It is generally believed that as long as you master the professional knowledge and basic writing skills of business English, you will be fully qualified for foreign-related business work. In fact, the fact is not that simple. If the author does not understand the contextual differences between English and Chinese business cultures and their pragmatic rules, various unexpected pragmatic failures may occur in letter writing, thus affecting the normal development of business activities. Pragmatic failures in business English are very subtle, not as easy to identify as grammatical or semantic failures, so it is generally difficult to attract people's attention and attention. The author believes that only by analyzing these pragmatic failures from the cultural level, rather than simply from the language form, can we understand the psychological and cultural orientation and thinking track of the author's pragmatic failures through superficial language phenomena. This will help to improve the teaching quality of business English writing and enhance students' cultural awareness and pragmatic competence of business English.
First, business pragmatic failure and cultural and psychological differences
When it comes to English pragmatic failure, it has to involve an important branch of linguistics-pragmatics. It is an independent new discipline established and developed by western scholars in 1970s and 1980s, and it is a discipline that studies how to correctly understand and use language in different communication environments.
In the past, people only paid attention to the form or function of language, that is, the study of grammar and semantic function of language [1]. However, the use of language is not only the right or wrong choice of words and sentences, but more importantly, whether the use of language is appropriate or not. Language and culture are inseparable, and culture and philosophy are closely linked, both of which have a profound impact on the way of thinking and language behavior of the nation. To explore the pragmatic failure of business English, we must involve the traditional philosophy of language, which is inextricably linked with national culture, and the cultural attributes of English and Chinese.
From the perspective of philosophy of language, China's philosophy of language is to govern the world, aiming to achieve "harmony between man and nature, consistency between words and deeds" by governing the world [2]. Western philosophy and language view are creative, and its culture prefers language behavior and believes in its creativity. Individual-oriented western culture thinks that language is a tool to extend oneself and transform others, so westerners are used to expressing themselves, speaking bluntly and willing to express their inner world, which reflects westerners' self-oriented behavior values. However, China people who are guided by group values are often introverted, tactful and implicit, do not easily reveal their inner world, and rarely oppose others, which reflects the golden mean of China people. Obviously, in addition to congenital genetic factors, traditional culture has a very important influence on people's attitude towards life and language behavior.
From the perspective of language and cultural attributes, China culture belongs to humanistic culture, while western culture belongs to scientific culture. China culture emphasizes synthesis over analysis, understanding over speaking. Science and culture emphasize material, light human relations, light synthesis, heavy concept, avoid generality and utilitarian value orientation [3]. The main differences between humanistic culture and scientific culture are as follows: First, China people attach importance to intuition and concreteness, while westerners attach importance to rationality and logic, which are manifested in the visualization of Chinese vocabulary and the functionality of English vocabulary in language. Second, China people attach importance to the whole, while westerners attach importance to the individual, which is manifested in the general meaning of Chinese vocabulary and the general specific meaning of English vocabulary. Chinese ideographs are vague, while English ideographs are accurate. Thirdly, Chinese attaches importance to thought, while English attaches importance to form, mainly because Chinese sentence cohesion depends on semantic logic, while English attaches importance to sentence form cohesion. The psychological and cultural differences between English and Chinese have a pervasive influence on language, which has caused many obstacles to cross-cultural communication.
Second, the psychological and cultural analysis of business English pragmatic failure
Business English belongs to ESP, and its language has distinctive industry characteristics and unique style. English and Chinese are rooted in different cultures. The difference lies not only in the way of thinking expression, but also in the pragmatic communication rules restricted by hidden culture. Without realizing the existence of this cultural difference or mastering the pragmatic rules in its specific cultural context, learners may unconsciously refer to the Chinese cultural context and pragmatic rules for writing thinking and expression, and as a result, they will make all kinds of subtle pragmatic mistakes. Cultural factors lead to the sinicization of English expressions in many aspects, including lexical level, sentence level, paragraph level and even discourse level. The author chooses one or two and makes a brief analysis.
1, indicating improper use.
