The Selected Language On A Business E-Mail

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ABSTRACT

Food is one of our first necessities as a human being. It gives us energy and power to live a life. However, nowadays, besides acted as our source of energy, food also can make a good business. Food business or culinary business is infamously growing and growing. Related to it, my sister and I were going to make a business. However, running the business is not easy thing as easy as blinking the eyes. Business has several issues in it and one of them is a promotion issue. The promotion is essential part of business. It is a kind of tool that bridges to the costumers so that people will know about it. There are so many kind of promotion such as brochure, leaflet, newspaper advertisement, and many more. From so many of promotion tool, I prefer correspondence to use. Correspondence has a strong characteristic to maintain the business on the track when it is written carefully and effectively.

This job training report entitled The Selected Language on Business E-mail discusses one major concern. It is to find out how important is language usage on the business correspondence to help product promotion.

Selected language is a very essential factor of business letter. It drives the letter to be effective letter or not. Besides selected language, there are three more aspects of effective letter; they are directness, the tone and the length

The method of this report is description analysis. The writer studied the correspondence cases which occurred at Firdaus Cake. Furthermore, the data were taken from database of Firdaus Cake.

Summary, effective business letter is the letter that written carefully and thoughtfully and watch the every words that being used.

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ABSTRAK

Makanan adalah salah satu kebutuhan pertama kami sebagai manusia. Ini memberi kita energi dan kekuatan untuk menjalani kehidupan. Namun, saat ini, selain manjadi sumber energi kita, makanan juga dapat menjadi mata pencaharian yang baik. Bisnis makanan atau bisnis kuliner tumbuh dan berkembang dengan pesat. Terkait dengan itu, kakak saya dan saya tertarik akan membuat bisnis.

Namun, menjalankan bisnis tidak hal yang mudah semudah berkedip mata. Bisnis memiliki beberapa masalah di dalamnya dan salah satunya adalah masalah promosi. Promosi adalah bagian penting dari bisnis. promosi adalah alat untuk menjembatani kita dengan pelanggan sehingga orang akan tahu bahwa ada bisnis yang bernama Firdaus Cake misalnya.

Ada begitu banyak jenis promosi seperti brosur, leaflet, iklan surat kabar, dan banyak lagi. Dari begitu banyak alat promosi, saya lebih suka menggunakan surat menyurat untuk mempromosikan produk. Hal itu dikarenakan Korespondensi memiliki karakteristik yang kuat untuk mejaga agar bisnis ini tetap berjalan.

Laporan KKL yang berjudul The selected language on business E-mail

membahas satu hal utama yakni untuk mengetahui betapa pentingnya penggunaan bahasa pada surat bisnis untuk membantu promosi produk.

Pemilihan Kata adalah aspek yang sangat penting dari surat bisnis. Hal tersebut menentukan efektif tidaknya surat bisnis. Selain pemilhan kata, ada tiga aspek lainnya dalam pembuatan surat bisnis yang efektif, ketiga hal tersebut ialah The directness, the tone, and the length.

Metode yang dipakai untuk memebuat laporan ini adalah metode analisis deskripsi. Penulis mengkaji kasus surat menyurat yang terjadi di Firdaus Cake. Selanjutnya, penulis mengambil data yang dari database Firdaus Cake.

Kesimpulannya adalah Surat bisnis yang efektif adalah surat yang ditulis dengan hati-hati dan serius dan tetap menjaga setiap kata yang akan digunakan.

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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

1.1Background to the topic

Do you know the song trouble is a friend by Lenka? The song tells you that trouble is a friend of everyone‟s; one will never get away from it and it is always in everyone‟s path. In this case, everyone is suggested to be friend with trouble yet trying to resolve. As anybody else, while running the business, I faced a significant difficulty; a promotion.

The promotion is always being an essential part of a business. Since it is a kind of bridge among the business and the costumers, it is a mean to introduce our business so that people out there know the product we are selling. Furthermore, when doing the promotion, there are so many ways of promotion such as brochure, leaflets, mouth to mouth promotion, newspaper advertisement, internet advertisement and many else.

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The issue was quite unique to comprehend related to the necessity of this job training report. It concerned about how important the rightfully usage of language in every area of life especially on a business letter. Afterward, it was the necessity of the relation between business and language.

To sum up, the report is not just discussing about job training alone, the usage of language and business should be illustrated inside.

1.2 Scope

Here are several discussed topics that I am going to comprehend: 1. What factors lead a business correspondence to be written carefully?

