注意不要用错的商务英语词汇

时间：2024-10-13 09:00:53 商务英语我要投稿

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注意不要用错的商务英语词汇

　　引导语：注意不要用错的商务英语词汇，由应届毕业生培训网整理而成，谢谢您的阅读。

注意不要用错的商务英语词汇

　　一、Adverse and averse

　　Adverse和averse

　　Adverse means harmful or unfavorable: "Adverse market conditions caused the IPO to be poorly subscribed." Averse refers to feelings of dislike or opposition: "I was averse to paying $18 a share for a company that generates no revenue."

　　adverse意为有害的或不顺利的：“不利市场条件导致初次公开募股情况不容乐观。”averse意为厌恶或敌对的情感：“我对支付每股18美元公司投资，却不能得到任何利润的行为表示反感。

　　But, hey, feel free to have an aversion to adverse conditions.

　　恩，不要介意对不利的条件感到反感。

　　二、Advise and advice

　　advise和advice

　　Aside from the two words being pronounced differently (the s in advise sounds like az), advise is a verb while advice is a noun. Advice is what you give (whether or not the recipient is interested in that gift is a different issue altogether) when you advise someone.

　　除了这两个单词的发音不同(advise中的s发起来类似az)，advise是动词，而advice是名词。Advice就是你给别人 “advise” 的忠告(至于接收者是否感兴趣则另当别论)。

　　So "Thank you for the advise" is incorrect, while "I advise you not to bore me with your advice in the future" is correct if pretentious.

　　所以 “Thank you for the advise” 是不对的，而当你在显摆“I advise you not to bore me with your advice in the future”的用法则是正确的。

　　三、Affect and effect

　　affect和effect

　　Verbs first. Affect means to influence: "Impatient investors affected our roll-out date."Effect means to accomplish something: "The board effected a sweeping policy change."

　　先说动词吧。Affect意为制造影响：“缺乏耐心的发明家影响了我们的初次展出的日期。”effect意为达到某种目的：“董事会达到了全面改革的目的。”

　　How you use effect or affect can be tricky. For example, a board can affect changes by influencing them and can effect changes by directly implementing them. Bottom line, use effect if you're making it happen, and affect if you're having an impact on something that someone else is trying to make happen.

　　使用effect和affect会给人造成困惑。例如，董事会能通过给它制造影响而affect(影响)改革，以及为了effect(达到)改革的目的而直接实施该措施。“底线是，如果是你促成事件发生就用effect,在你对其他人促成的事件中产生影响时用affect”

　　As for nouns, effect is almost always correct: "Once he was fired he was given 20 minutes to gather his personal effects." Affect refers to an emotional state, so unless you're a psychologist you probably have little reason to use it.

　　而作名词用的时候，effect几乎怎么用都不会错：“有一次他被解雇了，然后可以用20分钟收拾自己的个人物品。”affect指代情感状态，所以如果你不是心理学家，你也很少有机会用到这个词。

　　四、Aggressive and enthusiastic

　　aggressive和enthusiastic

　　Aggressive is a very popular business adjective: aggressive sales force, aggressive revenue projections, aggressive product rollout. But unfortunately, aggressive means ready to attack, or pursuing aims forcefully, possibly unduly so.

　　aggressive是一个很常用的商务形容词：aggressive sales force(积极的销售团队)，aggressive revenue projections(积极的收入预测)aggressive product rollout(积极的产品展示)。不过，aggressive也有蓄势攻击，或激烈地达到目的，一般带有过分的意味。

　　Of course, most people have seen aggressive used that way for so long they don't think of it negatively; to them it just means hard-charging, results-oriented, driven, etc., none of which are bad things.

　　当然，很多人早已熟悉aggressive的以上用法，并不会把它认为是负面的词语，因为这个词语的意思只是强硬的，结果导向的，奋发图强的，等等，没有一个是负面的意思。

　　But some people may not see it that way. So consider using words like enthusiastic,eager, committed, dedicated, or even passionate.

　　不过有些人不却不会这么认为。所以可以考虑使用诸如enthusiastic(热情的)，eager(渴望的)，committed(坚定的)，dedicated(专注的)，或者甚至是passionate(激情的)。

　　五、Award and reward

　　award和reward

　　An award is a prize. Musicians win Grammy Awards. Car companies win J.D. Power awards. Employees win Employee of the Month awards. Think of an award as the result of a contest or competition.

　　award是一个奖项。音乐家得的奖是格莱美奖;汽车公司可以得J.D. Power奖;雇员得的是月度最佳员工奖。所以award可以视为某个竞赛或比赛的奖项。

　　A reward is something given in return for effort, achievement, hard work, merit, etc. A sales commission is a reward. A bonus is a reward. A free trip for landing the highest number of new customers is a reward.

　　reward就是对努力，成就，辛勤工作，功绩等作出的犒赏。销售佣金是reward，补贴是reward。最佳业务员的免费旅行也是reward。

　　Be happy when your employees win industry or civic awards, and reward them for the hard work and sacrifices they make to help your business grow.

