An Analysis on the Language features of Business English

李忠英

摘 要：本論文主要从商务英语的词汇和句法特点、以及商务英语的修辞和社交套语的特点等方面进行研究，分析商务英语的语言特点，揭示它的普遍性规律。对于商务英语教学及外贸人员和学习者而言，研究商务英语语言特点具有重要意义。

关键词：商务英语；词汇和句法特点；修辞；社交套语

【Abstract】 The thesis is mainly about language features of Business English from the lexical and syntactic features， the rhetoric features and social formula， and to reveal its universal rules. It is very important for Business English teachers， foreign trade staff， translators and learners to analyze the language features of Business English. Therefore， it is the significance that the thesis is related to the study of language features of Business English

【Key Words】 Business English； lexical and syntactic features； rhetoric； social formula

1. Introduction

Business English is a branch of ESP（English for Specific Purpose）. As a kind of English language， it is widely used in international marketing and international trade. It has many special features， such as appropriate choice of words， accuracy， clearness， plainness， politeness and so on. A higher demand of well-qualified， all-rounded international business talents with a good command of language and communicational skills is urgently required. So it is very meaningful to understand Business English.

2. Lexical features of Business English

The biggest lexical feature of Business English is to use precise professional vocabulary， including a lot of professional words， compound words， abbreviations with business meaning and so on.

2.1 The specialization of vocabulary

There are some examples to demonstrate the specialization of Business English vocabulary as follow：

Commonly used terms of C. W. O （cash with order）， B/L （bill of lading）， L/C （letter of credit）， W. P. A （with particular average）， C. O. D （cash on delivery）， bad debt， blue chip， and so on.

In international trade， there are also a lot of other terms， such as terms of payment， quotation and offer， involving many ways such as D/A （documents against acceptance）， M/T （mail transfer）， T/T （telegraphic transfer）， D/D （documents against payment）， and so on.

And there are some terms of prices， such as FOB （free on board）， CIF （cost， insurance， and freight）.

Besides， the terms are used to reflect the indicators of macroeconomic development， mainly including GNP （gross national product）， GDP （gross domestic product）， NNP （net national product） and NI （national income）. Among these， GDP is the widely used.

If these professional terms are not known， it is impossible to translate Business English well， and to understand the sentence well.

2.2 The formalization and standardization of vocabulary

Business English is applied in different international business activities. Both parties on the one hand， obey the principle of equality and mutual benefits， on the other hand， remain very good relationships of cooperation. Therefore， it is necessary to make Business English international， be accepted by the public， and not too be colloquial.

2.2.1. The formalization of vocabulary

In the Business English writing， it usually uses more formal words， for example， “购买” use “purchase”， not “buy” ； “开始” use “commence” ， not “begin” ； “告知” use “inform” ， not “tell” ； “要求” use “require” ， not “want or need” ； “叙述” use “state” ， not “say” ； “足够的” use “sufficient” ， not “enough”， etc.. The purpose of choosing formal words is to make the business writing full of the stylistic color of formalness and to keep it serious.

As business letters which belong to the written English， they are more formal. But the current development trend is that they are becoming much simpler and more vivid to make the tone sound much friendlier and more natural. For example， use “We try to choose our trading partners carefully.” instead of “We endeavor to choose our trading partners with discretion.”

2.2.2 The standardization of commercial contracts

Business contracts are legal documents， so the normative language endows them with the characteristics of law. Such as： NOWTHEREFORE （特此，茲特） WHEREAS（鉴于）， INWITNESSTHWHERE OF （兹证明） and so on. There are some relevant examples as follow：

（1） INWITNESSWHREROF， the parties hereto have caused this agreement to be executed by their respective representatives on the date first above written.

（2） WHEREAS， A desires to export to B the goods as specified in Exhibit A therefore （hereinafter called the “Goods”）； and whereas， B desires to import the Goods from A. Now， THEREFORE， A and B hereby agree a follows...

From the above analysis and examples， we can summarize the features of accuracy， faithfulness and conciseness of vocabulary in terms of commercial contracts.

2.3 Polysemy， compound and borrowed words

In this part， well focus on the study of the features in business vocabulary： polysemy， compound and borrowed words.

2.3.1 Polysemy in Business vocabulary

What we should notice is that some common-core words bear special meanings in business context of situation and the same technical term may mean quite differently in different varieties of Business English.

The following is also some examples： the former is conventional meaning， while the later in parentheses is with the meaning in business situation.

such as ： offer 提供（發盘）； check 检查（支票）； acceptance 接受（承兑）； drawer 抽屉（出票人）； policy 政策（保险单）； claim 声称， 声张（索赔）； cover 覆盖（投保）； draft 草稿（汇票）； duty 义务， 责任（税）； issue 发行（出票）…

The following sentence can be used to demonstrate the usage of polysemy：

E.g. Average is of two kinds； General Average and Particular Average.

（Translation： 海损有两种， 一种是共同海损， 另一种是单独海损.）

2.3.2 Synthesis of new words

Due to the rapid development of business activities， we should consider the extensive meanings of new words.

For example， “fallen angel” is a professional word of international financial field， which refers to the high prices of securities of a big company drop suddenly because of some negative news.

