I teach English online to adult professionals in various countries.
Generally, what closings are you teaching adults to use for business communications?
The closings I see of late are:
1. Best,
2. Regards,
3. Talk soon (for email)
But I don't know if one or more of these are transitory or if they're bona fide replacements for "sincerely." Or if they're popular in some areas of the world and not so much in others.
If you could note your country of origin in your response, that'd also be helpful. (Mine is the U.S)
Thanks!
Contemporary business email/letter closings
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Canada
In emails, nothing. There is no openings or closing, just doing the business at hand.
For customers, it is still "Sincerely" if you send them a letter.
I think it is good to teach students to get as much information from previous emails and letters as they can so they can find the style of the company that they work for. They need to ask for previous communications of the person whose job they take over to see what has been done and follow that, at least for a while. They can also get incoming emails and see what the trends are and gradually try to change. The important thing is to learn to analyze the language so you fit in. Most people do that without thinking, but some students have difficulty and need direct instruction on what people are doing. Give them lots of examples or let them find examples in their particular field and pick them apart finding the smallest details of the construction.
The book by Beverly Deriwianka on style for schools will give you hints of how to teach your Business Communication students.
In emails, nothing. There is no openings or closing, just doing the business at hand.
For customers, it is still "Sincerely" if you send them a letter.
I think it is good to teach students to get as much information from previous emails and letters as they can so they can find the style of the company that they work for. They need to ask for previous communications of the person whose job they take over to see what has been done and follow that, at least for a while. They can also get incoming emails and see what the trends are and gradually try to change. The important thing is to learn to analyze the language so you fit in. Most people do that without thinking, but some students have difficulty and need direct instruction on what people are doing. Give them lots of examples or let them find examples in their particular field and pick them apart finding the smallest details of the construction.
The book by Beverly Deriwianka on style for schools will give you hints of how to teach your Business Communication students.
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- Posts: 1322
- Joined: Thu Apr 08, 2004 2:24 pm
- Location: Canada,France, Brazil, Japan, Mongolia, Greenland, Canada, Mongolia, Ethiopia next