Writing Business Letters Across Languages: A Guide to Writing Clear and Concise Business Letters for Translation Purposes

This book discusses the most widespread and acceptable approaches to writing business letters in a readily understandable fashion, exploring rules and conventions based on actual contemporary practices. Emphasis is placed on types of business letters across languages, patterns of thinking, cross-cultural communication, the effect of style, tone and the mechanics of writing, and grammar. This book is written for all kinds of readers, particularly students and teachers involved in writing business letters for translation purposes, in addition to executives, small business owners, secretaries, and salespersons who are involved in cross-cultural communication.Because of its multifaceted nature, this book serves not only as a practical and comprehensive guide to business correspondence, but also as a tool that helps professionals write business letters and understand their counterparts within the contexts of other languages. It provides various examples from Arabic, English and French, covering a wide range of situations and offers practical advice on wording, content, style, and structure. A list of business terms and their definitions is included at the end of this book to help readers understand their meaning and implications across cultures.

About the Author :
Said M. Shiyab is a Professor of Translation Studies and Director of the Arabic MA Translation Program at Kent State University. Prior to joining Kent State University, Professor Shiyab previously spent time as Visiting Professor at the University of Geneva, Switzerland, where he taught graduate and undergraduate translation courses. He has also taught at various institutions including the University of Southern Indiana, King Saud University, Yarmouk University, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) University. He founded the Department of Translation Studies at the UAE University, and served as its Chair between 2004 and 2012, in addition to serving as Acting Chair of the French Language Program at the same institution. In 2007, he received the College Best Performance Award for Excellence in Scholarship, recognizing his excellent scholarship. Professor Shiyab is a member of various international organizations such as Babel's editorial board, a member and fellow in the Chartered Institute of Linguists, London, UK, and a member of the Higher Council for Translation of the Arab League, among others. He is a Language Consultant and Translation Test Assessor for Xerox Global Knowledge and Language Services, and his publications include Translation and the Structure of Argumentation; Globalization and Aspects of Translation; and A Textbook of Translation: Theoretical and Practical Implications, in addition to a number of articles published in refereed academic journals.Sonia Halimi is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Translation and Interpreting (FTI) of the University of Geneva, Switzerland. Her PhD thesis in Translation Studies addressed the use of concept maps as a cognitive tool for knowledge acquisition and their application in teaching specialized translation. She has worked as a professional translator in a number of UN agencies, including the UN Office in Geneva. Dr Halimi teaches Economic and Legal Translation, Translation Practice (English-Arabic, French-Arabic), and Analysis of Specialized Texts in Arabic at the University of Geneva, where she is Head of the Arabic Unit. She has also been involved in various research projects on the development of speech translation systems and L2 learning tools for CALL, and has published widely on the subject.

Review :
'The book offers a rich glossary of the common business terms its users might need for a better comprehension. The authors provided rich examples of business letters in both languages; English and Arabic. [...] All in all, the book remains a necessary guide and textbook every student should have in his/her library. This book can be the student's companion mainly when he/she is required to draft a cover letter or a business letter in either English or Arabic.'Dr. Nadia IdriUniversity of Bejaia, AlgeriaArab World English Journal, 7:4 (2016)