The influence of culture on language is everywhere. In English and Chinese, even very common personal demonstrative pronouns have different usage rules. Statistics show that Chinese uses more first-person and second-person pronouns than English, while English uses the third person more frequently than Chinese [4]. This reflects the subtle psychological and cultural differences between English and Chinese. In China, people pay more attention to "me" and "you" and seldom talk about the third party. This reflects the characteristics of language behavior under a cultural custom. In English business culture, whether it is business letter writing or business negotiation, the choice of person should generally follow the politeness principle. The pragmatic principle of personal usage in English is that the first person is generally used when expressing positive attitudes, opinions or wishes. But when it comes to requirements and promises, in order to show that you attach importance to the other party, from the other party's point of view or interests, the second person is generally called you. Too much use of the first person will have the negative effect of ignoring the other person, making the language unattractive and difficult to get a warm response from the other person. This may be influenced by China people's personal pragmatic rules. In English, China tends to use the first person in his personal choice. Try comparison:1a. If your order reaches 15000 pieces, we agree to give you a 5% discount. The subject of 1a is the first person, which highlights the author's position and attitude and is not euphemistic enough. In contrast, for example 1b, using the second person to highlight the other party's position and interests gives people a feeling of understanding and respect. Some textbooks in the west even think that a good author must adopt "your writing style". On the other hand, the use of the second person also depends on the specific context. If you don't look at the specific occasion or object, the abuse of the second person address will also have a negative impact. You will be glad to know that your credit application has been approved. 2b. I am glad to tell you that your credit application has been approved. For English-speaking people, the writer will feel arrogant, condescending and arrogant, and it is easy to have the negative psychology of "You are lucky that our company approved your application". Example 2b uses the first person to convey another positive meaning: "We are glad to have you as our customer." Let the other party feel that the writer is polite and sincere.
2. Improper use of modifiers
As mentioned above, people in China generally attach importance to intuition and concreteness, while westerners attach importance to rationality and logic, so Chinese words are generally general and broad, while English words are relatively clear and concrete. For example, the use of adjectives and adverbs in Chinese is not as rigorous as that in English, which often leads to semantic repetition or lack of logic. This is directly related to China people's emphasis on "parataxis" over "hypotaxis". British and American people attach great importance to simplicity and logic when using adjectives and adverbs, which embodies the characteristics of western language expression that emphasizes "hypotaxis" and logic. For example, in business English letters written by China people, we can often see the redundancy under the influence of China's thinking expression. 3a。 The import of foreign cars has dropped sharply this year. For English learners, Example 3a seems to have no problem, but native English speakers think that the logical meaning of "imported cars" must be "imported from abroad", and there is no need to use the word foreign [5]. In addition, redundancy may also be influenced by the philosophical thought of "golden mean" in China culture, which emphasizes the aesthetic feeling of phonological balance and ignores the semantic logic and simplicity of word generation. For example, Chinese expressions emphasize dual rhetoric and use a large number of four-word phrases. Chinglish often appears in China people's works, such as Disaster and All shall be well. From the perspective of English semantic logic, the disaster itself is serious, otherwise it is not called a disaster. If you need to describe the extent of the disaster, you can use modifiers such as big, very big and major. "Finish" must be the last, there is no need to use the word final. In addition, China people don't pay much attention to the degree of emotional expression, which may be related to China people's language behavior rule of "being polite to others and not complaining about others". But British and American people will be very careful about the use of modal particles. In business letters, we must be very cautious in the use of modal particles with very high, high, extreme and great expression, and improper use will give people an exaggerated and insincere feeling.
