a study on some difficulties of translating business corespondence

Chapter two –Literaturereview refers to basic theory about business letters: The importance of business letters in business communication, definition of a business letter; kinds of busin

Contents

Page

Acknowledgements

Abstract

Statement of Authorship

Chapter I Introduction 1

1.1 Background to the Study 7

1.2 Organization of the study 8

Chapter II Literature Review 9

2.1 Introduction 9

2.2 Basic theory about business letters 9

2.2.1 The importance of business letters in doing business 10

2.2.2 Definition of a business letter 11

2.2.3 Kinds of business letters 11

2.2.3.1 Social business letters 11

2.2.3.2 Inquiries 14

2.2.3.3 Quotations and offers 14

2.2.3.4 Orders 14

2.2.3.5 Claims 15

2.2.3.6 Letters of Application 15

2.3 Features of a good business letters 15

2.3.1 Giving the letters a professional look 17

2.3.1.1 Paper 17

2.3.1.2 Envelope 17

2.3.1.3 Margins 17

2.3.1.4 Spacing 17

2.3.2 Parts of a business letter 18

2.3.2.1 Letterhead 18

2.3.2.2 Dateline 18

2.3.2.3 Inside address 18

2.3.2.4 Order of inside address 19

2.3.2.5 Punctuation of address 20

2.3.2.6 Salutation 20

2.3.2.7 Content 20

2.3.2.8 Complimentary close 21

2.3.2.9 Signature block 21

2.3.3 Other parts 21

2.3.3.1 Attention line 21

2.3.3.2 References 22

2.3.4 Styles of business letter 22

2.3.4.1 Indented style 22

2.3.4.2 Common expression 22

2.3.5 Useful hints for business letter writing 23

2.3.5.1 Outlining a business letter 23

2.3.5.2 Composing the content 24

2.4 Summary 24

Chapter III Methods and Procedures 25

3.1 Introduction 25

3.2 Subjects 25

3.3 Instrumentation 25

3.4 Procedures 26

3.4.1 Using correct grammar 27

3.4.2 Power of Lexis 27

3.4.3 Terminology in business correspondence 28

3.4.4 Conveying the writing style 28

Chapter IV Results and Discussion 29

4.1 Introduction 29

4.2 The Findings 29

4.3 Discussion 30

4.3.1 Some difficulties and common mistakes in using correct grammar 30

4.3.2 Power of lexis and Terminology, set expression and using words in translating business correspondence 34

4.3.2.1 Lexis and Terminology 34

4.3.2.2 Mistakes and difficulties in set expression and using words 42

4.3.2.3 Mistakes and difficulties in using words 46

4.3.3 Difficulties in conveying the original writing styles 51

4.3.3.1 Problems in tone 52

4.3.3.2 Using inflated language 53

4.3.3.3 Using negative ideas 54

4.3.3.4 Using impersonal style 55

4.4 Summary 56

Chapter V: Implications, Suggestions and Conclusion 57

5.1 Implications 57

5.1.1 Using correct language 57

5.1.2 Solution to conveying the original writing styles 59

5.2 Suggestions for future research 64

5.3 Conclusion 64

References 60

Appendices 61

The graduation paper named ”A study on some difficulties in translatingbusiness correspondence” is the biggest scientific research for me during the lastfour years In order to finish it, besides my own efforts, I have a lot of help,guidance and encouragement from my teachers, my family and my friends

First, I would like to express all of my in-depth gratitude to my supervisor,

Mr Hoang Van Hoat, M.A, Lecturer at the English Department for his valuableinstructions and suggestions, careful corrections during the development of mygraduation paper

Second, I also would like to thank all the teachers of the translation andintepreting devision, who have taught me during the past time

I would like to express my thanks to Mr Nguyen Viet Thang, hislectures have great impact on me and help me so much in finishing thisdissertation

Last but not least, we would also like to give my thank to friends for theirconstructive opinions so that I could finish this paper in time

Nguyen Thuy Van - FA10_99 - HUFS

This dissertation is divided into 5 chapters The first part – Introduction refers

to the background to the study, organisation of the study Chapter two –Literaturereview refers to basic theory about business letters: The importance of business letters

in business communication, definition of a business letter; kinds of business lettersand some features of a good business letter and definition which some then be adapted

to translate Business correspondence mentioned in this dissertation Also, this chapter

is hoped to bring about an overview of Business correspondence What is a Businesscorrespondence and its characteristics are mentioned here so that you will haveconcrete understanding about a business correspondence This makes you to findeasier when reading the chapter three

As the main purpose of this dissertation is to point out some difficulties intranslating Business correspondence, some regular concrete difficulties and theirsamples are specially mentioned here Moreover, popular expressions equivalenttranslations, economic terms and international abbreviations are also referred to sothat it is hoped to find out the way to overcome such metioned difficulties

Chapter Five – Implications, suggestions, and conclusion are some help foranyone who are interested in this field The Conclusion will summarize all thedissertation and some of my personal experience drawn from this dissertation

It is desired that further research is necessary to find out best methods oftranslating of Business correspondence Yet, it is hoped that this dissertation couldonly provide basic ideas of a Business correspondence and difficulties to avoid.During the dissertation, shortcomings and mistakes are unavoidable Any correctionand suggestion for further understanding from my teachers, my friends and myreaders, therefore, will be highly appreciated

Statement of Authorship

I hereby certify my authority of the thesis sunmitted today entitled:

A study on difficulties in translating of business correspondence

In terms of the statement of requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts

Signed………

Nguyen Thuy Van

June, 2003

Chapter I Introduction

1.1 Background to the Study

If you know English, you can travel everywhere in the world In fact, that iscompletely reasonable because there are over 300 million people speaking English astheir first language, and the same people speak it as a second language However, noone can know for sure how many people speak it as a foreign language English is thelanguage taught at lots of universities all over the world, the language of internationalcommunication, science, aviation In particular, it is used as the language ofinternational business

