Министерство образования и науки Российской Федерации Государственное образовательное учреждение

высшего профессионального образования «Хабаровская государственная академия экономики и права»

Кафедра иностранных языков

АНГЛИЙСКИЙ ЯЗЫК

BUSINESS LETTERS

GLOBAL TRENDS

Учебное пособие к практическим занятиям для студентов 2 – 3-го курсов очной формы обучения всех специальностей

Хабаровск 2010

ББК Ш 141.21 Х 12

«Business Letters. Global Trends.» : учеб. пособие / сост. Е. А. Петренко. – Хабаровск : РИЦ ХГАЭП, 2010. – 80 с.

Рецензенты: Н. А. Соловьёва, канд. педагог. наук, доцент кафедры английского как второго иностранного факультета восточных языков ДВГГУ

И.Г. Гирина, канд. филог. наук, доцент, зав.кафедрой переводоведения и МКК ДВГГУ

Утверждено издательско-библиотечным советом академии в качестве учебного пособия для студентов

Петренко Елена Анатольевна

«BUSINESS LETERS. GLOBAL TRENDS.»

Учебное пособие

Редактор Г. С. Одинцова

_____________________________________________________________________

Подписано к печати __.__.10. Формат 60х84/16. Бумага писчая. Печать цифровая. Усл.п.л. 4,7. Уч.-изд.л. 3,3. Тираж 100 экз. Заказ № ___

680042, г. Хабаровск, ул. Тихоокеанская, 134, ХГАЭП, РИЦ

© Хабаровская государственная академия экономики и права, 2010

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Предисловие

Каждый человек, изучавший иностранный язык, осознаёт особую сложность овладения письменной формой данного языка. Ещё более трудной представляется задача научиться составлять деловое письмо. Даже самый уверенный знаток грамматического строя иностранного языка может растеряться, не имея представления о стиле и структуре делового письма, о современных фразах-клише или о бизнес-терминах. Мы же уверены, что суметь написать небольшое, чёткое по содержанию и грамотное деловое письмо на английском языке по силам каждому.

Теме «Business Letters» отводится основная часть данного пособия. Разработанная методически тема включает письма-образцы, задания к ним на закрепление и заучивание лексики, упражнения на перевод, задания на составление писем, рекомендуемые для запоминания фразы-клише.

нахождения примера их употребления. Бизнес-термины и малознакомые слова, которые выносятся в словарь после каждого раздела, подчёркнуты. Задания,

рекомендуемые к выполнению в печатном виде обозначены знаком В таблицах представлены дополнительные фразы-клише в соответствующих разделах: «Enquiries. Orders. Replies to them», «Offers», «Complaints», «Handling a complaint (adjustment letters)», «Good/Bad News Letters».

В пособие также включены задания на развитие навыка устной речи студентов по теме «Глобализация» (Global Trends), затрагивающей на сегодняшний день не только политические и экономические стороны общества в целом, но и личностно-ценностное пространство каждого человека. Представленные здесь 6 текстов с заданиями не претендуют на детальное изучение сложного понятия «глобализация», а лишь обозначают некоторые возможные направления обсуждения. В центре внимания такие понятия, как global company, global brand, global youth, human values, global English. К тому же студенты смогут реализовать знание английского языка, понимание вопросов экономики и социальной тематики, свой творческий потенциал, представив презентации, проекты и доклады по предложенным дополнительным темам. Работу с текстами дополняют иллюстрации и вопросы к ним.

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An Introduction to Business Letters

1.How do you understand the word “communication”?

2.How do people communicate?

3.What are the relative advantages of talking to someone face-to-face and writing to them?

4.Does business communication make any difference? What kind of business correspondence do you know? What proportions of business correspondence do you think business people receive and send by fax, e-mail, post?

5.Which of the four do you do when you send/receive information? (read-write- listen-speak)

6.Read the text and discuss it in your class.

Business people rely more heavily on oral than on written communication channels for sharing information on a day-to-day basis, but they often put important messages in writing. Relying too heavily on oral communication can cause problems in a company. If you want your company to function like a big happy family, if you need to keep everyone adequately informed you can’t communicate only by word-of-mouth.

Thus communicating by sending written messages is very important too.

Written communication with people in other countries is often extremely frustrating, depending on the language barrier, availability of translators, familiarity with international trade practices, and mail systems.

It is important to get job titles right when addressing correspondence, but they may vary around the world.

In England for example, a managing director is often what Americans call the chief executive officer (CEO) or president, and a British deputy is the equivalent of a vice president. In France, responsibilities are assigned to individuals without regard to titles or organizational structure. In China, project manager has meaning, but sales manager may not.

