英語真的是外星語嗎？你還在為廣交會上的“蹩腳”英語而煩惱嗎？你還在為廣交會上的外交口語而臉紅嗎？不用怕！阿連小編經(jīng)歷過近百場廣交會，從一個“啞巴英語”到口若懸河的口語交流，現(xiàn)在就讓我為各位外貿(mào)朋友分享一下相關(guān)的外貿(mào)英語。
1.老外很討厭一種業(yè)務(wù)員，平時說什么都說ok，都說yes，都說沒問題，結(jié)果這個做不到，那個做不到，客人一肚子火。這樣的人，口語中稱為Yes-man，就是應聲蟲。當客人要求你改產(chǎn)品，但你表示沒法做，就可以直接說明原因，再來一句: I’m a professional guy, not a Yes-man.
2.英語口語中有一個地道的表達，white elephant，但千萬不要認為是白象，而要根據(jù)上下文判斷。假設(shè)在拉桿箱工廠，業(yè)務(wù)員跟客戶談判，是否要在每個鉚釘上打logo？客戶問，那要加多少錢？業(yè)務(wù)員答，一共要增加3美元；客人來一句，No, that’s the white elephant. 這里，就表示昂貴而無用。
3.廣交會，當客戶拜訪過攤位后，表示很高興跟你見面啊，感謝你們招待這類的客套話時，業(yè)務(wù)員也可以來一句：We enjoyed having you.這句表達在美國很常見。
4.形容某人臉紅，不要用turn to red這個詞，老外會很詫異，臉怎么會變紅呢？他們沒法理解?？赡苁菬幔赡苁菍擂?，又或者是什么原因，形容臉紅，英語中有一個專門的詞blush，可做不及物動詞，也可做名詞。如：She blushed. 就是她臉紅了。千萬別說Her face turned to red，就鬧笑話了。
5.做外貿(mào)時間長了，久而久之會有職業(yè)病。比如做服裝的業(yè)務(wù)員某天去專柜買衣服，可能會摸一下面料，看一下做工，腦子里會不自覺推算面料成本和人工費用，這種本能反應就屬于職業(yè)病了，大家多少都有點。平時跟老外說笑，別用career disease這樣的中式英語，正確表達是occupational hazard。
6. indoor這個詞大家都知道，indoor furniture，室內(nèi)家具；indoor decor，室內(nèi)裝飾品，工作中經(jīng)常會碰到。但是indoor這個形容詞一旦變化成副詞，就很少有人知道，是在后面加s，變成indoors。如：Come indoors and give me a helping hand. 快進來，幫我個忙。
7. different這個詞很常見，表示“不同的”，那加個前綴，變成indifferent呢？別傻眼，也別想當然認為是否定的否定，變成“相同的”，那就錯了。這個詞其實就是I don’t care. 表示“不在乎”。當同事說，你不降價，客人就下單給別人了。你來一句I’m indifferent. 就表示無所謂，隨他去吧。
8. lust這個詞千萬別亂用！打開郵箱就看到一封剛收進來的開發(fā)信，千篇一律，介紹我們是做什么什么的，質(zhì)量好，價格有競爭力……。最搞笑的是，她寫了句I’m confident to increase your purchasing lust. 差點讓我咖啡都噴出來。我知道她要表達的是什么。但是lust這個詞，更多指“性欲”。
9. 英語中，常常需要表達“一時興起”、“一時沖動”。比如老美問你，怎么買了件這么丑的襯衫？你回答：“唉，別提了，一時沖動啊。”英文就可以講：Come on! Just a spur of the moment. 當然，消費可以一時沖動，客戶下訂單，往往也會一時沖動，關(guān)鍵是，你能不能給對方一個nice的印象。
10. stop by這個短語，可以用來表示“順路拜訪”、“順道拜訪”。給老美說：Be sure to stop by our booth in the coming Canton Fair. 就是“廣交會一定要來拜訪我們攤位啊”?？梢栽卩]件和口語中使用。
11. 請求對方諒解，歐美業(yè)務(wù)員經(jīng)常會用intentional這個詞，表示“故意的”、“有意的”，但很少看到國內(nèi)業(yè)務(wù)員使用。如：We’re really sorry for the poor logo painting. Please realize it was not intentional.