Nowadays, due to the internationalization trend of the world economy,companies not only trade in their countries but also expand their commerce to othercountries In order to keep in touch with their partners, the best way is to writebusiness letters Actually, each country has its language, and English is the mothertongue in many countries Therefore, they usually use English in their letters

During the previous four years, my friends and I have had chances to studyEnglish thoroughly in terms of language practice (i.e listening, speaking, etc.) as well

as language theory (i.e grammar, lexicology, discourse analysis and so on) I would

say that English for Business is the subject we are interested in most since it teaches us

some essential jobs such as writing memos, lists, reports, especially letters that arevery helpful if we work for an import - export company in the future

Nevertheless, writing a business letter in English well is not easy Realizingthe importance of business letters and the difficulties writers usually meet, I have

decided to choose business letters for graduation paper whose title is some difficulties

in translating business correspondence When doing my research, I would try my

best suggestions for the fourth-year students and younger students in order that theywould be able to write an effective business letter at work

1.2 Organization of the study

The basic structural format of the research study is organized into five chapters,

a list of references, and appendices

Chapter I includes the background to the study and the organization of thestudy Chapter II presents a review of the related literature Chapter III details themethods and procedures used to conduct the study and to collect the data Results anddiscussion appeared in chapter IV Chapter V includes implications resulting from thestudy, suggestion for further research, and conclusion

Chapter II Literature Review

2.1 Introduction

People must work to exist and develop Each person is only able to produceone or some certain products However, because of their demand for living, they needmany kinds of products That is the reason why producers have to exchange theirproducts with each other Manufacturing products for sale is called commodityeconomy The commodity economy has promoted the development of labor force andpushed social labor capacity In addition, it helps form economy relations, mutualdependence between producers and establishes domestic and international market

Certainly, to serve commercial activities, producers as well as traders need tokeep in touch with each other There are some ways to do that such as making a phonecall, sending a telegram or telex, and meeting face to face, writing business letters Inface, many people find it difficult to meet or talk with customers, clients, suppliers oreven their employee’s just three floors or one building away They cannot expresstheir opinion directly, especially tactful matters Sometimes their bad behavior cancause troubles Meanwhile, a business letter is a well - laid out document includingevery necessary information with a formal, polite language, which has been editedcarefully before being sent Moreover, although we use telephone, telex or havepersonal visits, they must be confirmed with a permanent record of what was said, towhom, by whom, and on what date All of this can make the letter a powerful medium

of communication

2.2 Basic theory about business letters

Business letter is a new field to me, but it is important for my future job.Therefore, I need to study it carefully in an attempt to master some points Theseinclude basic theory about business letters, features of business letters includinglayout, content, language, grammar Besides, I also want to point out some difficultiesand common mistakes which writers usually cope with and then give suggestions toovercome difficulties and mistakes In general, my aim of study is to provide some

recommendations to avoid common mistakes and overcome some difficulties intranslating business correspondence.

I have read books on business such as The McGraw-Hill handbook of Business

Letters by Poe (1993, p.54), How to Write Effective Business Letters by Coles (1993,

p.69); grammar books like A University Grammar of English by Quirk & Green Baum

(1996, p.110) and many other books relating to what I have mentioned in my paper Ihave also collected a lot of business letters written by my friends and business letters

in Vietnamese All are the precious documents for my study

In commercial activities, people can communicate by meeting face-to-face,making phone calls or writing business letters Of the three ways, the last seems to bethe most effective because it is a record of what was said, to whom, by whom and onwhat date

There are two kinds of letters including informal and formal letters Informalstyle is for personal letters; formal style is for business letters Accordingly, within therestriction of my graduation paper, I choose business letters with formal style as thesubject

2.2.1 The importance of business letters in doing business

Mill (1993, p.1) states that business letters are little ambassadors that go throughevery conner of the present day commercial world They constitute the biggest source

of active liaison that is necessary for producing business In the very strict commercial

world that often called “battle field” businesspersons must use many remedies to win

the results while dealing The remedies may vary due to the fields, the situations, andeven the persons who apply them They may be difficult or easy, take long or shorttime, require training process or not, and be expensive or cheap There is a veryeffective way used by most companies and firms and can never be replaced, that iswriting letter Realistically, the dollars spent to compose and put a letter in the mail isfewer than any others are, so does the time On the contrary, it brings biggerconsideration fruits So what a business letter can do is to sell the goods, create newcustomers, bring back the lost ones, bring good sales-representatives, give anincentive to the dealers, bring back confidence among suppliers, instill confidence ofbuyers, collect bad debts, settle disputes, bring more finance, open new markets, save

time, dates with a VIP, build a favorable image for companies, and build the nation It

is right to say that the success of any modern business, largely, depends on the properuse of business letters

2.2.2 Definition of a business letter.

No one can deny the fact that business letters are becoming more and moreimportant in commercial world Therefore, many economists, specialists in trade fieldhave studied hard so that they can provide readers all over the world with thebackground of business letters as well as the ways to write them best

In The Language of Business Correspondence in English, Nguyen Trong Dan

(1997, p.9) said: “The business letter is the principal means used by a business firm tokeep in touch with customers; very often it is the only one and customers form theirimpression of the firm from the tone and quality of the letters it sends out”

Business letters may be addressed to a specific individual, but it is likely that manypeople within the company and possibly outside the company will read the letter.Business letters are written on standard - size paper with a matching envelope, theyare typed or printed, and formatted and folded in a convenient way Most importantly,the content of a business letter is not about personal matters It conveys an important,necessary exchange of information between people in business (Notes, 1997)

2.2.3 Kinds of business letters

2.2.3.1 Social business letters

This kind of business letter is used at festival time and on such an occasion asthe award of any honour, a promotion, a wedding or a death etc The aim of thebusinesspersons is to send their invitations, good wishes, congratulations, sympathy,condolences or thanks

Social business letters do not push up their business immediately but they areable to build goodwill, which is regarded as an intangible asset in computing theworth of a business That goodwill will clients’ belief as well as promote commercialactivities of a firm

a Letter of invitations

While such events as openings, previews, and demonstrations may beadvertised in newspapers or on handbills, guests may be more carefully selected ifinvitations are sent by letter

Formal events, such as a reception, open house, or formal social gathering,

require formal invitations These invitations can be engraved or printed, or they can

be handwritten on note-size stationery

A general invitation should be cordial and sincere; a formal invitation should be lesspersonal, written in the third person Either kind of invitation, however, must do threethings:

1) Invite the reader to the gathering

2) Give the date, time, and place of the gathering

3) Offer a reason for the gathering

Invitations are sometimes issued in the indirect form The writer and the

person invited are both referred to in the third person throughout.

