Abstract

Understanding differences in communication styles is becoming increasingly important in intercultural business communication as more and more countries are involved in doing business internationally and more and more people are doing business with mainland China. This article aims to compare the structural moves used in English and Chinese sales letters from social, intercultural and pragmatic perspectives. It has been argued that the study of text styles such as linearity and circularity in comparative rhetoric may not be sufcient to reect the overall features of the genres involved. Therefore a holistic approach based on genre study and schema theory has been employed to explore the communicative purposes and various levels of the text. Halls high- and low-context cultures and cross-cultural pragmatics have also been incorporated to enrich the genre approach. A corpus of 40 sales letters (20 in Chinese and 20 in English) was examined and it was found that Chinese sales letters share similar marketing strategies with English letters as the Chinese economy is becoming increasingly decentralized and privatized. Differences in communication patterns between these letters were identied, however, and shown to be largely due to a number of factors such as the specic values and beliefs of each culture and the different business practice in mainland Chinese.

Given the letters are written with similar communicative purpose and social function, similarities are found in their move structures across languages, setting aside grammatical constraints. However, a number of differences are identified, and they include, for example, more frequent reference to social issues and less frequent use of pressure tactics in the Chinese letters. These differences can be attributed to the context of situation and to the reader-writer relationship associated with the different corpora. Results of the analysis were verified by 17 specialist communication. informants in the field of sales promotion

I- Introduction:

II. Example of English sales letter and Vietnamese sales letter

1. The first example is a English sales letter

How much more profit could your company make if I could show you a way to increase the response rate to your current advertising by 10%...25%...or more?
Hello Susan, My name is Peter Geisheker and I am a professional copywriter and marketing consultant. I am contacting you because I can help you improve the pulling power of your advertising without increasing your advertising budget. Thats right. I am not asking you to spend more money on advertising. I am only asking you for an opportunity to enhance your current advertising so it produces better results. My specialty is fixing advertising campaigns that are producing lousy results. What I propose is that I review your current advertising (sales letters, website, display advertising, etc.) and show you how incorporating direct response strategies into your advertising will make it produce far more leads and sales without costing you a cent more than you are paying now. For example, lets say you buy two display ads in the same publication. Ad 1 costs you $5,000 and it generates 7 leads and 2 sales that total $700. Ad 2 also costs $5,000 and it generates 78 leads and 24 sales that total $8,400. Which ad would you rather have? The answer is obviously Ad 2. However, most businesses do not realize that their

advertising could be producing far better results if it was written properly using scientifically tested direct-response marketing techniques. Guaranteed Results or Ill Give You Your Money Back! To prove to you how confident I am that I can make your advertising produce better results, I will give you a full refund of my fees if the advertising I create for you does not generate at least 10% more leads and sales than your current advertising! With this offer you have everything to gain and nothing to lose.

If you want your advertising program to generate more leads and sales, please give me a call today for a free, no-obligation quote (920) 471-1638. Or, if you prefer, email me at peter@geisheker.com.

I look forward to hearing from you Susan!

Warmest Wishes, Peter Geisheker, CEO The Geisheker Group, Inc. (920) 471-1638 www.geisheker.com

P.S. If you want your advertising program to generate more leads and sales, please give me a call today for a free, no-obligation quote (920) 471-1638. 2. The second example is a Vietnamese sales letter Knh gi: Qu khch hng. Trc ht, Cng ty TNHH t vn qun l C&A xin gi n Qu Cng ty li cho trn trng nht !