2. What elements should be taken into consideration?

3. How the selected words may help product promotion?

1.3 Objectives

The objectives of this report are:

1. Identify and describe the factors that lead a business correspondence to be written carefully;

2. Describe the elements that should be taken into consideration when a business correspondence is written; and

3. Describe the way in which the selected words help product promotion.

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Correspondence may become a powerful weapon of promotion if it can be made as much interesting as possible. However, we should be vigilant person on writing a letter; we should know what and which the important points in a letter are. One of the important points is the language usage. Furthermore, it is very essential on a letter; we just cannot be careless on using any and every words, otherwise it will be way off the road. Moreover, by using the right and appropriate language, we can increase the percentage of reader interest.

How can we sell out of our products if the costumers do not know what good points of our products are? By using the right and appropriate language in the letter we send, we can make sure that the reader will be interested, even at first sight they do not put interest on the letter.

Based on that, I will dig in to give a reasonable proof of why the language usage becomes so important on correspondence and what will become the letter when appropriate word is applied; also what is the advantage of very good written letter for business.

Frankly speaking, there are several advantages from mentioned topics above. First, practically, a good and effective-written letter will give boost increasing of business. Second, theoretically, it will deepen my knowledge of language on considered factors and required elements while writing business correspondence.

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What factors lead the business correspondence to be written carefully? That is one of the questions that stated earlier. The question was appeared because of the tendency of carelessly business letter writing which happened quite often. Actually, the business letter should be written vigilantly yet effectively.

There are several reasons – that can be the factors – why the business correspondence to be written carefully. First of all, costumers (also readers) often do not understand what the letter is talking about. The misunderstanding of the costumers is triggered by the ambiguity of the letter, the rambling letter writing, or sometimes costumers do not find the benefit that will be gained from the letter sender. And secondly, the readers often dislike the style of the language which impressed as repressive and compulsions, in other word it is unpersuasive letter.

The ambiguity means vagueness or uncertainty of meaning. It means the meaning is not clear and confusing (see www.thefreedictionary.com/ambiguity). In the case of business letter, ambiguity should be avoiding since it makes the reader confused and uninterested to the letter.

Rambling letter is a condition of letter that the words are too long and tells anything which is not related to the subject of the letter (see The AMA handbook of business writing: 15).

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Consequently, what element should be taken into consideration of effective business letter? The answer is the directness, the length, the tone and the word choosing (see The AMA handbook of business letter third edition: 26).

The directness is first thing that you should know when writing a business letter. The letter should be written directly to what you mean or want to be informed.

“Be as direct as I your letter writing. If

you can convey your message in five

words or ten do so (The AMA handbook

of business letter: 9)”.

The length is the second thing that you should know when writing a business letter. The letter should not be more than 1 page of each topic. It should be begun with main topic on the first paragraph in order to know expectation of the reader as soon as possible. Avoiding ambiguity and pays attention to rambling words is the point to keep an appropriate length of the letter.

“Planning and clarity of letter can help

to limit the length of your letter.

Paragraph should not be too long to

follow and difficult to follow (The AMA

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The tone is the third thing. The tone of letter means the color of letter, not literarily color however the courteous and friendly.

Directing a letter toward a reader may

seem very simple, but a letter too often

incorrectly assumes that his or her interest

and knowledge as the same as the reader

(The AMA handbook of business letter:

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The word choosing is the fourth. It is another essential part to construct a good effectively business letter. Word choosing has a close connection with the ambiguity, rambling letter, and the persuasiveness. Furthermore, it often leads the letter to be misunderstanding.

“Sales letters are written to catch the

attentions of the reader in an attempt to

sell them a product or service (The AMA

handbook of business writing: 582)”.

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Persuasiveness is a part of one of 5 language functions. It is a part of directive function of language. The directive is function of language that influences people.

“The third function of language is

directive function. It is if we are trying to

influence people. The main example of

directive function is command and request

(Geoffrey Leech Semantics: 64)”.

Word choosing also has relation with euphemism and brand imaging. It will help a lot to influence people. Euphemism is not only about covering a negative context, but also to sharpen words so that words can influence and move people as we want.

Word choosing on the letter should be crucial. It means that when you constructing a letter, you should know what you are trying to tell or offer; why it is. The word choosing is the main factors why people often get the wrong message from the letter you have been written.

Hence, business letter should be constructed carefully yet effectively. When business letter is constructed as should be as mentioned above, the cycle of business will be like this below:

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As you can see on the cycle above, appropriate language usage will be created persuasive impression. Then, it will make an acknowledgement of costumer after that interest will show up, and subsequently order the product and finally money will come into your account.

