商務英語口說之習俗偏差

商務英語口說之習俗偏差：在職場中經常會因為風俗習慣不同而鬧笑話，而用商務英語該如何表到風俗習慣的不同呢？現在就為大家奉上商務英語口說之習俗偏差，助大家在職場中一切順利。

　　公關部主任Janet Liu召集下屬開會，詢問中東代表團的活動安排。上次說到，不同宗教有不同的飲食習慣：穆斯林吃Halal, 猶太人吃 Kosher。讓我們聽聽Janet還有什麼建議。

　　Janet Liu: And you might also want to reconsider the trip to the Karaoke bar. Muslims are forbidden to drink alcohol, although Jewish people can.

　　P: Wow, thanks for the info. We almost committed quite the social faux pas!

　　Janet提醒Silvia和Pete，穆斯林不喝酒，所以去酒吧唱卡拉OK恐怕有問題。Pete說自己差點犯了social faux pas社交錯誤。

　　J: I did the same thing early in my career when I took a group of Indian businesspeople to a Chinese restaurant. It turned out half of them were vegetarian Hindus.

　　S: I'll fire off an email to both groups today to inquire about their dietary preferences.

　　P: And I'll try to find a nice piano lounge where they can either drink alcohol or other beverages.

　　Janet承認，自己剛出道的時候也犯過錯誤，把印度人帶到中國餐廳去吃飯，結果發現其中一半人是印度教徒，吃素。Silvia說，她會發電子郵件，fire off an email 給客人，詢問他們有什麼特殊的飲食要求。Pete說，會重新找個既能喝酒，也有其他飲料的地方。

　　J: For future reference, you should always consider the culture of your visitors and try to adapt as much as possible to them. These people are our honored guests and it would have been terrible to offend them.

　　S: Absolutely, boss.

　　P: Yes, good points.

　　S: But what if we can't find a restaurant with Halal or Kosher food?

　　J: Check with them first, but one way to make sure everything is OK is to go to a vegetarian restaurant. Can't go too wrong with vegetables.

　　Janet建議說，實在不行，就找一家素食餐廳，肯定不會錯。

　　P: I was just thinking: maybe I should check if the hotels allow smoking in the rooms or not. I'll send an email to ask if any of the group are smokers.

　　J: Good thinking. OK, I got to run. Keep me posted on the restaurant issue.

　　S: We were thinking of a pen set made of jade with a gold trim. The set is embossed with the name of the seminar and each participant's name.

　　P: Absolutely.

　　S: Wow, Pete. We really dodged a bullet there!

　　P: Well, as the old saying goes, "You live and you learn."

　　Pete忽然想到，客人裡可能有人抽煙，所以要問問飯店是否允許吸煙。Janet臨走時說I got to run. 我得趕快走了。她還說，Keep me posted.有消息隨時告訴我。

　　Janet走後，Silvia說，We really dodged a bullet. 躲過了一枚子彈，意思是真緊張，差點出糗！Pete的回答是 "You live and you learn." 活到老學到老。

商務英語口說之貿易談判

Kim: Welcome to our company. My name is Jeff Kim. I'm in charge of the export department. Let me give you my business card.

　　金：歡迎到我們公司來。我叫金哲夫，負責出口部門。這是我的名片。

　　Smith: I'll give you mine too.

　　史密斯：這是我的名片。

　　Kim: Did you receive the sample we sent last week?

　　金：你有沒有收到我們上周寄給你的樣品？

　　Smith: Yes, we finished the evaluation of it. If the price is acceptable we would like to order now.

　　史密斯：收到了，我們已進行了評估。如果價格合適，我們現在就想訂貨。

　　Kim: I'm very glad to hear that. 

　　金：聽到這個我真高興。

　　Smith: What's your best price for that item?

　　史密斯：這種貨你們最低價是多少？

　　Kim: The unit price is $12.50.

　　金：單價是12.50美元。

　　Smith: I think the price is a little high. Can't you reduce it?

　　史密斯：我覺得這個價貴了點，你能不能便宜一點？

　　Kim: I'm afraid we can't. $12.50 is our rock bottom price. If you purchase more than 10,000 units we can reduce it to $12.00.

　　金：恐怕不行，12.50美元是我們的底價。如果你訂貨超過10,000件，我們可以減到12.00美元。

　　Smith: Well, I'll accept the price and place an initial order of 10,000 units.

　　史密斯：行，我接受這個價格，第一批訂10,000件。

　　Kim: Very good. It's been a pleasure to do business with you, Mr. Smith.

　　金：太好了。史密斯先生，跟你做生意真是我的榮幸。

　　Smith: The pleasure is ours. Can you deliver the goods by March 31st?

