarizedthissituationasworkplaceEnglishincludingtourismEnglish,lawEnglish,medicalEnglishandetc.Andinthisthesis,wemainlyfocusedonitsuseinbusinessfieldthatis“businessEnglish”.Wearenowlivinginaglobalizedworld,andafterChinaenteringtheWTO,ourcountry’scommercialactivitiesareincreasingrapidly,whichmakesbusinessEnglishbecomeanindispensablelanguagetoolforcommunicationintheworld’seconomicalactivities.BusinessEnglishcorrespondenceisoneofthemosteffectivewaysininternationalcommunication.AgoodknowledgeofEnglishis