(See sample letter 1 in Appendices)

Whether written to a close friend or a distant business associate, any letter ofcongratulations must be sincere and enthusiastic It may be short, but it should containpersonal remark or references

A letter of congratulations should contain three essential ingredients; it should:1) Begin with the expression of congratulation;

2) Mention the reason for the congratulation with a personal or informal tone;3) End with an expression of goodwill (such as praise of confidence never say

“good luck”, which implies chance rather than achievement)

(See sample letter 2 in Appendices)

c Letter of thanks

In business, as in the rest of life, it is important to say “thank you” We havealready seen that letters of appreciation should be sent to new customers upon theopening of an account or the making of a first purchase But many other occasions callfor a “thank you” as well; a note of appreciation should always be sent after receiving:1) gift

2) 2) favors

3) courtesies

4) hospitality

5) donations

A not of thanks should also sent in response to a letter of congratulations

A thank-you note may be brief, but it must be prompt, for it must, like all socialbusiness letters, sound sincere

A proper letter of appreciation will contain three key elements: it will:

1) Begin by saying “thank you”

2) Make a sincere personal comment

3) End with a positive and genuine statement

(See sample letter 3 in Appendices)

may use the word death but should not describe the death.

The rest of the note should be brief: an encouraging reference to the future or,

if appropriate, a gesture of goodwill

Write your letter immediately when you learn the news Say that you sincerely

2.2.3.2 Inquiries

If your job is a businessperson, request letters are always necessary because ofyour need for information or special favors, services or products You write an inquirysince you need to get information of prices or technical data; to receive printed matter(such as booklets, catalogues etc.) or sample products; to order merchandise; to makereservations at hotel, restaurants, theaters and so on

Your inquiries should be specific, brief and reasonable and provide complete,accurate information so that your requests can be acted promptly (See sample letter 5

in Appendices)

2.2.3.3 Quotations and offers

a Quotations

After receiving enquiries for prices, you usually send quotations in which there

is an expression of thank for the enquiry; details of prices, discounts and terms ofpayment; a statement of clear indication of what the prices cover (e.g packing, F.O.B.etc.); an undertaking as to date of delivery; the period for which the quotation is valid;

an expression of hope that the quotation will be accepted.(See sample letter 6 inAppendices)

b Offers

An offer tells your customer whether you can provide the goods or services hehas asked about It should convey the name of the goods, quality and specification,quality, price, packing and marking, delivery time, items of payment.(See sampleletter 7 in Appendices)

2.2.3.4 Orders

When you accept a quotation or an order, you need to make orders The ordersmust be complete and accurate in information as incomplete orders can lead todelayed deliveries, and inaccurate facts can result in the wrong delivery from theseller Every order should full details of description, quantities, prices and cataloguenumber; your requirement as to delivery place and date, mode of transport; the terms

of payment agreed in preliminary negotiations.(See sample letter 8 in Appendices)

+ Begin by regretting the need to complain.

+ Mention the number, the date of the order, the date of the delivery and thegoods complained about

+ State your reasons for being dissatisfied and ask for an explanation

+ Refer to the inconvenience caused

+ Suggest how the matter should be put right

+ Complaint of inferior quality

(See sample letter 9 in Appendices)

2.2.3.6 Letters of Application

A letter of application is a sales letter in which you are both salesperson andproduct Your purpose is to attract an employer’s attention and convince him/ her togive you an interview Therefore, in the letter you should show what you could offerthe employer instead of presenting what you want from the job Your skills,personality, qualifications, experience; ambition and enthusiasm should be mentioned

An application for the post of junior clerk (See sample letter 10 in Appendices)

2.3 Features of a good business letters

Business letter play an important part in commercial activities, and a goodbusiness letter is always necessary However, many people raise a question what a

good business letter is “A good business letter is one that obtains the results the letter hoped for” (Poe, 1994, p.4) The definition of a good business letter seems simple

and easy to do Please be careful! You can find it difficult to write a good businessletter because that letter must gain the following standards:

- Using the correct layout

- Containing necessary information

- Having no repetition or wordiness

- Using a formal and polite language

- Using correctly grammar, punctuation and spelling.(See sample letter 11 inAppendices)

This letter of application is a good business letter First, it is laid out correctly.Second, it has no repetition or wordiness, and its contents presents the good

qualifications of the candidate, which are suitable for the position of RegionalManager Finally, no grammar or punctuation errors can be found.

People learn to write just as they learn how to read, to type and to use computers.However, just like learning to type, learning to write takes work and practice, Gerfner,(1991, p.11) confirms:

“One gets better at it the more one write In addition, at the progress you get business results that save money, make money, and help you build your organization to peak performance These results may range from the very simple as

a letter that wins as appointment with an important person, instructions on a major project, which are clearly understood.

They can also collect bad debts, or win back a lost customer, all the way up to writing a winning proposal for a contract, or getting the financing you want”.

