Politeness Principle and Its Presentation in Business Letters.doc

Politeness Principle and Its Presentation in Business LettersContentsAbstracti摘 要iiIntroduction11.1The Importance and Function of Business Letters11.2Principles of Business Letters2 Politeness Principle32.1 Why to Study Politeness Strategies in English & Chinese42.2 Politeness: Chinese & Western Models52.3 Politeness Principles and Business Letters6 Representation of Politeness in Business Letters73.1 Politeness Positive Representation in Business Letters73.1.1 Approbation73.1.2 Sympathy83.1.3 Agreement83.1.4 Intimacy93.2Politeness Negative Representation in Business Letters93.2.1 Euphemism103.2.2 Respect103.2.3 Apology11 How to Apply Politeness Strategies in Business Letters12 Conclusion20References21AbstractThrough a comprehensive and systematic analysis and comparison of English business letters, this paper argues that the Principle of Politeness in English business letters should be upheld. Also presented in this paper are several aspects of politeness in English business letters. With the development of economy, business letters have become an important way to communicate. By sending business letters to each other, we can exchange information, contact business, negotiate and solve the problems existing in trading, and also promote friendship. Because of its characteristics and functions in business letters, politeness should be paid more attention to. Business English letters are the major means of written communication between two parties in the international trade. How to write business letters idiomatically is very important to business of the enterprise. A courtesy and decent business letter can help to build a favorable business image for the company and do business. However, a letter without courtesy can not only lead to the failure of the business but also destroy the image which the companies have built up. Therefore, the courtesy of business letters is very important.Key words: Business Letters, Politeness Principle, Representation摘 要本文通过系统分析和大量实例的比较，论述商务英语信函应坚持的礼貌原则，归纳出当代商务信函中的礼貌表现。随着社会经济的迅猛发展，商务信函逐渐成为人们在经济领域内的一种重要的交际手段，通过它人们可以交流信息、联系业务、商谈贸易、磋商、处理问题、传递友谊等。商业信函的特点和功能决定了商业信函中必须注重礼貌策略的表现。商务英语信函是国际贸易双方进行书面商务信息沟通的重要手段,其撰写的成功与否对企业的业务有着极其重要的影响。一封礼貌有加、措辞得体的商务信函可以帮助一个公司建构起良好的商业形象,进而做成一笔好生意；反之，一封礼貌欠佳、用语不当的信函则会给一个公司带来负面的评价，使之弄砸了生意不说，还有可能毁了公司苦心经营的形象。可见，礼貌在商务信函中的作用不容忽视。关键词: 商务信函, 礼貌原则, 表现IntroductionBusiness correspondence is a basic activity involved in trade, and remains a very important form of communication even nowadays. They deliver their companies images to the public. Business letters are often arrangements or regarded as evidence of a contract. They are written for information exchanging and bridge over the desires between buyers and sellers. The most effective letter should be easy to read and easy to understand. It must be friendly and courteous. We should bear in mind the point that business letters play an important role in the development of goodwill and friendly trade relationships.1.1The Importance and Function of Business LettersBusiness refers to the buying and selling of both goods and services, including all those activities involved in providing the goods and services needed or desired by people. International business communication is a process by which an oral or written message is exchanged between individuals or organizations of different cultures through a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior, with a view to producing actual effects in business.Effective business communication is the lifeblood of every business organization. Any business organization cannot function without business communication, since a business organization is a group of people organized for business, whose activities require those involved to interact and react to exchange information, ideas, plans, and proposals; to co-ordinate and to make decisions. The behavior of the members of an organization can have a far-reaching effect on the reputation and ultimate success of the company. Therefore, communicating effectively can contribute in a variety of ways to the development of the business organization because successful messages can eliminate unnecessary-disputes, save time and expense, create favorable impression, enhance goodwill, and help to increase the companys profit. However, all those require one to be quite familiar with the recipients culture to behave properly while doing business. Otherwise one would be considered impolite or rude, leading to unexpected failure in the process of doing business. Therefore, it is important not only for the Chinese to know about the foreign cultures, for example, the English-speaking countries, but also for those foreigners to know about Chinas.In a word, the impression created by a politely written business letter can be a crucial factor in successful communicating with our business counterparts. It is concerned with the successful