Pragmatic failure of business English and its cultural interpretation Abstract: Business English writing is a cross-cultural communication skill. When writing, some writers often refer to China's business culture and pragmatic rules to express their thoughts, which leads to different degrees of pragmatic failure and affects the normal development of international business activities. This paper makes a comparative analysis of some pragmatic failures in business English from the perspective of Chinese and English culture, and holds that the teaching of business English letter writing should not be divorced from business culture. Only by teaching students English expression skills, as well as the cultural connotation and pragmatic rules of business English, can students be competent for cross-cultural business English communication. Keywords: business writing; Pragmatic failure; Cross-cultural communication Generally speaking, as long as you master business English professional knowledge and basic writing skills, you can be fully qualified for foreign-related business work. Actually, it's 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. However, business English pragmatic failures are very subtle and not as easy to identify as grammatical or semantic failures, so it is generally difficult to attract people's attention and re-examine. Therefore, the teaching of English correspondence writing focuses on the cultivation of language ability (perhaps unconsciously), while ignoring the cultivation of business English cultural awareness and pragmatic ability. In the past, people's research on business English writing failures generally stayed at the level of language forms and writing methods, but so far few articles have discussed pragmatic failures in business English writing from the cultural level. The author believes that only by analyzing these pragmatic failures from the cultural level, rather than simply from the linguistic form level, can we understand the psychological and cultural orientation and thinking track of the author's pragmatic failures through superficial linguistic phenomena. This will help to improve the teaching quality of business English writing and enhance students' cultural awareness and pragmatic competence of business English. 1. Business Pragmatic Failure and Cultural 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 grammatical and semantic functions of language. [1] However, the use of language is not only about the right or wrong words, but more importantly, whether the use of language is appropriate or not. Pragmatic failure in this paper means that the language used by the communicator is inappropriate and inappropriate, with obvious Chinese language and cultural thinking characteristics and pragmatic characteristics. Language and culture are inseparable, while culture and philosophy are closely linked. Both of them have a profound influence 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] Both Taoism and Confucianism advocate that people should "... respond without saying anything" and "speak with caution" and so on. Western philosophy and language view are creative. Their culture prefers language behavior and believes in the creativity of language. 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, people who are guided by group values in China tend to be introverted, euphemistic, unwilling to reveal their inner world easily, and rarely oppose others, which reflects the golden mean of China people. Obviously, in addition to congenital 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 pays more attention to synthesis than analysis, and pays more attention to understanding than passing on words. Science and culture emphasize material, light human relations, heavy analysis, light synthesis, heavy concept, avoid generality and utilitarian value orientation. [3] The main differences between humanistic culture and scientific culture in the way of thinking: 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. 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. 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 cultural soils. 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. The sinicization of English expression caused by cultural factors is multi-level. They can appear at all levels of business English expression, including lexical level, sentence level, paragraph level and even discourse level. The author chooses one or two and makes a brief analysis. 1. The improper use of culture has a pervasive influence on language. In English and Chinese, even the very common personal demonstrative pronouns have different usage rules. [4] Statistics show that Chinese uses first-person and second-person pronouns more frequently than English, while English uses third-person pronouns more frequently than Chinese. 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 English personal usage is that the first person is generally used when expressing positive attitudes, opinions or wishes. However, when making demands and promises, in order to show that you value each other, from the perspective or interests of the other party, the second person is generally called you. However, excessive use of the first person will have the negative effect of ignoring the other person's Y OU, making the speech lose its influence and it is difficult to get the other person's warm response. Perhaps influenced by China's pragmatic rules, China people tend to use the first person to make personal choices in English writing. Comparison:1a. We will give you a 5% discount for the order of 15000 pieces. If you can increase the order quantity to 100 pieces, we agree to give you a 5% discount. 15000 pieces, you can get a 5% discount. If you can increase the order quantity to 15000 pieces, you can get 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, the example 1b adopts the second person address, which highlights the position and interests of the other party and 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. For example: 2A. You will be glad to know that your credit application has been approved. 2b。 I am pleased to inform you that your letter of credit application has been approved. For English-speaking people, the writer may 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, China people 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 descriptive words and adverbs in Chinese is not as strict 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". The use of adjectives and adverbs in Britain and America is very concise and logical, 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。 