Episode 2 ©苏珊

　　[Email exchanges over several days, following their initial phone conversation]

　　From: Bob Randall

　　Cc: Stephanie Martin

　　Sent: Wednesday, May 5, 2004

　　To: Mr. Liu, Cindy Li

　　Subject: Diamondback Grille Marketing Plan – Status

　　Dear Mr. Liu and Ms. Li:

　　I hope that everything is going well there.

　　I received your action items. Thanks so much. Can you tell me what is driving your decision not to work with a MNC PR firm for focus groups? I don’t want to belabor this, but our corporate branding people do not have a comfort level with an unknown PR firm. Could you get us a website, or brochures, or work they’ve done for other international companies?

　　Would it be possible for you to take a stab at a draft agenda for my trip to Shanghai next month? I’d like to see the space and the PR firm, and visit the Old Pub, to check out the competition. Do initial sales forecasts.

　　I am really looking forward to my visit.

　　Regards,

　　Bob

　　From: Cindy Li

　　To: Bob Randall

　　Subject: Marketing Plan- #s and handbook

　　Hi Bob:

　　Thanks for your email.

　　I’ve attached some background information about the local PR company. They’re small, but you can see they’ve done product launches for several Fortune 500 companies.

　　T.J. and I talked about bringing on a big name for PR, but in general those foreign firms are pretty pricey and don’t always add that much value. We have friends in a small Chinese company who can check quickly if the standard Diamondback menu will be popular. We urge you to trust us on this one.

　　Re customer segmentation data, we are looking at 60% young singles, ¾of those males, especially for beverage sales. The rest are young families 30%; and business travelers 10%.

　　Bob, I’ve lined up a meeting with the PR firm, and we’ll spend all of Friday afternoon visiting other restaurants. Let me know if you’re OK with the agenda items.

　　Take care,

　　Cindy

　　1.What’s driving your decision? 你做决定时主要考虑什么？(什么在“驱动”你的决定？)

　　2.I don’t want to belabor this point. 我不想反复的探讨这一点。Belabor在此意思是反复、没完没了地讨论。另外它有一个意思是攻击。

　　3.Our people do not have a comfort level with that proposal. 我方对那个建议案觉得不妥(心里不觉得踏实)。

　　4.Take a stab at a draft agenda. 试试做一个议事日程的草稿。Take a stab at 是开始做，尝试去做某事的意思。Draft 是草稿。

　　5.Thanks for your email. OR: It was great to hear from you. Email 打头的客气语。谢谢您的来函。或，很高兴有您的消息。

　　6.I’ve attached the agenda. OR: As promised, I’m sending you the agenda. 我把议事日程表随信附上。或，我现在把答应您的议事日程表附上。

　　7.We are bringing on a big name. 我们将会聘雇一个大牌的公司(或名人)。

　　8.We urge you to accept this proposal. 我们恳切请你们接受这个提案。

　　9.Trust us on this one. 这事您就相信我们吧。This one 指的是这件事。

　　10.Let me know if you are OK with…告诉我你对。。。是否同意。

　　Cross-cultural “Netiquette”

　　跨文化的“互联网礼节”

　　Good business emails are short, crystal-clear and to the point. The trick is to provide as much context information as necessary, in the fewest possible words.

　　Most problems in emails exchanged between Asian writers and Western writers occur when a situation or problem is not clear to the other party. Confusion may be caused by a lack of information, or by incorrect usage or grammar. The subtleties of English verb tenses and modalities make communicating in email even more challenging for speakers of Chinese. For example, the Chinese writer may write, “I intend to fly to New York next week, but cannot get a seat,” when in fact he wants to say, “我原来想下个星期飞纽约, 但我买不到票.” But the native-speaker reader will very likely be confused by that usage in English: Without the “…ed,”in “intended,” the sentence means “我打算下个星期飞纽约了.” That’s why it’s a good idea for Chinese writers to watch verb tenses carefully, not be sloppy and make extra-sure the context is sufficiently clear.

　　For formal emails, writers should use long forms and avoid abbreviations. Email is by nature an informal medium. It is thus appropriate to use first names in the greeting. To be polite, you can say, “Dear Cindy:” If you are uncomfortable using a first name for someone you have not yet met in person , or whom you want to treat very formally, you may wish to say “Dear Ms. Li” or “Dear Mr. Randall”.