12. 口語中，表示饑餓，除了常用的hungry外，還可以用feel empty。如：”I feel empty.” 就是“我有點餓了”，跟”I’m hungry.”同義。千萬別理解成我感到很空虛，那就錯了。但如果反過來，I have an empty feeling. 這里的empty feeling，就是“空虛的感覺”。
13. 庫存不多，英文可以用low stock表達。比如跟客人解釋，因為原材料庫存不多，我們需要把交期延長到45天后，就可以說：Due to the low stock of raw material, we have to postpone the delivery date to 45 days later. 此外，沒有庫存，是out of stock；庫存充足，是sufficient stock。
14. 中文有“說曹操，曹操就到”，表示正說某人，他就來了。在英文里，同樣有類似表達，是Speak of the devil! 比如你跟老外在討論你某某同事的趣事，正好這個同事這時候過來，你就可以說：Wow, speak of the devil! 其實這是一句省略過的用法，全句是Speak of the devil and he appears.
15. 薯條這個詞，英國叫chips，美國叫French fries。至于跟French有什么關(guān)系？有兩個來源。來源一，F(xiàn)rench在這里指的是“法式深油炸”，是一種烹飪方式；來源二，薯條最早出現(xiàn)在19世紀末的巴黎。平時在美國點餐，可以簡單說fries，服務(wù)員就知道你要薯條。另外，土豆泥是mashed potatoes。
16. ship做動詞，并非單純指海運，也可用于指代空運。舉個例子，When could you ship the samples? 根據(jù)語境，就是“請問您什么時候可以寄出樣品呢？”很顯然，這里的寄樣，不可能是海運，一定是快遞空運了。又比如We will ship the goods by air next week. 這里的ship，就等同于deliver。
17.“一次性付款”，英文可以用lump sum來表示。比如客人下了一個很小的試單，只有500美金，這時候如果根據(jù)常規(guī)收30%定金，剩下70%見提單復印件，就太麻煩了，兩筆款項的銀行費用也很貴，就可以給客人郵件：Could you help to pay in one lump sum for this trial order? Thanks.
18. 有時碰到客戶來公司拜訪，老板往往會滔滔不絕介紹公司，介紹產(chǎn)品，介紹未來發(fā)展等等，長篇大論，生怕別人不知道。很多老外礙于顏面，只好耐著性子聽著，偶爾還要附和兩句吹捧一下。如果碰到個脾氣沒那么好的，估計就會來一句：Please make a long story short. 就是“請您長話短說”。
19.up in the air，可以表示對某事不確定，還在天上飄著呢，相當于not sure。比如你連續(xù)接了幾個大單，業(yè)績很棒，客人非常贊賞，連忙恭喜你升職。但這事情畢竟沒有正式公布，你也不好意思得瑟，就可以說I really hope so. It’s still up in the air.
