商务英语信函写作中的语言特点及写作技巧 全英文

1 Introduction
Business English can be regarded as an application of English language in commercial occasions, aiming at enabling speakers to communicate and interact effectively using the most correct and clearest business language. Business English Correspondence is an important carrier of international commercial activities which is used to deli ever information, address commercial issues and as a way of communication.
Lexicon is an important factor of a passage. In the writing of business English correspondence, we should pay particular attention to the selection of lexicon. Different words may carry different meaning and even the mood of them can be very distinct. Therefore, it is of great necessity to do research of the features of lexicon in the writing of business English correspondence.
This thesis attempts to do some researches on the following subjects: To have a good knowledge of characteristics of lexicon in business English correspondence. To make sense of the reason why the business English correspondence have such requirements of lexicon. To provide some suggestions that learners can improve their writing skills.
2 Description of Business English correspondence
2.1 Definition of business English correspondence
Nowadays more and more people choose to work in companies and do commercial work. As China joined the WTO, enterprises are all choosing to open their markets and expand them into the international world, thus making English inevitably become the most used language in the world. And in this way a new subject appeared that we call it “business English”. In terms of business English, we refer to the language used in order to adapt to the job market whose contents include a lot of aspects (Kansi, 1983; 134). Unlike the general English learners, people who learn business English are more targeted and specialized.
Business correspondence means the act of communicating by means of correspondences or the correspondences between correspondents (曹菱, 2000; 87). It is the main way for traders to do business, exchange commercial information and consult
and give answers to commercial questions in international trade. Besides, it is a reflection of different cultures, social backgrounds and representative of interests of both parties of a trading activity. Business English correspondences is different from personal correspondences, for it is more formal and can be a legal document for both enterprises to do business transaction and deal with commercial disputes. This is a serious problem that business English correspondence writers should pay attention to.
Different from the state correspondence or personal correspondences, business English correspondences has its own characteristics both in the article style and language (Ober, 1998; 98). In particular, it is high demanded of the correctness and standards of language. The business correspondence should be clear, concise, concrete, and of courtesy in language.
2.2 Assortment of business English correspondence
It can categorize business correspondences into three kinds. They are as follows: The first kind is in accordance with the letters’ content. We have invitation letters, selling letters, employing letters, and etc. In terms of the role the business letters plays in commercial activities of enterprises, we have negotiating letters which aims at address a dispute, friendly letters which is used to keep a friendly touch with another company, and etc. The last is the correspondence, which is used to give some information .The information may be good or bad.
In a word, we can classify the business correspondences from different perspectives just as the way mentioned above. Sometimes, each kind is not so isolated from others. Besides we have mentioned above, there are also many kinds of business English correspondences such as letters for setting up business relationships, conclusion of business, sales contract or confirmation, sales promotion, order and fulfillment, products shipment, shipping advice, insurance, claim, asking for an agent, processing trade, compensation trade, and etc.
2.3 Function of business English correspondence
Today it has come into an information society with the development of information
technology and the Internet. Business English correspondences plays an important part in international trading activities due to its courtesy, completeness, conciseness and other good features in order to obtain and deliver information, make effective communication, address related issues in commercial activities and maintain good and normal operating relations. Business correspondence means the act of communicating by means of letters or the letters, which pass between correspondents (曹菱, 2000; 76) .It is the main way for traders to do business, exchange commercial information and consult and give answers to commercial questions in international trade. Besides, it is a reflection of different cultures, social backgrounds and representative of interests of both parties of a trading activity. Business English letters is different from personal letters, for it is more formal and can be a legal document for both enterprises to do business transaction and deal with commercial disputes. All in all, we summarized its function as follows: First, it can improve the working efficiency of foreign trade and reduce the cost. Second, it helps enterprises to seek more new clients and deepen their relations with the companies. Third, the business English letters can promote the foreign trade economy. And finally it is bound to play an important role in fulfilling the globalization of trade.
3 Basic writing principles for business correspondence
3.1 Politeness
Being polite is an important principle in business circles. A polite correspondence can help you win others’ will. Therefore, it is appropriate to use more frequently words such as “please”, “I will be highly appreciated that...”, It is our pleasure to…” and etc. There are inevitably conflicts and disputes in business transactions. And it is politeness that can function as a lubricant to break deadlocks. When doing compensation, making complaints, and refusing to accept some requests, business English correspondences’writers must be more polite and try to use words not so imperative. When responding to others’correspondences, the writers shall also use polite words no matter how bad the attitude of the other party is. First, the writers should be good at using passive sentences, which can make your words more temperate. For example, the sentence“You made a very
careless mistake” may be better if it is changed into “ A very careless mistake was made”. Second, the writers should be good at using question sentences to show politeness and euphemism and conditional sentences to make your recommendations sounds more tentative and euphemistic.
