浅谈国际电子商务平台中商务英语的应用——以亚马逊Amazon为例

论文总字数：34117字

摘 要

在当今信息时代，互联网已经成为贸易的重要渠道之一，电子商务平台应运而生。商务英语作为英语中更详细分类的一门学科，在国际电子商务平台中尤为重要，更是促进了电子商务平台高速发展。本文以亚马逊为例，浅析商务英语中常见的礼貌原则与合作原则在国际电子商务平台上的应用，借此让大家更熟悉如何应用商务英语、对国际电子商务平台的使用有更多的了解，以便于应对日后生活或工作上的商务英语问题,为中国电商的发展提供更坚实的基础。

关键词：商务英语；国际电子商务平台；亚马逊；礼貌原则；合作原则

Contents

1. Introduction 1

1.1 Background of the study…………………………………………………….1

1.2 Purpose of the study…………………………………………………………2

1.3 Significance of the study…………………………………………………….2

2. Literature Review 2

2.1 Definition of international e-commerce……………………………………. 2

2.2 Foreign study and dominant study on business English in e-commerce……4

3. Methodology 7

3.1 Participants 7

3.2 Research questions 9

3.3 Method………………………………………………………………………9

4. Findings 10

4.1 The use of cooperative principles in social media 10

4.2 The use of pragmatic politeness principles in customer service…………...11

4.3 The most frequently used language principle in Amazon……………...…..13

4.4 The effects of using these principles……………………………………….13

5. Conclusion………………………………………………………………..14

Works cited…………………………………………………………………....15

1. Introduction

The world is now developing so fast that people’s demands on life qualities are higher and higher. They desire more convenient ways of shopping, communicating, entertaining and so on. For that, e-commerce platforms sprung up all over the world in recent years. The communication bridge -- English, is also learned by more and more people. Business English and e-commerce stay tighter and tighter, which decides how the introduction goes. The background, purpose and significance of the study will be stated in this chapter.

1.1 Background of the study

In the past, when there was no e-commerce, people went shopping in traditional ways, which is called the real trade. Every country saw bustling people in and out of shopping malls to choose their favorite goods every weekend or holiday, and even went abroad to buy their favorite goods at all costs, sometimes crowded. However, today, business centers are no longer flourishing, but gradually becoming desolate. The number of people shopping is far less than half of what it used to be. With the popularity of the Internet and the rapid development of e-commerce, the Internet trade is growing stronger and stronger. The top choice people think about when doing business is the e-commerce platform of the Internet, which makes real trade no longer favored by people, and its status in people"s minds is gradually declining. Many e-commerce platforms sprang out at that time, like E-bay, Amazon from America, Allegro from Poland, T-mall from China, Shopee from Singapore and so on.

Meanwhile, as we all know, as one of the most frequently used languages in international economic and trade, English has played an active role in international economic and trade cooperation, international support and political diplomacy. When communicating with online shoppers from those native or non-native English-speaking countries, language barriers will inevitably hinder the normal communication between the two parties of the trade, and even lead to misunderstandings. The daily life language cannot cope with such situations, so the application of business English is particularly important. With the rapid development of globalization, the style and mode of business English expression are also changing. In the process of e-commerce activities (like online payment, inquiry of freight, export declaration, transaction and after-sale service) among international enterprises, there are many ways of online communication and a number of different timely communication tools. The communication between international trade enterprises has changed from static business English communication to dynamic communication with cooperation mode. Applying business English scientifically and reasonably to international economic and trade activities can bring higher economic profits to enterprises.

• 1. Purpose of the study

By learning about the application of some principles that can be often seen in business English used in e-commerce, me as a business English major student, want to know more about the connection between business English and e-commerce and to find out the features and benefits of Amazon and why it now has such a great reputation in the world.

• 1. Significance of the study

The study aims to provide a better e-commerce environment and more practical business English communication skills for potential Chinese e-commerce merchants so that they can respond to the Belt and Road Initiative, make more contributions to national economic development and promote international economic exchanges.