A letter may be thought of as a substitute for a personal visit Just abouteverybody finds it impossible to meet and talk with every person with whom he/ shewants to communicate, other friends or relatives in a distant town, fellow employeesjust three floors or one building away, or clients and suppliers scattered everywhere.This fact alone makes the letter a powerful medium of communication in alloccupations

Being able to write effective business letters enhances your value to yourcompany, which means faster progess up the promotion ladder, makes new friendsand keep old ones for the company, thereby increasing sales and profits, saves a greatdeal of time and effort that saves money

The emphasis of this paper is on the positive task of how to write an effectivebusiness letter It covers all parts of the letter from “letter head” to “printed name”under the signature The results of this paper are kept nearby to help improve one’sbusiness letter writing ability

2.3.1 Giving the letters a professional look

A business letter not only conveys the message that you want to inform yourpartner itself, but also stands for your company as a representative It will tell thepartner about your company, about your attitude The person who receives the letter

will highly appreciate your company with a professional looking letter that leads to aneasy-going decision in doing business The following factors that form the appearance

of your letter as paper, envelope, margins, spacing, have something to say about yourcompany A weakness in any of these elements can detract from the effectiveness ofyour message, even though it is expertly written

2.3.1.1 Paper

The quality of the paper reflects the quality of the company and conveys theimportance of the message It should be plain and unreeled The most popular color iswhite; there are also some firm prefers to use light grey, brown, or blue paper Thesize of the paper is normally 21, 5 x 28 (8, 5 x 11 inches)

2.3.1.2 Envelope

The color, texture, and weight of the envelope should always match the paperthat is normally folded in thirds (bottom up, top over) If the number of papers orenclosures make normal folding difficult, it is better to use a large one thataccommodate the paper without folding

2.3.1.3 Margins

There should be at least a one-inch margin at both left and right sides of theletter If the content message is short, you can increase the side’s margin to 2 inches ormore The margins at the top and bottom of the paper are usually at least one and onehalf times that so the side margins

2.3.1.4 Spacing

Most spaces in business letters are single However, there is one blank linebetween the sender’s address and the date line, between the date line and therecipient’s address, between the recipient’s address and the salutation, between thesalutation and the message, between the paragraphs of the message Thecomplimentary close is two spaces below the last lint of the message Four spaces areleft for the signature

2.3.2 Parts of a business letter

2.3.2.1 Letterhead

Most large firms have a custom-printed letterhead on the paper The letterheadincludes name, address, telephone number, and the logo of the company sending the

letter An attractive letterhead makes a considerable contribution to the effectiveness

of the letter for its attractiveness that wins the goodwill of the reader

2.3.2.2 Dateline

The dateline is written below the letterhead or the sender’s address andseparated by a space The month in the date should not be written in numbers becausethey can cause a confusal; for example 11 6 2002 means 11th June 2002 in the UKbut 6th November 2002 in USA, and the month should also not be abbreviated, as itsimply looks untidy It takes a moment to write the date in full form, but it can take alot longer to find a misfield letter that was put in the wrong file because the date was

confusing “The abbreviations “th”, “nd”, and “st” can be left out and the date appears 11 June or June 11 instead of 11 th June These are the meter of preference, but whichever you choose you should keep consistent throughout your letter” (Ashley,

Courtesy titles used in the address include:

- Mr (with or without a full stop, pronounced/ mist /) is usual courtesy title for aman

- Mrs (with or without a full stop, pronounced/ misses/) is used for a marriedwoman

- Miss (with or without a full stop, pronounced/ miss/) is used for an unmarriedwoman.

- Ms (with or without a full stop, pronounced/ miss/ or /m s/) is used for bothmarried and unmarried woman Many women prefer to be addressed by thistitle, and it is a useful form of address when you are not sure of the recipient’smarital status

There are also other titles that occasionally used:

- Messrs for two or more men

- Dr and Prof are academic or medical titles

- Cap, Maj, Col, or Gen is military titles

The second line is for his/ her position in the company

If you do not know the person, you are writing to, you may address it to his/her position only in the company

If you do not know the name or the position, your letter may be addressed to aparticular department of the company

In case you know nothing about the company and do not want to make anyassumption about the person or department your letter should go to, you can address it

to the company itself

2.3.2.4 Order of inside address

The addresses require a fix order in writing so they do not make the readerconfused The recipient’s address begins with the recipient’s name on the first line andhis/ her position on the second line

After these, the order is the same foot both sender and recipient’s addressesand it are recommended as follows:

- Name of the house or building

- Number of building and name of the street, road, avenue, etc

- Name of town, city, and postcode

- Name of country

2.3.2.5 Punctuation of address

There are two types of punctuation, close punctuation and open punctuation Ifthe close one is used, a comma follows each line of the address, except for the last

line However, most firms now use the open punctuation, i.e without any comma forthe convenience of using computer.

2.3.2.6 Salutation

The salutation opens your letter, so it can never be omitted

If you do not know the name of the person you are writing to you can use:

- Dear Sir for a letter written to a man

- Dear Sirs for a letter written to a company

- Dear Madam is used to address both single and married woman

- Dear Sir or Madam is used to address a person of whom you know neither thename nor sex

If you know the name of the person, the salutation takes the form of “Dear”followed by courtesy title and the person’s initial or his / her first name e.g Mr J.Smith or Mr John Smith

correspondence soon You also may wish to restate, very briefly, one or two of themost important points that you have made in the main paragraph of your letter.

2.3.2.8 Complimentary close

This part ends the letter in a polite, formal way The popular form is “Your

faithfully” for the letter begins with “Dear Sir; Dear Dies; Dear Madam; or Dear Sir

or Madam” and “Your Sincerely” for the letter begins with a personal name as “Dear

Mr J Smith; Dear Mrs C Turner; Mss K Bangor; or Ms G Crawford”.

2.3.2.9 Signature block

The signature includes three items:

The signature is hand-written just below the complimentary close The writer’styped name and position in the company follow it The name can be typed with theinitial(s) or the given name (D Jenkins or David Jenkins) and accompanied with acourtesy title (Ms, Mrs, Miss, and Ms) If you do not give the title, yourcorrespondence will not be able to identify your sex and may give you a wrong titlewhen replying It is, therefore, safer to type your title In fact, including the title in thesignature block is more common among women than among men It is partly becausemany women like to make it clear either they are married (Mrs.) or unmarried (Mss.),

or that their marital status is not relevant (Ms.); and because there is still a tendency tobelieve that important positions in a company can only be held by men

2.3.3 Other parts

A business letter may contain other parts However, these parts optional, theyalso contribute remarkably to the effectiveness of the letter and can be shown asfollow:

2.3.3.2 References

This item is divided into “Your ref” (Your reference), which is written before,

to indicate what the letter refers to and “Our ref” (Our reference) to indicate the

person who creates the letter and his/ her typist by giving their initial letters of theirnames separated by a slash.

