4. ?We can offer you immediately?

5. We have pleasure in confirming that we can? 6. In reply to your fax of 1 August?

7. In reply to your enquiry of 7 June, we are enclosing?

8. We thank you for your letter of 15 Sep. and have sent you today by separate

post?

9. We thank you for your enquiry, and are pleased to inform you that? 10. We thank you for your fax of today, in which you enquire for?

11. We should be glad to receive further enquiries from you for prices and samples. 12. We very much regret that we are unable to supply you with the small quantity

you require.

13. Seeing your advertisement in China Daily, we should be pleased to receive your

latest price list for stainless steel tableware.

14. We thank you for your intention to enter into business relations with us. At

present, we are interested in your? and wish to receive a sample for which we will pay upon receipt of your advice.

15. We learn from our Embassy in your country that you are manufacturing and exporting

a variety of Cassette Tape Recorders. As there is a good demand here we should appreciate your sending us a sample together with the prices of various models for which we will pay immediately upon receipt of your debit note.

16. Please be informed that one of our end users is in the market for ? and we should

be glad if you could send us your best prices with indication of time of shipment. 17. Your company has been introduced to us by *** with whom we have traded for many

years. Would you please supply us with a complete set of catalogues for Textile Accessories so that we may make choice and work on them.

18. Enclosed please find a full range of catalogues covering the Textile Accessories

enquired for in your letter of ? If you find any of the items of interest, please let us know and we will send you the samples.

19. While thanking you for your enquiry of ? for? we regret to inform you that

we are not in a position to cover your requirement. However, as soon as we have secured our supplies, we will revert to the matter.

20. In reply to your enquiry of ?, we are now sending you our price list for the

various tools enquire for. By separate mail, we are also sending you a sample of Combination Pliers for your reference. Should you require any other information about our tools, please let us inow and we will reply to you without delay.

四、Offer and Counter-offer

1. We have pleasure in quoting as follows:

2. We have pleasure in offering you the following goods:

3. We are pleased to inform you that our prices are quoted CIF Hamburg.

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4. Prices have risen/ fallen/ remain steady. 5. This offer is firm/ open/valid for 5 days.

6. This is a special offer and is not subject to our usual discount. 7. This article is in good/ great/ heavy demand. 8. We shall be unable to obtain further supplies. 9. Will you kindly let us have an early decision.

10. Please send us your instruction by e-mail without delay.

11. After carefully calculating the price again, we decide to make a further

concession of US $ 2 per yard, in the hope that this would lead to an increase in business between us.

12. We offer, subject to your reply reaching here on or before 28 Feb., 500 Phoenix

Brand Bicycles at $ 12 per set CIF London for shipment in April.

13. We thank you for your letter of 12 March and have the pleasure of offering you

the following:

14. In response to your enquiry of ? for?, we quote, subject to our final

confirmation, Butterfly Brand Sewing Machine, Model ABC-1 at $24 per set CIF NY. Time of shipment depends on the quantity to be ordered.

15. We have received your letter of ? and are pleased to quote you for 1,500 dozen

Men’s Shirts as per the sample sent you before, at the price of US $ 5 per piece CIF NY for prompt shipment.

16. While thanking you for your quotation of ?, we regret to say that your price

is on the high side. We do not think there is any possibility of business unless you cut your price by 20%.

17. Your offer for... is acceptable but we are not in a position to make payment

by L/C at sight as it will cost us more expenses. Could you accept payment by drawing on us a sight draft as in the case of Sales Contract 1234?

18. We regret to learn from your letter of ? that you ask for a reduction of 5%

off our original price, which is unacceptable to us as we have closely calculated our price.

19. We have noted your request for a reduction of 8% on our price but regret to say

that there is no room for a reduction as we have quoted you our lowest price at which we have concluded considerable business with other clients at your end. 20. Taking into consideration our friendly business relations, we would

exceptionally comply with your request by reducing our price to US $5 per piece CIF NY. However, this should not be taken as a precedent in future.

