浅谈商务英语函电在对外贸易中的作用-英语论文.doc

1 Introduction

The early years of our new century have been a period of unprecedented technological advancement. From cell-phones to 3G online, from test massaging to PC faxing, our communications tools and techniques are becoming ever more sophisticated. Today we are able to organize, transmit, and use information at speeds unimaginable only a few years ago and we anticipate future developments that are equally unimaginable today. Nevertheless, the “information superhighway” notwithstanding, communications technology has not supplanted communications know-how. We still require information and ideas to be expressed in clear, completely, and the person who can compose such information is a part of business organization. Therefore, business correspondence language still continues to be a highly marketable skill in today’s workplace.
From the perspective of linguistic carrier, business correspondence should be used in a business environment. It belongs to ESP① (English for special purposes, the English need by a particular group of learners could be identified by analyzing the linguistic characteristics of their specialist of work or study.), and emphasizes the special communication in the specific circumstances. It is a comprehensive discipline which is combined with English writing and foreign trade practice with content, difficulty and practicability of nature. It has a very difference from the nature of ordinary English or other specialized English in content or formally. It involves foreign trade practices each part. Mainly includes: Establishing business relations; Enquiries and Replies; Quotations, Sales Letters, Offers and Counter Offers; Orders, Acceptances; Sales confirmation and Purchase contract; Payment; Packing; Transport and Insurance; Complaint, Claim and Settlement etc. Thus it can be seen although the business correspondence is not the foreign trade practice lesson, but involves the operational method in the foreign trade. This paper will from the linguistic features, the textual structure, and the lexis three parts to analyze the characteristics of business correspondence.

2 The meaning of Business English Correspondence

2.1 The meaning of Business English Correspondence

Business English correspondence is Electronics letters that help people communicate in the field of foreign trade working language in writing , In the foreign trade knowledge as the background , Language as a carrier of foreign trade。Business English correspondence is one of the main ways of foreign business communication 。But, In today's highly developed information technology ，The letters are not limited to paper, or it can be E-mail, fax or MSN 。It is a letter issued to encoding and decoding process of the receiver 。Smooth encoding and decoding process is using the correspondence communication process。The most commonly used include ：The purpose of establishing business relations、enquiries、An offer、reply、The contract of sale、Packing、insurance、compensation、arbitration ect .
2.2 The characteristics of business English correspondence

Business English correspondence is frequently used in international business contacts，Is carry out foreign trade business and related business activities of the foundation and important tool 。Therefore, Be familiar with the use and Correct understanding of the new characteristics of business English correspondence，Is premise and condition of business activities smoothly .
2.2.1 Linguistic features of Business Correspondence
Language is a means of communication. This may seem like a foolishly simple observation to make, but remember that for communication to be completed successfully a sender must convey his or her message so that the receiver not only receives, but also understands, the message. If language is not used clearly and accurately, the communication process cannot be successfully completed.
A simple rule to remember is that the English you use in your everyday business should be the same good English used by people in all walks of life. Granted, there may be terms intrinsic to your industry, but there is not a special type of ‘‘business English’’ to be learned and used when writing business letters. Good English is good English.
Business correspondence is one of the common styles in the international business activities. Because of its production and service in various commercial business scopes, reflecting the professional and business-related content. Therefore, the wording, syntax, expression style, meaning and content has the style of the business. Cooperation and competition, rights and obligations, faith and claim, goods delivery and payment will always be topics for the business people. Each expression should be tried to be concise and accurate, strong and mild, firm but not tough, rigorous and without losing humorous. It is usually to be used strictly “7Cs②” principles of writing, that is Clear, Complete, Concise, Concrete, Constructive, Conversational and Correct.
l Clear
The goal of clarity is that the reader understands precisely what you are saying. The language of your correspondence should be adapted to the recipient. This means that you write in a matter-of-fact, conversational tone. Use specific examples the reader can relate to. Don’t assume that your reader understands the jargon of your trade. Remember, most letters will be read by people other than the recipient of the letter. These people may be unfamiliar with the technical language or jargon you use. Clarity also means organizing your correspondence or letter so each paragraph deals with only one main idea and presenting your ideas in a logical order. Your letter should not be a collection of random ideas. It should be single-minded in its purpose.
This is the cornerstone of effective communication and requires considerable effort on the writer’s part. It includes writing to the reader’s level of understanding, but not down to the reader. It means using language, words, and phrases that reader understands, while avoiding all jargon and unfamiliar words and phrases. It involves coherently and logically ordering thoughts and ideas structuring paragraphs so that each idea has its own place in the correspondence. Good narratives are designed to make the desired impact. Remember, it is writer’s obligation to clearly communicate so that the reader can understand, not the other way around.
Be clear and straightforward in correspondences. Write what you mean. Don’t write in circles, making reader guess what you mean. Take the following example of a writer who wants to tell a customer about an important organization:
My correspondence was initiated to inform you of the high caliber of programs and activities of an organization in which I have enjoyed being involved over the past few years. The County Business Association has served to keep me informed of, and actively involved in, the current political and economic issues affecting small businesses through its monthly breakfast meetings with interesting and impressive speakers, its newsletter on legislative activities in Washington, and several other programs outlined in the attached letter.
There are many problems with this example. Let’s start by examining the clarity and directness of the statement. Since the writer of the letter wants to inform the reader about an important organization, why didn’t the writer come right out and do so by writing:
I am writing to you about the high-caliber programs and activities offered by the County Business Association, an organization in which I have been involved for the past few years.
In the writer’s version of the letter, it is not until the second sentence of the paragraph that we even learn the name of the important organization. If you are writing about a particular subject, and that subject happens to be an organization, why not get its name right up front so the reader might enjoy learning about it throughout the rest of the letter instead of being left in suspense?
Instead of using many words (‘‘my correspondence was initiated to inform you of . . .’’), why not say simply, ‘‘I am writing to you about . . .’’? If you come right out and say what you mean instead of beating around the bush, not only are you going to grab your reader’s attention right away, but you also stand a stronger chance of convincing your reader that he or she should go on reading and find out more about what you have to say.
l Complete
Good writing includes all the information necessary to make the point and promote whatever the correspondence requests. The data must be designed with a purpose in mind. Random details and thoughts however colorful and interesting, only confuse and the reader if they are not relevant to the issues being raised. Stay on track and make sure you have provided the reader with enough information to encourage the action you seek.
Make sure all the information what the reader needs to know. (Do not include details that are interesting but not relevant.) The biggest problem with leaving out information is that the reader has to make assumptions. For example, do not say, “When we last spoke about the situation,” when you can say, “When we spoke on June 8 about hiring a new administrative assistant.”
Remember that the reader cannot read the writer’s mind. The reader can only guess at what the writer left out.
To write business correspondence should pay attention to the information of the other party needed, and whether you have completely answered the question. If the buyer accepts the offer, the seller should be quoted in the relevant content by buyer to write the correspondence of accepting the offer
Generally speaking, use 5Ws ( who, what, when, where, why) and “1h”( how) to check what you wrote letters is complete, who orders, and what the ordered goods, when the shipment should be effected, and goods be shipped to where, what terms of payment, if you have special request should also explain why. That can be list as follows:
Dear Sirs:
Re: Sweaters
With reference to your letter of May 8, we are pleased to accept your offer as per your Quotation Sheet No. 1/ 01/ 2005 for the follow:
50 doz. Cashmere sweater, small, CIF Hamburg US＄150.00 per doz.
70 doz. Cashmere sweaters, medium CIF Hamburg US＄180.00 per doz.
50 doz. Cashmere sweaters, large CIF Hamburg US＄200.00 per doz.
Packing: Each Sweater to be packed in a poly bag, per dozen in a tin lined carton, with 10 dozen to a wooden case.
Payment: 100 % by irrevocable letter of credit and drawn at sight.
Delivery: May/ June.
We trust you will give this enquiry your prompt and careful attention.
Yours Truly