　　所以当你的员工获得行业奖或公民奖(award)的时候应该感到高兴，然后就犒赏(reward)他们为公司业绩所付出的辛勤工作。

　　六、Between and among

　　between和among

　　Use between when you name separate and individual items. Take "The team will decide between Mary, Marcia, and Steve when we fill the open customer service position." Mary, Marcia, and Steve are separate and distinct, so between is correct.

　　当你表示不同的或单独的名目时，使用between。比如“团队将会在Mary, Marcia和Steve之间(between)选出担任客户服务经理的人员。Mary, Marcia和Steve都是不同的个体，所以使用between是正确的。

　　Use among when there are three or more items but they are not named separately. Like, "The team will decide among a number of candidates when we fill the open customer service position." Who are the candidates? You haven't named them separately, so among is correct.

　　如果存在三个或以上的，但不是单独的个体时，使用among。例如：“团队会在一些申请者里挑选一位员工填补客户服务经理的空缺。”那么哪些人是申请人呢?这里并没有独自提出来，所以可以使用among。

　　And we're assuming there are more than two candidates; otherwise you'd say between. If there are two candidates you could say, "I just can't decide between them."

　　并且这里指的是多于两位申请者，否则就应该用between了。如果申请者是两位，你就该说“我不能在他们之间(between)做决定。”

　　七、Bring and take

　　bring和take

　　Both have to do with objects you move or carry. The difference is in the point of reference: You bring things here and you take them there. You ask people to bring something to you, and you ask people to take something to someone or somewhere else.

　　两个词都有移动或携带物品的意思。区别就在于：你把东西带到这里来(bring)，然后把它们拿到那里去(take)。你请求别人带点东西来给你(bring)，然后你请求别人拿点东西给某人或带去某个地方(take)。

　　"Can you bring an appetizer to John's party"? Nope.

　　能说“Can you bring an appetize to John’s party?”不能。

　　Compliment and complement

　　compliment和complement

　　Compliment means to say something nice. Complement means added to, enhanced, improved, completed, or brought close to perfection.

　　compliment的意思是说善意的话。Complement的意思是添加到的，增强的，改善的，完成的，或者使其达到完美的物品。

　　I can compliment your staff and their service, but if you have no current openings you have a full complement of staff. Or your new app may complement your website.

　　我赞赏(compliment)你的员工和他们的服务，如果你当前没有职位空缺，那么你的员工职位就被填满了(complement)。或你的新手机应用能填满你的个人主页。

　　For which I may decide to compliment you.

　　如果你懂得这么使用，我就会称赞你。

　　八、Continuously and continually

　　continuously和continually

　　Both words come from the root continue, but they mean very different things. Continuously means never ending. Continual means whatever you're referring to stops and starts.

　　两个词的词根都是continue，但是两个词语的意思截然不同。Continuously意为连续不断的。Continual意为你所指示的东西一直在停止和结束的循环发生。

　　九、Criterion and criteria

　　criterion和criteria

　　A criterion is a principle or standard. If you have more than one criterion, those are referred to as criteria.

　　critetion指的是原则或标准。如果你的标准多于一个，那么它们就成为criteria。

　　十、Discreet and discrete

　　discreet和discrete

　　Discreet means careful, cautious, showing good judgment: "We made discreet inquiries to determine whether the founder was interested in selling her company."

　　discreet意为小心谨慎的，判断精明的： “We made discreet inquiries to determine whether the founder was interested in selling her company.”