21. Your request for a reduction in price has been noted. However, we are of the

opinion that if you could increase your order to 5,000 piece we would allow a 5% discount. Please note this is the best we can do and we hope you will accept it.

2、各国的文化差异

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在国际贸易中，由于各国贸易商和消费者的民族特性、宗教信仰、风俗习惯都有较大的差别，甚至对颜色、数字、图案都有不同的忌讳和偏好，这就需要外贸工作人员在国际业务交往时，考虑到各国的文化差异。这些差异具体表现在语言、价值观念、姿势手势、法律、宗教、政治、教育程度、技术水平等方面。世

界上不同的文化可能有两万种之多，甚至在同一个国家内也有明显的文化差异。

（一）一般的文化差异

一般来说，同国外客户联系，最好能用他们自己的语言。例如，写信给荷兰人，用荷兰语;写信给沙特人，用阿拉伯语;写信给西班牙人、墨西哥人或阿根廷人，用西班牙语;写信给英国人，则用英国英语。一位日本贸易官员曾说过，美国出口到日本的贸易额之所以小的原因，并非日本的进口限制，而是美国商人无法说日语的缘故。当然，事实可能井非完全如此。但一位外国贸易专家曾说过：“你可以用任何语言来买东西，但当你卖东西时，你必须用买者的语言，如你不懂买者语言，而必须用英语进行交际时，你则须注意英语的用法;你可以和美国人说\在他方便的时候(at his convenience)会面;而对英国人、澳大利亚人或其他用英国英语的人则不宜用\这个词，因为\的意思是“厕所”。同样，\和\在英国和美国的概念是不同的。前者在英国比在美国要大3%，而后者则要大20%。

尽管做贸易的积极性人所共有，但不同的文化背景对同样的业务语言和举止行为有不同的反应，因而外贸工作人员必须在沟通差异上作出努力。

例如，对一个法国商人来说，权力和尊严往往是主要的，而金钱则是次要的。在日本，以貌取人，根据表面现象来作出结论，则可能是错误的，而这种错误的可能性要比在泰国、印度等国大得多。因此，在同法国人和日本人做生意时，必须意识到这些不同之处、 一位美国外贸专家曾讲到，美国一位出口业务经理有一次要同时写信给三位外国经销商解释提价的原因，在写信给德国经销商时，他的信很快进入正题;在写给黎巴嫩经销商的信中，他就不那么直截了当，而是首先作了较为详细的解释;而在写给秘鲁经销商的信中，他则用了一页篇幅客套一番，从第二页才开始解释提价的原因。

秘鲁的代理商和经销商喜欢应邀参观外国供应商的办公室和工厂，感受一下外国供应商所做的推销努力。日本商人正由于抓住了秘鲁商人的这种渴望心理，从而占领了秘鲁的大部分市场。

非语言信号(即身势语)和语言一样同样重要，也同样麻烦。当地传统的风俗习惯，当地人们是习以为常的，然而却可能使外国人处于尴尬的境地。在美国男人与男人之间站着交谈时的距离一般为18一20英寸，男人与女人交谈时的距离一般为22一24英寸。但在拉丁美洲和法国，交谈时的距离保持在13英寸是很正常的。如一位美国女商人在加拉加斯或巴黎同一位委内瑞拉或法国商人谈话，由于不熟悉对方习惯而看到对方只站在她同一位美国商人谈话的一半距离时，会感到很不舒服，甚至得出错误的结论。而反过来，对方如看到她后退一倍的距离时，则会产生一种被拒绝的感觉。

在印度尼西亚，异性握手是司空见惯的，但严禁伸出左手来给或取某件东西。此外，弯手指召唤人，也被视为极不礼貌的行为。在尼日利亚，用左手握杯喝酒意味着同性恋。我们再试想一下，一位外国经理，为了强调某一点，无意中紧捏了一下沙特阿拉伯官员的手臂。然而这却污辱了这位沙特官员，因为在沙特这种亲近行为是越轨而绝不允许的。同时，去沙特的外国人有时由于坐时交叉大腿而触犯了他们的主人，原因是他们让主人看见了他们的鞋底。在沙特，坐时翻起鞋底被人看见是粗鲁无礼的行为。同样，使一位美国高级经理感到窘