transfer of an idea from one to another, which is a vital factor in making our business communication run smoothly and effectively. Business communication may take many forms, such as letters, reports, telegrams, cables, telexes, resumes and printed forms that are used for special goals. Here, we will concentrate on the letters, because the purpose of the study is to facilitate international business communication. Moreover, letter is the main form used to exchange information between business organizations. Therefore, choosing letter can make the results of the study more representative and more helpful. In addition, it will be easy to collect data for the study.1.2Principles of Business LettersConsiderationTry to put yourself in his or her place to give consideration to his or her wishes, demands, interests and difficulties. Find the best way to express your better understanding and present the message. That enables a request to be refused without killing all hope of business or allows a refusal to do favor to be made without harming friendship.CorrectnessCorrectness means not only proper expressions with correct grammar, punctuation and spelling, but also appropriate tone which is a help to achieve the purpose. It is likely to convey the real message in a way that will not cause offence even if it is a complaint or an answer to such a letter. Business letters must be factual information accurate figures and exact terms in particular, for they involve the right, the duties and the interest of both sides often as the base of all kinds of documents. Therefore we should not understate nor overstate as understatement might lead to less confidence and hold up the trade development. While over statement throws you into an awkward position.CompletenessAs you work hard for completeness, keep the following guidelines in mind: Why do you write the letter, what are the facts supporting the reasons, whether you have answered all the questions asked or not and what the reader is expected to do.ConcretenessWhat the letter comes to should be specific, definite rather than vague, abstract and general. Take, for example, some qualities or characters of goods that should be shown with exact figures and avoid words like short, long or good. Give specific time (with date, month, year and even offer hour, minute if necessary).But avoid expressions such as yesterday, next month, immediately and etc.ConcisenessConciseness means complete message but briefest expression with no sacrificing clarity or courtesy. A good business letter should be precise and to the point. Single words are more efficient than phrases. Wordy languages and redundancy require more time and money to type and to read. They are not what modern business people want.ClarityKeep constantly in mind what you want to say in your letter. It is welcomed if you express yourself clearly and directly in the simplest language. Plain, simple words are more easily understood. A properly paragraphed message is required for the purpose of clarity. For instance, we use semimonthly instead of bimonthly for two times a month., because bimonthly may mean both two times a month and once every two month.CourtesyCourtesy means to show tactfully in your letters the honest friendship, thoughtful appreciation, sincere politeness, considerate understanding and heartfelt respect. Answer letters in good time and write to explain why if you fail to do it promptly. Even if you dont think the recipient is right, you should still respond tactfully and politely. Sometimes it is a help to use you-attitude instead of I-attitude. Politeness PrincipleAs we all know, politeness phenomena pervade in all human societies, and all human interactions. Since different societies enjoy different cultures, and different cultures have different norms, values, points of view, habits, conventions, customs, etc., differences in their criteria for judgments and their linguistic means in realizing politeness may inevitably exist. A good knowledge of those differences and behaving politely will do much help in accomplishing the communicating business goals between nations.2.1 Why to Study Politeness Strategies in English & Chinese One of our socialization goals is to learn how to behave politely, linguistically or otherwise. Therefore, politeness and politeness strategies may have a direct influence on ones choice of verbal forms and sentence patterns in achieving his/her end. Moreover, politeness can be taken as a social phenomenon, a social constraint, the study of which can inevitably reveal the cultural characteristics of a certain language. The ability to overcome obstacles in communicative interactions is termed as politeness strategic competence, the requirement of which is enhanced with Chinas entering WTO, as business interaction between China and other countries is becoming more frequent than ever before. People, who meet together for the