However, if the letter is not constructed as it should be, the effect will be like this below:

Business Promotion

Brochures

Leaflets

Correspondence Business

Letter

Appropriate language

Persuasive

Acknowledgement

of costumers Interest of

costumers Order of the

product Product

Selling Money in

PROFIT GOOD

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Oppositely, it is clearly seen that when somebody writes a business letter carelessly, unpersuasive the letter becomes. Therefore, when the letter is not persuasive enough, costumer will not acknowledge your business. Moreover, you will not get interest of the costumer; subsequently there will be no product out. The next affect is there is no money adds your account and only COSTS you will get in the end.

1.6 Research Method

The job training report entitled The Selected Language on Business E-mail is done by the description analysis method. The data was taken from the database of Firdaus Cake. Otherwise, the theories were taken from The AMA handbook of

Business Promotion

Brochures

Leaflets

Correspondence Business

Letter

Carelessly

Made

Unpersuasive

Costumer are not recognize Loss of

Interest of costumers Lose a chance

of ordering There is not

product selling There is no

money IN

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business writing, The AMA handbook of business letter and Geoffrey Leech Semantic. The job training report is completed in a month from 1 October 2011 to 29 October 2011.

1.7 Place and Time

The form of activity I chose for my job training is running a bussines. The bussines that I got involved was food store – Firdaus Cake which is located on Kebayoran Graha Park block Q-No. 73, Setia Mekar Village, East Bekasi, Bekasi city, West Java. I took in charge the accountancy and correspondence.

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CHAPTER II

THE BUSINESS OF FIRDAUS CAKE

Firdaus Cake is the name of a business that I took a part. It is a culinary home business based catering service, established on October 22nd 2009. From that name, we should have known that the product of FirdausCake is food, yes indeed is. However, besides the foods, Firdaus Cake also provides a coaching clinic to make lovely delicious food.

There are many variants of foods that Firdaus Cake offers from Indonesian culinary to foreign cooking, such as nasi tumpeng,ayam kodok, fraline, truffle, and many kinds of cakes from chocolate cake, cheese cake, edible cake, to wedding cake.

Firdaus Cake is located on Kebayoran Graha Park block Q-No. 73, Setia Mekar Village, East Bekasi, Bekasi city, West Java Telephone: 021-32821617.There, I worked as assistant owner. As assistant owner, I took in charge in the accountancy and correspondence and had responsibility to the owner directly.

Here are several products of FIRDAUS CAKE and the pricelist:

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 Package I (Rp.250.000): 1 ayam kodok, steak sauce, vegetable stew such as carrot & bean served in mika box with salad garnish.

 Package II (Rp.300.000): 1 ayam kodok, steak sauce, vegetable stew such as carrot & bean served in exclusive presentation.

 Package III (Rp.375.000): 1 ayam kodok, steak sauce, mashed potato, vegetable stew such as carrot, bean, salad garnish, parsley and served with exclusive presentation.

 Cake

o _{Black Forrest}



 Diameter 22 cm Rp.275.000

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o _{Edible Cake}

 22x22cm = Rp.285.000

 24x24 cm = Rp.335.000

 30x30 cm = Rp.385.000

 30x40 cm = Rp.435.000

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CHAPTER III

THE SELECTED LANGUAGE ON A BUSINESS E-MAIL

Language is always being an essential part of our life. We speak, communicate, make a joke even be angry, it entirely uses language. In the world of work, it also has been important aspect. Every kind of works uses language, running business is no exception. In business, it is used for many kinds of works such as communicating, promoting and constructing a correspondence; in this case is business correspondence.

On business correspondence, the letter cannot be made carelessly. The entire aspects of letter should be considered as the whole important parts. The headline must be attractive, the subject should be constructed as interesting as possible and the impression must be persuasive and effectively constructed.

Hence, business correspondence should be constructed effectively yet carefully.

3.1 Factors That Lead Business Correspondence Written Carefully

There are several factors that lead business correspondence to be written effectively and carefully. They are avoiding ambiguity, and paying attentions to not making rambling letter.

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The ambiguity means vagueness or uncertainty of meaning. It means the meaning is not clear and confusing. In this case, ambiguity should be avoided since it makes the reader confused and uninterested to the letter.

Below is an example of ambiguity:

“The credit officer approved the credit for James Chicago

because he was obviously of superior character.”

From the sentence above, it cannot be confirmed who is superior character, the credit officer. The pronoun “he” may refer to the officer or Mr. James. In

order to avoid the ambiguity, the sentence should be written:

“Since the credit officer was superior character, he approved

the credit for James Chicago.”