L mt cng ty chuyn t vn v thu vi mt i ng chuyn gia giu kinh nghim, chng ti mang n cho khch hng cc dch v t vn thu chuyn nghip khng ch gip doanh nghip tun th y cc ngha v v thu m cn gip doanh ngip tn dng ti a cc u i ca chnh sch thu. Cng ty chng ti xin gi ti Qu Cng ty cc dch v m chng ti cung cp: 1. Dch v t vn thng xuyn: Vi dch v t vn thng xuyn, chng ti s lun bn cnh v h tr qu khch hng mi lc, mi ni: (1) T vn, gii p thc mc thng thng lin quan n thu: Qua cc knh thng tin: in thoi, email, fax, chng ti s gii p kp thi cho khch hng mi vng mc thng thng pht sinh trong qu trnh thc hin cc Lut thu nh: - Th tc, h s ng k cp m s thu v iu chnh khi c s thay i cc tiu ch ng k; mu biu k khai cc loi thu; Thu sut Thu GTGT ca hng ha v dch v, s dng, iu chnh ha n. - H s, th tc thc hin u i thu: Min thu, gim thu, hon thu. - Mt s vn vng mc thng thng khc v thu v qun l thu. (2) Cung cp thng tin, vn bn chnh sch thu mi: nh k hng thng, chng ti s cp nht y thng tin, nhng thay i v chnh sch thu, cc quy nh mi v qun l thu v nhng d tho sa i, b sung chnh sch thu n Qu khch hng. Ty theo c im kinh doanh ca tng khch hng, chng ti s c nhng lu , hng dn khch hng khi thc hin cc quy nh . Dch v t vn thng xuyn ca Cng ty C&A c nhiu khch hng tn nhim, tin cy v s dng nh: Tp on du kh quc gia Vit Nam PVN, Tng cng ty vin thng qun i - VIETTEL, Tng cng ty c phn xut nhp khu v xy dng Vit Nam VINACONEX, Tng cng ty phn bn v ha cht Du kh CTCP,.v.v... 2. Dch v hng dn chnh sch thu:

nh k hng qu, 6 thng hoc khi Qu khch c nhu cu chng ti s t chc cc lp hc hng dn nhm gip Qu khch hng kp thi nm bt v hiu su ni dung chnh sch thu. 3. Dch v T vn, h tr lp quyt ton thu: nh k hng qu, 6 thng hoc hng nm chng ti s h tr qu khch hng: (1) T vn, hng dn u i, min, gim v hon thu cn c vo chnh sch thu tng thi k. (2) Tho lun nhng vn vng mc pht sinh khi thc hin quyt ton thu. (3) K nng gii trnh s liu quyt ton thu. (4) T vn h tr kim tra tnh chnh xc, y ca t khai thu, bo co quyt ton thu. Hng dn x l cc tnh hung lin quan n t khai thu, bo co quyt ton thu nh sai st, iu chnh, b sung ... (5) Hng dn vic kim tra tnh hp l ca ho n, chng t. Hng dn x l cc tnh hung lin quan n ho n chng t nh mt mt, khng hp l, iu chnh b sung... Hy lin h ngay vi chng ti: Cng ty TNHH t vn qun l C&A a ch: Ta nh 29 L i Hnh, Hai B Trng, H Ni in thoi: 04 39746573 - Fax: 0439746330. Email: thueCA@gmail.com - Website: thueca.com.vn

III. Compare between Vietnamese sales letter and English sales letter
1. The differences between Vietnamese sales letter and English sales letter First of all, a striking difference between English and Vietnamese sales letters is seen in the headline.

In Vietnamese sales letters, instead of using a great headline, writers only start simply with a greeting. Therefore, this does not make an impression on the readers in the first moment. Trc ht, Cng ty TNHH t vn qun l C&A xin gi n Qu Cng ty li cho trn trng nht! In a contrast way, in English sales letters begins with a great headline, writers always use an impressive headline which catches the readers eye and awakens his/her curiosity. For example: How much more profit could your company make if I could show you a way to increase the response rate to your current advertising by 10%...25%...or more? The above beginnings might in a way indicate a difference in linearity as the English letter speaks to the point in the headline while the Vietnamese sales letter mentions something seemingly irrelevant with a greeting. However, this approach may not be sufficient to explain the differences, and greetings may not sound circular to people who understand their role in the cultural and business context.

The second difference is that the Vietnamese writers usually tend to talk about themselves rather than focus on dealing with readers problems. It means that these letters are concentrating on the wrong person.