Foreign car imports have fallen sharply. The number of imported cars has dropped sharply this year. 3b。 The number of imported cars has dropped sharply this year. For English learners, Example 3a seems to be no problem, [5] but native English speakers think that the logical meaning of "imported cars" must be "imported from abroad", and it is unnecessary to use the word foreig n. In addition, redundancy may also be influenced by the philosophical thought of "golden mean" in China culture, which emphasizes the beauty of phonological balance and ignores the semantic logic and simplicity of words. For example, Chinese expressions emphasize antithesis and use a large number of four-word phrases. Chinglish often appears in China people's works, such as Serious Disaster, Final Completion and so on. From the semantic logic of English, 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, graet and m ajor. "com p letion" must be the last one, 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". [6] But British and American people are very cautious about the use of modal particles. In business letters, we must be v e r y careful to use modal particles with strong expressive force, such as v e r y, high, extrem ely, Great and so on. Improper use will give people a feeling of exaggeration and insincerity. Look at the following example: 4a. We will be glad to develop business relations with you on the basis of equality and mutual benefit. We are glad to develop business relations with you on the basis of equality and mutual benefit. We are glad to establish business relations with you on the basis of equality and mutual benefit. Example 4a uses adverbs of degree to show the urgency of establishing business relations with the other party, but for foreigners, its objective effect may be counterproductive. Establishing business relations is only a wish, and it is not known whether it will succeed. There is no need to be so "happy", which makes people feel a little exaggerated or "show". There is no quite modifier in 4b, but the Chinese translation should add the word "hen" and omit the word "hen", so it is not so smooth and natural to read. Obviously, the word "hen" has no practical meaning in the sentence, but only plays the role of tone. However, this function word may have some negative effects on China people's English learning, and it is easy to bring this expression habit or cultural psychological tendency into English expression. 3. Improper use of voice The difference between English and Chinese is also reflected in the use of voice. [3]27 China culture has the concept of harmony between man and nature, so China people pay great attention to the theme consciousness when expressing their thoughts, often using personal pronouns as subjects, using active voice and sentences without subjects, while passive voice is widely used in English. 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. Naturally, business English and scientific English belong to different styles. Business letters generally 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 passive voice, so passive voice is also called active voice. 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: 5a. You promised to send us an email within a week, and you gave us a lot of convenience during such a long delay. You promised to deliver the goods within a week, but you have caused us great inconvenience due to the long delay. 5b。 The goods are usually delivered within a week. After a long delay, we have considered many inconveniences. The goods are scheduled to be delivered within one week, so such a long delay has brought us great inconvenience. In Example 5, sentence A directly expresses the blame and dissatisfaction with business partners in the active voice, which is not euphemistic enough, while sentence B focuses the information on practical problems in the passive voice, deliberately hiding the responsible party and giving the other party some face. This is a practical business culture communication strategy. The purpose of giving each other face is to get their support and cooperation when solving practical problems. 4. Improper use of tone The differences between English and Chinese are also reflected in the tone of the sentence. Grammatically speaking, English has direct mood and subjunctive mood, which are expressed in the imaginary 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 pragmatic 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. Look at the following example: 6a. I can accept your invitation. I cannot accept your request. I hope I can accept your invitation. I hope I can accept your invitation. Example 6 is that the writer refused the other party's invitation. A sentence is a straightforward tone, and it is a straightforward negative sentence. The way to refuse is clumsy and rude, which is disgusting. 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. If you ask the other party for the price list as a buyer, you don't have to use "Do you want to know 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 difference in thinking expression between English and Chinese is also reflected in the plane of inter-sentence relations. Inter-sentence relationship belongs to the category of semantic function research in linguistics and also belongs to the category of discourse analysis. English discourse has prominent structural features, and sentences are cohesive in form and coherent in semantics, while Chinese pays more attention to the cohesion and coherence of sentence semantic logic, and less attention to formal dominance. 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 flowing freehand brushwork, while the connection of English sentences is like the meticulous realism of western schools. Look at the following example: 7a. Your representative, Allen Bowles, visited me in late April. He told me that your special price for Plymouth luxury stove is 177 USD. I ordered twelve copies. I received your invoice. In any case, it shows that the amount payable is $2,280, and the difference is 156. Your business representative, Allen Bowles, visited me at the end of April. He told me that Plymouth luxury electric stoves were on sale at 177 USD each. I ordered 12 sets. I received your quotation, totaling $2,280, plus 156. 7b。 