2.3.3.3 P.p

This term stands for “per pro” and means “for and on behalf of” Secretaries

use “p.p” when signing letters on behalf of their bosses “P.p.” is placed before theboss’s name and separated by a dot

2.3.3.4 Enclosures

If there are any enclosures, e.g leaflets, brochures, orders… with the letter theitem “Enc.” or “Encl.” will be written at the bottom of the letter and followed by a list

of mentioned documents

2.3.4 Styles of business letter

When tearing off the envelope, the reader is impressed by the structure of yourletter first There are two basic styles of business letter, which are called indented styleand blocked style, and whichever style you choose is a matter of preference It maydepend on the decision of your firm and your correspondent’s firm if you want toplease him with his familiar style However, it is the fact that, most firms andcompanies prefer using the blocked style

2.3.4.1 Indented style

When performing your letter on this style, you must indent the beginning ofeach paragraph from three to five spaces and the signature block is on the same sidewith the recipient’s address and the dateline

2.3.4.2 Common expression

For the special features of business letter, we often see similar expression inthe opening and concluding paragraphs in different letters These expressions help thewriters open their letters smoothly so they can keep continuous the rest easier, and endthe letter in an impressive way

Opening paragraph

- Thank you for your letter (Date) concerning about;

- As requested in your letter of (Date) we are sending you;

- We are happy to supply you with;

- We are very concerned to hear that;

- I would like to know more about;

- I would be grateful if you could send me;

- We are writing to you concerning;

- Could you please give us a quotation for;

Concluding paragraph

- If there is any thing else we can do, please;

- If you are interested I suggest we could;

- Thank you for taking the time to write;

- Thank you for giving us the chance to explain;

- Thank you for your patience during the delay;

- We appreciate all the help you have given us;

- I look forward to hearing from you

- I hope to hear from you soon

- Thank you in advance for your cooperation

- Assuring you of our best service at all time

2.3.5 Useful hints for business letter writing

It is a matter of certain that, to have the present appearance business lettershave been changed and improved many times for conveniences of both reader andwriter Some one who may be very good at English but has never taken a BusinessEnglish and has no knowledge or experience in the commercial world can never write

a good business letter Business letter writing requires certain qualifications He/ shemust know the form and the features of content of business letters There are two mainpoints in writing

2.3.5.1 Outlining a business letter

Choosing the style of the letter is the first step You may be required to write inthe style used within your firm or the one that pleases your partner The next step iswriting addresses The two addresses must be written in as much detail as possible and

in the correct order Make sure you use the right recipient; s title in both address andsalutation Do not abbreviate the date and it is necessary to refer back to the salutation

to choose the correct complementation close If your letter includes reference, makesure they are correct Finally, check the signature block to see whether it tells thereader about your name, sex, and position clearly

2.3.5.2 Composing the content

Your letter should have the right length There is a question “What is the right length?” The answer is “as long as necessary” because this depends on the subject and

the situation of the letter (see 2.5.2) you write it The information should be put in alogical sequence but organizing your letter before writing Note everything you want

to inform, and then decide the most appropriate ones in a logical sequence Thelanguage you use should be simple The simplicity gives the reader a comfortablefeeling and this may win his/ her attention to your expectation However, it should becourteous A too simple letter may sound rude Be careful when you use abbreviation,figures and prepositions These factors might affect the accuracy of your letter

2.4 Summary

In this chapter, the writer has mentioned the definitions of a business lettermade by different author so far, the classification as well as the importance ofbusiness letters in the developing world The overview of literature and the essentials

in writing business letters in the next chapter will serve as a background to writing aformal letter successfully

This chapter gives the details of a business letter and the way to perform themfrom the letterhead to the signature block as well as the most popular styles ofbusiness letters It also provides a number of common abbreviations, commercialterms, and expressions in writing a good business letter

Chapter III Methods and Procedures

3.1 Introduction

In the last chapter, I have taken the very first theoretical background items intoaccount, which may serve as the most important things for any businesscorrespondence However, it is impossible for a translator to perfect his/ her workwithout practices Under the light of this statement, the survey questionnaire isdesigned in an effort to get information and viewpoints about the difficulties andnecessities of the items occurred in the translation process Besides, the certain mostpossible supposed solutions to each difficulty would be extracted as well Lastly, this

survey questionnaire will directly help support my graduation paper, namely “A study

on the difficulties in translating business correspondence”.

3.2 Subjects

There are 48 respondents taking part in this study They include 15professional translators, 25 non-professionals, and the rest (8 people) fall to thestudents who are studying in the field of Hanoi University of foreign studies, theDivision of the Translation and Interpreting

With an aim of making the survey qualitative rather than quantitative, I havemainly attributed the questionnaire to the first two groups, which accounts for 83.33%

of the total number of respondents In which, 29 of them are males, and the femaleswho are mostly working full time in the translation companies, relevant foreign-owned companies

3.3 Instrumentation

The survey is made up based on my own ideas, teacher’s guides andprofessional translators’ hints Some seven questions involving the generalinformation and specific difficulties as well as supposed solutions to each are raisedand divided into three major components

The first component is aimed at finding out the comprehending informationabout the respondents by dealing with some main questions The major contents of

this part are to mention the translator’s gender (male or female); ages (between 20 and

30, 30 and 40, over 40); working status (professional, non – professional and field – students); duration of working in the field (under 2 years, from 2 to 5 years, from 6 to

10 years and over 10 years); current work (full time or part time); frequency of working in the field (frequently, not frequently); comparison between translation from English into Vietnamese and from Vietnamese into English (difficult level – which one

is more difficult); habits when translating business correspondence; importance of clarifying the Source Language; Characteristics of business language.