L mt cng ty chuyn t vn v thu vi mt i ng chuyn gia giu kinh nghim, chng ti mang n cho khch hng cc dch v t vn thu chuyn nghip khng ch gip doanh nghip tun th y cc ngha v v thu m cn gip doanh ngip tn dng ti a cc u i ca chnh sch thu. Vietnamese companies offer many kinds of services in detail, because they still think in old way which believes that the customers will be persuaded by offering products feature, reasonable prices, and something like experiences year can take an advantage in comparison with other competitors. Nevertheless, when human life is

modern more and more today, people decide to buy things not for rational reasons, just because of satisfying their emotional needs. Therefore, this leads to decrease the efficiency of the sales letter. On the contrary, in English sales letters, writers often open the letter by straightly identifying the readers problem and take an solution for this. Actually, they succeed for this emotional method. Every one wants to be the centre of the world. Understanding this aspect will help the company a lot in selling products and services. For example: I am contacting you because I can help you improve the pulling power of your advertising without increasing your advertising budget. Thats right. I am not asking you to spend more money on advertising. I am only asking you for an opportunity to enhance your current advertising so it produces better results And the third difference is that Vietnamese sales letters do not explain the benefits that the consumers expect to achieve from these services. It is a wrong way. If you are a reader and the sales letter you receive does not suggest solutions to your problems, do you want to buy the product which you dont know what benefits it will bring to you? Maybe the answer is NO. Satisfying readers desire is the key point of a successful sales letter, but Vietnamese ones have not succeeded in designing this stage yet. And, English ones do not show too many features of product; they focus on their benefits for the customer. For example: For example, lets say you buy two display ads in the same publication. Ad 1 costs you $5,000 and it generates 7 leads and 2 sales that total $700. Ad 2 also costs $5,000 and it generates 78 leads and 24 sales that total $8,400. Which ad would you rather have? The answer is obviously Ad 2. However, most businesses do not realize that their advertising could be producing far better results if it was written properly using scientifically tested direct-response marketing techniques.

Besides, many English sales letters also pay more attention to offer attached service packages, or other facilities so as to increase the attractiveness of product and satisfy customers needs. For example: To prove to you how confident I am that I can make your advertising produce better results, I will give you a full refund of my fees if the advertising I create for you does not generate at least 10% more leads and sales than your current advertising! With this offer you have everything to gain and nothing to lose And the final difference is that the way of ending the letters

The end of Vietnamese sales letters purely companys contact details which will help the customers in searching further information about the product or placing orders. It is easy to find contact number in any Vietnamese sales letter such as: Hy lin h ngay vi chng ti: Cng ty TNHH t vn qun l C&A a ch: Ta nh 29 L i Hnh, Hai B Trng, H Ni in thoi: 04 39746573 - Fax: 0439746330. Email: thueCA@gmail.com - Website: thueca.com.vn This opens a way for customers to contact with companys representative but will not be strong enough to push them to the point. PostScript will make sense if the customers really need products, but you will hardly find a P/S in those. On the contrary, not only specifically give out normal contact details, through P/S at the end of the letter, English versions also rephrase the most prominent benefits in the close. Hereinafter is a typical quotation: P.S. If you want your advertising program to generate more leads and sales, please give me a call today for a free, no-obligation quote (920) 471-1638. In this part, writer wants to inform the customers that the company is ready to help and give information if an opportunity is provided. Once again, this reminds dear readers

the most significant benefits that the company wants to offer you - This is a great opportunity that the company is willing to give you. Dont miss it! You may never have it again! Every single thing the company made is for you.

Conclusion

References
1. The perfect sale letter http://www.lettersforbusiness.com/the-perfect-sales-letter.htm 2. How to write a perfect sales letter http://www.procopytips.com/write-sales-letter 3. 7 secrets to good sales copy http://www.technshare.com/7-secrets-to-good-sales-copy 4. Sales letters http://esl.about.com/od/businessenglishwriting/a/w_sales.htm 5. Sales letters http://www.writing-business-letters.com/sales-letters.html 6. Sales letters http://www.unizar.es/aelfe2006/ALEFE06/1.discourse/20.pdf 7. Example 1: http://www.marketing-consulting-company.com/free_sample_sales_letter_2.pdf 8. Example 2: http://thueca.com.vn/TabId/70/ArticleId/230/PreTabId/89/Default.aspx