Email etiquette for Japan?

Subject: Email etiquette for Japan?
From: Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca>
To: TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>, Rob Hudson <caveatrob -at- gmail -dot- com>
Date: Tue, 29 May 2007 15:03:21 -0400

Rob Hudson wondered: <<I will be contacting some folks in Japan and
wondered how I should open my email since we have not yet become
acquainted.>>

I'm not an expert in this area (my main expertise is with China), but
colleagues in Japan recommended the following formally (perhaps
overly so) opening and close to an e-mail:

[business letter opening: name and title of the person receiving the
message]

Itsumo taihen osewani natteorimasu.

[body of the message]

Dozo yoroshiku onegai itashimasu.

[professional signature line, stripped of any clever quotes]

I've used this successfully for several years. In addition, remember
to be formally polite until you have clearly established an informal
relationship, and be very careful with idiom and phrasal verbs until
you've established your colleague's level of English skill. Some of
my Japanese clients have superb English skills; others, not so much.

If you review your e-mail before sending it (something too few people
do), pay particular attention to looking for things you take for
granted in English correspondence, and simplify phrases. Don't dumb
it down by any means, but rather avoid some of the complexities we
use all the time in English. For example, I love parentheses,
semicolons, parenthetical comments, and em dashes, and overuse them
shamelessly, so I always have to remind myself not to do so in
corresponding with my ESL clients. <g>


----------------------------------------------------
-- Geoff Hart
ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca / geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com
www.geoff-hart.com
--------------------------------------------------
Coming soon: _Effective onscreen editing_
(http://www.geoff-hart.com/home/onscreen-book.htm)


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References:
Email etiquette for Japan: From: Rob Hudson

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