business English商务英语

1. The concept of Business English

Thus Business English is obviously such English as is used in mercantile transactions. Business English is especially related to international trade. Many non-native English speakers study business English with the goal of doing business with English-speaking countries, or with companies located in non-native English-speaking areas which are still using English as shared second language or lingua franca.

Teaching aim:

After studying this course, the students may:

1. obtain the key tips for making business relations; 2. study the professional business language points;

3. master key words and sentences in business contact, and make conversations on inquiry,offer,counter-offer.

Business English refers to the communication skills used in the workplace, and focuses on the language and skills needed for typical business communication such as presentations, negotiations, meetings, small talk, socializing, correspondence, contract, writing, and so on.

In conclusion, Business English refers to the English used in business correspondence and activities. To give it a more detailed definition, business English includes Ordinary Business English and Specialized Business English. The former covers various English books, magazines, newspapers and so on. Specialized Business English only includes documents, laws, regulations, letters, specialized theories and practice in business activities. Specialized Business English distinguishes from Ordinary Business English in some aspects.

Group homework:

Next week, every group must give one conversations based on the products of their group:

Mr. Smith from a company in America comes to a Chinese trade company for the prices of their products. Mr. Liu is meeting with him. PLUS Mr. Liu gives their offer, and Mr. Smith makes a counter-offer.( A counter-offer is an indirect refusal of the original offer.)

2. Features of Business English

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Business English language is now widely used in the economy area. It is different from normal English language, which can be seen from lexical features, syntactic features and wording features. Based on these linguistic features, the translation methods of business English are different from normal ones. Here, some new translation techniques of business English will be introduced.

2.1. Lexical Analysis of Business English

The business English?s lexis is different from normal English?s lexis ,which can be seen from the following aspects. 2.1.1. Use of Abbreviations

The word ?abbreviation?, strictly means a shortening or abridgment, commonly refers to a letter or a group of letters taken from a single word or phrase, and used for brevity?s sake, to represent that word or phrase.

In business English, abbreviations are very often used to save space and time. This conforms to the conciseness characteristic of business English. However, when we use the abbreviations, we should know their meanings and know where they are appropriate. In business English, most abbreviations have the fixed meanings.

1) International Trade Terms FOB (=free on board)

CI F (=cost, insurance and freight) 2) International Trade Abbreviations F.A.Q (=fair average quality)

3) Abbreviations and Simplified Words Commonly Used in Cables and Telexes

PLS (=please)

ASAP (=as soon as possible) 4) Country Codes CN (=China) US (=United States)

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Abbreviations of business English have a special system in expression different from the one of daily English. If we flout the unique characteristics of business English abbreviations to render those frequently used abbreviations, it is impossible to serve successfully for the international trade. 2.1.2. Use of Compounds

Many compounds are used in business English, which can be rarely seen in other written styles.

Vacuum-packed Encouragement policy Thereon Whereof

2.1.3. Use of Formal Words

Let?s look at the following example first.

\with documents signed and sealed by authorized representatives of both parties.\

Here, many formal words such as amend, supplement, documents, authorize, representatives are used.

In business English, formal words are very often used to achieve a formal tone. Such examples are more often found in business contracts. For instance,

1) The drawee is required to pay the bill a certain number of days after sight. ?Require? is more formal than ?need?.

2) With regard to the payee, the drawer may use one of the following methods.

?With regard to? is more formal than ?about?. We may list more examples as follows: In the event of /if For the purpose of/for Prior to/before In favor of/for/to Supplement/add to

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Certify/prove In accordance with/by 2.1.4. Use of Technique Terms

Business English is closely related to the special field of knowledge. Therefore, there are a lot of technique terms in business English.

In such a short dialogue, we can see many vocabularies of economy and trading, such as budget, debt, arbitration , investment, cash flow and so on. In order to completely understand this dialogue, we should first understand those technical terms. So, to learn business English, we should also learn the related knowledge.

2.1.5. Use of Shoot and Simple Verbs

Many business people feel that simple words are more impressive than those pompous ones. Readers may get lost in the maze of long words and often miss the meaning. So, shoot and simple verbs are often used in business English. For example,

Prefer ?approval? to ?approbation? Prefer ?improve? to ?ameliorate?

Prefer ?consider? to ?give consideration to?

2.2. Syntactic Features of Business English

2.2.1. Sentence Length

Generally, long and complicated sentences are more difficult for the reader to understand than shorter, simple ones. Long sentences can make business letters clumsy and difficult to read and thus hinder clear communication. While short ones are easy to organize and are comparatively casual and colloquial. Short sentences are often used in daily and unofficial business correspondence. For example,

1） Pls quote as requested in our inquiry sheet your lowest price and state the earliest delivery date.

3) Pls quote us CIF New York including 3%confirmation.

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2) We are ready to offer you 5% discount according to usual practice. However, it is different in legal business documents such as contracts. The official legal documents emphasize the logic line. We need to express clearly not only the key meaning but also the exceptions or less vital issues. Thus it is unavoidable for those documents to use long and complex sentences. For example,

\By irrevocable, transferable, and divisible banker?s acceptance letter of credit to cover the total value of each monthly (or lot of) shipment as stipulated above, to be available by drafts, at…days sight, to reach the sellers within …days after receipt of the seller?s advice and to remain valid for negotiation in China until the 15th day after shipment.\

A translator should bear in mind the stylistic requirements of different styles and choose the most proper expression. 2.2.3. Use of Strong Opening Sentences

In many business letters, we can see the sentences are always written strongly, going straight to the point and expressing the subject of the letter, instead of making some long-winded references to the correspondence received.

Let?s compare the following examples. Version 1: Long and Weak

To give you a general idea of our products, we enclose a complete set of leaflets showing various products being handled by this corporation with detailed specifications and means of packing.

Version 2: Concise and Strong

We enclose a complete set of leaflets for you to have a general idea of our products.

From the above examples, we may notice that strong opening sentences are more straightforward and concise. Americans business people maintain that the spoken style used in business letters produces a friendlier atmosphere. Just like examples of version 2, the strong opening sentence bears colloquial

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