3.2 Conciseness and Completeness
Emphatic and descriptive words are good ways to make business English correspondence more effective. Writers can choose abbreviated words in foreign trade fields that are familiar to people. Besides, the sentence structure should be concise and simple. Writers should use more words to replace complex sentences and try to maintain the completeness and make sentences more concise (Baugh, 1986; 39). For instance,“As what you have requested...”can be simplified into “As requested...”.
Moreover, it is a key factor to keep the completeness of information. Some words used in our daily life such as “the above mentioned”,“the former”,“respectively”should not be used in business correspondences as much as possible. Make sure provide complete information to let the other party be clear at the first glance.
3.3 Clearness, Concreteness and Correctness
Clearness is the most important principle in business English correspondence. An unclear correspondence may cause misunderstanding and ambiguous and even trading loss. Therefore, writers should pay attention to select correct words and make your sentences structure is absolutely right.
In business English correspondences writing, the information that is delivered should be concrete and vivid to avoid the risk of ambiguity. Correctness not only requires that grammar, syntax, and marks and spelling be right, but the commercial technical terms should be represented appropriately. The communicative effects will be greatly damaged if mistakes are made in spelling, person, punctuation marks, tense, and etc. Besides, writers should use more formal words. For example, abbreviations as “I’ll”, “we’re” should not be used.
4 Lexicon and writing principles of business correspondence
4.1 The Definition of lexicology
In the Oxford Advanced Learner’s English-Chinese Dictionary, the definition of lexicology is the study of the form, meaning and behavior of words. Technically, lexicology is a branch of linguistics concerned with the study of the vocabulary of a given language. It deals with words, their origin, development, history, structure, meaning and application. The term lexicology contains two Greek morphemes: lexikon and logie. The former means “word”, the latter means “learning”or “the study of”(Nation, 2001).
4.2 Review of studies on lexical features
4.2.1Review of studies on lexical features in English for Specific Purposes
English has been more and more frequently used in various circles. We have summarized this situation as workplace English including tourism English, law English, medical English and etc. And in this thesis, we mainly focused on its use in business field that is “business English”. We are now living in a globalized world, and after China entering the WTO, our country’s commercial activities are increasing rapidly, which makes business English become an indispensable language tool for communication in the world’s economical activities. Business English correspondence is one of the most effective ways in international communication .A good knowledge of English is the important foundation for writers to write a good and effective business English correspondence. In the meanwhile, there are many other factors should be paid attention to, such as avoiding Chinglish, having knowledge of the background knowledge of western culture, keeping eye on the trading style of the other party and etc. In one word, with the continuous changes of the forms of commercial activities, the business English correspondences must change accordingly.
4.2.2 Former studies on lexical features of English business correspondence
Lexicon plays an important part in writing. And in business English writing, the lexicon is of more significance. Many scholars have made many researches of the language and lexicon in business English correspondences from various perspectives. They studied many aspects such as the lexicon meaning, function, correctness, and etc. Therefore, it is of much research value to do research in this aspect. This thesis tried to explore more meaningful things expecting to provide some useful information to the readers and business English learners (何勇斌, 2005; 196).
4.3 The Lexical Features Represented in Courtesy and Consideration
It has mentioned that there are 7Cs principles in business writing, here, I’ll divide them into 3 classifications to illustrate the lexical features in each classification. The first classification is lexical features represented in courtesy in courtesy and consideration. In business correspondences, we often use some polite words to express our kindness to other. And we often use some special words to present consideration to the other party. So from some aspect we can say that the consideration for the other party is also show our courtesy. The second classification is lexical features represented in conciseness and completeness. As I mentioned above, business correspondence should be concise, but that doesn’t mean that the less the better. At the same time, we should notice that we give the complete information that needed. The last classification is lexical features represented in clearness, concreteness and correctness. These three principles have one common target that is to make the business correspondence be accurate and not to be misunderstanding.
4.3.1 Use polite words
English business correspondences is an important way of commercial communication and play many roles such as delivering information, building cooperative relationship, promoting company’s operations and strengthening communication in commercial activities (汤军, 1998; 148). To achieve commercial goals successfully, it is
essential to use polite and appropriate language. According to Leech (Leech, 1983; 236), there is a set of Politeness Principle (PP) that socially governs communicative behavior. The Politeness Principle (PP) is formulated as follows: Minimize (other things being equal) the expression of impolite belief, and maximize (other things being equal) the expression of polite beliefs.