To make matters worse, individuals in some countries sign correspondence without their names typed below. Germans, for example, believe that employees represent the company, so it is inappropriate to emphasize their personal names. Indeed, German letters often have two signatures, either because some individuals may act only in concert with someone else or because two individuals have been assigned to a job.

Finally, remember that the lack of an answer does not necessarily mean a lack of interest. To a North American, failure to answer a letter is either as insult or sloppy business. But elsewhere, failure to answer a letter may be insignificant.

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Structure of a Business Letter

letterhead

Almost every organization or firm uses printed letterhead providing necessary information: the name and address of the organization or the name, position, title and address of the sender.

Besides, one can find here telephone, fax, telex numbers, company’s registration number and other details.

references

The sender of a letter makes references to those who dictated the letter (in capital initials) and who typed it (in lowercase initials) or abbreviated department’s name, its number.

Reference initials may also come after signer’s identification. dateline

The following ways of writing the date are becoming adapted in Great Britain and the USA:

5th February, 2000 or February 5th, 2000 or 5 February, 2000. You shouldn’t use any abbreviation because it may lead to a confusion: the date 4.07.09 the Americans will understand as “7th April, 2009” (The United States-based convention for formatting a date places the month before the day). But in England as well as in Russia it will be “4th July, 2009”. Abbreviations may be used for Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., and Dec. addressee’s name and address (inside address)

It is put in the following order:

-the name of a person or a company

-the number of the house, the name of the street -the name of the town

-the name of the state -country

The inside address is the recipient's address. It is always best to write to a specific individual at the firm to which you are writing. If you do not have the person's name, do some research by calling the company or speaking with employees from the company. Include a personal title and name in the following way Mrs J.E. Smith or Mr Bill Duncan, or Dr B.A. Parker.

Follow a woman's preference in being addressed as Miss (for an unmarried woman), Mrs(for a married woman) [misiz]. If you are unsure of a woman's preference in being addressed, use

Ms.[miz]. If you don’t know a person’s name use their job title, e.g. The Sales Manager. salutation

If the letter is addressed to the company, the form of addressing is Dear Sirs. If the letter is written to an individual, the most usual forms are: Dear Sir, Dear Madam (to married or single women).

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The form Dear Sir/Madam is used when you don’t know whether the correspondent is a man or a woman. If you know a correspondent’s name but not sex, use Dear Mr/Ms Barron. If you know the correspondent personally or you have been trading for a period of time, you may use the form Dear Mr Briggs, or Dear Mrs Smith, or Dear Miss Roberts”.

If you know the person and typically address them by their first name, it is acceptable to use only the first name in the salutation, e.g. Dear Lucy. In all other cases, however, use the personal title and full name.

In American English a letter to a company usually opens with Gentlemen. subject line

Subject line indicates to what is the letter about. The reader can see immediately and understand why the letter was written.

body

Here you can write the text itself. For the details in writing the body refer to page complementary closing

A general rule for closing a letter is: if you know the name you end “sincerely”; if you don’t know the name you end “faithfully”. “Truly yours” is American English and is used even in formal letters. To a business associate you may address “Dear John”.

The way you close a letter depends on how you open it.

signature

A letter is signed by hand in ink. A signature must be clear and legible. signer’s identification

Below the signature the signer’s name and relevant titles are written. enclosures

If any documents follow the written letter, the word enclosure (encl) is written. You should also name the documents enclosed for the reader not to discard them.

cc

This tells the readers who has been sent a copy of the letter. pp

Sometimes a letter can be signed by administrators or personal assistants on behalf of their managers, so the abbreviation pp means for and on behalf of. See a sample letter on page 10 .

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Sample letter

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Style of a Business Letter

The myth about business correspondence is that it must be formal, standardized and often terse. Letters appear to be written from one “institution” to another rather than from person to person. This does nothing more than creates ineffective communication. It is important to develop a good writing style that not only reflects good grammar and sentence structure, but also gives the reader some insight into the personality of the writer. It is just as important, however, to be able to express yourself in clear, concise language so the reader knows exactly why you are writing.

 Every good businessman should be competent in writing effective business letters in

English. It doesn’t at all mean always to sound “businesslike”. On the contrary, you should sound natural, courteous and tactful. For example:

 While writing a business-letter, strive for a natural tone. Use simple “please” or “thank you”.

 Never accuse your reader with expressions like “your error”, “your failure”. Your letter should be reader oriented and sound as if you share your reader’s point of view. Avoid a self-centered focusing on your own concerns rather than those of the recipient.