In the second part, the levels of difficulties expectedly mentioned in translation

of the business correspondence range from the very difficult, difficult, rather difficult,not sure and not difficult at all To have a more thorough understanding about thispart, each item later in this chapter will be explained

Lastly, the survey questionnaire is devoted to an open question that expects therespondent to map out the most possible solution to each difficult item This is also arather important part since it could help the paper more objective and diversified in thesource knowledge

Firstly, I collect business letters in English written by my friends and others tosearch for mistakes in terms of layout, language, grammar and give corrections

Secondly, I always ask my supervisor for advice and discuss what I finddifficult with my friends

At last, after designing the survey, fifty-five people (55) were asked to fill mygiven questions Because this is a field-survey that needs careful scrutiny, a conferringperiod was obviously given This process lasted for 5 days, and I received 48 feedback

copies, which accounted for 87.27% with full answers for each proposed item Foreach question, the respondent is expected to tick no more than one choice at the placewhere he/ she considers it the most suitable.

The concepts in this part will be presented from the angles of translation ofEnglish; therefore, some differences may occur here and there in the way of definingthem

3.4.1 Using correct grammar

As far as many linguists are concerned, “English has no grammar, or that, if it has, there are no rules in it” (Close,1992, p.1) In fact, English has very few kinds of

inflections, on the end of nouns and verbs that plays such a paramount important role

in the grammar of many other languages Theoretically, in Close’s (1992, p.1) the first

page of his book mentioned above, “grammar of English is a system of syntax that decides the order and patterns in which words are arranged in sentences” Under the

light of this definition, to have a correct sentence in English, the writer must followthe strict rules of using word’s order and structures

As known, the English grammar is also used to imply the sentences’ meanings(the usage of tenses or structures expression, etc.) so that understanding correct grammar

is very important for the translator By mastering it, the translator’s power of thoroughlyanalyzing why and how such the structures and grammatical matters are used will bemuch better, and then he/ she can adopt the best translation method for his/ her work.However, these are actually hard problems retraining the translation results Luckily, themore he/ she practices in the field, the less difficult the problems will be

3.4.2 Power of Lexis

As mentioned in the book “Basic English lexicology” by Hoang Tat Truong (1993, p.2), “vocabulary or Lexis is meant the sum total or the system of all the words that a language possesses” When translating business correspondence, a powerful

and wide – scaled Lexis will help the translator a lot Besides, power of Lexis is alsomeans that the translator could draw out the equivalent easier and more exactly Inother words, understanding the equivalent is the ability that the translator can find themost suitable words of equal meaning out of the many synonyms, homonyms andpolysynaptic words when rendering a source text in English into another language.For this matter, the translator must actually find literal, figurative and contextual

3.4.3 Terminology in business correspondence

Each field has its own terminology system, and so does the businesscorrespondence In business correspondence, there exist the very exact and specificterms including the monetary market styles, goods and commodities, currencymovement, banks and etc If a translator does not know business correspondenceterminology and how to use them correctly, he/ she cannot be specialized to betranslator in business correspondence With its paramount importance, terminologybecomes a vital element in the translation

3.4.4 Conveying the writing style

Being a part of the news writing styles, this power acts as the mediation tobring the news or message to the reader, so that the more correctly translators can do,the more academic versions of business correspondent will be

Chapter IV Results and Discussion

4.1 Introduction

This chapter is to obtain valid data and analysis of the present level of businesscorrespondence When they are asked to write a business letter It focuses on pointingout the common mistakes of the business letter translating The findings in thischapter, together with the theoretical overview of English business letters in theprevious ones will provide a basis for the suggestions toward English business letterstranslating improvement

The analysis was also based on the official sources that internationallyacknowledged It was to discover the common mistakes, which were found in thecontent with misusing of words and grammar, or inappropriate style, etc

4.2 The Findings

After receiving the feedback, I have worked on the raw data, analyzed, andsummarized them in terms of number of options and the respective percentage foreach of them In addition, following is the table of the survey questionnaire’s results:

Based on the summarized results in the above table, we could have someoverviews about the difficulties as well as their necessities in translation of businesscorrespondence However, to make them readily understood, I will draw out the mostfundamental result for each item based on the calculated figures in the Table 1

Opt % Opt % Opt % Opt % Opt % Using correct

Table 1: Difficult items in translating of business correspondence from

English into Vietnamese

4.3 Discussion

Some difficulties and common mistakes in translating business correspondence

4.3.1 Some difficulties and common mistakes in using correct

grammar

Chart 1: Difficulty levels of using grammar in translating business correspondence

Using correct grammar is very important for anyone who wishes to become atranslator However, the English itself is not too difficult to overcome, and this is well

to 12.5% who think it is difficult Luckily, no one considers it a very or too hardproblem Meanwhile, 47.9% of the requested people asserted that grammar is of nodifficulty at all The rest is shared between 12 respondents (25%) who regard it as

“rather difficult”, and 7 other people (14.58%) who cannot decide its level.

Writing is using grammar, and grammar often puzzles the writers with its vastnumber of rules Working out all the grammatical errors is impossible, on this surveythe author found the most popular one lies in using parallel structure Keeping ideasparallel causes many students a great deal of troubles because it also requires thegrammar to be parallel By using parallelism you can say to your readers, “Here aresome ideas which have something in common and which I have arranged in the samegrammatical form so that you can understand them easily” When you use parallelstructure for your ideas you will see hoe clear and direct they are expressed

For example,

(1) The mailroom receives incoming mail, which is then sorted and an employee then delivers it.

(2) The mailroom receives, sorts, and delivers all incoming mail.

Sentence (2), expressing the same ideas as the sentence (1), has put them into

parallel structure: receives, sorts, and delivers All the words are verbs using the

grammatical structure of the third person singular By using parallelism, sentence (2)expresses the ideas much more neatly than the sentence (1)

The word “parallel” means “comparable” or “marching” Parallel grammaticalstructure math, they are the same The following sentence, for example, lacks parallelgrammatical structure although it has parallel ideas

Our company has reputation for high quality work, for progressive management, and for being reliable…

There are three prepositional phrases in the sentence: for high quality work, for progressive management, and for being reliable The first two phrases end with a

noun The last one ends with an adjective With the parallelism broken in the lastphrase the entire sentence is weakened

It should be changed:

Our company has a reputation for high quality work, for progressive management, and for reliability.