The following is another sample of ambiguous letter that occurred at the job training which is done:

Bekasi, Monday, January 1, 2010

Firdaus Cake

KebayoranGraha Park Block Q-No. 73 Bekasi, West Java

Dear Mrs. Kuswara

Are you having trouble getting high quality food for your celebration event in present days? If you are like most business owners, you have trouble finding the time to economically produce gorgeous events. This is why it is important to have a specialist take care of your most important celebrating events.

Firdaus cake provides various delicious foods and coaching clinic to make a lot of variation foods from culinary to foreign cakes.

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In the letter above, there is an ambiguous word occurred. It does not give precise offer; whether food offer or coaching clinic offer. The letter should be consistent with what it offers; the food or the coaching clinic. The impact of construction the letter above is surely the reader confused.

On the other hand, the letter can be constructed in emphasizing the coaching clinic not the foods as the letter describe below:

Here is another sample of ambiguous letter at Firdaus Cake: Bekasi, Monday, January 1, 2010

Firdaus Cake

Dear Mrs. Kuswara

Do you want to become a cook? However, the fee of the training shocks your heart. Do not worry since Firdaus Cake to help you with the very economical fees. For the first member you can save to 50% of membership fee with excellent training.

FirdausCake is 5 years based Service Company which has been made people good at cooking especially cakes. Firdaus Cake provides you coaching clinic to make a lot of variation food from culinary to foreign cakes.

At Firdaus Cake, we have the skills and experience to come in and help you make the best possible impression. May we stop by and offer you a FREE estimate of how much it would cost to get your events looking great? If so, I would be very grateful if you like to give us a call at 021-9847546.

Bekasi, 20 june 2010

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The ambiguity of the letter above is the underlined clause; I hope you always be

fine of good. What actually did she want to tell? Is it fine or good. Sometimes it is

occurred and somehow I have already get used to it.

However, I cannot let the problem unsolved. The letter should be like this below:

Or like this:

Dear Mrs. Kurnia

Hi Mrs. Kurnia how‟re you doing? I hope you always be fine of good.

I saw an advertisement at your personal blog for your company however it was not as detail as I want. Please sent me 3 copies of you product catalog so I can share them with my partners.

Thank you very much. I look forward to receiving the catalog of your Firdaus Cake‟s exciting product.

Mrs. Wartini

Dear Mrs. Kurnia

Hi Mrs. Kurnia how‟re you doing? I hope you always be fine.

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It will be lovely when the letter is constructed effectively without ambiguity. It will make the reader know what the topic is immideately.

3.1.2 The Rambling Letter

This is the second factor that leads why the letter should be written carefully. Rambling letter is often occured in the world of business correspondence. It often gives the letter bad impact; that is uninterested of the reader.

Rambling letter means the letter is circling unknownly and not to the pointand it tends to be a gratutiously long and boring letter.

This is a sample of rambling letter: Bekasi, 20 june 2010

Dear Mrs. Kurnia

Hi Mrs. Kurnia how‟re you doing? I hope you always be fine.

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The letter above is the worst business letter ever. Believe it or not, it was occurred once at Firdaus Cake. The letter above is the worst record of Firdaus Cake. The letter should not be constructed like above.

One important point of business letter is that the letter is not free essay writing which required a bridge on the beginning paragraph. It will be a useless effort.

Business letter should be written as direct as possible (see point 3.2.1); to the point of the topic. It will be much more effective, when the letter is written like this below:

Bekasi, Monday, March 10, 2010

Firdaus Cake

Dear Mrs. Wijaya

Food is our first necessity of life. Food is our source of energy. Food is complementary in celebrating moment. Besides that food can be a source of livelihood. It can be a good business if you serious at it.

So when you having trouble getting good food for your celebration event in present days? If you are like most business owners, you have trouble finding the time to economically produce gorgeous events. This is why it is important to have a specialist take care of your most important celebrating events

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What parts those make the letter above effective?

First, it is to the point part; are having trouble getting good food for your celebration event in present day. On the first paragraph the letter has already told what the main point is. It is about good food for your celebration day.

Second is the impression of conviction; At Firdaus Cake, we have the skills and experience to come in and help you make the best possible impression. That sentence gives impression to the reader that Firdaus Cake is very good at supporting events with the food.

Third is the power word such as FREE; May we stop by and offer you a FREE estimate of how much it would cost to get your events looking great. The reader will always be so much interested about the word FREE; It always has.

3.2 The element should be taken into consideration Bekasi, Monday, March 10, 2010

Firdaus Cake

Dear Mrs. Wijaya

Are you having trouble getting good food for your celebration event in present days? If you are like most business owners, you have trouble finding the time to economically produce gorgeous events. This is why it is important to have a specialist take care of your most important celebrating events

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In construction of an effective letter, there are several element that people should be considered. They are the directness, the length, the tone and personality, and the choosing word.