purpose such as business, cultural exchanges, traveling, may come from different countries, and their knowledge of cultures, social norms, values, customs, and habits and so on are certainly different. Following a certain cultures social norms, values, customs, habits, etc. during the process of communication may be polite, while any violation of those will be considered rude. Therefore, gaining a fund of knowledge about the target culture is of crucial importance to successful international business communication. However, a contrastive study of the politeness and politeness strategies between English and Chinese in the professional settings seems to be fewer, while contrastive study is an effective way to improve our communicative competence and enhance our awareness of cultural differences. My interests arose from here to study the politeness strategies that may contribute a lot to effective international communication, to facilitate communication between China and English-speaking countries. A survey of the books on business correspondences revealed a lack of attention to those crucial matters of style and content rather than only the form, simply combining several volumes of “model letters” from which a user may choose. Yet no matter how many model letters or phrases those books contain, it is unlikely to be a satisfactory substitute for an effective personal writing style. In addition, it will probably not meet the complex communicative needs of people in todays business world. The few available guidelines for writing effective letters on ones own tend to be too vague to be of much practical value. A good business letter is one that obtains the results the writer hoped for.The idea emerges that it may be helpful to explore the differences and similarities between the use of politeness and politeness strategies in business letters in Chinese and English cultures, and make known to those in need of the results to conduct their business interaction to facilitate international business communication.It is based on this background that the following study is conducted to examine if there is significant difference between the mean frequencies of the Chinese/English politeness maxims/strategies in business negotiation letters in the conflict stage, with the hope to discover insights for those who want or need to use business letters to communicate and to provide some insights to verify Brown & Levinsons and Gu Yueguos politeness models.2.2 Politeness: Chinese & Western ModelsBrown & Levinson assert that face refers to public self-image and consists of both positive and negative face. To maintain others face is to recognize and respect the referred members of society with each other in the interaction. They claim that most of the things that we do with words are potentially face threatening, including ordering, advising, offering, promising, criticizing, contradicting, etc. As to written language, such as business letters, FTAs may include stating a claim, deny or supersede the claims of others, naming something, speculating or asserting ones priority, etc.(Cai Xiane 2002:9). Brown & Levinson further suggest five strategies to minimize or eliminate such threats: 1) positive politeness strategy, 2) negative politeness strategy. 3) bold on-record strategy. 4) off-record strategy and 5) not to do the FTAs. At home, serious study of politeness within the linguistic circles did not begin until the early 80s. In 1990, Prof Gu Yueguo traced the origin of the notion of politeness as “a public image” in the Chinese culture in his article titled Politeness phenomena in modern Chinese. He has also formulated, which he thinks are more suitable to the Chinese cultural environment a set of politeness maxims; I) The maxim of self-denigration and other-elevation, 2) The maxim of using address terms. 3) The maxim of refinement. 4) The maxim of agreement 5) The maxim of virtue, words and deeds. (Cai Xiane 2002:10)To discuss the politeness strategies, one should first make clear what constitutes “face” and “FTAs” in the two cultures, for they play a crucial part in strategic choice of certain verbal forms in communication. “Gu Yueguo says that face is the essential element of politeness, to be polite is to be face-caring: face and politeness hold a means-to-end relation between them ” (Cai Xiane 2002:10). According to Brown & Levinson, such behaviors as offer promise, compliment, apology, gratefulness are all FTAs impolite acts. Lets read the following examples;Example 1:ExcuseForgive me.PardonExample 2: Accept my thanks.According to Brown & Levinson, example 1 and example 2 should be considered as FTAs or impolite acts. But the Chinese equivalents “对不起” “请原谅” “请包涵” “请接受我的谢意”, are intrinsically polite acts in the Chinese culture. So there are great cultural differences in the interpretation of FTAs and politeness between Chinese and English.2.3 Politeness Principles and Bus