商務英語(BEC)書信寫作考試中的小技巧

　　不琯你身居要職還是一員小兵，不琯你身処哪個行業，在工作中，你都不可避免地接觸到taking notes和writing business letters。Informal language is often used when taking messages, because most of them are short notes for our convenience.所以taking notes相對來說還是比較簡單的。However, when writing business letters, faxes or memos, we not only require more formal language, but also right forms and appropriate techniques.接下來，我們就列擧一些商務信函的寫作技巧：
　　1 Use the writing paper with the name and address of the company on it to help the reader know at once where the letter comes from.
　　使用公司的信紙。
　　2 Put each separate idea in a separate paragraph and number each paragraph to help the reader understand better.保証行文段落清晰。
　　3 Try to be concise since most business people are rather busy and do not want to spend much time on reading letters. 盡量保証文字簡潔。
　　4 Always try to be courteous even if the letter is sent to a much smaller firm.文字要謙遜有禮。
　　5 Don't forget to check the grammar, punctuation and spelling before you send the letter.發信之前認真檢查是否有錯。
　　6 Please also remember to sign (or ask the person-in-charge to sign) at the end of the letter.記得在文末署名。
　　需要注意的是，some changes have taken place in recent years in the style of business letters in English。The style that is now current is much less formal and old-fashioned than the style used in many other languages: the words tend to be less formal and the sentences tend to be shorter, and some commonly used abbreviations have also been accepted in writing business letters. 時下商務信函的流行趨勢是行文不於正式，但務須簡潔，也可以使用一些約定俗成的英文縮寫。
　　提到英文縮寫，我們再說一下英美的一點差異。Co. , Ltd. are short for Company or Limited for a British firm. If you read Plc, Bros. after a British firm, you know they stand for Public Limited Company, Brothers. If you read Corp. or Inc. after an American firm's name, you know they stand for Corporation or Incorporated.
　　英美對於一些job titles的稱呼也有差異性。These are the rough equivalents:
　　American :President
　　British : Chairman
　　American : Chief Executive Officer
　　British : Managing Director
　　American :Vice-president
　　British : Director
　　American :Financial Controller
　　British : Accountant
　　不過，Many British firms now also use titles like"officer","controller" and"director".
　　英美不僅對於一些job titles的用法有所不同，他們對於一些occupational terminology的說法也存在差異。For example, pharmacist and solicitor are British English. The corresponding American terms are druggist and attorney. Do not worry about these differences. Speakers of American English will generally understand the British terms and speakers of British English will usually recognize the American terms.