一、商务谈判的定义

　　JamesWall认为,“business negotiation is a p rocess

　　through which two ormore parties coordinate an exchange of

　　goods or services and attemp t to agree upon rate of exchange

　　for them. ”(JamesWall, 1985: 4) ;WaysMax则将其定义

　　为“a p rocess in which two or more parties, who have both

　　common interests and conflicting interests, put forth and dis2

　　cuss exp licit p roposals concerning specific terms of a possi2

　　ble agreement. ”(WaysMax, 1979: 15)由此可见,商务谈判是一种经济活动中的交流过程,其基本目标是通过有关信息的交流来取得意见的统一或其它结果。

　　作为一种交流行为,商务谈判的根本目的包括:建立良好的业务关系( To establish goodwill) ;影响对方的行动( To influence the actions of others) ;获取或分享信息( To obtain or share information) ; 建立个人或企业形象( To build personal or company’s image) 。

　　二、商务谈判中的语言

　　在商务谈判中,有经验的谈判人员会充分发挥语言的各项功能来满足自己的目的。交流是商务谈判的核

　　心,谈判人员越能用语言陈述和表达自己的观点、立场,双方之间的分歧能够合理、快速解决的可能性就越大,其达到成功目标的可能性也就越大。

　　由于谈判双方都试图从谈判中获得最大好处,他们之间不可避免的会产生种种矛盾冲突。在这种情况下,谈判人员必须采用富有技巧的、灵活的语言表达方式来澄清问题、探讨合作的可能性、避免冲突及选定双方都能接受的解决方式。例如,当谈判一方说“hop ing to put the p roposed idea into your further considerations”,这表明双方还未就某问题达成一致;如某方说道,“Well, to that

　　matter, Iwould make a report to the head office and wait for

　　their decision”,说明谈判正面临着非常困难的局面,该方希望通过推延决策时间来为己方争取有利条件;当我们听到“We have had talks and both have fully exp ressed

　　our op inions”时,这意味着谈判双方都有所保留,在某些问题上他们并未获得明确的结果。

　　三、低调陈述在商务谈判中的运用

　　为了体现己方的优势,从而从交易中获得一定的利益,谈判人员总是乐于并急于表现其商品的优点和已经取得的成就等等,但这种自夸往往会给对方留下咄咄逼人、急功好利的印象。因此,谈判人员面临着一个如何恰当地将己方的长处表现出来、又没有吹嘘的嫌疑的问题。毫无疑问,低调陈述是可以满足这样要求的一种有利手段。

　　低调陈述是夸大的反面,它是“a statement which isnot strong enough to exp ress the full or true facts or feel2

　　ings”,通过有意的轻描淡写来达到强调事实、给对方留下深刻印象的目的。低调陈述常常被看作是委婉语的表现方法之一。

　　如提到某人不够聪明时,往往不用“stup id”或“foolish”,而改用“slow”;还用“short of terminological exactitude”来代替“telling a lie”等。但委婉语和低调陈述之间是有区别的。委婉是用温和或令人愉快的表达法来替代尖刻和令人不舒服的表达法,将不体面的事以体面的方式进行表达的修辞格( the use of a mild, p leasanter, less direct

　　name for something thought to be harsh and unp leasant) ,它能做到坏事好说,臭话好说,使丑事不丑,坏事不坏,大事化小,小事化了,在不伤人、给人留面子的基础上达到易说服人的目的;而低调陈述是一种将事件或事情进行轻描淡写或不充分地陈述。从语用学的角度来看,两者之间具有一个根本的共同点———即缓和语气和保住对方的面子,从而更有效地进行和持续交流。从这个意义上说,低调陈述遵守了Leech 的礼貌原则( PolitenessPrincip les)的谦虚准则(ModestyMaxim)和间接礼貌策略( Indirect Politeness strategy) 。

　　在商务谈判中,谈判者往往会竭力赞扬对方,并常常会故意忽视自己优点的存在而贬抑自己,这并不是说己方的优点不应得到重视和强调,实际上,谈判者正利用某些恰当而富于技巧的语言策略来更有效地达到推销自己的目的,低调陈述就是其中常常使用的策略之一。

　　低调陈述的具体运用方式有很多种,其中主要有:1. 减少感叹句的使用,多用直接疑问句式或“Wewonder if?”句型来替代祈使句。

　　为了表现其商品和服务的优点和价值,谈判人员应高度重视所使用语言的语气和语调。傲慢的口气无疑会引起交流对方的诸如不赞同、厌恶甚至是敌对的反感情绪。因此,在商务谈判中应尽量减少使用感叹句和祈使句。例如:

　　1) a. What an excellent quality of our machine tools!

　　b. According to the end users, the quality of our machine

　　tools is quite excellent!

　　2) a. It’s beyond our honourably awarded a silver

　　medal. And, it’s really unbelievable even to us. b. This

　　p roductwas warded a silvermedal by the government.

　　在上述两组例句的a例中,说话者大肆渲染其产品的优势,语气中炫耀的成分显而易见。在商务谈判的大多数情况下,这样的自我吹嘘往往会让对方觉得不礼貌甚至刺耳。相比之下, b例中的用词就显得温和、平实和客观得多,因此也更容易让人接受。又例如:

　　3)We wonder if it is possible to reduce your p rice by,

　　say, 5% ?

　　4)We app rove of your idea on the whole, but we still

　　wonder if it is convenient for you to advance the shipment

　　date to early nextmonth.