20. 表示“很遺憾、很可惜”，多年前我們就學過what a pity，但這短語跟形容美味的delicious一樣，中國學生用得實在太泛濫。其實在美國，還有一個短語what a bummer，也很常見。如客人跟你說，他沒拿下最終客戶的訂單，你就可以答：What a bummer you losing the opportunity. 就很地道。
21.談判的時候，當你給了客人某個專業(yè)意見獲得采納，客人或許會夸獎你，可能會說一句You can say that again! 意思就相當于Great! 或者Wonderful! 是對你的夸獎，而不是讓你把話再重復一遍。
22. 有的時候我們常常會碰到一些不知所謂的人和事，讓自己滿腹怨氣。比如客人指定某個貨代出貨，而那貨代可能非常麻煩，要求巨多，費用巨貴，服務(wù)巨差，實在忍不住想跟老外抱怨幾句，電話里可以來一句I don’t like their red tape. 這里，red tape表示“打官腔”、“做事不專業(yè)”。
23. 客人為了跟你表示親近，常常會透露一些“秘密”給你，比如跟別家供應商過去的成交價格，希望你提供更好的價格和服務(wù)等等，然后請你保密。這個時候，可以回答客人：Sure, we will be dumb as an oyster. oyster在這里，就不是生蠔的意思了。
24. 客人來訪的時候，常常會介紹自己的老板給他認識，比如說，這個是我們的director，這個是我們的CEO，這個是我們的big boss，這類表達都很常見很頻繁，總有用厭的時候，偶爾也可以幽默一下，跟客人說，這是我們的big potato，客人也會恍然大悟，哦，這是你們老板。
25. 很多業(yè)務(wù)員寫郵件特別愛用try one’s best這個句型，客人要早點交貨，就回復客人I will try my best to ship them earlier. 客人要價格低一點，sales就try my best給你最好的價格；客人要盡快得到回復，sales還是會try my best盡早回復你。其實用詞可以多變，用go all out to do也無妨。
26. luck這個詞表示幸運，但口語中，Just my luck. 的意思截然相反。比如客人是一個進口商，你上周剛報了價，寄了樣品，今天電話過去問問客人進展，客人很無奈地跟你說Just my luck. 就表示“很遺憾”、“很郁悶”，下半句很可能就是我們最終沒拿到訂單。
27. 動詞decide表示“決定”，但有一個非常非常重要的例外情況，就是當后面跟matter的時候，含義就變成了“解決”，是solve一樣，而不再表示決定。如客人抱怨驗貨沒有通過，你跟客人解釋了原因并完成返工，就可以跟一句：Please don’t worry. We decided the matter. 就意味著問題解決了。
28.“放棄”這個詞，除了我們常用的短語give up外，也可以用back away來表達。如：We couldn’t accept L/C 60 days as payment term. We have to back away.
29. sample是樣品，但sampler這個詞就比較少見，可以做采樣器、取樣器來解釋。但在日常生活中，sampler還有一個重要的意思，就是我們中文里所說的“集錦”。比如某天跟客人去吃日本菜，問對方，有沒有興趣來一份sushi sampler? 這里就表示很多種口味集錦的壽司拼盤。
30. sauce是醬汁的意思，但沙拉醬，往往不用salad sauce，歐美的習慣用法是salad dressing。如我們吃肯德基的鱈魚條，可能會用到千島醬，英文是Thousand Island dressing。如是蔬菜沙拉，配上橄欖油香草和胡椒的醬汁，就屬于意式沙拉醬，就是Italian dressing。
31. 口語中，ring a bell表示“對……有印象”。比如在展會上收到某某客戶的名片，突然發(fā)現(xiàn)這個客戶是去年聯(lián)系過的，自然會順便跟客戶聊幾句，也問問去年報價的產(chǎn)品有沒有消息之類的。也許客戶不記得，自然會問你的名字和公司名，可能就會來一句：Oh, the name rings a bell.
32. 很多客人非常喜歡砍價，價格談完了，為了讓對方滿意，有贏的感覺，往往會拍拍他馬屁，說一些你是談判高手啊，你談判很厲害之類的話。美國俚語有一個like nobody’s business，就表示“無以倫比”。如Joseph, you have excellent price negotiation ability like nobody’s business!
33.形容“真遺憾、真可惜”，很多朋友腦海里還是會浮現(xiàn)出那句經(jīng)典句型: It’s a pity! 當年從新概念英語中學來，這么多年屢試不爽。可最近美國同事告訴我，這個說法沒錯，很地道，但是用法太老了，現(xiàn)在的美國年輕人里面，幾乎不用這個句型，往往用It’s a shame! 或者That’s too bad!
34. 訂單操作中出現(xiàn)某些問題，如訂單要延期，但是具體原因不方便告訴客人，我們往往會編個理由、找個借口，可能就能體面地解決。但比較尷尬的是，一旦謊言被客人識破，受到責問的時候，也千萬驚慌失措，可以先sorry，再跟客人解釋一下，當初用white lie是不想他過分擔心。
35. of no avail這個短語可以用來表示“無用的”、“無效的”。如果要表達“品質(zhì)無法改進，單純靠降價是無用的”，就可以寫成：It is of no avail to reduce the price only without quality improvement.
