Language Differences in Formal and Informal Business Correspondence 第9页John,
I am glad that you are interested in our new products. The latest catalogue and the price list are enclosed. If you have any question, contact me. We are waiting for you to place orders.
Best wishes.
Ken
4.3 Word Choice
Modern business writing aims to be “modernized”, in a way to avoid long and complex sentences, stay way from pompous and pretentious tones such as “your esteemed good self”, “in grateful receipt of”, etc. Avoid legalese, high-sounding expression such as “whereby” and abbreviations used in very old-fashioned correspondence such as “ult” (last month), “prox” (next month). Distant tone is not appropriate for modern business writing as well. Modern business writing welcomes plain English to convey a warm, friendly and sincere tone with appropriate words.
4.3.1 Use Personal References
Use words such as I, we, you, your, my, and our in your writing. Do not be afraid to identify yourself, it makes writing much more readable. This is a useful trick to make writing look and sound more like face-to-face talk. Avoid using the third-person pronouns such as this company, the under-signed party, the above-mentioned, etc.
Using “I, we and you” also helps you to avoid using passive verbs. It makes your style more direct and clear. So write “we have changed our address in our record” instead of “our address records have been amended”. Using active verbs with personal references is a quick and dramatic way to make your writing readable and more direct.
4.3.2 A Conversational but Professional Tone
When you write a business letter, it is important to use a tone that is friendly but efficient. Readers want to know whether the writer is taking notice and showing interest in their concerns on the other side of the letter. Try to be sound, friendly and helpful. In order to get this field, write as you would speak and talk on paper. Please note that “conversational tone” should not be confused with slang, bad grammar or poor English. Business writing is, in fact, still more business-like. Business writing does not allow for an unprofessional style. Conversational tone means direct and approachable. A conversational style often makes a reader comfortable and responsive. Please note that you will not go to the other extreme, by indiscriminately “using” formulaic expressions into your business writing such as: “Please be advised” (meaning “please note”, “I’d like to explain”) or “I wish to inform you” (meaning “let me explain”). They are most likely to erode your goodwill and sincerity on your reader. A formal style of your correspondence aims to establish and maintain pleasant business relations but an overformal style will negatively work in the opposite way. And we should keep in mind that informal does not mean unprofessional and unnatural. Unprofessional and unnatural business writing would have confused rather than impressed the reader. The conversational style is more likely to affect the reader as expected since the meaning is crystal clear to the reader.
Conclusion
In order to conduct the business successfully, the language used in business writing should be of a common language style. As to “Formal”, it does not mean it is a language that is hard for the majority to understand. Likewise, the slang, colloquialisms and vulgarity should not be used in informal business writing as well.
To sum up, business English writing usually belongs to “formal English style”. There are various forms in business English writing. Formal and informal business English correspondences are used widely. What kind of writing style we should use in the business letter that depends on the relationship between the companies, or, more accurately, depends on the familiarity between the sender and the recipient. The important point we should bear in mind is to write the correspondence in accordance with the relationship. The business correspondence has become more and more concise and natural. As a style of an industry, it has its own writing principle that should be followed. During the writing process, we need to express meaning concisely and correctly. At the same time, it is necessary to exhibit flexibility in language usage and skill, so that the business activities can be achieved effectively.
References
1. 胡鉴明：《商务英语函电》 [M]，中国商务出版社 2004年版, 第7-10页，338-343页
2. 许 菊：《商务英语公函的体裁分析》[EB]，西安外国语学院学报 2004年3月 第12卷第1期 文普资讯
3. 刘立莉 孙鹏 王雪敏：《浅谈外贸英语函电写作中的7个“C”原则》[EB]，《商场现代化》2007年9月 总第514期 文普资讯
4．邓英华: 《试析英文商务信函的语言特点》[EB]，湖南经济管理干部学院学报 2002年1月 第l3卷第1期 文普资讯5. 魏国平：《商务英语函电的文体特征》 [EB]，北京第二外国语学院学报 2O05年第6期 (总第130期) 文普资讯6. 王晓艳：《商务英语写作中正式和非正式文体的语言差异》[EB]，宁波高等专科学校学报 2004年9月 第l6卷第3期 文普资讯
7. 陈建红：《商务英语信函的目的性决定其语言的特点》[EB]，文普资讯Acknowledgement
The four-year graduate studies in our university, Zhuhai campus, Beijing institute of technology (BIT). To me, it is an experience that fills with amazement. I got the certificate of TEM4. I have become good friends with good people who can be my fellows forever. Their company has made my college life brilliant.
In fact, I was bad at English when I was in high school. Therefore, I didn’t want to be an English major when I just entered BIT. Because of a number of complicated reasons, I didn’t change my major. Every day in BIT is the growth period for me. In order to not fall behind from the classmates, I need to work harder.
I very appreciate that today I have this opportunity to express my heartfelt gratitude to all the teachers and professors of the Foreign Language School who have offered me help and encouragement for my English learning in BIT. Mr. Wu. Mr. Song. Mr. Shen. Mr. Yang. Mr. Ma. Ms Zhao.…. I very want to say their names one by one, but I don’t think I can do that in this acknowledgement, as there are a lot.
The special thanks should be given to my tutor Mr. Liu Peng (Peter), who gave me great support and show enormous patience in the processes of my thesis writing. Without his patient instruction and insightful criticism, the completion of this thesis is out of question. And special thanks should be given to my friend David Wong as well. He gave me a lot of advices when I was writing this thesis.
Finally, the special thank goes to my parents who have always been helping me out of all kinds of difficulties in my life and supporting me without a word of complaint. Without them, I won’t be “me” today. With the company and support of them, I won’t be afraid of anything, and I will try my best to make them proud in future. 上一页 [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]
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