商务英语信函礼貌原则 --毕业论文.doc

【标题】商务英语信函礼貌原则 【作者】肖刘春 【关键词】礼貌原则;商务英语;信函 【指导老师】鲁晓权 【专业】英语 【正文】. IntroductionWith the development of commodity economy in China and markets further opening up to the world, English business correspondence has become one of the commonly used forms in daily diplomacy. It has many kinds of functions, such as establishing the business relations between both sides, communicating commercial information and expanding business.In the 1920s from the study of rhetoric and type of writing, Leech, the distinguished British linguist put forward the famous“politeness principle” on the basis of Grices“cooperative principle”, whose key content is that try to make oneself suffer a loss and others a profit, in order to give good impression on the other side. 1 In that case, communication will go smoothly, and one will obtain large profit from it. Business people have much work to do, so they are only concerned about the letters, not the flowery language. This thesis, within the frame of politeness principle, aims at dealing with the application of it.Theory of PolitenessA. Definition of PolitenessPoliteness is the expression of the speakers intention to mitigate face threats carried by certain face threatening acts toward another.“Politeness consists of attempting to save face for another. Politeness theory states that some speech acts threaten others face needs.” 2 It was created in 1987 by Penelope Brown and Stephen Levinson and their research has since expanded academias perception of politeness.In any society, whenever the physical possibility of spoken interaction arises, it seems that a system of practices, conventions, and procedural rules comes into play which functions as a means of guiding and organizing the flow of messages. An understanding will prevail as to when and where it will be permissible to initiate talk among whom, and by means of what topics of conversationBrown and Levinsons original text on politeness theory Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage most important tenet is that we change our language based on the hearer and thus our strategies for compliance gaining changes depending on the audience.“In everyday life we design messages that protect face and achieve other goals as well.” 3B. Leechs PolitenessIn 1983, G. N. Leech, who is an English linguist made a systematic study on polite phenomena of speech communication. He introduced the theory of politeness in the book named Principle of Pragmatics. According to Leechs layout, there are six maxims in politeness principle. They are tact, generosity, appreciation, modesty, agreement and sympathy.People resort different methods to achieve the purpose of speech communication, which is tact. Leech thought this maxim is the most important in guiding people to speak. Tact advocates“minimizing cost to other” or“maximizing benefit to other”.Generosity means people should be generous to other, minimize benefit to self and maximize cost to self. Leech thought this is the second expression of politeness principle.When people state or represent something or a point of view, but never oppose other, which is appreciation. Leech particularized the basic content of the maxim, namely“minimize dispraise of other” or“maximize praise of other”.Keeping modest while talking is another important maxim. That is“minimize praise of self” or“maximize dispraise of self”.“Minimize disagreement between self and other” or“maximize agreement between self and other” follow an important maxim, namely, agreement maxim which make the conversation proceed.At last, how people can be tacit agreement? That is sympathy which means“minimizing antipathy between self and other” or“maximizing sympathy between self and other”.Leechs politeness principle is a hypothesis or explanation of speech communication. It enables to explain many polite phenomena of speech communication in modern society. Under the background of globalization and continual international trade activities, politeness principle has special significance to instruct business English letter writing. The Necessity of Politeness in English Business LettersWith the deepening of reform and opening-up and the propulsion of global economic, Chinas foreign trade has been greatly developed, therefore international business contacts have become increasingly frequent. In international business exchanges, the missive is the most important way of communication. With this method, the two sides may never meet, but only to express their ideas through the letters. So the two sides should make efforts to create a good image to strive to retain the new and existing clients and achieve better economic profits. Courtesy is an important linguistic feature of business letters. Considering politeness principle, a business letter can set a good image, thereby the business activities can precede smoothly.A business letter is a letter written in formal language, usually used when writing from one business organization to another, or for correspondence between such organizations and their customers, clients and other external parties. The overall style of letter will depend on the relationship between the parties concerned.Politeness, as a social communication phenomena has inseparable relationship with speech. However, there are many troubles caused by ignoring politeness. Politeness is a remarkable feature of business English letter which aimed to promote the development of economic trade and cooperation. For us, English business letter writing is an intercultural communication. Pragmatic failure may result in unsuccessful communication or even misunderstandings if we ignore politeness principle. Therefore, it can be said that the use of politeness principle in English Business writing properly or not will