　　2. 尽量避免过多地使用辞藻华丽的语言。

　　中国有句古话,“事实胜于雄辩。”在商务谈判中,那些言过其实的修饰词往往让人听起来觉得虚假和不可信,甚至令人厌恶、反感;相反,典型的事实和准确的数据往往能确切地反映出商品的优点长处,并在谈判中发挥更具有说服力的作用。例如:

　　5) a. This kind of washing machine has a good per2

　　formance and can be used for a long time. b. This kind of

　　washingmachine can work without going wrong continually

　　formore than 50, 000 hours.

　　6) a. If we close the deal, you can make big p rofits

　　with only a small cap ital. b. You may know,Mr. Freeman,

　　the major dealer of Chinese textiles in Sweden. He made a

　　p rofit of $200, 000 from a deal of the same quantity.

　　通过比较,我们发现上述例句中的第二个句子陈述的都是事实,应该说在很多情况下,诸如“good”、“big”、“great”等等的修饰词往往无法起到简单的事实和数据所能达到的作用。又如下例:

　　7) A: Too high? That’s the lowest p riceswe can offer

　　now. The p rice of crude oil is soaring by 4. 5% , you know.

　　B: Yes, but if you look at the whole p icture,we can see

　　the p rices of other raw materials are sharp ly down.

　　A: That’s true, but Iwonder if you have taken every2

　　thing into account. For instance, our after - sale service is of

　　the best.

　　B: I see what you mean, but another way of looking at

　　it would be that the p rices you quoted are 3% higher. I

　　think it is difficult forme to persuade my p resident to accep t

　　your p resent offer. Thus, could you be persuaded to adjust

　　your p rices, say, 4% off?

　　A: I’m afraid I can’t. You see, I’m very eager to es2

　　tablish businesswith you, but if you insist on such a reduc2

　　tion, I have to drop the deal? B: Are you quite sure you

　　won’t reconsidermy p roposal? I don’twant to talk you into

　　accep ting it, but surely it’s in your interest to make some

　　concessions. You know very well it is not a small order.

　　You should make a fortune out of it even if you bring your

　　p rices down by 5% or 6%.

　　A: Maybe so, butwouldn’t you agree that both parties

　　should make some concessions? 2. 8% off. That’s the best

　　I can do. It’s almost cost p rice, you may know.

　　B: Well, that’s settled.

　　3. 避免直接与谈判对方或第三方进行对比。

　　对谈判人员来说,直接将己方的强点与对方或第三方的弱点进行对比是不合适的,对他人的情况正面进行评价也是不可取的,因为这种有意贬低他人的行为不仅是不礼貌的,同时也会令对方认为出言者缺乏足够的道德,并留下不顾及他人面子的印象。例如:

　　8) This kind of machine of ours is small in size, high

　　in quality and easy to operate, while your p roduct is bigger

　　and lack high quality and without the automatic control func2

　　tion.

　　9) As a big manufacturer, we have enough rooms to

　　move about. And with a number of newly developed p rod2

　　ucts,we need to exp lore overseas markets, and have had a

　　group of foreign cooperative partners. While that Johnson’s

　　Company is a quite small one. They have insufficient ability

　　of technical development. And their p roducts are mainly for

　　their domestic market. So they now cannot begin to talk a2

　　bout the cooperation with some big and famous foreign

　　firms.

　　上两例中谈判人员直接将己方优势与对方或其他竞争对手进行比较,这样的措辞往往会使听者觉得发言方将自己抬的太高,而把对手压得太低,不快之感自然油然而生。相比之下,下例中对比的语气就相对缓和得多。

　　10) A: This is their quotation sheet, which you may

　　have a look.

　　B: Maybe the case is so, but wouldn’t you agree that

　　we have a good reputation in this field?

　　A: Yes, but their offer is about 2% lower than the rul2

　　ingmarket p rice. It’s really verymuch.

　　B: That’s true, but there are other considerations. For

　　examp le,we guarantee a p romp t delivery.

　　A: Yes, perhap s you have a point here.

　　4. 减轻话语中的主观因素。

　　在谈判中,谈判方在强调自己的优势时,总喜欢使用“we”、“our”、“none but ours”等词来强调自己的独一无二,但这些词句似乎过分地夸大了发言方的能力,成了违背商务谈判交际中合作原则的表现。我们试来对比以下的例句:

　　11) a. It goes without saying that great p rogress has

　　been made in our research, and we also think, the research

　　has been in the leading position in the world.

　　b. As you may know, our research hasmade great p ro2

　　gress and is considered among the leading ones in the

　　world.

　　12) a. Our enterp rise has been develop ing rap idly and

　　well known in China and overseas. Our p roducts are ex2

　　tremely welcomed by the customers.

　　b. Our enterp rise has been develop ing rap idly and its

　　p roducts have been popular by the customers in home and

　　foreign market.

　　13) Your kind attention is also invited to a fact that

　　several international big companies, including NEC and No2

　　kia, have appointed us as their sales rep resentative in Chi2

　　na.

　　前两例中的第二句看起来都要比第一句更具体、客观和可靠,而最后一句的表达往往被谈判人员视为经典表达句型之一而广泛运用。

　　由此可见,在商务谈判中,谈判人员如果表现出冷酷和不灵活的语言使用,就会使其失去优势;而富有技巧的语言策略无疑会帮助他们找到对双方都有利的可能性,并将谈判向成功的方向引进。因此。谈判人员必须时时注意对方对己方言辞的反应,并及时调整语言表达技巧和策略,这样才能使商务谈判这种交际活动在合作的基础上顺利展开和进行下去。