3. Improper use of sound
The difference between English and Chinese is also manifested in the use of voice. China culture has the concept of harmony between man and nature, so people in China pay great attention to the theme consciousness when expressing their thoughts. They often use personal pronouns as subjects, active voice and sentences without subjects, while passive voice is widely used in English [3]. According to the statistics of some linguists, the passive voice accounts for at least 1/ 3 of all finite verbs in English science and engineering textbooks. Of course, business English and scientific English belong to different styles. Business letters usually use the active voice, so people call it the business voice. However, when it comes to negative news, existing problems or the responsibility or fault of the other party, in order to avoid being too direct, English letters often use the passive voice, so the passive voice is also called the voice of tact. In the same context, Chinese generally uses active voice, and mood adjustment is mainly realized by other functional words. When writing business letters, China writers tend to use English active sentences, because they don't realize the cultural connotation and pragmatic significance of English passive voice in a specific context, and are influenced by China's psychological and cultural consciousness. Please look at the following example: 4a. You promised to deliver the goods within one week, and the long delay caused us great inconvenience. The goods were promised to be delivered within one week, and the long delay made us have to consider the accident. In Example 4a, it is not euphemistic to express the blame and dissatisfaction with business partners directly in the active voice, while in Example 4b, the information is focused on practical problems in the passive voice, deliberately hiding the responsible party and giving the other party face in order to get the support and cooperation of the other party when solving practical problems.
4. Improper use of tone
The difference between English and Chinese is also reflected in the tone of sentences. Grammatically speaking, English has direct mood and subjunctive mood, which are expressed by the subjunctive form of verbs. Chinese is an analytical language, and its virtual meaning is mainly reflected by related words such as "if/if", which makes it difficult for China people to master English virtual concepts and their rules. The subjunctive mood in English has two functions: one is to express hypothetical propositions, and the other is to make expressions euphemistic and polite. Tone can reflect the author's personality and style. It can also convey goodwill and consolidate the business relationship between the two sides. Similarly, an inappropriate tone will make an originally pleasant letter annoying and even angry. For example, Chinese authors have insufficient understanding of the pragmatic meaning of English subjunctive mood, but tend to use direct mood in the context where English subjunctive mood should be used. Please look at the following example: 5a. I can't accept your invitation 5b。 I hope I can accept your invitation. Example 5 is that the writer refused the other party's invitation. A sentence is a straightforward tone, but this sentence adopts a straightforward negative tone, and the way of refusal seems clumsy and aggressive. B sentence is subjunctive mood, and it will not have any negative effects if it is refused affirmatively and politely. Of course, the use of subjunctive mood depends on different occasions and objects. For example, you don't have to say, "Could you do me a favor and send us the price list of our latest products? "It's a good thing for sellers to ask for price lists. It's too humble to be so polite.
5. Incorrect cohesion of sentence relations
The differences between English and Chinese national thinking expressions are also manifested in the plane of inter-sentence relations. Inter-sentence relationship belongs to the category of language semantic function research and discourse analysis. English discourse has prominent structural characteristics, and sentences have formal cohesion and semantic coherence, while Chinese emphasizes the cohesion and coherence of sentence semantic logic, and pays little attention to formal explicit cohesion. Chinese sentences are dominated by plate structure, scattered arrangement, topic as the main axis of thought, and driven by form and spirit, so they lack formal constraints. English is a sentence structure with (verb) form as the main axis, which is closely linked. The semantic connection of Chinese sentences is like China's freehand brushwork, while the cohesion of English sentences is like the meticulous realism of western schools. Look at the following example: Our representative, Allen Bowles, visited me at the end of April. He told me that your special price for Plymouth luxury stove is 177 USD. I ordered twelve copies. I received your invoice. However, it shows that the amount payable is $2,280-the difference is 156.6. When Allen Bowles, the representative of your, visited me at the end of April, he told me that your special price for Plymouth luxury stoves was 177 USD. I ordered twelve, but the invoice I received showed that A2 Mount should be $2,280, with a difference of 156. Example 6a*** has five sentences, mainly complex sentences, including one complex sentence. Most sentences lack grammatical logical connectives and are loosely structured, showing the characteristics of Chinese flowing sentence patterns. The semantic and logical connection between sentences is mainly reflected by the temporal sequence of events. 6b *** has three sentences, mainly a complex sentence and a simple sentence. The surface structure of sentences is closely related, and the semantic logic at the bottom is closely coherent. The sentence structure has distinct hierarchical and master-slave sentence characteristics, which embodies the syntactic characteristics of English emphasizing hypotaxis.