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Differences Between Business Letters From Native and Non-Native Speakers of English

University of North Texas

Stephen Guice, Ph.D.

Memphis State University

The authors compared 214 letters of inquiry written by native and nonnative speakers of English to test the assumption that cultural factors beyond language greatly affect communication, factors such as the knowledge of the business communication prac tices and of the cultural expectations of other countries. Letters written by native and by nonnative speakers of English differed significantly from each other in number of mechanical errors in the complimentary closings, in tone (primarily through exag gerated politeness), and in length. The two groups also differed significantly in the type of information in the letters, specifically, unnecessary professional and personal information and inappropriate requests for evaluation or intercession. These findings indicate that the native speakers' letters overall deviated less from US business com munication practices than did the nonnative speakers' letters.

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