1. Literature Review

Based on former study of application of business English in e-commerce by foreign and dominant scholars, this chapter will make a brief introduction to international e-commerce, the cooperative principles and the politeness principles, which is in order to provide a theoretical basis for the following study.

2.1 Definition of international e-commerce

Electronic commerce, short for e-commerce or EC, is the activity of buying or selling of products on online services or over the Internet. Electronic commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange, inventory management systems, and automated data collection systems. Modern electronic commerce typically uses the World Wide Web for at least one part of the transaction"s cycle although it may also use other technologies such as e-mail.(Wikipedia) In terms of content, international e-commerce can be divided into two categories: one is the indirect trade of tangible products, which refers to the activities related to commodity exchange such as negotiation, order, invoice receipt and so on, dealing with tangible goods by electronic means, especially by the Internet; the other is the direct trade of intangible products, which refers to the purchase through electronic means, especially by the Internet. Selling consultation reports, computer software, numerical control programs and so on can be transmitted through the network and stored in some way the entire process of intangible commodity exchange. Simply speaking, e-commerce is the way that you can buy what you want or deal with business on the internet without stepping out of home. Everything involved could be done by only clicking your mouse, typing and paying online at last.

Generally speaking, there are several common modes of e-commerce: B2B(business-to-business), like Alibaba, B2C(business-to-customers), like T-mall, JingDong, C2B(customer-to-business), like Triptrotting, C2C(customer-to-customer), like e-bay，O2O(online-to-online), like Groupon and so on. Some of them can be both B2C and C2C, like Amazon and E-bay.

E-commerce is popularized for its unique features that traditional real trade doesn’t have. Firstly, EC brings globalization in trade. When doing business online, global interconnection which shortens the space distance, enhances the dependence of production, exchange and consumption relations, and break through the boundaries and obstacles of countries, regions and fields emerges. Secondly, EC brings convenience for people. Interworking parties can conduct direct transactions only through the Internet, and all kinds of information can be transmitted instantly through the Internet, which can reduce the complex procedures of independent purchase. Thirdly, EC brings paperless deal. In the actual transaction process of international e-commerce, the transaction form of electronic information has been fully realized, so has the effective reduction of trade cost. If it is in the traditional way of international economy and trade, the completion of a transaction requires more complicated procedures, which invisibly lengthens the transaction time and raises the transaction cost.

E-commerce industry is changing every day, driven by exciting new trends and features, new ways to make online purchases, the impact of consumers engaging with brands through social media and the demand for global product availability. The current trends of e-commerce are artificial intelligenceamp; technology, the rise of alternative payment methods, growth in emerging markets and multimedia content and they make e-commerce more stable and advantageous in such a fierce market. It can be clearly seen from people around us that everyone shops online every day. There’s no doubt that international e-commerce will still grow and even occupy the market in the future. According to Capita.com, statistics show that 42% of consumers worldwide make online purchases, and that B2C e-commerce will rocket to a whopping $1.5 trillion in annual sales by 2020. At present, there are many kinds of e-commerce platforms and each of them has different target audience and different selling modes to attract customers. Amazon is one of the earliest e-commerce platforms and now it is the biggest in the world.

2.2 Foreign study and dominant study on business English in e-commerce

As a matter of fact, most of the foreign researches specialize in the development of e-commerce and some principles business English.

Since the beginning of the 21st century, the signing of FTA between countries has promoted the development of economy towards globalization. The reduction of trade barriers, like tariffs, has reduced the cost of trade between countries and promoted the economic and trade exchanges between different countries. The scale of global international trade has been expanding and the ties among countries have become closer and closer. With the encouragement and support of governments, innovative thinking now better promotes the innovation of science and technology. Internet technology develops rapidly in order to meet the requirements of the times. Smartphone functions are innovating. Wireless network coverage is getting wider and wider. Import and export modes and consumers of importers and exporters worldwide all have great changes in the shopping mode of e-commerce platform across the border to achieve global shopping. (Suo 1)