You might ask, “What is so important about one word?” and “Why worrywhether one word is an adjective or not?” You should think of your readers Asentence like the first one above sounds “wrong” because it is so weak Even oneword can ruin the tone that you wish to set for your letter Good parallel grammaticalstructure goes hand in hand with professionalism Consider the following sentence.

We are looking for a person who are responsible, hardworking and integrity The parallel ideas are responsible, hardworking and integrity The writer has

tried to use these words, each describing the person that the company wishes toemploy It follows parallel structure but it is not correct The writer wants to use three

adjectives but integrity is a noun, and it does not have an adjective form in English.

Parallel structures work only when all the structures are grammatical correct.Otherwise, you have merely written an incorrect sentence For the above sentence, it isbetter to get rid of parallel structure because it does not work

We are looking for a responsible hardworking person with integrity.

The problems occur even more seriously when phrases and clauses have to bekept parallel Many students find difficult when they use the correlatives: both/ and,either/ or, neither/ nor, not only/ but also, etc For one thing, you actually have tocount when you use these idea – joiners

For example,

I have seen neither John nor Jinn nor Jane Is using the wrong structure Neither/ nor requires two element - no more, no less The above sentence has three If you want to keep the three elements, get rid of neither/ nor.

I have not seen John, Jinn or Jane.

At the same time that you are counting elements, you should make sure thatthe elements contain the same structure

We hope not only to obtain production estimates but also a summary of production goals.

The grammatical forms following each of the correlatives are not equal After

“not only” we have an infinitive phrase After “but also” we have a sentence Theresult is a very weak sentence that requires the reader to read it again, simply because

the structure lacks balance, it is better: We hope to obtain not only production estimates but also a summary of production goals.

As far as many linguists and translators are concerned on of the first andforemost requirements for any translators when rendering a text of any fields into

another language is the ability to understand the text This matter could only be solvedonce the transmitter could manage to analyze and comprehend the grammar.

According to Newmark (1995, p.75), grammar is the skeleton of a text; vocabulary,

or, in a restricted sense, lexis, is flesh; and collocations, the tendons that connect the one to the other” Additionally, grammar not only brings along with it the major facts

about a text, for instance the time, place, statements, questions, feelings, etc., but alsoprovides an effective instrument to link such these things into a logical sentence and atext When eyeing up a text, the first eyesight caught is at the words, however, whatactually more important is the structure expressions adopted within the sentences.Therefore, a sensitive proficiency in the case grammar is obviously concerned This is

an undoubtedly indispensable requirement for the translator Clearly, grammar inEnglish plays an important role in the meaning of sentence, rather than the words’meaning alone To some extent, it can be accepted that grammar decides thesentences’ implication This is rather different from Vietnamese where the words’meaning is, in general, the sentence’s intentions

Vietnamese pronouns convey many different peculiarities However, inbusiness correspondence, this is not the very problematic feature for translator.Therefore, I will not take this master into account the next time

Luckily, since the main characteristic of the translator is to use simple methods

of conveying information to readership, the grammar will therefore be lessobstructive

In fact, when I sparked out the idea of mentioning the difficulties inunderstanding and using grammar in translation of business correspondence fromEnglish into Vietnamese, some of my fellow students asserted that this is notnecessary Their reasons were so simple that when one wishes to become a translator,he/ she must be good at grammar and its usage

This is proved in the survey’s result when the number of respondents (47.9%)who considered it not difficult overwhelmed that of the people who regarded it aseither difficult or rather difficult (12.5% and 25%) Out of the group who chose thisitem to be hard for them, I found that all of them are students and non-professionaltranslator whose working duration is not long enough, just 1 or 2 years Additionally,

no professionals expected it to be their obstacles These firmly prove that the longer

the working duration is, the less difficult they will find when facing the grammaticalaspects In addition, this could be viewed as in the following chart:

4.3.2 Power of lexis and Terminology, set expression and using words

in translating business correspondence

As a branch of linguistics, vocabulary or lexis has long been one of the hardproblems facing the translators It is true When asked, 25 respondents, accounting for

some 52.08% mostly choose the “rather difficult” option In addition, this number is nearly twice as much as that of the neighboring choice, “difficult”, with a proportion mentioned the first selection of “very difficult” In addition, the remained 8.33% fall

in those who are not quite sure about the lexis’ difficulty No one selects the lastoption “not difficult”

4.3.2.1 Lexis and Terminology

Chart 2: Difficulty levels of using Lexis in translating business correspondence

All respondents reached an agreement that this item must, by all means, fall

into some levels of obstruction, rather than merely “not difficult” A same rate, 6 options (12.5%), is what the respondents chose for the “very difficult” and “not sure”.

In the mean time, the percentage of those who though it “rather difficult” turned out

to be twice as much as that of the option who expect it to be “not difficult”, 25% and

50% accordingly

According to Peter Newmark, “to translate a text, you do not have to be an expert in its technology of its topic; but you have to understand that text and temporarily know the vocabulary it uses” ( Newmark, 1995, p.155).

