With the development of the globalization and China’s entry to the WTO, the international business has been going through a booming period. Foreign trades of domestic enterprises have been enhanced dramatically and a number of enterprises have set up factories and offices overseas. At the same time, many multinational enterprises have entered Chinese market. These companies and their employees use English as the international business language to communicate with each other.
Business English correspondence is an important carrier of international trade because it is a way of communication used most frequently in international business. Moreover, it is the basic tool to develop foreign trade. Business English correspondence is a common style of international commercial and trading activities. And it serves as a communicative tool in the field of international business. The characteristics of business English correspondence reflect those of international business. Therefore, the wording, syntax, expression style, significance and meaning are the essence of commerce. 本文来自!优$文%论&文~网原文请找腾讯324.9114
In daily business activities, correspondence is one of the important media, which has many forms and styles. Due to factors such as different relations between businesses, all the writings can be divided into two categories, formal and informal. The variations of these two mainly lie in language. This paper is a comparison and analysis in this respect. In order to conduct the business effectively, we have to improve the quality of our correspondence. Therefore studying the differences between formal and informal business English correspondence has substantial significance.
Keywords: business English correspondence, formal, informal, language variation
1 Introduction ZL50装载机驱动桥初步设计+减速器装备图+CAD动锥齿轮图
Business English correspondence can be defined as a message that attempts to influence its recipients to take some action or attitude desired by the sender. In other words, the correspondent tries to get his or her reader to agree with him/ her. This attempt at agreement should always be part of the letter, whether the desired result is of immediate importance, such as the collection of a bill, or whether it is an intangible attitude like goodwill. Any type of letter can be judged in terms of how successfully it gains agreement from the reader.
Although business English writing usually belongs to “formal English style”, informal business English correspondence is still used widely as well. The type of writing style we should use in business letters depends on the relationship between the companies, or, more exactly, depends on the familiarity between the writer and the reader. The important point we should bear in mind is to write the correspondence in accordance with the relationship.
1.1The Communicated Function of Business Correspondence
The aim of business correspondence is to resolve the specific affairs during the process of foreign trade. All the letters go on with the start, development and end of business activities. In the different phases, business correspondence plays different roles. For example, establishment of business relationship, sales promotion, claim for compensation, bargaining, transmission of information, transaction of a variety of documents, application and etc. All those functions can be divided into four categories. The first category is message requests and responses, such as status investigations, inquiry, offer and the various messages of the business development. The second category is negotiation of business affairs, such as price, commission, discount, quality; terms of payment, packing, insurance, time of shipment, all the bargaining for the terms belong to this category. The third category is establishment of cooperative relation. This kind of correspondence does not resolve specific affairs. It just commends its company to other companies by showing off their intelligence, capability, outstanding achievement and good faith. The fourth category is claim. Request the other side to commit the loss when they disobey contract. Pragmatic functions of business correspondence decide its language style.