　　Discrete means individual, separate, or distinct: "We analyzed data from a number of discrete market segments to determine overall pricing levels." And if you get confused, remember: You don't use "discretion" to work through sensitive issues; you exercise discretion.

　　discrete意为个人的，单独的，或截然不同的： “We analyzed data from a number of discrete market segments to determine overall pricing levels.”如果你想表达敏感的话题，请不要使用discretion(个人的)，因为你就在差别对待(exercise discretion)。

　　十一、Elicit and illicit

　　elicit和illicit

　　Elicit means to draw out or coax. Think of elicit as the mildest form of extract.

　　elicit意为抽出或引出。把elicit视为extract(提取)的最温和的表达方法。

　　Illicit means illegal or unlawful, and while I suppose you could elicit a response at gunpoint, you probably shouldn't.

　　illicit意为非法的或违法的，所以即使我猜测你在枪口胁迫下给出回应，但你不应该这么做。

　　十二、Everyday and every day

　　everyday和every day

　　Every day means, yep, every day -- each and every day. If you ate a bagel for breakfast each day this week, you had a bagel every day.

　　every day的意思，是的，就是每天。每，一，天。如果你一周七天早餐都吃甜甜圈，那么你就是每天(every day)都吃甜甜圈。

　　Everyday means commonplace or normal. Decide to wear your "everyday shoes" and that means you've chosen to wear the shoes you normally wear.

　　everyday意为习惯的或平常的。觉得穿那双“everyday shoes”就是你选择平常穿的鞋子。

　　十三、Evoke and invoke

　　evoke和invoke

　　To evoke is to call to mind; an unusual smell might evoke a long-lost memory. To invoke is to call upon something: help, aid, or maybe a higher power.

　　evoke意为唤起心理认同，比如，一种不寻常的气味能唤起一段早已遗忘的记忆。而invoke意为请求某种东西：帮助，援助，或更高层次的权力。

　　十四、Farther and further

　　farther和futher

　　Farther involves a physical distance: "Florida is farther from New York than Tennessee." Further involves a figurative distance: "We can take our business plan no further."

　　farther指的是物理距离：“弗罗里达相距纽约的距离比田纳西更远(farther)。”further指的是比喻的距离：“我们不能再进一步(further)实施我们的商务计划。”

　　十五、Fewer and less

　　fewer和less

　　Use fewer when referring to items you can count, like "fewer hours" or "fewer dollars." Use "less" when referring to items you can't count, like "less time" or "less money."

　　指代可数的物品时可以使用fewer，比如fewer hours, fewer dollar。如果指代的东西是不可数的，则使用less，比如 less time, less money。

　　十六、Good and well

　　good和well

　　Good is an adjective that describes something; if you did a good job, then you do good work. Well is an adverb that describes how something was done; you can do your job well.

　　good是形容词，用于修饰某件物品或事情，如果你的工作出色，那就是do good work. Well是副词，用于修饰某件事情的完成程度，你可以很出色地工作，就是用well。

　　十七、If and whether

　　if和whether

　　If and whether are often interchangeable. If a yes/no condition is involved, then feel free to use either: "I wonder whether Jim will finish the project on time?" or "I wonder if Jim will finish the project on time?" (Whether sounds a little more formal in this case, so consider your audience and how you wish to be perceived.)

　　if和whether常常互换使用。如果条件是yes/no的，那么两个词都可以使用：I wonder whether/if Jim will finish the project on time?(我想知道Jim能否按时完成任务?)在这种情况下，whether听起来更正式点，所以你得考虑到听众以及你想达到的效果。

　　And always use if when you introduce a condition. "If you hit your monthly target, I'll increase your bonus," is correct; the condition is hitting the target and the bonus is the result. "Whether you are able to hit your monthly target is totally up to you," does not introduce a condition (unless you want the employee to infer that your thinly veiled threat is a condition of ongoing employment).

　　如果想描述一个条件的时候，使用if。“If you hit your monthly target, I’ll increase your bonus.”(如果你达到了月度销售目标，我就增加你的奖金。)这种用法是正确的。条件就是达到销售目标，增加奖金是结果。“Whether you are able to hit your monthly target is totally up to you.”(无论你能否达到月度销售目标，这完全取决于你自己。)这就不是一个表示条件的句子(除非你希望员工从中领会到这是一个关乎职业前景的潜在条件)。

　　十八、Imply and infer

　　imply和infer

　　The speaker or writer implies, which means to suggest. The listener or reader infers,which means to deduce, whether correctly or not.

　　演讲者或作家 “implies”，意味着暗示。听众或读者 “infers”，意味着去推断，无论方式正确与否。

　　So I might imply you're going to receive a raise. And you might infer that a pay increase is imminent.

　　所以我可能会暗示(imply)你快要加工资了，而你就会推测(infer)加工资是即将到来的。

　　十九、Insure and ensure

　　insure和ensure

　　This one's easy. Insure refers to insurance. Ensure means to make sure.

　　这个很简单，insure指代保险，ensure意为确保。

　　So if you promise an order will ship on time, ensure that it actually happens. Unless, of course, you plan to arrange for compensation if the package is damaged or lost -- then feel free to insure away.