directly affect the economic trade and commercial cooperation. From this, we say it is very important to use politeness principle to maintain mutual respect, mutual trust and cooperation of economic and trade relationship between the terms.Regarding others views, respecting others wishes and rights, catering others needs, this is polite English Business writing. It will promote bilateral economic trade and commercial cooperation. With the acceleration of globalization and Chinas reform and opening-up, English letters act as a tool for international exchanges for people to use politeness principle in English Business letter writing. The Application of Politeness in English Business LettersATact MaximJuly 5, 2000Ted WilsonLaramie, WY 82063Dear Mr. Wilson:Thank you for shopping with us. You are a valued customer. We appreciate your business and know that you want to keep your account current with us.On May 15, 2000, you purchased319. 04 of merchandise from our store in Laramie. Your payment of100 is now overdue. In the credit agreement you signed, you agreed to pay off your bill in three payments. The fist payment of100 was due June 15,2000. Please send this amount now. Failures to pay on time may affect your ability to charge merchandise at our store. Thank you for your prompt attention.You may call me at 800- 555- 9875 if you have any questions or concerns.Your continued patronage is important to us.Sincerely yours,Mary WestCredit ManagerMJW: c j l4This letter is to inform the recipient that their payment has been overdue, to remind of other part of the money which has not yet paid according to the agreement by the two sides. In order to achieve the intent of the writer, he took tact maxim, namely,“minimize cost to other” or“maximize benefit to other”. In the first paragraph of the letter, the writer thanked each other with their business dealings, at the same time to show that they cherish the trade relationship with each other.“Thank you for shopping with us. You are a valued customer.” And then to illustrate the incidence of overdue and foreshadow the consequence, meanwhile, the writer said the ultimate beneficiaries were the recipients. In the last paragraph of the letter also expressed the wish of keeping trade relationship with the recipient which showed the staidness and well arranged by the writer. The whole letter reflects the use of appropriate strategies in the writing process. In real life, tact is the base of politeness, the use of languages politely means the use of strategy of languages. Please pay attention to the pragmatic strategy when we ask for help from others, or praise others, or invite others, or express objection and so on to achieve our meanings.1. Opportune replyIt is very important to reply the business letters as soon as possible in business dealings. If the customer didnt receive a reply in a reasonable time, he will have many misunderstandings, such as not being regarded, or treating impolite, which will affect trade relationship between two sides. What kind of letters should be replied in time? That is complaining and claim letters. If it is indeed their responsibility for the problem, they should correct immediately and seek solutions. If the reason cannot be found in a short time, they should inform the other party that the incidence is under investigation. But sometimes people will complain something nonentity or unreasonable demands, in this situation we also should be polite and calm to give other party a good image to keep harmony and friendly trade relationship.2. ConcisenessConciseness is considered the most important principle in business letter writing as we now live in a world where time is money. Conciseness means to write in the fewest possible worlds without sacrificing completeness and courtesy. To achieve conciseness, you should avoid wordy statement and fancy language, use short sentences instead of long ones, and compose your information carefully. To achieve this, the following guidelines must be adhered to.（1） Making a long story short and try to avoid ordains.Make it a rule, to use no more odds and pithy sentences to express your meaning clearly and concisely. Try to use a word or phrase to express your idea as much as possible instead of using long sentences or clauses. For instance:You shouldnt use Youd better useat this time nowenclosed here hereexpress a preference for prefer(2) Avoiding the unusual or out-of-date words or jargons and try to express your idea in modern English.You shouldnt use Youd better use terminate end converse talk consummate complete3. You-attitudeNo matter to whom the English Business letter is, we should bear in mind that we should be from each others point of view, taking into account of each others position and understand each others difficulties. According to You-attitude, shows that we understand each other and are considerate of each other. 5 Therefore, in order to embody politeness in English Business letters, people do not use“I” or“we” but“you” or other. For example:a. Im delighted to send you our latest catalogue and we wish to draw your attention to a special offer we have made in it.b. You ll be particularly interested in a special offer on page 5 of the latest catalogue enclosed, which you requested in your letter of May 20. We-attitude is used in the first sentence will give other party a feeling of ignoring, while the second sentence which is you-attitude,B. Generosity MaximMarch 17, 2000Terrance ReillyBox 557Camden Creek, SC 29625Dear Mr. Reilly:I would like your help in solving a problem that people in businesses such as yours have. Each year businesses that sell medical supp lies are faced with hundreds of new products. We would like your assistance in answering enclosed survey. B y doing so you w ill let us know how we can best serve you. Also, enclosed is a 10%- off coupon to use on your next order to thank you for your time. I will call you on Wednesday to ask your op inions concerning the survey. W e value people like you who are willing to take their time to help us serve our customers better. Thanks for all your help.Sincerely yours,Jack LarimerSales Manager, 800- 555- 3590JKL: j. i. wEnc.P. S. The coupon is good now! 6This letter is a success as a means of asking for answering the questionnaire. The writer followed generosity maxim with“ By doing so you will let us know how we can best serve you” to let the customers understand the purpose of answering the questionnaire is to provide customers with better service. At the same time, enclosed is a 10%-off coupon to use.