3.2.1 The directness

As mentioned earlier, the directness is a first thing that you should know when writing a business letter. The letter should be written directly to what you mean or want to be informed.

Please take a look at the pieces of this letter below:

“My correspondence was initiated to inform you of the high caliber of

program and product of a business in which I have take pleasure in

being involved over the past few years. The floppy-fruity business

association has served to keep me informed of, and actively involved

in the current political and economic issues affecting small business

through its monthly breakfast meetings with interesting and

impressive speakers, its newsletter on legislative activities in Bandung,

and several other programs outlined in the attaché letter (The AMA

Handbook of Business writing; ).”

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“I am writing to you about the high caliber program and product

offered by the floppy-fruity business association, a group that I have

been involve for the past few years (The AMA handbook of business

writing: ).”

Instead of using many words like “My correspondence was initiated to

inform you…” it will be simpler as “I am writing to you about…” that will be much more simple and direct. Besides that, the attention of reader will be taken immediately.

I give you example cases of directness in letter at Firdaus Cake as written below:

Basically, the congratulating letter above is good enough. However, it still has a chance to be written more directly as I mentioned earlier.

Bekasi, saturday, March 15, 2010

Firdaus Cake

Dear Mr. Pratama

Congratulation on opening your own travelling business. I know it has been your dream for some time, and I‟m overjoyed that you finally have your own business up and going.

I must tell you how much I admired you for the determination and fortitude you have had to follow through on your dream. Those of us who have gotten to know you personally are not that surprised. We have a little doubt that you will succeed beyond all expectation.

I would love to join at your opening next Sunday. I will be there to cheers you on

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The congratulating letter will be much better if it is written like this below:

To make you sure, here is another case of directness of letter that occurred at Firdaus Cake:

Bekasi, saturday, March 15, 2010

Firdaus Cake

Dear Mr. Pratama

Congratulation on opening your own travelling business. I know it has been your dream for some time, and I‟m overjoyed that you finally have your own business up and going

I must tell you how much I admired you for the determination and fortitude you have had to follow through on your dream. Those of us who have gotten to know you personally are not all surprised that you will succeed beyond all expectation.

I would love to join at your opening next Sunday. I will be there to cheers you on

Best regard

Firdaus Cake

Dear Mrs. Kurnia

Hi, Mrs. Kurnia, it is been a while, How are you doing?

As you know we are in the process of celebrating our company anniversary. Will you send us information on the price, and product list of Firdaus Cake?

Tahukita currently has 50 officers to be taken care. They are so precious for us, so that, I am going to make a little party for my precious officers.

Send us the information immediately so that we can evaluate whether or not firdaus cake can supply lovely delicious food.

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Please take a look at the letter above. The question is what is the point she (the writer of the letter) asking how are you doing. The letter should not use that line of phrase instead it should come to the subject as soon as possible.

The letter will be much better if it is written like this below:

3.2.2 The Length

The length of the letter is very much affecting to the appearance. The reader will not be reading a letter that consists of 3-4 pages with the rambling words. Therefore, a business letter should not be more than 1 page except an enquiry letter. The letter should be begun with main topic on the first paragraph in order to know expectation of the reader as soon as possible.

Firdaus Cake

Dear Mrs. Kurnia

We are in the process of celebrating our company anniversary. Will you send us information on the price, and product list of Firdaus Cake?

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1 page consist of not more than 4 paragraphs which are introducing subject or reference of previous letter, the elaboration section of the first paragraph and the closing paragraph.

For example:

Using the directness and avoiding ambiguity will help the length of the letter. A concise paragraph which comes up to the point is necessary.

Here is the case of the length of letter at Firdaus Cake: Dear Mrs. Euis

Welcome! Your account at floppy-fruity supply has been approved. We are proud to have you as costumer.

Euis, as you possibly know, floppy-fruity supply is a 10 years old company, with 20 stores in Indonesia. We supply a complete line of agricultural products including seeds, fertilizer and tools. As a leader in this industry, we attempt to offer the best possible to our costumer. Our goal is to be you most valuable supplier. Customer satisfaction is our number-one priority.

Your approved credit line is Rp.3000.000. A service charge is added to the past-due balances that are not paid by twenty-fifth day of the billing month.

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For a glance, the letter above does not have a problem. However, when we take a look at that, there are several issues on it. First, the letter is too long for an interest letter. And secondly, it is the same issue as previous discussion; there are many useless words such as you will never know how surprise I am when you reply my message a few weeks ago. So I prepared as much as I can to complete

this task.

