Môn tiếng anh kinh tế quốc tế: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS LETTERS (phần 1)

 After studying this part, the students should be able to:  Have ability to understand the language of international business letters in English..  Have ability to write some routine

BUSINESS LETTERS

Tran Thi Thu Trang

 After studying this part, the students should be able to:

 Have ability to understand the language of international business letters in English.

 Have ability to write some routine

international business letters in English

such as: Enquires, Replies and Quotations, Orders, Complaints and adjustments

1 What are the main parts of a business letter?

2 What does the letterhead contain?

3 Where is the position of sender’s address and how do you write them?

4 How do you write the date in a business letter?

5 What and how do you write in the complimentary closure?

6 What is the right order of writing the receiver’s address?

7 What rules do you observe when making an enquiry?

8 How do you write a routine letter of enquiry?

9 What should be included in a good quotation?

10.What are the most important items in an order?

11.What should be written in a complaint?

12.What are the most usual cases for lodging a complaint?

 Letters:

 Are used in transaction such as offer.

 Are required a lot of time

 Are rather secret

 Make the first impression of the company

Structure and Presentation

Content and Style

Enquiry

Replies and Quotations

Complaints and Adjustments

Order

 Two styles of letter: blocked and

indented Blocked style is usually used

 Align text to the left.

 A line space between paragraphs

 Body of the letter

• Fax, telephone, email, website

• Account number/VAT number

 Sender’s address: is written on the top right-hand side

of the page if the page doesn’t have a printed

letterhead

 References: may be the initial of writer/typist; or file reference; or the date; or the department.

To help to find a file in the company easily

Eg: Shirley Taylor – writer

Pradeep Jethi – typistRef: ST/PJ

 Date: is written on the right-hand side of the page Eg: day/month/year (B.E)

29 September 2011month/day/year (A.E)September 29th 2011

 Inside address/receiver’s address: is written on the left-hand side of the page

• Name of receiver: Title (Mr/Miss/Mrs/Ms) + full

 Special marking: urgent, private, confidential…is

written in capital letter if important

 Attention line: If inside address doesn’t have name of receiver, an attention line will be used

 Salutation:

• A company: Dear Sirs (B.E), Gentlemen (A.E)

• A person if don’t know the name: Dear Sir, Dear Madam, Dear Sir or Madam

• A person if know the name: Dear + title + surname

 Subject title: less than 10 words about the topic of the letter

 Body of the letter: a line space between paragraphs

 Complimentary close:

• Yours faithfully: Dear Sir, Dear Madam, Dear Sirs

• Yours sincerely: Dear Mr Smith

• Yours truly/Truly yours: A.E

 Name of sender: full name with title after your

signature

 p.p/for: For and on behalf of

 Job title

 Enc (Enclosure): attached enclosures with number of documents

Eg: Bill of lading (5 copies)

Bill of exchange (1 copy)

 c.c (carbon copies): Copies are sent to people other than the named recipient

b.c.c (blind carbon copies): the named recipient will not know the other receivers (email)

 Note:

• Envelope Addresses : are similar to inside addresses Remember to write postcode and the name of both the town and the country in capital letters

• Continuation page:

o No letterhead

o Page number + Reference + Date + Inside address

 How to write business letter

 How much information to give

 How to plan your letter

 What sort of style to use

 Length

 Order and sequence

 Planning your letter

 Style and language

 Length:

• Length depends on the subject of the letter

• The letter should be neither too long nor too short

• Too much information is better than too little

 Order and sequence:

• Each idea is linked up with the previous one in a pattern

• Do not jump around making a statement, switching

to other subjects, then referring back to the point you made a few sentences or paragraphs before

 Planning your letter:

• Ask yourself: what do you want your letter to

achieve and what response do you want?

• Note down everything you want to include in it

before you start writing

• Review to see (a) that you have included all the

necessary information, (b) that you haven’t included any unnecessary information, and (c) that you have put the information in the right order

 Planning your letter:

• First paragraph: you will introduce your company,

thank for your partner’s letter and set out the purpose

of the letter

• Middle paragraph: you will give details (facts and

figures) and response and action

• Final paragraph: thank the person for writing,

encourage further correspondence and mention that you look forward to hearing from your partner soon

 Style and language:

• Simplicity: easy to write and read

• Courtesy: the letter will be polite with complex

sentences, conjunctions,…

• Idioms and colloquial language: should not be used

 Note:

• Abbreviations can be used if both parties know what the abbreviations stand for

Eg: FOB, CIF, IMF, WB…

• Figures: can cause confusion Therefore, write out the expression in both figures and words

Eg: the different usage among countries: decimal point with a full point and a comma

 Note:

• Check carefully spelling, punctuation and grammar before sending the letter

• Enclosed the right documents that you have

mentioned in the letter