Under the light of this statement, whenever ones come up with the translation

of business correspondence, translators need not master all the precise items, however,the more he/ she can understand, and the better his/ her work will be Practically, itseems that the lexis and terminology involving in commodities, money and so on willsimultaneously come to mind when the translator rest his/ her eyes on a letter As far

as many assertions have been taken, these are very important and difficult items for alltranslators and students

The fact has it that, Lexis in translation of business correspondence is notrestricted in the field only, instead, it refers to all activities in the world, from politics

to economic and the like It is true because everything happening in a country canaffect its financial system

Chart 3: Difficulty levels of Terminology in translating business correspondence

10 20 30 40 50 60

difficult

The second problem in this part is the role of terminology or specific termsused in this field Theoretically, the translation that deals with terminology in specificareas such as commerce, politics, finance, etc is general considered technicaltranslation On the main, the differences of technical translation primarily lie on theterminology of each kind it relates to It has been calculated by Newmark (1995) thatterminology only makes up its proportion of a mere 5-10% out of the words used in atext However, it is impossible for a translator to perfectly perform his/ her workwithout owning a good knowledge of the specific terms of such field at his/ herfingertips It is easy to understand that each domain has its own system of terms and

so does the business As such, terminology should be, by all means, of first- handconcern when the translators are bound to embark on another field In addition, it isone actuality derived from the fact that many technical terms are built from commonlyused ones, or from peculiar groupings of familiar language items

In addition, below is the chart including results of both lexis and terminology:

A hard matter for the translators is how to understand these terms in its correctmeanings Certainly, it is firstly advisable for the translators to apply a set ofconventional terminology that has been well rendered and accepted by theprofessional predecessors Secondly, another problem is how to tackle with the newterms, and even that of the old ones In facts, many debates have been aroused whenrendering a terminology into Vietnamese

Therefore, the first and foremost requirement for translator is to own a hugestore of vocabulary However, this aim can only be obtained once the translatorpractices with high concentration and pressure, if possible

One of many difficulties facing all translators and interpreters is

“Terminology” Each domain like politics, culture, and economics has its ownterminology Many people said that they always face to terms and these terms createmany difficulties for them when reading translating

Like any other domains, economics has its own complex system of terms It isdifficult for you to guess then to understand the meaning of a term In order tounderstand a term, you have to look for it in the dictionary and learn by heart themeaning of it In economics, each sub-domain also has its own terms Contract hasterms of Contract and Business Correspondence has its terms, too In terms of law, forexample, there are such terms like Ordinance (Pháp lệnh), Jurisdiction (Pháp quyền),Stipulation (Quy định), etc Or in terms of diplomatic, there are Envoy (Đặc pháiviên), Charge’ d’ Affaires adinterim (Đại diện lâm thời), Nuncio (Đại sứ của GiáoHoàng), etc In terms of economics, there are Abandonment (Sự uỷ thác), Account

Payable (Tiêu trái), Advance Bill (Hối phiếu trả trớc), etc All these terms make itdifficult for both translators and interpreters They surely will be embarrassed whenfacing to these terms, which they do not understand profoundly the essential meaning

of the term; you cannot use it exactly In addition, the misuse of any term in anydomain is considered taboo It actually creates misunderstanding between twoeconomics counterparts when transforming business letter Moreover, you cannottransfer the exact content of business letter from the source language to the targetlanguage (See sample letter 12 in Appendices)

In general, the language in this letter is simple, easy to understand andtranslate It is only one economic term that can make you embarrassed How can youtranslate “Tin dụng th không huỷ ngang” if you do not know what it means? You cantransfer it into English equivalent, but you are surely not confident in translating theletter And this creates difficulty too many translators and interpreters

It is quite easy for people who study Economics but it appears to be aconsiderable problem for people who study foreign language only It is not enough tofind the equivalents Understanding profoundly the meaning of terms helps you totranslate confidently Of course, for many difficulties, we cannot overcome easily But

it is said that “More practice, more perfect”, so if you face to strange economic termseveryday, then terms will become familiar to you day by day

* Some economic terms and explanations

- Cash Discount : Giảm giá do tiền mặt Đây là một sự giảm giá dành cho việc

trả trớc các món nợ

- Cheque : Séc, chi phiếu Đó là hối phiếu rút tiền tại một ngân hàng và

đợc chi trả theo yêu cầu

- Bearer Cheque : Séc trả cho ngời cầm Đây là một séc đợc viết để chi trả cho

ngời thụ hởng hay ngời cầm

- Order Cheque : Séc trả theo lệnh Đây là séc đợc viết để chi trả cho ngời thụ

hởng hay theo lệnh

- Crossed Cheque : Séc gạch chéo Đây là séc đợc viết để chi trả cho ngời thụ

h-ởng hay theo lệnh

- State Cheque : Séc mất hiệu lực Là séc không đợc xuất trình để đợc chi trả

trong một thời gian hợp lý

- Circular Note : Tín dụng th lu chuyển Là th tín dụng do một ngân hàng cấp

cho phép ngời mang th tín dụng này có thể xin chi trả lại nhiều

điểm khác nhau, có thể cả ở ngoại quốc

- Cover : Tiền bảo chứng Số tiền đã đợc ký thác để đảm bảo cho sự

thua lỗ có thể xảy ra

- Cover note : Hợp đồng bảo hiểm tạm thời Là một chứng từ do một công

ty bảo hiểm cấp nhằm thiết lập một sự bảo hiểm tạm thời trongkhi chờ cấp một hợp đồng bảo hiểm chính thức

- Credit Bill : Hối phiếu tín dụng Là một hối phiếu mà ngời nợ đã thu xếp

trớc để vay mợn đợc trả hối phiếu

Thông thờng, tài khoản vãng lai không đợc hởng lãi suất trênkết số d.

- Date of Manurity : Ngày đến hạn thanh toán Ngày mà ngời mắc nợ phải thanh

toán cho chủ nợ

- Days of grace : Ngày gia hạn Là thời gian phụ trội gia hạn thêm cho ngời

mắc nợ để thanh toán các khoản nợ

- Dead stock : Hàng chết Là loại hàng không bán đợc do không có yêu cầu

- Due Bill : Giấy nhận nợ Là một bản viết công nhận món nợ

kỳ hạn), people will misuse these abbreviations if they do not play much attention Inaddition, there are wholely similar abbreviations, “b.p” for example, is theabbreviation of “bill payable” (Hối phiếu chi trả) and also stands for “boiling point”(Độ sôi) When facing to this situation, our translation depends much on the context ofthe letter Context of any document plays important part in the work of translating

People who face to strange abbreviation will be surely embarrassed Theabbreviation is also one kind of economic term Usually when translating a letter withabbreviations, people keep them unchanged

For example: E & O.E stands for: Error and Omission Expected

Trừ các nhầm lẫn và bỏ sót

Or H.P stands for: Hire Purchase

Hợp đồng thuê mua, etc