Abstract: International business negotiation plays an increasingly important role in trade activities. Pragmatic strategies are flexible expression methods and skills with the use of politeness principle to realize expectant communication goal. The proper use of pragmatic strategies is closely linked with the success of international business negotiation. This paper aims at studying the use of pragmatic strategies in international business negotiation with the basis of politeness principle and putting forward pragmatic strategies to deal with language problem of international business negotiation. First, international business negotiation is introduced adequately. Second, Leech’s politeness principle and Brown & Levinson’s face theories are introduced. Third, four problems of international business negotiation are listed. Finally, this paper put forward pragmatic strategies with the basis of politeness principle to cope with problems.

Key words: international business negotiation; politeness principle; face theories; problems; pragmatic strategies;

Contents

Abstract

中文摘要

1. Introduction-1

2. Overview of International Business Negotiation-1

2.1 Definition of Negotiation-1

2.2 Three Stages in the Process of International Business Negotiation-2

2.3 Five Main Categories in International Business Negotiation-3

2.4 Three Features of International Business Negotiation-4

3. Politeness Principle-5

3.1 Leech’s Politeness Principle-5

3.2 Brown & Levinson’s Theory-8

4. Problems in International Business Negotiation-11

4.1 Difference in Cultural Custom and Religious Faith-11

4.2 Difference in Communion Model-11

4.3 Difference in Thinking Model-12

4.4 Difference in Value-13

5. Pragmatic Strategies in International Business Negotiation Based on Politeness  

  Principle-13

5.1 The Lexical Level-14

5.2 The Syntactic Level-17

5.3 Voice and Mood-19

6. Conclusion-21

References-22