A Handful of Tips 53 –

                  Emailing Foreign Lands

Five of the best tips when emailing people in foreign lands

Emails are a useful tool for communicating internationally but English may not be the receiver’s mother tongue.

1. Choose your words carefully

Use simple, explicit words.  If possible use words with only one meaning.

Use positive language and active verbs.

2. Keep your sentences short

Avoid slang and local jargon.

Remove metaphors where things are not meant to be understood literally. For example, ” Things are starting to jell” or “Keep your ear to the ground”.

3.Answer all questions in detail

Be accurate and explicit. Don’t take anything for granted.  

4. Make your message clear and concise

Re-read your message carefully before you send it. Check the grammar and punctuation and edit out surplus words.

Make sure the subject line is simple and explicit.

5. Set out your message for easy reading

Break up a long message with specific headings.  

-Geoffrey

“Choose your words carefully –

to express not to impress.”

Source: “Persuasive Ways; Tricks of the trade to get your ideas across“, Moss Associates Ltd, N.Z., In Chinese, published by Shanghai People’s Publishing House ” and as Secrets of Persuasion” Cengage Learning Asia, Singapore. Also available from Amazon.com as an e-book.