The two issues have a bad influence to the length of that letter. The solution is that the letter should be constructed like this below:

Bekasi, 30 may 2010

Mr. AndiHartanto Pondokungu no. 32 Bekasi, Jawabarat

Dear Mr. Hartanto

You will never know how surprise I am when you reply my message a few weeks ago. So I prepared as much as I can to complete this task.

I was so glad to have had the opportunity to meet with you. Thank you for sending me a proposal letter for the seminar we talked about having you run.

Your project sounds very interesting. I would like to know more about it. I understand you have some sample material prepared, which we would be interested in seeing. I would happy to send you the comments and suggestions. I believe that you will find out these recommendations to be helpful as your work progress.

Mr. Hartanto, I know you are very interested in having your seminar produced. As a prospective seminar leader, you will undoubtedly consider a number of criteria in selecting who would you like to work with in putting on the seminar. These might be including sales advertising, promotion and content development assistant.

I look forward to be hearing from you and seeing your material. In the meantime, you have my best wish for continued progress on your work. If I can be any assistant to you, please do not hesitate to call on me.

Best Regard

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With those sentences disappeared, the letter is much better than the previous one.

3.2.3 The Tone

The other thing which is important as one before on creating an effective business letter is the tone. On this part, all aspects of the tone will describe as detail as possible.

The tone of letter means the color of letter, not literarily color however the courteous and friendly. The tone of letter is going to help the writer to get a positive reaction from the reader. The letter should be written courteously yet friendly as if the writer is talking to the reader.

Bekasi, 30 may 2010

Dear Mr. Hartanto

Best Regard

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Please take a look at the pieces of letter sample above, in first paragraph the writer writes the tone of letter “We are proud to have you as costumer”. And in the second paragraph, writer sets the letter as he addresses his costumer by her first name as a form of maintaining a personal relationship and courteous tone.

The other important thing of the tone of letter is the writer places him or herself in the mindset of the receiver or reader. It is often happened that letter which is written does not reach the wishes of reader and that means the communication between the writer and the reader is not complete.

I give you the real case of the tone of the letter which occurred at Firdaus Cake:

Dear Mrs. Euis

Welcome! Your account at floppy-fruity supply has been approved. We are proud to have you as costumer.

Euis, as you possibly know, floppy-fruity supply is a 10 years old company, with 20 stores in Indonesia. We supply a complete line of agricultural products including seeds, fertilizer and tools. As a leader in this industry, we attempt to offer the best possible to our costumer. Our goal is to be you most valuable supplier. Customer satisfaction is our number-one priority.

Bekasi, 30 may 2010

Dear Mr. Hartanto

Best Regard

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Please take a look the letter above, it is the same letter in the case of the length of the letter. In the case of the tone, the letter still has a little issue in it.

As I mentioned previous sub-chapter, the tone of the letter means courteous and friendly. Moreover, the letter should be addressing his costumer by her or his first name as a form of maintaining a personal relationship and courteous tone.

Hence, the letter should be written as the letter below:

Bekasi, 30 may 2010

Dear Andi

Andi, I know you are very interested in having your seminar produced. As a prospective seminar leader, you will undoubtedly consider a number of criteria in selecting who would you like to work with in putting on the seminar. These might be including sales advertising, promotion and content development assistant.

Best Regard

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By addressing his costumer by her or his first name as a form of maintaining a personal relationship and courteous tone, the letter becomes like that.

The writer thinks that when writing a letter the sender should consider these questions. First, what will motivate the reader to react favorably to my letter? And second, what things will interest the reader? The writer should think carefully about what it is that will give a conviction to the reader and what you are writing is advantageous for the reader.

3.3 Selected Words May Help Product Promotion

Word choosing is another essential part to construct a good effectively business letter. Word choosing has a close connection with the ambiguity, rambling letter, and the persuasiveness. Furthermore, it often leads the letter to be misunderstanding.

The business letter should be written carefully without mistake. The using of each word must be perfect and accurate; also the sentence should be as effective and persuasive as possible.

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From so many case occurred, I give one of the cases. Please take a look at the letter below:

On the example above, on the underlined phrase, look and see carefully. The phrases good food, give us a call, set up and appointment with one of your friendly operators. Those phrases, it should be more persuasive.

Hence, when writing a business letter, consider this information. A good business letter focuses on what interest the reader such as the benefit of the costumers and how the costumer will use the product or the service.

If the letter is not personally addressed, the letter should be started with headline that will describe the key benefit to the reader. Furthermore, the letter is supposed to use power words such as: free, proven, imagine, how to, fast cheap, save, enjoy, introducing. The last thing which should be involved, it should get the reader attention, target the audiences, lists of benefits and make a promise.