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迫的，是一位亚洲商人在原定访问日期的前十天建议他推迟访问。事实是这位亚洲主人考虑到这次会谈十分重要。于是，向一位宗教顾问请教一个吉利的会谈日期。这位美国经理感到受到了冷待，而实际上却是受到了对方的尊重。

美国人撰写业务信件时，认为最好避免使用陈词滥调和呆板格言。但伊朗人却不同，喜欢用一些谚语格言，因为他们认为在值得骄傲的波斯文化中，一句谚语或格言，具有永恒的智慧，可能是一种起决定作用的最好说服方法。

关于赠送客户礼品，有些问题也值得注意。在印度，首先要考虑礼品的颜色。某些绿色的色调具有宗派的含义，因而会触犯收礼人。在西非，礼品是受欢迎的，但不能“成双成对”。在德国，任何促销的礼品都会受到怀疑;卖方只能赠送买方一点极小的礼品。

甚至连文书上的日期这种简单的事情，如用数字表达，也会带来问题。美国表示1984年3月11目的写法一般是3/11/84，而英国的写法则是11/3/84，把“日”放在“月”之前。这种写法美国人就会认为是11月3日，而不是3月1l日。另外，\这个词，美国英语的意思是\十亿\，而英国英语的意思是“万亿”。因此，英国人说\billion\，美国人就要说\trillion\而美国人说\billion\，英国人就要说\thousand million\虽然近年来英国也有迹象表明开始把“billion\当作“十亿”使用)。

我们要想得到外国人的尊敬，只需在写信时把称呼尊称用得正确得当。如写信给英国人John Peter Billings-Blake,称呼只需用\英国人喜欢用缩语)，尊称用\Mr.Billings-Blake\。但写信给西班牙人JuanRuiz-Gomez，称呼就须用\Ruiz-Gomez\，尊称用\。在阿拉伯，有些人名字里有\这个词，并非是名字，而是一种头衔尊称。因此,Gamal Kaldun Bey，尊称应该是“Dear Mr.Kaldun”而不是\Mr.Bey\。法国律师的头衔用\，放在姓名前面(同样，美国医生的头衔用\，而不是用\。因此，如果称呼用\，尊称就须用\Maitre Duprey\。一般的法国人称呼用\这里的\就是\，尊称只需用\、\和\的缩语分别为\和\，没有标点。法语中没有\这个称呼。同样，这个称呼在英国也不受欢迎(但近年来也有变化的趋势)。

触犯这些文化习俗的后果可能是严重的，失去生意，败坏公司形象，有时甚至更糟。据说美国一家缝纫机公司有一次在苏丹采用了一种他们最喜爱的推销形式示范课。但是在这个友好的穆斯林国家，妇女是不许随便离开家庭，通过自己努力，进行学习进修提高的。而这家公司的一位代表对此全然不知，鼓励妇女参加他们的缝纫班，结果银挡入狱。

（二）语言差别

世界上有三千多种不同的语言，而在印度一个国家就有二百种语言之多，加上各种各样的方言，一些语言学家认为全世界至少有一万种不同的语言和方言。如果没有了解对方语言习惯，就可能遇到许多业务上的困难。

美国的汽车公司，由于缺乏其他国家的语言知识而遇到不少困难。雪佛兰的\牌汽车，在讲西班语的国家不受欢迎的原因，据说就是其名字\类似西班牙语中的\，意思是\不走\。福特公司把它的\牌汽车在墨西哥市场上称为\。不幸的是，尽管\的字面意义是\热\，但在墨西哥的傀语中，这个词的意思是“妓女”，因而\的销售情况也就不佳。

一个词在某个国家适用，而在另一个国家并不适用的例子很多，其中包括礼品(gift)这个词。一家美国贸易杂志社想在德国推销礼品，用了英语\这个词作为广告标题。但不幸的是，在德国，\gift”的意思是\有毒物\，因而这家杂志社自然无法成功地进行推销。

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