Exercises

Exercise 1: Translate from English into Russian:

1) Thank you for your reply of 14 May regarding the cassettes we wrote to you about. Enclosed you will find our official order ...

2) Your letter of 12 October convinced me to place at least a trial order for the "Letherine" material you spoke about.

3) Once we have received your advice, we will send a banker's draft (банковская тратта) to ...

4) Although the rather low trade discount of 15% disappointed us, we will place an order and hope that this allowance can be reviewed at some time in the near future.

5) Delivery before February is a firm condition of this order, and we reserve the right to refuse goods delivered after this time.

6) We advise delivery by road to avoid constant handling of this fragile consignment (товар; партия товара).

7) The mashines must be well greased with all movable parts secured before being loaded into crates, which must be marked.

8) Your order No 6712/1 is now being processed and should be ready for dispatch by next week.

9) We are pleased to advise you that the watches you ordered - No 8815/24 - were put on flight BA 165 leaving Zurich 11.00, 9 August arriving Manchester 13.00. Please find enclosed air waybill DC 15161/3 and copies of invoice A113/3.

10) If the goods sell as well as we hope, we shall send further orders in the near future.

Exercise 2. Translate from English into Russian:

1. Dear Sirs:

We have pleasure in informing you that your order no. 844772 has been completed and is awaiting collection. The consignment consists of 5 crates, each weighting 255 kg.

Transport, insurance and freight are being arranged by our forwarding agents, AG of Antwerp. We can vouch for their expertise and efficiency.

As soon as we receive details of forwarding charges from our agents, we will send you our invoice and the shipping documents. The amount of the invoice will be charged to your account, and in future we will draw on you quarterly, as previously agreed.

We assure you that your orders will be given prompt attention, and look forward to hearing from you again.

Yours faithfully,

2. Dear Sirs,

It was pleasure to receive your order for 300 Model C ‘Reflex’ cameras and to hear of your success in disposing of the last consignment. As we advised you at the time of your last purchase, this type of camera, with its large viewfinder, has become a best-selling model, and you cannot go wrong in stocking it.

While sales throughout the world have been good, there has been a persistent demand for a lens of larger aperture than the f.3, which was fitted as standard on the Model C last year. On careful examination of this demand we came to the conclusion that the average camera-user of today wants an instrument with which he can do serious picture-making. We have therefore produced a new version of our famous camera – the model D, which is fitted with an f4.5 lens.

Model ‘0’ has replaced ‘C’, and at a price of DM 80 net to the trade, represents the finest value on the market for cameras of this type. We think you will agree that the difference in price, DM 10, between this and the old model is very small for the amazing difference in performance which is now possible. It has received an enthusiastic welcome here already.

Our new publicity campaign is due to begin in a few weeks and the ‘0’ Reflex will be adevertised extensively in national newspapers in your country as well as in technical magazines. Your stock will reach you in good time for the commencement of our campaign, so we should be glad if you would confirm the order for 300 of Model ‘Din place of the discontinued Model ‘C’.

We shall be happy to grant you an extra 5% discount for 300, and can promise you immediate dispatch. Once again we say you cannot go wrong with a Reflex. We are always at your service.

Yours faithfully

Exercise 3. Translate from Russian into English:

Уважаемые господа!

Мы подтверждаем получение Вашего письма от ... (дата) и просим Вас принять к выполнению заказ на 3 насосные машины. Мы согласны с назначенными Вами ценами.

Доставка должна быть осуществлена по вышеуказанному адресу к ... (дата). Поскольку Вы ничего не упомянули о гарантийном сроке, который обычно предоставляется при поставке машин, мы хотим указать, что просим дать двухгодичный срок гарантии, в течение которого Вы обязаны выполнять любые ремонтные работы бесплатно.

Мы будем рады, если Вы известите нас о получении нашего заказа и Вашем мнении о наших условиях.

С уважением,

Exercise 4. Write a letter to a foreign manufacturer of some article you are familiar with. Enclose an order and

state your requirements regarding quantity, quality, appearance and delivery.

Unit 6

CLAIMS

Lesson 1.

Text

In ideal business conditions everything should be done carefully - details of offers and orders checked, manufacture of the goods carried out properly, packing and marking verified.

However in spite of all possible care and attention that is given to contracts letters of complaint happen to arrive rather frequently because of various infringements.

There are various reasons for complaints. The following kinds of claims are often made by Buyers:

1) claims arising from the delivery of wrong goods, damaged goods or substandard goods;

2) claims connected with delays of one kind or another;

3) claims owing to goods missing from delivery (i.e. short-shipment or short-delivery);

4) claims that concern errors in carrying out the order. These may be caused by mis-typing of figures, mis-reading of numbers, mis-direction of goods, wrong goods, wrong packing and so on.

Sellers most frequently make claims on Buyers because of default of payment.

As a rule a customer will not complain unless he has a good reason. If the customer's complaint is well-grounded, the settlement is comparatively easy: the error will be admitted and the responsible party will meet the claim fully or partly. In other words, the dissatisfied party will get full or partial compensation for the losses they suffered. Thus the matter is settled amicably.

Much more difficult is the case where the customer's complaint is not justified. It would be wrong policy to reject the claim off-hand.

The responsible party must carefully explain why the claim is declined and try to persuade the dissatisfied party to withdraw the claim.

Settling commercial disputes by arbitration is practiced if the parties in dispute cannot meet mutual understanding. In this case the parties may refer the matter to Foreign Trade Arbitration Commission at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Moscow. The award of the Arbitration Commission is final and binding upon both parties.