There are also some other new words： “A going concern”（盈利企业）； “advance surrender of export exchange” （预交， 出口， 外汇）； “acceptance house”（期票， 承兑行）； “clearness sale” （清仓） ； “at a premium” （超过票面之价值）

2.3.3 Borrowed words

It has been estimated that over half of the words in Business English vocabulary have been borrowed at one time or another from other languages， principally from Latin， Greek and French. This historical assimilation of Latin and French words into English has left its mark on stylistic values. Their appearance in the business language makes it formal and highly specialized：

Ad valorem duty （Latin words）

Bona fide holder （Latin words）

De facto convertibility （French words）

Per capita GDP （Latin words）

3. The rhetoric features and social formula of Business English

Generally speaking， Business English style is simple， clear， easy to understand， the modifier short， and rarely uses metaphor， personification exaggeration etc. However， as an international business of common language tools， Business English not only is different from common English grammatical features，and can show the charm of the English language arts by use of rhetoric， especially in advertisements.

3.1 Rhetorical devices in advertising

Advertising language is artistic， infectious， so it is reasonable to use rhetoric in order to increase the vivid image. The commonly used rhetorical devices in advertising include analogy， personification， rhyme， pun， parallelism， hyperbole and so on.

3.1.1 Analogy and personification in advertising

The following advertisements are the examples which are with analogy and personification.

E.g. Now renting a car is as easy as signing your name. （Car advertisement）

The car advertisement uses simile， which compares the renting car to the same sign of his name. So we can feel that renting a car is very easy.

E.g. the most sensational place to wear sat in on your lips. （Lipstick advertisement）

This advertisement uses metaphor， making a comparison between lipstick and satin， to mean that such rub lipstick is put on the lips as if bright charming satin is worn by people.

E.g. Flowers by Emma speak from the heart. （Flower shops advertisement）

The Emma flower shops advertising makes flowers personified in order to express the true feelings of angel.

3.1.2 Pun in advertising

Pun has a lot of advantages such as conciseness， wit and humor， novelty and vividness. It produces a particularly rhetorical and pragmatic effect when people use the creative language in a specific context. The proper use of pun can make the advertisement impressive and attractive.

E.g. Out of blows， Friendship grows. （Typewriter advertisement）

The advertising words are borrowed from Chinese idiom “不打不相識”. It is the most difficult to use pun by the idiom， especially the pun is a verb. However， this idiom has lost its original meaning of idiom， the advertiser puts it into a phrase with a double meaning （homonym： original meaning is hitting， but notional meaning is typing）. The word “blow” has lost the meaning of hitting instead of typing.

3.1.3 Rhyming， contrast and hyperbole in advertising

The proper arrangement of syllables， feet and pauses brings about the cadent beauty of rhythm； various rhyming methods are used to create the beauty of reverberant rhyme， and the frequent application of some figures of speech closely connected with phonetic stylistic functions adds to the rhythm of the music in advertising. Advertising rhyming includes alliteration and rhyme.

Alliteration refers to the same initial consonant sound in two or more words， while rhyme refers to a word that corresponds with another in terminal sound. Alliteration is more common use.

E.g. Actual Size Actual Taste （Candy advertisement）

This advertisement puts “Actual” in advertisement with the same word “Actual” together to make it easy to pronounce， and also let people feel the actually sweet candy.

In hyperbole， the diction exaggerates the subject.

E.g. Making a big world smaller. （Germanys Lufthansa advertisement）

Through the use of the “world，” “smaller” to illustrate that the company is able to fly to each corner of the world and it can provide perfect service for customers.

The use of metaphor， simile or other rhetoric in order to make both parties have clear intention to express themselves， facilitate business activities of communication and exchange. Rhetorical devices in advertising play a significant role in promoting advertisements and attract customers.

3.2 Social formula of Business English

The partners of international business activities are from different cultural backgrounds， using different language. In order to achieve efficiency， it is necessary to be concise， polite and considerate， at the same time avoid too be close. So the Business English correspondence has formed a set of internationally accepted formulaic language. The followings are some examples in different situations.

（1） Express appreciation：

Thank you for your order.

We shall appreciate you...

Thank you in advance for...

（2） Express apology：

Please excuse....

It is with great regret that we learn...

I owe you an apology.

Please accept our many apologies for...

（3） Express the desire to repay：

I look forward to the chance to reciprocate your kindness when you come to …

I would like to ask you to convey my appreciation to everyone.

（4）Request an appointment：

Would it be convenient to you to…？

If it is not convenient to you， please suggest another time.

（5）The invitation：

We would like to （cordially） invite… to come to… during…

We have great pleasure in extending our warmest invitation to… to visit…during…

4. Conclusion

The Business English is a kind of “special linguistic expression for special communicative purposes aiming at special targets in special contexts”. （Cao， 2007：871） Its features are special， formal， clear， courtesy and so on which can be revealed in the writing. In terms of lexical aspect， it is specialized， formal， standardized and consists of polysemy， compound and borrowed words； as to the aspect of syntactic term， it is concise， tight， clear， plain and courteous. In the last part， we discuss the rhetoric features and social formula of Business English.