Dominant study of business English in e-commerce mostly focuses on the talents of business English or how to improve contemporary business English major college students’ abilities of using business English because the development of business English in China lags a little behind that in other countries. Domestic scholars are exploring the application of business English and why business English is so important in international trade. They are trying to awaken others’ awareness of business English. According to ZhangMeng (a lecturer of Jiangsu Normal University), business English satisfies the needs of international trade very well. The concise language enables enterprises to achieve good communication and transaction. Business English has become the best communication media of international e-commerce. (Zhang 56-57) With the rapid development of international e-commerce, English in international trade has been gradually standardized. Broadly speaking, Business English is an interdisciplinary subject, including International Trade English, Business English, Practical English, etc. It has a wide range of design. Business English is closely related to other disciplines such as catering, accounting, tourism, insurance, banking, logistics and law. The most prominent and direct disciplines are foreign trade and international electronic commerce. Studies of e-commerce platforms can be seen everywhere. Dominant scholars put more emphasis on how to build and develop e-commerce platform. They believe that e-commerce will eventually become a trade trend for every country and e-commerce platforms should change in time with the development of technology. It should be the top choice for people in the future.

However, there are two pragmatic principles always applied in business English in almost every business occasion, including e-commerce platforms. They are cooperative principles and politeness principles.

The cooperative principle is a pragmatic theory put forward by American linguist Grice. Grice"s point of view is that the reason why conversation can go smoothly is that people who participate in conversation activities are all part of the society, and as members of society, they all have a certain social connection. When a speaker speaks, he must observe or satisfy something so that his words can be understood and accepted by the listener, and the listener must abide by certain rules, so that they can pass through both sides. Only by working together can the conversation proceed. He argued that "our conversation is usually not made up of a series of irrelevant words, otherwise it would be unreasonable. They are usually cooperative, with at least one mutually acceptable direction. In other words, we seem to follow the principle of "making what you say at the stage of its occurrence and conform to the accepted goals and directions of the conversation in which you participate." This principle is called the cooperative principle.(Li 124-125) To be more specific, there are four maxims under this general principle.

A. The maxim of Quality:

Try to make your contribution one that is true, specifically:

(i)Do not say what you believe to be false;

(ii)Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence;

B. The maxim of Quantity:

(i)Make your contribution as informative as is required for the current purpose of the exchange;

(ii)Do not make your contribution more informative than required;

C. The maxim of Relevance:

Make your contributions relevant;

D. The maxim of Manner:

Be perspicuous, and specifically;

(i)Avoid obscurity;

(ii)Avoid ambiguity;

Politeness refers to one"s attitude toward the other. It involves what the famous British linguist G.N.Leech calls this. Both sides are "self" and "others". In conversation, "self" generally refers to the speaker, while "others" may refer to the listener or a third party present or absent. Therefore, the politeness of the speaker can be directed at the hearer or the third party. The politeness principle is that the speaker should reduce his or her belief in impoliteness or try to express his or her belief in politeness. Politeness is asymmetric in essence, that is to say, it is polite to the listener or the third party, and it is impolite to the speaker. In communication, people always hope that the other party will abide by the politeness principle. When speaking, they should give others as much convenience as possible, and at the same time, give the other party"s favor for themselves. This is the reason why pragmatic politeness principle should be emphasized in transnational business activities.

Politeness principles include Tact Maxim, Generosity Maxim, Approbation Maxim, Modesty Maxim, Agreement Maxim and Sympathy Maxim. The specific contents are :

A. Tact Maxim

(a).Minimize cost to other;

(b).Maximize benefit to other;

B. Generosity Maxim

(a).Minimize benefit to self;

(b).Maximize cost to self;

C. Approbation Maxim

(a).Minimize dispraise of other;

(b).Maximize praise of other;

D. Modesty Maxim

(a).Minimize praise of self;

(b).Maximize dispraise of self;

E. Agreement Maxim

(a).Minimize disagreement between self and other;

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