When your representative Allen Bowles visited me in late April, he told me that your special price for Plymouth luxury stoves was 177 USD. I ordered 12, but the invoice I received showed that the amount payable was $2,280, and the difference was 156. When your business representative, Allen Bowles, visited at the end of April, he told me that Plymouth luxury electric stoves could give me a preferential price of 177 US dollars each, so I ordered 12 sets. Example 7a*** has five sentences, mainly complex sentences, including one complex sentence. Most sentences lack grammatical and logical connectives, and their structures are loose, showing the characteristics of Chinese flowing sentence patterns. The semantic and logical connection between sentences is mainly reflected by the temporal sequence of events. 7b*** 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. 6. The cultural differences between English and Chinese are also reflected in the thinking and expression of the two peoples in the layout of the article. Western scholars believe that the way of thinking in China is spiral, while that in Britain and America is linear. This difference is not groundless and exaggerated. [7] Discourse is organized according to a certain pattern. The difference of thinking mode is bound to be reflected in the structure of the text. Chinese emphasizes literary talent and is not straightforward, while English points out the main idea of the paragraph at the beginning, and then describes it around the theme. English paragraph writing generally requires a topic sentence, a supporting sentence or a conclusion sentence, which requires coherence in language form and semantics. [8] The cohesion on the surface constitutes the visible network of the text, while the semantic coherence on the bottom constitutes the invisible network of the text, and the whole text has a rigorous structure. Chinese takes topic as the main axis of thought, short sentences as the main sentence patterns, and verbs as the core of sentences, which are scattered and concentrated. This sentence pattern is in sharp contrast with the "aggregation" sentence pattern in English. British and American people often feel puzzled or uncomfortable about the expression of English articles or the business negotiation of Chinese text mode, and even have the misunderstanding that China people speak in a roundabout way and are dishonest and frank. Please look at the following example: 8 a. Business letter1dear. Mr. Black, many of my customers have been asking me questions about books on tape recently. They always ask me to help them, but I don't know what to do. I know nothing about this new product. Take the books taped out from the bookstore. I want to know not only which book can be found on tape, but also which book has a tape playback device. I would appreciate it if you could send me detailed information about this product. Dear Mr. Black: Recently, many of my clients have asked me about audio books. They asked me for help and I didn't know what to do. I know nothing about this new product. I think this kind of audio books will have a good market in my shop. Not only audio books, but also I want to know if you have or know about the related playing equipment. I would appreciate it if you could send me a product brochure. Heartfelt greetings! 8b。 Business letter 2 dear sir. Mr. Black, please send me the information about the tape you got on the playback device in the form of a table. Thank you. Sincerely yours, dear Mr. Black: Please send me information about your audio books and related playback equipment. Thank you. Sincere greetings! Comparing the above two letters slightly, we can easily see that the first letter was written by China. There is no direct request for information at the beginning of the article, but the reasons are stated first, which paves the way for the final request and finally points out the theme. This way of thinking and expression reflects the implicit and euphemistic language behavior characteristics of China people. In my opinion, it's not that China people won't cut to the chase, but follow a potential psychological and cultural norm of language and behavior, that is, asking for help from others will bring trouble to people. I'm embarrassed to say it directly. Finding some objective reasons to urge yourself to ask for help may send a message to the other party: I didn't mean to cause you trouble, but objective circumstances forced me to ask you. The text features and information distribution of the second letter are quite different. At the beginning, the author directly asked the other party for information, and the words were concise and clear, without explaining the reasons for asking for information or apologizing for causing you any trouble. This obvious difference in thinking mode and language behavior is completely consistent with the individual-oriented cultural values judgment of British and American people. It is worth mentioning that pragmatic analysis is generally limited to sentence level, and whether business English letters with China's cultural thinking mode and expression are pragmatic failures needs further study. However, there is no doubt that Chinese business English letters are influenced by China people's psychological culture and thinking expression. Three. Conclusion Business English letter writing is a kind of cross-cultural communication, not a simple transformation of thinking expression with English language symbols in the context of China business culture. Learners should master the communicative skills of business English, not only its complex language expression, but also its deep cultural connotation and pragmatic rules of business communication, so as to avoid pragmatic failures in expression. [8] Winston Brunback, an American expert in foreign language teaching, said: "The teaching method of teaching only language without culture can only cultivate a fool who is fluent in language. "Of course, cultural differences are not completely insurmountable. If the teaching of business English writing organically combines the expression ability with the cultivation of business cultural pragmatic ability, then the students' intercultural business English communication ability can reach the level of accuracy, appropriateness and ease of use. (Editor in charge: Song Xiaohui proofread: Peng Haihe) [References] [1] He Ziran. Pragmatics and English learning [M] Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 1997: 2-6. [2] Jin Huikang. Cross-cultural communication translation [M] Beijing: China Foreign Translation Publishing Company. 2003: 1 1-24.[3] Chen Hongwei. Fundamentals of Chinese-English Translation [M] Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 1999: 18-39. [4] Zhao Shikai. On English-Chinese Contrastive Grammar [m] A Guide for Chinese Translators in Shanghai [M] Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 2000: 48-56.

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