Dear Mr. Smith:

Are you having trouble getting good food for your celebration event in present days? If you are like most business owners, you have trouble finding the time to economically produce good-looking events. This is why it is important to have a specialist take care of your most important celebrating events.

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First, it has point of how the letter focuses on what interest the reader such as benefit of using the product; offer you a FREE estimate of how much it would cost to get your events looking great. Second, the letter is already using power word like FREE. Moreover, it also has already been using make a promise point such as will help you make the best possible impression (look at the letter above for more detail).

However, the level of persuasiveness can still be increased without ignore the length and the directness of letter. That is by using word choosing method.

The word choosing makes the semantic point of word changed. If we cleverly use and exploit the word, the word can be powerful enough to make people turn and follow us. That is the persuasiveness made for; to influence people.

In semantic discussion, that point is called directive function. As I mentioned earlier, Directive function is the function of language that influences people. Hence, directive function has a close relation with the persuasiveness.

Related to the business letter, the word choosing makes the letter has directive function in it and change the persuasiveness quite a lot.

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Overall, an example letter above is quite good sales letter, as you can see that it already has several point of good letter should be like this:

As you can see, there several changes on this letter above compare to the previous letter. Here are several changes above:

 Good food High Quality Food

 Good looking event Gorgeous Events

 Give us a call I would be grateful if you like to give us a call

First change, it is good food to high quality food. Why is the factor of high quality food considered as a better usage? It is sense of lexeme of the word. High quality food is sensed higher level than good food. If it is categorized on A to E, good food is B and high quality food is A. The reader will immediately realize that high quality means it is more than good.

A – High quality (highest value) Dear Mr. Smith:

Are you having trouble getting high quality food for your celebration event in present days? If you are like most business owners, you have trouble finding the time to economically produce gorgeous events. This is why it is important to have a specialist take care of your most important celebrating events.

At Firdaus Cake, we have the skills and experience to come in and help you make the best possible impression. May we stop by and offer you a FREE estimate of how much it would cost to get your events looking great? If so, I would be very grateful if you like to give us a call at 021-9847546.

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B – Good

C – Average (middle value) D - Bad

E – Worst (lowest value)

The “High Quality Food” is the shape of euphemism and image branding.

That “High Quality Food” phrase has more power to influence people more that

the “Good Food” phrase. That is why; high quality food is more persuasive than

good food. Even though, the food has a high quality is just the probability.

Second, it is good looking event to gorgeous event. At this point, same case is occurred. The sense of lexeme of the word considers that gorgeous event is higher than good food in level area of word. Gorgeous means luxurious, beautiful and not just good. It is more than just good.

A – Gorgeous (highest value)

B – Good Looking

C – Ordinary (middle value)

D – Bad Looking

E – Messy (lowest value)

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to move and influence people than „Good Looking” phrase. In other word, gorgeous is more persuasive than good looking even the factual condition is not same with the impression of the word.

Semantically, first and second case considers as conceptual meaning, euphemism and directive function of language. It means that the case has several discussions on semantics area. Since semantics is just conventional theory which has no the exact conceptual theory, the meaning of the words can be changed according to knowledge and experience of the victim in this case is the reader or the costumer.

Third, give us a call to I would be grateful if you like to give us a call. Would you like to give us a call phrase is request form, moreover it is polite form of the phrase. Give us a call phrase is considered as a command form. Persuasiveness is related to request yet oppositely compulsion related to command.

This table below will show the difference command and request:

NO Command Request

1 Give us a call I would be grateful if you like to give us a call

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Basically, since the directive function is related to command and request, actually it is not the big issue. However, in the case of business letter, those things cannot be tolerated. Business letter should be courteous and friendly as I mentioned earlier. Hence, business letter should be constructed with request form not with the command form.

Please take a look at the two letters below, compare them:

The first one is the letter which has command impression and the second one is opposite of the first.

The First Letter:

Then, The second letter: Dear Mr. Smith:

Are you having trouble getting good food for your celebration event in present days? If you are like most business owners, you have trouble finding the time to economically produce good-looking events. This is why it is important to have a specialist take care of your most important celebrating events.

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You can see it through the two letters above and tell what the difference is. It has a quite a difference as the writer explain the letter above. The second letter is somehow better than the first one. It is because of the second letter has more directive function than the first letter; hence the second letter is more persuasive than the first letter.

Besides, the second letter has one point that the first does not has. It is gratitude line like thank you. That is another essential aspect of the business letter.

The gratitude line in the business letter is a quite important. It should be written as always.

