Beyond Language: Cultural Predispositions in international Business Correspondence Translation covers only part of the problem of working with people of other nations and Differences in cultural background may affect business correspondence between Americans and others， and International English may be evolving a cultural style of its In correspondence， business people from the low-context cultures of Northern Europe and North America sometimes inadvertently offend their counterparts in high-context cultures by assuming that their correspondents share their Such correspondence might be more effective if writers used a rhetorical framework to conceptualize in their letters a sense of their addressees' conditions and of their own roles in relation to their This dimension of relationship may be difficult for people from low-context However， because of the increasing use of English as a lingua franca of business， correspondence standards may be Using the example of rhetorical patterns in English and Chinese business letters， I suggest a way to use Western rhetorical principles to accommodate other cultural Business Correspondence includs： Requesting Information How to ask somebody to send you Sending Information What to say when you send Resume or CV A resume (AmE) or CV (BrE) is usually requested by a prospective employer as a record of your qualifications and professional CV stands for the Latin words "curriculum vitae"， meaning "the course of one's life" Covering Letter for Resume/CV It is usual to send a covering letter (BrE) or cover letter (AmE) with your resume/CV when applying for a Letter of Reference Companies and other organizations often ask for a letter of This is a character reference written by someone such as an ex-employer who knows the subject Let's take the ever-more-common case of the American who wants to strike up business dealings with people of another language and Box 3 reproduces a letter to a delegation of Chinese who had visited the United S They had expressed some interest in the products of M Jones's company， so he wrote them a letter， presumably hoping to sell However， as Boiarsky (1995) informs us， his letter drew no Dear Sir: Your name and address were referred to me by the Illinois Department of Agriculture--Far East O They stated that you had expressed an interest in our products and requested further I am therefore enclosing a brocuhre which itemizes our products and Pleas let me know your exact I will be happy to provide you with further Thank you for your participation at the Illinois Slide and Catalog S I look forward to your Sincerely， Peter Jones Director of Sales Agri-Equipment Division