4.3.2 Use positive words
The meaning of word is combined with conceptual meaning and associative meaning. He former one is the core of a word and the associative meaning is a combination of a word’s emotional and stylistic meaning. Words of positive emotional meaning will deliver an unhappy feeling on readers. In English business correspondences, words of positive meaning can send people an emotion of delight, happiness and positiveness and make them feel respected, thus making words more acceptable. Therefore, in English business correspondences, words that can express gratitude and praise are often used. For instance, We would be very grateful if you could let us take delivery before the selling season. It gives us much pleasure to receive the catalogue and samples you sent us. In a word, it is more acceptable to choose words of positive meaning in English business correspondences.
4.3.3 Hedges
Hedge words are those have certain core meaning in language while not all the sense of them are definite（伍铁平, 1999;143）. They are different from semantic ambiguity. They have their unique characteristics and rich pragmatic function. Using hedge words appropriately will make correspondence language more polite instead of affecting its preciseness of language.
Hedges can be divided into two kinds. On one hand, we can use some words or expressions that can change the original meaning of discourse. For example, we can use “a little, roughly, greatly, approximately “ and etc. On the other hand, we use words that do not change the true condition of discourse but can soften the language mood (陈楚君,
2004; 71). In commercial activities, there are some inevitably disputes that can not be avoided in the cooperation of both trading parties because of some interests conflicts and contradictions. In those situations, writers could use hedges to deliver their information more quickly in order to give both parties more space to save their trade and face, thus easily changing their way of trading. For example, the sentence “We can not agree with the price you offer.” may be changed into “I am afraid that we can not agree with the price you have set’. And in this way, your words can be more acceptable by the other party.
4.3.4 Use more modal verbs
Modal words have modal meaning and modal meaning is the courage of a verb that can express the speaker’s attitude towards and emotion to the subject he talks about. Whether the language is polite depends on whether the modal words are strong. Modal words like “could, might, would, should” and etc. more of negotiable mood that can make language mood more euphemistic and are often used in English business letters.
4.4 The lexical features represented in conciseness and completeness
4.4.1 Choice of concise wording
Writers of business English correspondences, when write a business English correspondence, redundancy of words should be avoided. Try to make the words and sentences more clear. Too many detail descriptions should also be avoided as much as possible. For example, in the sentence “We have begun to export our machine to countries abroad”, the word “export”and “countries abroad”are of the same meaning. And in this case, we suggest that “countries abroad”should be omitted. Emphatic and descriptive words are a good way to make business English correspondence more effective. Writers can choose abbreviated words in foreign trade fields that are familiar to people. Besides, the sentence structure should be concise and simple. Writers should use
more words to replace complex sentences and try to maintain the completeness and make sentences more concise (Baugh, 1986; 94). For instance,“As what you have requested...”can be simplified into “As requested...”. Moreover, it is a key factor to keep the completeness of information. Some words used in our daily life such as “the above mentioned”,“the former”,“respectively”should not be used in business correspondences as much as possible. Make sure provide complete information to let the other party be clear at he first glance.
4.4.2 Synonyms in pairs
Synonym is another important word form used in business English correspondences. It refers to words of the same or almost the same meaning but have different spelling forms or sound different. These words are often used in business English correspondences. For instance,” we have some terms and pacts needing you to check carefully”.
It is very common to use a great deal of synonyms in business correspondences. On one hand, the use of synonyms reflects the diversity and flexibility of language in business English correspondences. On the other hand, these synonyms have a little difference in the meaning or usage, which can indirectly reflect the preciseness of business English. Such as goods, commodity, merchandise, shipment, freight, cargo and consignment. These words that we listed here all can refer to things in commercial trading. But if we use different words, we refer to the same thing. However, there should be noted that we can not still mix them together or just take them as one word. Because they are divided into accordance with various link of international trade, they represent different links. Shipment and cargo are generally referred to things in transportation, while merchandise, goods, commodities are more likely to refer to things when they are sold or bought. Therefore, this is a special feature of lexicon in business English correspondences that deserving learners to pay their attention to.
4.4.3 Use Affix
Language is changing with the development of our society and business English, as an application of general English in commercial activities is changing as well. And the great waved of the economy’s globalization bring more opportunities for business English. In the lexicon of business English, the most striking feature is that the usage of some new prefix and affix, which contributed the birth of some new words in business area. For example, the prefix e-, eco-, tel-, and suffix -ism ,and etc. Some new words made from them such as e-commerce, tele-message, eco-friendly, endism, and etc.