l Concise
A concise letter eliminates all unnecessary words. Why use four words, “in as much as,” when you can use one word, “because”? This is not to say that you can’t write long letters, but the longer the letter, the more ineffective it becomes. It is better to write a short letter with attachments than a long, detailed one. Short letters are read and remembered; long letters are skimmed and filed.
“Brevity is the soul of wit.”William Shakespeare once wrote. Plainly put, keep letters short and to the point. Do not pad your communication if the padding does not address the main point or contribute to the correspondence’s goal. Readers will be annoyed, not impressed, by verbiage that obstructs rather than expedites the communication process.
Be concise, direct, and unambiguous in your correspondence. Some- times when you think you are communicating clearly in a business letter, the reader receives a different message from the one you intended. If such ambiguity is present in your letters, you can never be sure that the reader will understand your message. Ambiguous language is another problem with the example paragraph above. The writer wrote:
The County Business Association has served to keep me informed of, and actively involved in, the current political and economic issues affecting small businesses through its monthly breakfast meetings with interesting and impressive speakers, its newsletter on legislative activities in Washington, and several other programs outlined in the attached letter.
The writer did not mean to suggest that the current political and economic issues were affecting small businesses as a result of the County Business Association’s monthly breakfast meetings. Because of careless wording, however, the sentence could be read to mean exactly that. The writer may be defensive and quip, ‘‘Well, you knew what I meant,’’ and in this case would be correct. But if we have to read something twice to make sure of its meaning, then the chances are that it was not written clearly in the first place. The writer could have written:
Through monthly breakfast meetings with interesting speakers, a newsletter on legislative activities in Washington, and several other programs, the County Business Association has kept me informed of and involved in the current political and economic issues affecting smaller businesses.
This version leaves little doubt in the reader’s mind about the writer’s intended meaning. The meaning of an ambiguous passage often cannot be detected as easily as in the above example. A classic example is the following:
The loan officer approved the loan for David Marshall because he was obviously of superior moral fiber.
From what is written above we cannot tell who is of superior moral fiber, the loan officer or Mr. Marshall. The pronoun ‘‘he’’ can refer to either the loan officer or Mr. Marshall. To avoid ambiguity, the sentence could be written:
Because David Marshall was obviously of superior moral fiber, the loan officer approved the loan.
Or: Because the loan officer was of superior moral fiber, he approved the loan for David Marshall.
3 Function and superiority of business English correspondence in foreign trade
3.1 The function of business English correspondence in foreign trade

“The traditional foreign trade activities ，Every transaction includes: buyer、seller、bank、transport、The tax、customs、The commodity inspection and so on，Business operation process is very complicated，The efficiency is low，and Cycle is long，More and more not adapt to the need of the rapid development of foreign trade business \”。 Business English correspondence becomes an organic whole repeatedly will involve all parties through the Internet，and among them some or all of the business process to the Internet .Corresponding with the traditional foreign trade activities,
The basic function is as follows ：
3.1.1 Looking for trade partners

Looking for trade partners is the premise to develop foreign trade。Under the traditional way，weather buyer or seller have to pay a high price for finding suitable trading partners。Moreover, Use of business English correspondence looking for trade partners, not only can save a lot of manpower and material resources, but also is not limited by time and place。O