Here is another case of word choosing which occurred at Firdaus Cake. Compare the first and second letter below:

First Letter: Dear Mr. Smith:

Are you having trouble getting high quality food for your celebration event in present days? If you are like most business owners, you have trouble finding the time to economically produce gorgeous events. This is why it is important to have a specialist take care of your most important celebrating events.

At Firdaus Cake, we have the skills and experience to come in and help you make the best possible impression. May we stop by and offer you a FREE estimate of how much it would cost to get your events looking great? If so, I would be very grateful if you like to give us a call at 021-9847546.

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Second letter:

There are several word changing in the letter above. First, “will you send

us information” is changed into “I wonder if you like to send us information”.

Second, “send us the information immediately” is changed into “would you like to

send us the information immediately” Firdaus Cake

Dear Mrs. Kurnia

We are in the process of celebrating our company anniversary. Will you send us information on the price, and product list of Firdaus Cake?

Best regard

Firdaus Cake

Dear Mrs. Kurnia

We are in the process of celebrating our company anniversary. I wonder if you like to send us information on the price, and product list of Firdaus Cake?

Would you like to send us the information immediately so that, we can evaluate whether or not firdaus cake can supply us lovely delicious foods.

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The sentences from first letter are command from. Oppositely, the sentences from second letter are no other a request form. Since it is in the area of business letter, the second form is more appropriate to be used than the first form. It because of business letter should be courteous and friendly.

From the business flow chart earlier (see Chapter I Framework of theory), it can be told that word choosing is important point of business letter. The selected word helps to get the persuasiveness on the letter and afterward to make the reader interest. The next effect of the selected word is ordering product which will ends at money in point. It is the point that we run the business, to make money.

Related to the job training, In the beginning the writer assume that letter can be made easily however it is all wrong assumption. Hence, the letter should be written carefully even the shortest and the most usual one. When you write a letter, read it carefully, see that you have to put everything you intended and put yourself in the place of the receiver. Writing and constructing a business letter are not easy as blinking the eyes.

3.4 Problem and Solution

The job training was not without problems. As I have said in the beginning of this report, we just can be apart from problems; it will always be beside us. Then, one of the problems of job training is irregularity of accountancy.

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CHAPTER IV

CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

The conclusion is business letter should be written carefully, and thoughtfully. There are several factors that why business letter should be written carefully. They are avoiding ambiguity and paying attention to the rambling letter. In order to overcome the issues, there are several elements that should be considered in writing business letter. The four element of business letter which should be considered is the directness, the length, the tone and the word choosing.

The four element above cannot be separated, since that four is linked each other. They act as one to comprehend the issues of the business letter. Directness links to the length and the word choosing links to the tone of the letter. And when the four elements work as one to comprehend the issues, it will created a very effective and persuasive business letter which later on will be beneficial in product promoting.

Furthermore, the word choosing is one thing that should be considered seriously in writing business letter, otherwise it will be get wrong way from the purpose. Besides that, word choosing reflects our personality and professionalism. So that, the business letter should be constructed as very good as possible. The very good business letter will surely made a very good business.

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THE SELECTED LANGUAGE ON BUSINESS E-MAIL

Job Training Report

Submitted to fulfill the course requirement

Rachman Galih Anugrah 63705017

English Department Faculty of Letters

Indonesia University of Computer

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CURRICULUM VITAE

1. Student Profile

Name : Rachman Galih Anugrah

Address : Kubang selatan no. 124 Bandung

Place and date of birth : Subang, 6 April 1988

Sex : Male

Religion : Moslem

Phone : 022-91292110

E-mail : erzy_g@yahoo.com

2. Educational Background a. Formal Education

No Year Instution

1 1992-1993 Melati Kindergarden

2 1993-1999 SDN Angkasa I

3 1999-2002 SLTPN I Kalijati

4 2002-2005 SMAN 2 Subang

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b. Competency

No Competency

1 Operating computer

2 Operating all of microsoft office 3 Editing on Photoshop

4 Designing on Corel draw 5 Singing

6 Plays Guitar 7 Lyricist

c. Organizational and Work Experiences

No Organizational Work Experience

1 HIMA of English Literature Katrock cafe 2 UNIKOM Student of senate

as Coordinator of society service

Mixico ice blended

3 UNIKOM Student of senate as Head of Social Division

Hijau digital printing

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REFERENCES

Jeffrey, Seglin. L & Edward, Coleman, 2002, The AMA Handbook of Business Letters third edition: 582 - 585, New York: American Management Association.

Partana, Paina & Leech, Geoffrey, 2003, Semantik: 66 – 73, Yogyakarta: Pustaka Pelajar.