4.4.4 Use abbreviations
Abbreviations are an important part of business English lexicon that formed in the long-term commercial practices. The use of abbreviations can make your expression more concise and clear and they are frequently used in commercial activities. Abbreviations are often represented by the capitalized correspondences, such as L/C (correspondence of credit), B/L (bill of landing), EAT (estimated arrival time), ASAP (as soon as possible), and etc.
4.5. The Lexical features represented in clearness, concreteness and correctness
4.5.1 Choice of precise wording
In business correspondences, there are some special expressions and words that re not so frequently used in situations of daily life. These words almost do not appear in general English .In some cases, they are used in ordinary English, but will have different meaning in business English. This is also a lexical feature of business English correspondences. For example, in the phrase “on the terms and conditions”, the words “term”and “condition”are both of the meaning “in some situation or with some requirements”. In our daily life, there is no need to use the two words of the same meaning at the same time, while in business English correspondences, they are must be used together like above to guarantee that the letters are precise and rigorous. In another example, the word “advise” in the phrase “advise sb of sth” is used as the meaning “give a suggestion or recommend” in daily usage. But in business English correspondences, it
means “notice”. There are a lot of such words in business English. For instance, the word “offer” generally refers to “provide or supply sth”, while in business English correspondences it can used as of the a meaning associated with the stocks. Again, in insurance industry, “the word “policy”means “the credit to prove you make an insurance”rather than the ordinary meaning “principles”. Therefore, it is of great necessity for writers of business English writers to pay attention to this.
4.5.2 Preference of concrete words to abstract words
In business English correspondences, writers should make sure that the information that they deliver is specific, correct and vivid as possible as they can. Try to compare the following sentences: “We have sent to you as usual under your L/C”. “We have sent to you our sight draft No. 231 of the Central Bank.” By comparison, it is apparent for us to see that information of the second sentence is more specific, which make readers can clearly make sense of the information the writer want to deliver at their first glance. However, the first one is so general that readers can understand what does the sentence mean after careful thinking.
4.5.3 Use simple words to make sure of clearness
In business English correspondences, the principle clearness is of great significance as well. It refers to deliver the information that writers try to pass on clearly and directly without causing any misunderstanding or bringing any trouble for both trading parties. A clear expression has been an important link to make sure of effective commercial communication all the time and thus become the objective and standard of business English writing. If the receivers of the business English correspondences can not make sense of what the writers intention is, the correspondence will be bound to turn out to be meaningless no matter how figured and magnificent the language is . And in some cases, such correspondences that cannot deliver correct and clear information may even cause misunderstandings and trading losses.
To solve this problem, firstly, we can choose to use simple words that familiar to us. In doing trading communication, we had better use words that are simple and in line with
their regular expressing ways, either verbally or in the written form. It should be noted that words that are complex, strange and ambiguous should be avoided. Secondly, writers should organize the structures of sentence and paragraph. And in those correspondences, writers had better make sure that the passage is rigorous while words and expressions are simple and clear. Thirdly, some determined words should be closely follow the words that that they modify, which can avoid ambiguity. For example, the sentence “Those who work rapidly get ill in these conditions.” In this sentence, the position of “rapidly” leads to two different understandings of this sentence. Readers may get confused that which word does the word “rapidly” modify, “work” or “conditions”? If we change the sentence into “ Those who work in these condition get ill rapidly, the meaning that the sentence is going to deliver will become very clear.
There is another problem. In a sentence, writers should note that words of two meanings should not be used. For instance, “We shall take a firm line with the firm.” In this sentence, the first “firm” means “strong and tenacious”, but the second “firm” means “corporation or company”. It is very easily for readers to get confused. Therefore, this sentence may be changed into “We shall take a strong line with the firm”. And thus the meaning of the whole sentence will be very clear.
5 Conclusion
Bushiness English correspondence is very worth in researching. It has its own particular lexical features. This thesis studies the lexical features on the basis of collected data and tries to explain these features form the aspect from writing principles. After the author analyzed the authentic data collected from foreign trade companies, it is found that there exist some specific lexical features of business English correspondences, such as preference of concrete words to abstract words, choice of precise wording, use positive words and use simple or common words instead of difficult words. Business English correspondence is one of the most effective ways in international communication. A good knowledge of English is the important foundation for writers to write a good and effective business English correspondence. In the meanwhile, here are many other factors should be paid attention to, such as avoiding Chinglish, having knowledge of the
background knowledge of western culture. In one word, with the continuous changes of the forms of commercial activities, the business English correspondence must change accordingly.。