2013年5月13日星期一

古德明: 辭職信



 
問:離職要提早七天通知雇主。假如七月十日呈交辭職信,七月十七日離職,英文可不可以這樣寫?──I, the undersigned, tender my resignation effective as from 10 July 2013. My last day at your company will on 16 July 2013.

答:這兩句是說:「我(即文末署名者)現遞上辭呈,辭職將於二零一三年七月十日生效,我在貴公司的最後一天是二零一三年七月十六日。」這寫法,文、意都不妥當。

第一,I當然就是the undersigned,不必畫蛇添足。當然,舊體書信的確有I, the undersigned, ...這樣的寫法,但公函今天一般只會用I說「我」,不用the undersigned。以the undersigned自稱,很不自然。

第二,effective fromdate)是「由(某日期)開始生效」,不應改為effective as from;又那位讀者顯然把「辭職生效日期(即七月十七日)」誤解作「遞上辭呈日期(即七月十日)」,錯得厲害。

此外,My last day at your company will on 16 July文法上應改為My last day with your company will be 16 July;而自己還未離職,已稱公司為your company或「貴公司」,以外人自居,給雇主的印象不會怎麼好。

讀者那兩句,可改寫如下:(1I would like to resign from my position asSales Assistant等), effective from 17 July 2013。(2I wish to give the required seven days' notice to terminate my employment with the company. Please consider 17 July 2013 as my last working day