　　史密斯：是我們的榮幸才對。你們能在3月31號前發貨嗎？

　　Kim: Of course.

　　金：當然行。

商務英語口說之遲到致歉

商務英語口語之遲到致歉：在社會交通擁擠的現在，遲到是常有的事，而你知道商務英語口語如何表示遲到致歉嗎？現在，就來看看為您準備的商務英語口說之遲到致歉吧，幫你化險為夷。

　　上班遲到  late for Work

　　Do you feel guilty if you are late for work? One in ten workers said that they arrive late to work at least once a week and about 24% said they arrive late at least once a month.

　　情景對話 1：

　　王萍和客戶湯姆約好時間見面，但因事遲到，她表示歉意。

　　Wang Ping: I'm sorry to have kept you waiting so long. 真抱歉讓您久等了。

　　Tom: That's OK. What made you so late? 沒關係，你怎麼來這麼晚？

　　Wang Ping: I was tied up with some urgent business. 有急事脫不開身。

　　Tom: I see. 我明白了。

　　Wang Ping: You've visited some places of interest in Beijing during the last few days, haven't you? 您已經參觀了北京的許多名勝古跡，對嗎？

　　Tom: Yes, we've visited many places such as the Imperial Palace, the Temple of Heaven and the Great Wall. Well, during my visit to Xi'an, I suddenly got an idea that we should build a synthetic fiber works there. It will be a joint venture. 是的。參觀了許多地方，比如說故宮、天壇和長城。對了，在西安參觀時，我突然產生了一個想法：我們應該在那裡開辦一家合資性質的合成纖維廠。

　　Wang Ping: That's a great idea. We'll surely try our best to cooperate with you. We have many favorable conditions to run a joint venture there. You can get full support from the local government there.那太好了。我們一定盡全力與貴方合作。我們有許多有利條件。貴方可以得到當地政府方面的全力支援。

　　Tom: That sounds really attracting. And what about the details? 聽起來確實很有吸引力。那麼，有哪些細節？

　　Wang Ping: If it is convenient for you, we can go and visit the local government for those details. 如果你有時間，我們可以去拜訪一下當地的政府，瞭解一下細節。

　　Tom: All right. Let's make it 9 o'clock tomorrow morning. 好的，就定在明天早上九點鐘吧。

　　情景對話2：

　　珍妮遲到了，她不得不向她的主管馬林做解釋。

　　Jane: Sorry, Ma Lin, I'm late. 對不起，馬林，我遲到了。

　　Ma Lin: Jane, that's the second time this week, isn't it? 珍妮，這是本星期的第二次了，是吧？

　　Jane: Yes. My bus was late again. 是的，公共汽車又來遲了。

　　Ma Lin: Is it possible for you to take an earlier bus? 你能搭乘一班早一些的公汽嗎？

　　Jane: I think so. I'm going to do that tomorrow. 我想是可以的，我打算明天就這麼辦。

　　Ma Lin: Perhaps we can change your working hours a bit if you wish. 如果你願意，也許我們可以改一下你得工作時間。

　　Jane: No, thanks. I can manage. 不用了，謝謝。我能設法應付的。

　　Ma Lin: All right. If there's anything I can do for you, please don't hesitate to let me know. 好的，如果有什麼事我能為你做，請儘管告訴我。

　　Jane: That's very kind of you. Ma Lin. 你太好了，馬林。

　　Notes：

　　向別人表示歉意時，首先要承認自己做錯了事，或做出了不禮貌的行為，並且通常要說明原因，表示遺憾。最簡單的道歉方式是說I'm sorry。但這往往不夠，還需要對你所做的錯事做出解釋之後，做出修正和改進的許諾，表示不會讓錯誤再次發生。如果你真的做錯了事，給對方造成傷害或帶來不利的影響，這時做無謂的解釋，只能欲蓋彌彰，效果相反。

　　● 常用表達道歉與接受道歉的表達方式：

　　致歉

　　Sorry.

　　Please forgive my carelessness.

　　Please excuse me. I have to run.

　　I'm really / awfully / terribly sorry.

　　I cannot tell you how sorry I am.

　　Please forgive me. I don't mean that.

　　接受道歉

　　That's okey.

　　Don't worry about that.

　　Just forget it.

　　It's nothing.

　　It doesn't matter at all.

　　Never mind.

　　● 常用句型：

　　It was wrong of me.

　　I hope you will excuse me.

　　I apologize for that.

　　...but I'm afraid I'll have to put off the meeting.

　　I'm really sorry to be late again.

　　I'm awfully sorry. I didn't realize.