A good business letter must be well organized. A letter must be logical, complete and concise.

You should strive to eliminate redundant words, outdated phrases. Avoid pompous, inflated, legal-sounding phrasing. Watch out for puffed-up, important-sounding language. When you write a business letter, picture yourself as a plain-talking, common-sense, down-to-earth person, but avoid slang.

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 If you are responding to a letter, identify that letter by its subject and date in the first paragraph or sentence. Busy recipients who write many letters themselves may not remember their letters to you.

 Therefore, avoid round-about beginnings. When business people open a letter, their first concern is to know what the letter is about, what its purpose is.

 Keep the paragraphs of most business letters short. Big, thick, dense paragraphs over ten lines, which require much concentration, may not be read carefully or read at all. Create relatively short paragraphs of between three and eight lines long. Paragraphs that are made up of only a single sentence are common and perfectly acceptable.

 Provide topic indicators at the beginning of paragraphs. Here is an excerpt before and after topic indicators have been incorporated:

 "Compartmentalize" the contents of your letter. When you "compartmentalize" the contents of a business letter, you place each different segment of the discussion — each different topic of the letter — in its own paragraph. If you were writing an answer

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letter to the enquiry concerning buying pendant watches (see page..), you might have three paragraphs with three different topics:

1information about the catalogue, pricelist, discounts, delivery date for required goods,

2more details on the goods,

3inviting to further contacts.

Give your business letter an "action ending" whenever appropriate. An "actionending" makes clear what the writer of the letter expects the recipient to do and when. Ineffective conclusions to business letters often end with rather limp statements.

Vocabulary

materials management – управление поставками материальных потоков

database environment – система управления базами данных software – программное обеспечение

customized – изготовленный на заказ database application – приложения баз данных market – продавать, сбывать на рынке

utility – утилиты (небольшие программы для настройки других программ) be responsible for – отвечать за

authorship [ ] – авторское право user interface – пользовательский интерфейс indented paragraph – абзац с красной строки

IT – Information Technology

retired – ушедший в отставку, на пенсию sender – отправитель

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abbreviated name – сокращённое название recipient – получатель

trade – торговать

enclosure – вложение (прилагаемые документы) cc – carbon copy – копия

pp – per procurationem – по доверенности

for and on behalf of – от имени и по поручению quotation – котировка, цена, расценка, предложение promotion – рекламная кампания

sample – образец

order – делать заказ, заказ

so long as – если, при условии delivery – поставка ( товара) confirmation – письмо-подтверждение concise – краткий, сжатый

courteous [ ] – вежливый accuse – обвинять

complete – завершённый redundant – излишний incorporate – включать ( в состав)

compartmentalize – делить на абзацы pendant watches – часы-кулон

limp – нежёсткий, неуверенный

1Say if the following is true or false. If you say “false” be ready to correct and explain.

1If you are writing a business letter it’s not necessary to use a specific individual’s name.

2It’s more polite to use Sir or Madam rather than the name of the person you are writing to.

3Ms is used when you are writing to more than one woman.

4If you are unsure of a woman's preference in being addressed, use Ms.

5Mister is more correct than the abbreviated form Mr.

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6In the USA a letter to a company usually starts with Gentlemen: and not Dear Sirs.

7The date is written differently in British and American letters.

8A letter that starts Dear Sir or Dear Madam will close with Yours sincerely.

9P.p. is used when someone signs a letter on behalf of someone else.

10It’s not recommended to use abbreviations for months.

11You should always write to new customers in a formal style.

12If you can understand what your letter is about, then your customer can too.

13If you start with “Gentlemen” use a complementary closing “Yours truly”.

2 There are five mistakes in the structure of this letter. Find and correct

them. Follow block style format.

Dear Mr Fuller

24 January 20__

We would like to purchase a further quantity of the white fur you supplied us with last year, subject to a satisfactory price being agreed. The Order Number for this was

34017 and the fur was called “Sheer Delight”.

We require approximately 50,000 metres of the fur, although we need to know whether we could be able to obtain more if necessary. The price last year was £ 2.00 a metre.

Perhaps you would be kind enough to let us know if you can supply us with this fur, how much is available, the price per metre, and when delivery would take place.

Yours faithfully

Chris Masters

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3 Give the English equivalents to the following:

сжатый, это приводит лишь к, представление об авторе письма, выразительный язык, вежливый, никогда не обвиняйте, стремитесь к…, ориентировано на получателя (письма), не привлекайте внимание к своим интересам, краткий, избегать, напыщенный (2), остерегайтесь выражать самодовольство (самомнение), не “ходите вокруг да около”, большой абзац, распространённый, делите текст на абзацы, заканчивайте письмо словами о конкретных предложениях или просьбах.