36. 往往會遇到以下這種情況，客人拿別家的低價來壓你，跟你說，某某供應商的報價比你低很多呢，如果你心里有底，產(chǎn)品是完全不同的，就可以告訴客人：There is a world of difference between their item and ours. 這里a world of difference就表示“極大的不同”，語氣程度得到了加強。
37.有朋友留言給我，問我“女漢子”如何用英語地道表達。其實英文中有一個很形象的表達，a man of a woman，就十分形象了。記得很多年前，一個美國客戶夸我助理能干，我答他：Yep, she is a man of a woman. 就可以理解為：“她是個女漢子”。
38. suitable這個詞使用要謹慎！很多朋友喜歡說，The quantity of 20′GP is suitable for us.字面上理解沒錯，但實際在英文中，suitable往往是以否定形式出現(xiàn)的。如This testing issue is not suitable for our item.
39.剛和美國同事討論了incident和accident的區(qū)別。雖然都有“事件”、“事故”，在詞典里屬于近義詞，但實際在英語國家，兩個詞用法差別很大。incident指意圖發(fā)生的事情，如There was a special incident yesterday that I quitted. 而accident指的是偶然事件，如車禍，就是car accident。
40.當客戶在展會攤位上，或者在樣品間里，我們拿著某某產(chǎn)品請他看看，英文口語怎么表達？可以說，please have a look或者please take a look。在美國，還有一個地道的近義短語，就是check it out?？梢阅弥约业男庐a(chǎn)品，對老外說一句，Hey buddy, check it out.
41. 請老外吃飯，往往在開吃前，很多朋友只會說一句，Please help yourself.其實這句話在美國并不常見。一般都是你去別人家里吃飯，別人會請你自便，才會說這句。而在餐廳里，老美跟老美之間，往往會用一個更加簡單的表達：OK, Eat up! 中文可以理解為，“好了，開吃吧！”
Is English really difficult to learn ? Are you still worry about the bad English in the Fair? Are you embarrassed of the spoken English in the Fair? Do not be afraid! I have experienced many times of Canton Fair. Now I would like to share with you some relevant foreign trade English.
1.The foreigners hate the salesman who usually say OK for everything but finally can not do anything which is known as the Yes-man. When the customer ask for changing the product but you can not do, you can directly explain why and say: I'm a professional guy, not a Yes-man.
2.There is a local expression in oral English: white elephant. Do not think is as a white elephant. You should judge it according to the context. Assuming in the trolley factories, salesman is negotiating with customers about whether to make the logo on each rivet? The customer asks how much extra money does it cost? The salesman answers a total of $ 3;Then the customer says, “No, that's the white elephant.” It means that it is expensive and useless.
3. In the Fair, when customers visited the booth and said glad to meet you and thank you for your entertainment. The salesman can also say, We enjoyed having you . The expression is very common in the United States.
4. Describing someone blush, do not use “turn to red” because the foreigners will be very surprised how face turns red? They could not understand. May be it is hot or may be embarrassed or what other reason. English has a special word blush, which can be an intransitive verb and a noun. Such as:. She blushed. Never say Her face turned to red, which will make a stupid mistake.
5.After doing foreign trade for a long time, there will be occupational hazard. For example, a clothing salesman someday goes to the counter to buy clothes may touch the fabric, checking the detail and work, and calculating the labor costs and material costs in mind, and this belongs to occupational hazard. Many of us will have such kind of situation. When you are joking with the foreigners , do not use career disease and the correct expression is occupational hazard.
6. we all know the word indoor. We often encounter the indoor furniture and indoor decor in the work. But once the indoor changes into an adverb, very a few people know that is to add a “s”behind,becoming indoors. Such as: Come indoors and give me a helping hand, which means that come in and do me a favor.
7. The word “different” is very common. If you add a prefix, it becomes indifferent? Do be dumbfounded and do not think it will becomes the meaning “the same”. It means actually “I don't care”. When your colleague said that if you don’t lower the price, your customer will go away. And you can say “ I'm indifferent.”