　　所以如果你承诺某个订单能如期船运，得确保(ensure)万无一失。出发，你打算为包裹的耗损或遗失投保险(insure)，那就去吧。

　　二十、Irregardless and regardless

　　irregardless和regardless

　　Irregardless appears in some dictionaries because it's widely used to mean "without regard to" or "without respect to," which is also what regardless means.

　　irregardless在某些词典里收录，其中是因为它普遍被当作“毫不关心”或“毫不尊重”的意思，也就是regardless的意思。

　　So just say regardless is acceptable.

　　所以使用regardless就可以了。

　　二十一、Mute and moot

　　mute和moot

　　Think of mute like the button on your remote; it means unspoken or unable to speak. In the U.S., moot refers to something that is of no practical importance; a moot point is one that could be hypothetical or even academic. In British English, moot can also mean debatable or open to debate.

　　把mute看作遥控器上的按钮，因为它的意思是无言的或无法发声的。在美式英语里，moot意为某件毫无实际意义的事情，moot point(争论未决的问题)可能是假设性或甚至学术性的问题。在英式英语里，moot也可以意为存在争议的或开放讨论的。

　　二十二、Number and amount

　　number和amount

　　Use number when you can count what you refer to: "The number of subscribers who opted out increased last month." Amount refers to a quantity of something that can't be counted: "The amount of alcohol consumed at our last company picnic was staggering."

　　当你所指示的东西是可数的时候，使用number，“The number of subscribers who opted out increased last months.”(上个月的订阅量增加了，subscriber可数)。Amount指代不可数的东西，“The amount of alcohol consumed at out last company picnic was staggering.” (我们公司在上次野餐花费在酒精的费用实在让人大吃一惊。)

　　二十三、Peak and peek

　　peak和peek

　　A peak is the highest point. Peek means quick glance, as in giving major customers a sneak peek at a new product before it's officially unveiled, which hopefully helps sales peak at an unimaginable height.

　　peak意为最高点，peek意为快速一瞥，正如在产品正式发布前对主要客户的偷偷一眼，希望产品的销售量能达到无法想象的高度。

　　二十四、Precede and proceed

　　precede和proceed

　　Precede means to come before. Proceed means to begin or continue.

　　precede意为先发生的动作，proceed意为开始或继续。

　　二十五、Principle and principal

　　principle和principal

　　A principle is a fundamental. Principal means primary or of first importance.

　　principle意为基本原则。Principal意为首要的。

　　Principal can also refer to the most important item in a particular set: "Our principal account makes up 60 percent of our gross revenues."

　　principal也可以指代在某种情况下最重要的一项。我们的主要账目占我们总收入的60%。

　　Principal can also refer to money, normally a sum that was borrowed, but can be extended to refer to the amount you owe -- hence principal and interest.

　　principal也可以用于指代金钱，通常指的是借贷的总额，或延伸至你所欠下的总额-也就是本金和利息。

　　If you're referring to laws, rules, guidelines, ethics, etc., use principle. If you're referring to the CEO or the president (or an individual in charge of a high school), use principal.

　　在表达法律，法规，常规，道德规范等等范畴时，使用principle。如果指的是CEO或校长，那就用principal.

　　二十六、Slander and libel

　　slander和libel

　　Don't like what people say about you? Like slander, libel refers to making a false statement that is harmful to a person's reputation.

　　你不喜欢别人这样评论你，诸如诽谤，中伤就是损害他人名誉的不实言论。

　　The difference lies in how that statement is expressed. Slanderous remarks are spoken while libelous remarks are written and published (which means defamatory tweets could be considered libelous, not slanderous).

　　两者的区别在于言论是通过什么方式表达的。诽谤性言论(slanderous remarks)是口头的，中伤性的评论(libelous remarks)则是书面的或公开表示的(诽谤的微博也可视为libelous，而不是slanerous)。

　　Keep in mind what makes a statement libelous or slanderous is its inaccuracy, not its harshness.

　　请谨记，判断言论是否中伤或诽谤性的在于其准确性，而不是言论的尖锐性。

　　二十七、Stationary and stationery

　　stationary和stationery

　　You write on stationery. You get business stationery, such as letterhead and envelopes, printed. But that box of envelopes is not stationary unless it's not moving -- and even then it's still stationery.