“The coupon is good now!” All of these reflect the rational use of generosity maxim, namely,“minimize benefit to self or maximize cost to self.”1. Avoiding DisharmonyIts hard to avoid any mistake in business dealings, no matter how careful you are. To keep trade relationship, the two sides will seek to negotiation to solve the problems of claim and complaint. Do not write to the other party while you are not satisfied with his conduct. It is a sound strategy to be calm down and think of the reasons and consequences before impulsion.As the saying goes,“Easy to treat politeness, hard to treat impoliteness.” One should be merciful even if he received a rude letter with vitriolic words. On the one hand, if you follow the others steps, your dignity has been greatly ruined; on the other hand, you should persist in your own tenet to treat impoliteness.“We sincerely recommend you to accept our proposal as our stocks are getting lower and lower day and day, and we are afraid we shall be unable to meet your requirements if you fail to let us have your confirmation by return.” In this sentence,“recommend” cannot be changed into“advise”，because“advise”give people a feeling of order, it seems the other must accept the suggestions. But in fact, the other has the right to choose his choice, nobody has right to interfere.“According to our records, you have not yet settled your account for electronic equipment supplied to you on 10th December and 20th January this year.” The writer used“according to our records” to point out indirectly that the customer hasnt paid till now. Especially, when the two sides have paradox, you should more polite to express your own intention, paying attention to the tone, never use disharmony tone.2. EuphemismEuphemism is one of the tropes, but in English business letter it refers to sentences with inanimate subjective. It approaches to be in favor of shaking off the subjectivity of actors, thus becoming more objective and fair.a. You failed to enclose your check with your order.b. The order we received did not have a check in it.c. The check was not enclosed in the order.Sentence a points out the others fault directly which will cause unhappiness. However, sentence b and c use sentences with inanimate subjects to indicate others fault tactfully and objectively. Not only show the tolerance of the writer, but also respect others negative face. It is a win-win situation.C. Appreciation MaximJune 30, 2000Macine MoehlmannBox 25Moose Lake, MN 55438Dear Maxine:Thank you for your great suggestion on how to organize the annual fish fry at Zimmermans. Your idea means we can serve 100 more people than we did last year. Without a doubt, it is the single best idea that I have seen in a long time. As you know, Zimmermans motto is“Fun for all,”and, as a reward for your suggestion, we are giving you a daylong pass to Valley Faire in Shakopee, Minnesota, for you and your family. We hope you all can live up to Zimmermans motto.Thank you once again for your great idea, with employees like you, Zimmermans will only get better.Sincerely yours,Sally ZimmermanPresidentSJZ: d.f.t7The purpose of this letter is to express views on the proposals of the recipient, with“Without a doubt, it is a single best idea that I have seen in a long time.” A person who suggests an idea really needs to hear others opinions. Appreciation not only embodies courtesy, but also makes your friends with great psychological satisfaction. In this way, of course personal relationship is harmony, why not do it?1. PraisePraise is a strategy to satisfy the needs for prestige of the others. It is a“social catalyst”. It is a way to arouse others attention and interest by using complimentary words. Using appropriate words to praise on different occasions can bring joy and satisfaction for people to keep harmonious trade relationship. It is necessary to praise each other frequently in English business letter, but also do not become just obsequious and adulatory. Do not abuse the kind words even if the others reputation, products and technology are indeed worthy of praise. Too much compliment, praise show hypocrisy, on the contrary it seems impolite. Therefore, in English business letter people should not only follow the politeness principle to praise others as much as possible, but also pay attention to the degree. The following is a good example to show this.“We find both quality and prices are satisfactory and are pleased to place an order with you for the following:”2. AppreciationReciprocity is a traditional virtue in Chinese history. In business contacts, when you have benefits from the other side, you should sincerely to express admiration and gratitude for their efforts. The following is an example in point.“We are most appreciative your full cooperation in making our discussion a success.”D. Modesty MaximDecember 2, 2000Jason Tompkins, J r.JJT: Heavy Equipment1288 E. U. S. 63Sioux City, IA 50585Dear Jason:May I use your name as a reference for a job I hope to get?