8. Do not misuse the word “Lust”. When open the mailbox, you can see many development letter, which are stereotyped of saying the product, the good quality and competitive price. The most funny thing is she wrote that I'm confident to increase your purchasing lust. “l(fā)ust” more means "sexual desire."
9. In the English, we often need to express "whim", "spur of the moment." For example, when the Americans ask you, why do you buy a piece so ugly shirt? You replied: "Oh, it is never mind, a impulse." You can speak it with English: Come on Just a spur of the moment. Of course, the consumer can be impulsive to buy somethings, also the customer often also impulsive to make orders. What the key is that can you give a nice impression to each other
10. “Stop by” can be used to mean "drop by". You can say to the Americans: Be sure to stop by our booth in the coming Canton Fair. You can use it in the e-mail and spoken language.
11. When ask for forgiveness, European and American salesman often use “intentional” but few domestic salesman uses. For example, “We’re really sorry for the poor logo painting. Please realize it was not intentional.”
12. In spoken English, you can use “hungry” or “feel empty” to describe the hunger. For example, "I feel empty", means "I'm a little hungry," which is the same with "I'm hungry." Do not misunderstand it as I feel very empty. But “I have an empty feeling.” really means the "feeling of emptiness."
13. You can use “l(fā)ow stock”to express the low storage. For example, to explain that the delivery date will be delayed 45 days because of the low storage, you can say, “Due to the low stock of raw material, we have to postpone the delivery date to 45 days later.”. In addition, out of stock means there is no stock; sufficient stock means the storage is enough.
14. The Chinese proverbed which means when you say someone, he comes. And in English, you can say “Speak of the devil”. For example, when you are discussing some interesting with the foreigners about your colleagues, and the colleague comes this time, you can say, Wow, speak of the devil! This is an omitted usage and the whole sentence is “Speak of the devil and he appears.”
15. The word “fries”, the British called it chips and the U.S.called it French fries. As for what to do with French? There are two sources. The first one is that the French here refers to the "French deep-fried," which is a way of cooking; the other one is that the fries first appeared in the late 19th century Paris. In the United States ordering, you can simply say fries and the waiter will know what you want. In addition, there is also mashed potatoes.
16. Ship is a verb, which do not simply refer to shipping, but can also refer to air transportation. For example, When could you ship the samples? According to the context, it is impossible transport by shipping but by air. Another example, we will ship the goods by air next week. The ship here is equivalent to deliver.
17. "Lump sum payment". When the customer give a small trial orders, only $ 500, according to the conventional rule, it should be 30% deposit, and 70% against the B/L copy. And it would be too much trouble and two sums bank charges are also very expensive, so you can give the message to the customer: Could you help to pay in one lump sum for this trial order Thanks?
18. Sometimes encounter customers to visit the company, the boss may tend to spout the company and product and the development future. Many foreigners will patiently listen but when meet someone with bad temper, he may say, “Please make a long story short is.”
19.Up in the air, means it is not sure about something which is the equivalent of not sure. For example, you pick up a few large order and the performance is great, the customers appreciate you a lot and congratulate on your promotion. But it is no official announced and you are too embarrassed to show off. So you can say I really hope so. It's still up in the air.
20. To express "Unfortunately, it is a pity," we learned “ what a pity”, which is over used. In fact, in the United States, there is also a common phrase “what a bummer”. If the customer tell you, he did not win the ultimate orders, you can answer: What a bummer you losing the opportunity, which is very authentic.
21. When negotiating, you give the customer the professional opinion and is adopted, the customers may compliment you and say “You can say that again!” It is the equivalent to great or wonderful for the compliment, but not asking you to repeat the words.
22. Sometimes we often encounter some of the ridiculous people and things, and make you full of grievances. For example,customer specifies a forwarder for shipment and the forwarder is cumbersome,with many requirements and huge cost and bad service. So you can not help complaining to the customer and you can say, “I don't like their red tape.” Here, red tape means "bureaucratic jargon", "not professional."
23. The customer want to have a closed relationship with you and tell you some "secret", such as the last trade price with other suppliers, hoping to get your better prices and services and he will ask you to keep secret. At this time, you can answer, “Sure, we will be dumb as an oyster.”
