商务英语信函写作中的语言特点与写作技巧全英文.docx
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商务英语信函写作中的语言特点与写作技巧全英文
1Introduction
BusinessEnglishcanberegardedasanapplicationofEnglishlanguageincommercialoccasions,aimingatenablingspeakerstocommunicateandinteracteffectivelyusingthemostcorrectandclearestbusinesslanguage.BusinessEnglishCorrespondenceisanimportantcarrierofinternationalcommercialactivitieswhichisusedtodelieverinformation,addresscommercialissuesandasawayofcommunication.
Lexiconisanimportantfactorofapassage.InthewritingofbusinessEnglishcorrespondence,weshouldpayparticularattentiontotheselectionoflexicon.Differentwordsmaycarrydifferentmeaningandeventhemoodofthemcanbeverydistinct.Therefore,itisofgreatnecessitytodoresearchofthefeaturesoflexiconinthewritingofbusinessEnglishcorrespondence.
Thisthesisattemptstodosomeresearchesonthefollowingsubjects:
TohaveagoodknowledgeofcharacteristicsoflexiconinbusinessEnglishcorrespondence.TomakesenseofthereasonwhythebusinessEnglishcorrespondencehavesuchrequirementsoflexicon.Toprovidesomesuggestionsthatlearnerscanimprovetheirwritingskills.
2DescriptionofBusinessEnglishcorrespondence
2.1DefinitionofbusinessEnglishcorrespondence
Nowadaysmoreandmorepeoplechoosetoworkincompaniesanddocommercialwork.AsChinajoinedtheWTO,enterprisesareallchoosingtoopentheirmarketsandexpandthemintotheinternationalworld,thusmakingEnglishinevitablybecomethemostusedlanguageintheworld.Andinthiswayanewsubjectappearedthatwecallit“businessEnglish”.IntermsofbusinessEnglish,werefertothelanguageusedinordertoadapttothejobmarketwhosecontentsincludealotofaspects(Kansi,1983;134).UnlikethegeneralEnglishlearners,peoplewholearnbusinessEnglisharemoretargetedandspecialized.
Businesscorrespondencemeanstheactofcommunicatingbymeansofcorrespondencesorthecorrespondencesbetweencorrespondents(菱,2000;87).Itisthemainwayfortraderstodobusiness,exchangecommercialinformationandconsultandgiveanswerstocommercialquestionsininternationaltrade.Besides,itisareflectionofdifferentcultures,socialbackgroundsandrepresentativeofinterestsofbothpartiesofatradingactivity.BusinessEnglishcorrespondencesisdifferentfrompersonalcorrespondences,foritismoreformalandcanbealegaldocumentforbothenterprisestodobusinesstransactionanddealwithcommercialdisputes.ThisisaseriousproblemthatbusinessEnglishcorrespondencewritersshouldpayattentionto.
Differentfromthestatecorrespondenceorpersonalcorrespondences,businessEnglishcorrespondenceshasitsowncharacteristicsbothinthearticlestyleandlanguage(Ober,1998;98).Inparticular,itishighdemandedofthecorrectnessandstandardsoflanguage.Thebusinesscorrespondenceshouldbeclear,concise,concrete,andofcourtesyinlanguage.
2.2AssortmentofbusinessEnglishcorrespondence
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.
2.3FunctionofbusinessEnglishcorrespondence
TodayithascomeintoaninformationsocietywiththedevelopmentofinformationtechnologyandtheInternet.BusinessEnglishcorrespondencesplaysanimportantpartininternationaltradingactivitiesduetoitscourtesy,completeness,concisenessandothergoodfeaturesinordertoobtainanddeliverinformation,makeeffectivecommunication,addressrelatedissuesincommercialactivitiesandmaintaingoodandnormaloperatingrelations.Businesscorrespondencemeanstheactofcommunicatingbymeansoflettersortheletters,whichpassbetweencorrespondents(菱,2000;76).Itisthemainwayfortraderstodobusiness,exchangecommercialinformationandconsultandgiveanswerstocommercialquestionsininternationaltrade.Besides,itisareflectionofdifferentcultures,socialbackgroundsandrepresentativeofinterestsofbothpartiesofatradingactivity.BusinessEnglishlettersisdifferentfrompersonalletters,foritismoreformalandcanbealegaldocumentforbothenterprisestodobusinesstransactionanddealwithcommercialdisputes.Allinall,wesummarizeditsfunctionasfollows:
First,itcanimprovetheworkingefficiencyofforeigntradeandreducethecost.Second,ithelpsenterprisestoseekmorenewclientsanddeepentheirrelationswiththecompanies.Third,thebusinessEnglishletterscanpromotetheforeigntradeeconomy.Andfinallyitisboundtoplayanimportantroleinfulfillingtheglobalizationoftrade.
3Basicwritingprinciplesforbusinesscorrespondence
3.1Politeness
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.
3.2ConcisenessandCompleteness
EmphaticanddescriptivewordsaregoodwaystomakebusinessEnglishcorrespondencemoreeffective.Writerscanchooseabbreviatedwordsinforeigntradefieldsthatarefamiliartopeople.Besides,thesentencestructureshouldbeconciseandsimple.Writersshouldusemorewordstoreplacecomplexsentencesandtrytomaintainthecompletenessandmakesentencesmoreconcise(Baugh,1986;39).Forinstance,“Aswhatyouhaverequested...”canbesimplifiedinto“Asrequested...”.
Moreover,itisakeyfactortokeepthecompletenessofinformation.Somewordsusedinourdailylifesuchas“theabovementioned”,“theformer”,“respectively”shouldnotbeusedinbusinesscorrespondencesasmuchaspossible.Makesureprovidecompleteinformationtolettheotherpartybeclearatthefirstglance.
3.3Clearness,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
4.1TheDefinitionoflexicology
IntheOxfordAdvancedLearner’sEnglish-ChineseDictionary,thedefinitionoflexicologyisthestudyoftheform,meaningandbehaviorofwords.Technically,lexicologyisabranchoflinguisticsconcernedwiththestudyofthevocabularyofagivenlanguage.Itdealswithwords,theirorigin,development,history,structure,meaningandapplication.ThetermlexicologycontainstwoGreekmorphemes:
lexikonandlogie.Theformermeans“word”,thelattermeans“learning”or“thestudyof”(Nation,2001).
4.2Reviewofstudiesonlexicalfeatures
4.2.1ReviewofstudiesonlexicalfeaturesinEnglishforSpecificPurposes
Englishhasbeenmoreandmorefrequentlyusedinvariouscircles.WehavesummarizedthissituationasworkplaceEnglishincludingtourismEnglish,lawEnglish,medicalEnglishandetc.Andinthisthesis,wemainlyfocusedonitsuseinbusinessfieldthatis“businessEnglish”.Wearenowlivinginaglobalizedworld,andafterChinaenteringtheWTO,ourcountry’scommercialactivitiesareincreasingrapidly,whichmakesbusinessEnglishbecomeanindispensablelanguagetoolforcommunicationintheworld’seconomicalactivities.BusinessEnglishcorrespondenceisoneofthemosteffectivewaysininternationalcommunication