　　你在stationery(文具)上写作。你得到商务信纸(business stationery)，比如信笺抬头和信封，印有抬头的文件。但是那一箱信封并不是静止不动的(stationary)，除非它被移动了，不过即使被移动了，它仍然是文具(stationery)。

　　二十八、Sympathy and empathy

　　sympathy和empathy

　　Sympathy is acknowledging another person's feelings. "I am sorry for your loss" means you understand the other person is grieving and want to recognize that fact.

　　sympathy意为意识到他人的感觉。“对你的亲人的离去我感到很遗憾”意味着你理解他人的悲伤并且意识到这个事实。

　　Empathy is having the ability to put yourself in the other person's shoes and relate to how the person feels, at least in part because you've experienced those feelings yourself.

　　empathy就是能把自己代入他人的角色感受他人所想，至少某种程度上是因为你感同身受。

　　The difference is huge. Sympathy is passive; empathy is active.

　　两个词的区别是非常大的。Sympathy(同情心)是被动的，empathy(同理心)是主动的。

　　二十九、Systemic and systematic

　　systemic和systematic

　　If you're in doubt, systematic is almost always the right word to use. Systematic means arranged or carried out according to a plan, method, or system. That's why you can take a systematic approach to continuous improvement, or do a systematic evaluation of customer revenue or a systematic assessment of market conditions.

　　如果你对这两个词存在疑惑，其实使用systematic总是对的。Systematic意味着根据计划、方案或系统有序地安排或执行。也就是说你采取了系统的方法达到持续的完善，或对客户带来的收益有一个系统的评估，或对市场条件的系统测量。

　　Systemic means belonging to or affecting the system as a whole. Poor morale could be systemic to your organization. Or bias against employee diversity could be systemic.

　　systemic意为全身的或整个体系的。士气不足可能对公司造成整体的形象。或者对员工的种族歧视也会造成系统性的影响。

　　三十、Then and than

　　then和than

　　Then refers in some way to time. "Let's close this deal, and then we'll celebrate!" Since the celebration comes after the sale, then is correct.

　　then某种程度上与时间有关。“Let’s close the deal, and then we’ll celebrate.”(我们来签订合约，然后去庆祝吧!)因为庆祝是在签订合约之后发生的，所以使用then是正确的。

　　Then is also often used with if. Think in terms of if-then statements: "If we don't get to the office on time, then we won't be able to close the deal today."

　　then也常常用于if引导的句子中，看看这个if-then的句子：“If we don’t get to the office on time, then we won’t be ablt to close the deal today.” (如果我们无法准时达到会场，那么我们就不能顺利签下合同了。)

　　Than involves a comparison. "Landing Customer A will result in higher revenue than landing Customer B."

　　than包含对比的关系。“Landing Customer A will result in higher revenue than landing Customer B” (签下客户A的合同比签下客户B的合同获取的收益更高。)

　　三十一、Ultimate and penultimate

　　ultimate和penultimate

　　Ultimate means the best, or final, or last. Penultimate means the last but one, or second to last.

　　ultimate意为最佳的，最终或最后的。Penultimate意为倒数第二。

　　But penultimate doesn't mean second-best. Also, keep in mind that using ultimate is fraught with hyperbolic peril.

　　但penultimate并不意味着第二最好的。再者，请谨记ultimate充满了夸张的恐怖色彩。

　　三十二、It's and its

　　it's和its

　　It's is the contraction of it is. That means it's doesn't own anything.You don't say, "It's collar is blue." You say, "Its collar is blue."

　　it’s是it is 的缩写形式，也就是说it’s不带有任何内容。你不能说It’s collar is blue.应该说Its collar is blue.

　　三十三、They're and their

　　they're和their

　　Same with these: They're is the contraction for they are. Again, the apostrophe doesn't own anything. We're going to their house, and I sure hope they're home.

　　这一对也一样：they’re是they are的缩写形式。再者，缩写符号’不具备任何意思。“We’re going to their house, and I sure hope they’re home.”(我们要去他们家，并且我很希望他们在家。)

　　三十四、Who's and whose

　　who's和whose

　　"Whose password hasn't been changed in six months?" is correct. Use the non-contracted version of who's, like, "Who is (the non-contracted version of who's) password hasn't been changed in six months?" and you sound a little silly.

　　“Whose password hasn’t been changed in six months?”(谁的密码六个月都没有更换过?)这个句子是对的。而使用非缩略形式的who’s，就是“Who is (Who’s的完整形式)password hasn’t been changed in six months?”(谁是密码六个月没有更换过?)听起来就很不地道了。

　　三十五、You're and your

　　you're和your

　　One more. You're is the contraction of you are. Your means you own it; the apostrophe in you're doesn't own anything.

　　最后一个。You’re是you are的缩写形式。省略符号 “ ’ ”在you’re里没有任何特别意思。

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