24. When the customers visit, you always introduce your boss to him. For example, “this is our director”, “this is our CEO” and “this is our big boss”, which are very common expression. Sometimes to be humorous, you can also say “this is our ‘big potato’” and the customers will suddenly understand that it is your boss.
25. Many salesmen like to use the sentence “try one's best”. When customers urge the delivery date, you can say, “I will try my best to ship them earlier”. When the customers want to reduce the prices, you can reply “try my best”to give you the best price. In fact, you can also use “go all out to do”.
26. Just my luck. If your customer is an importer and you quoted last week and sent the sample, and you called him to ask the progress, he may said to you“ Just my luck” which means "very unfortunately, "" very depressed ", and the next may be we probably did not get the order.
27. When “matter”comes after “decide”, the meaning changes. It means "solve" but not decision. If customers complain about the not passing inspection, you can explain to them the reason and will rework, saying “ Please don't worry. We decided the matter.” which means the problem is solved.
28. To express "Abandon", in addition to “give up”, you can also say “back away”. Eg: We couldn't accept L / C 60 days as payment term We have to back away.
29. Sampler is relatively rare. In daily life, “sampler” means "collection of the best". For example, one day, you eat Japanese food with the customer, and ask each other whether he needs a sushi sampler, which means the collection of the best of the sushi slash.
30. In Europe idioms, we say salad dressing but not salad sauce.If we eat KFC cod bar, there will be Thousand Island dressing. If vegetable salad with olive oil vanilla and pepper sauce,it becomes the Italian dressing.
31. In the spoken English, ring a bell means "have an impression on something" For example, you find that you have contacted the customer last year and you begin talking with him. The customer did not remember that so he will ask your name and the company name with “Oh, the name rings a bell.”
32. Many customers like to bargain. In order to satisfy them, you can praise them. There is a U.S. slang “l(fā)ike nobody's business” which means "unparalleled." For example, Joseph, you have excellent price negotiation ability like nobody's business!
33. To describe " what a pity," many friends will think the classic phrase sentence: It's a pity! But recently the American colleagues told that this statement is true and authentic,but too old-fashion. The young Americans don’t use it now. They use “It's a shame!” Or “That's too bad!”
34. When the order operations appear some problem and need to be postponed, but the specific cause is not convenient to tell the customers, we tend to make a reason and excuse to solve the problem. But embarrassingly, once the excuse see through by the customer and you are being accusing, you can say sorry first and explain that you only want to use the white lie to ease your worry.
35. “Of no avail”means "useless" and "invalid." If you want to express "quality can not be improved, simply relying on lowering the price is useless", it can be written: It is of no avail to reduce the price only without quality improvement.
36. You often encounter that the customers use the lower price of other supplier to force you lower the price, saying others are lower than yours. If you know the difference of your product and the industry,you can tell the customer, “There is a world of difference between their item and ours.” The“a world of difference” here means "great difference" ,which can strengthen the tone.
37. A friend left a message to me and asked me,how to express the "female man" in English. In fact, there is the very vivid expression “a man of a woman”. I remember many years ago, the U.S. customer praised my competent assistant and I answered him, “Yep, she is a man of a woman”.
38. Using the word suitable should be careful! Many friends like to say, The quantity of 20'GP is suitable for us. Literally it is true but actually in English, “suitable” often appears with negative form. For example, This testing issue is not suitable for our item.
39. I have discussed with my American colleagues about the difference between “incident” and “accident”. Although in the dictionary they are synonyms, but actually in English countries, the use of the two is very different. “incident” refers to “something that intent to happen”. For example, “There was a special incident yesterday that I quitted.” while“accident” refers to accidental events, such as a car accident.
40. When we want to show our product to our customer at the booth or in the sample room, how to express in spoken English? You can be say, “please have a look” or “please take a look”. In the United States, there is another phrase “check it out”. So you can hold your own new products and say to your customer,Hey buddy, check it out.
41. If you invite foreigner for dinner, many people will say, “Please help yourself.” In fact, this sentence is not common in the United States. Usually it is used when you go to others home for dinner. While at the restaurant, the Americans tend to use “OK, Eat up!”
