Poll: Do you use a special salutation at the end of emails for different countries?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
SITE STAFF
Aug 17, 2018

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Do you use a special salutation at the end of emails for different countries?".

This poll was originally submitted by Natalia Pedrosa. View the poll results »



Noor Giovanni Mazhar
 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 13:28
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Other Aug 17, 2018

A salutation at the end?! I always include a closing, but the one I use depends on several factors, namely the context, my familiarity with the recipient (new client? long-standing customer?) and on the language (English, French or Portuguese). What works for a friend or colleague won’t work in a strictly professional correspondence with someone I’ve never met before.

 
Ricki Farn
Ricki Farn
Germany
Local time: 14:28
English to German
I wish Aug 17, 2018

I wish I knew how to say "bye" in English emails at all. I've heard that "have a great day" is too California, "best regards" means "eff you", and "kind regards" means, can't remember, but something bad as well. I just got an email ending in "With regards", and I had no idea what the person was trying to tell me (if anything).

I think native speakers from different English-speaking regions have their own opinions on what is "in" and what is "out", but as a furriner, I can't get my h
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I wish I knew how to say "bye" in English emails at all. I've heard that "have a great day" is too California, "best regards" means "eff you", and "kind regards" means, can't remember, but something bad as well. I just got an email ending in "With regards", and I had no idea what the person was trying to tell me (if anything).

I think native speakers from different English-speaking regions have their own opinions on what is "in" and what is "out", but as a furriner, I can't get my head around that. I actually end many emails in:


Ricki
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Christine Andersen
Noni Gilbert Riley
Amir Arzani
Debora d'Amato (X)
Christopher Schröder
Kay-Viktor Stegemann
 
Christine Andersen
Christine Andersen  Identity Verified
Denmark
Local time: 14:28
Member (2003)
Danish to English
+ ...
Different languages Aug 17, 2018

I write a lot of mails in Danish, and end with 'mange hilsner' as default.

It is a little more modern than ' Med venlig hilsen' - which in the good old days covered everything from very formal until the point where you really wanted to go over to love and kisses! It simply means ' Friendly greetings'. How warm or friendly etc. or icily polite your message was had to go in the rest of the letter, and in fact it worked well.

Short, sharp and no frills was cool, and just
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I write a lot of mails in Danish, and end with 'mange hilsner' as default.

It is a little more modern than ' Med venlig hilsen' - which in the good old days covered everything from very formal until the point where you really wanted to go over to love and kisses! It simply means ' Friendly greetings'. How warm or friendly etc. or icily polite your message was had to go in the rest of the letter, and in fact it worked well.

Short, sharp and no frills was cool, and just a little 'have a good weekend' or 'hope the work goes well', or some other phrase lifted the whole thing to another level.

In English I dash off ' Best wishes' as default, but it depends who I am writing to. Some people think that sounds like a birthday card, but I dislike any kind of regards…

I sometimes look at the mail I have received and write what the person wrote to me - if it is not one of the awful expressions I never use.

Natives and non-natives of English have so many variants, so whatever you do, half of them hate it and many will just think you ought to know better!

Oh for the days when you wrote 'Dear sir or Madam' and ended with Yours faithfully
Dear [Mr or Mrs ___ ] … Yours sincerely

or Dear Sue … Lots of love.

I do very occasionally write a line or two in German, and then end with 'Mit freundlichen Grüßen' if I have not reverted to English for most of the mail. My German is VERY rusty, though I read it quite well.
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neilmac
neilmac
Spain
Local time: 14:28
Spanish to English
+ ...
Other Aug 17, 2018

It depends on the level of formality. In Spanish, I usually end with the more formal "Atentamente", and when the relationship becomes informal, "Saludos/Un saludo".

In English, I usually end formal mails with "Sincerely" and keep "Yours faithfully" in reserve for only the most formal of initial communications. Informally, I prefer "Cheers".

NB: I don't mind the occasional "Regards," but am not keen on "Best/Kind...", which to me always seem to be over-egging the puddin
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It depends on the level of formality. In Spanish, I usually end with the more formal "Atentamente", and when the relationship becomes informal, "Saludos/Un saludo".

In English, I usually end formal mails with "Sincerely" and keep "Yours faithfully" in reserve for only the most formal of initial communications. Informally, I prefer "Cheers".

NB: I don't mind the occasional "Regards," but am not keen on "Best/Kind...", which to me always seem to be over-egging the pudding.

PS: I tend to avoid things like"have a great day/weekend... etc." unless I REALLY mean it.

[Edited at 2018-08-17 11:38 GMT]
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Kaisa I
 
Jennifer Forbes
Jennifer Forbes  Identity Verified
Local time: 13:28
French to English
+ ...
In memoriam
Kind regards - Cordialement - Saludos Aug 17, 2018

all seem anodyne and unobjectionable to me and are the endings I most often use in business emails, depending on the language, of course. I admit, though, that on RARE occasions my regards are not really kind nor are my feelings cordial.

 
Christine Andersen
Christine Andersen  Identity Verified
Denmark
Local time: 14:28
Member (2003)
Danish to English
+ ...
I have to get the autocorrect to rewrite most of them :-D Aug 17, 2018

Just breaking in a new computer...

And rediscovering that i make typing errors in most of my signatures.
I can't show any examples here - Autocorrect changes them. But you would not believe how many ways I can misspell my own name


 
Mario Freitas
Mario Freitas  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 10:28
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Of course Aug 17, 2018

Most of us write e-mails regularly at least in the two languages of the pair we work with. And of course the salutations are different. Other than that, no.

 
Yaotl Altan
Yaotl Altan  Identity Verified
Mexico
Local time: 07:28
Member (2006)
English to Spanish
+ ...
Yes. Aug 17, 2018

Yes, I think it's important to generate some empathy via warm salutations.

 
Noor Giovanni Mazhar
Noor Giovanni Mazhar  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 14:28
Member (2019)
Italian to English
+ ...
"Do you use a special salutation at the end of emails for different countries?" Aug 25, 2018

In Italian I usually end an e-mail with "Cordiali saluti", in English with "With best wishes".

 


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Poll: Do you use a special salutation at the end of emails for different countries?






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