Which of the following adjectives/phrases characterize two letter styles – formal and informal?

4 There are three letters on the same content below. Which are problem letters? Say why? Which letter style is more acceptable?

A

Dear Mr. Arrand

Thank you very much for your enquiry of 5 November which we received today. We often receive enquiries from large stores and always welcome them, particularly at this time of the year when we know that you will be buying in stock for Christmas.

We have enclosed our winter catalogue and are sure you will be extremely impressed by our wide range of watches. You will see that they include ranges for men, women, and children, with prices that should suit all your customers, from watches costing only a few pounds to those in the luxury bracket priced at several hundred pounds. But whatever price bracket you are interested in, we guarantee all our products for two years.

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Enclosed you will also find our price list giving full details of prices to London (inclusive of cost, insurance, and freight) and explaining our discounts, which we think you will find very generous and which we hope you will take full advantage of.

We are always available to offer you further information about our products and can promise you personal attention whenever you require it. This service is given to all our customers throughout the world, and as you probably know, we deal with countries from the Far East to Europe and Latin America. This fact alone bears out our reputation, which has been established for more than a hundred years and has made our motto 'Time for everyone' familiar worldwide.

Once again, may we thank you for your enquiry and say that we look forward to hearing from you in the near future?

Yours sincerely

B

Dear Mr. Arrand

Thank you for your enquiry of 5 November.

We enclose our winter catalogue, and a price list giving details of CIF London prices, discounts, and delivery dates.

Though you will see we offer a wide selection of watches, may we draw your attention to pp. 23-28, and pp. 31-36, where there are styles we think might suit the market you describe. On page 25 you will find our latest designs in pendant watches, which are already selling well.

All our products are fully guaranteed, and backed by our worldwide reputation.

If you need any further information, please contact us. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Yours sincerely

C

Dear Sir

Thank you for your enquiry. We have a wide selection of watches which we are sure you will like. We will be sending a catalogue soon.

Yours faithfully

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5 Compare two letters. Analyze the sentence structure in the first one (participle construction, long sentences). The problem letter is too stilted and stiff while the other sounds more reader-oriented.

A (a problem letter) Dear Ms. Biggs

Having conducted our standard credit investigation, we have concluded that it would be unwise for us to grant you credit at this time.

We believe that the extent of your current obligations makes you a bad credit risk. As you can understand, it is on our best interest to grant charge accounts only to those customers with proven ability to pay.

Please accept our sincere regrets and feel free to continue to shop at Allen’s on a cash basis.

Sincerely yours

B (a revised letter) Dear Ms. Biggs

I am sorry to inform you that your application for an Allen’s charge account has been turned down.

Our credit department believes that, because of your current obligations, additional credit might be difficult for you to handle at this time. Your credit reputation is too valuable to be placed in jeopardy.

We hope you will visit Allen’s soon so that we may again have the pleasure to serve you.

Sincerely yours

6 There is one more example of a problem letter and a revised one. The example shows change in style. A revised letter shows “you-attitude”, which does not mean using more “you's” but making the recipient the main focus of the letter.

A (a problem letter)

I am writing you about a change in our pricing policy that will save our company time and money. In an operation like ours, it costs us a great amount of labor time

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(and thus expense) to scrape and rinse our used tableware when it comes back from large parties. Also, we have incurred great expense on replacement of linens that have been ruined by stains that could have been soaked promptly after the party and saved.

B (a revised letter)

I am writing to inform you of a new policy that we are beginning, effective September 1, 20… that will enable us to serve your large party needs more often and without delay. In an operation like ours in which we supply for parties of up to 500, turn-around time is critical; unscraped and unrinsed tableware causes us delays in clean-up time and, more importantly, less frequent and less prompt service to you the customer. Also, linens ruined by stains that could have been avoided by immediate soaking after the party cause you to have to pay more in rental fees.

7 Read, study and compare the following letters. Pay attention to the style, structure, contents. Use the following words to complete the letter B: require, accommodation, recommend, annual, price list, expect.

A

Meistersingerstr. 104

8000 Muenchen 81 Germany

17 October

Dear Matt

I’m writing to ask you for your advice. We are looking for somewhere to hold our annual conference next year and I remember that you mentioned an excellent centre in Florida.

Could you possibly write and let me know the name of the centre and any other details which you think are useful? We need room for about 150 delegates for two weeks in May. I hope all this is not too inconvenient.

Regards to you and your family. Yours

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