Welcome to our blog!
So far we have studied some steps and tips to write emails. We have talked about what is formal, less formal and informal. We have also laughed about different situations related to emails.
BUT, you must accept that until now, I've been really generous on the homework. It was supposed to take you one hour. However, I understand this is a process. That's why I have decided to add this little something to our list.
It's very simple: I'll post something, you'll answer back. (Every single week...!) I know. I told you I was pushy (=I'll take the best out of you!). Well, this is where you learn. Later on we'll become more sophisticated. Maybe I ask you to start a post, or I'll ask you to watch a video...
As for this week, the question is: What's the easiest part of writing an email? what's the most difficult?
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
DD
I'm going to start with the difficult part for me, which is detach my native language - when I write in english- and of course give a precise answer that contain an accurate approach for the given email. for instance, that last sentence! another example is when I recive an email a little untidy and/or lacking of order and grammar, I wonder what's the best way to answer this and orientate the whole problem in a direction that enlighten the receiver.
ReplyDeleteIn brief, give clarifying answer (I could say that earlier but what's the point of blogging if I'm going to write in two lines, right?)
The easiest part for me is to correct the whole thing. For instace, I could easily read my previous answer and say "that's a lot of words! let's cut some and summarize that!"
My last pondering about the question is this: the hardest thing is give a proper and right content/answer in the email and the easy part is to find that proper content/answer after sort it out the writing.
(hope this is what you want for an answer in our blog)
cheers!
Dear Alejandro,
ReplyDelete"There's no point on blogging if you write two lines" You're right. Thanks for the reflection.
Now I was wondering... do you actually have an editing process in everything you write? Some people are just used to reading everything after they've written... and that's a good step. However, this ability often transfers when you are reading somebody else's composition. That might be why you're able to not only read & process the content of the email, but also identify the grammar/spelling or vocabulary choice problem.
I guess that makes you a good reference for someone in the office who wants to double-check an email.
Have a good week,
DD
Hello everyone,
ReplyDeleteIn my experience the most difficult thing about writing an email is find the perfect tone that reflects the right intention, so the recipient gets the message the way i want to and do not be misinterpreted.
And the most easy part is to find the subject or main point of the message, this is the start of an email, so it is usually very clear to me at the beginning.
Regards!
Dear Natalia,
DeleteYou're really lucky, then! Having the email's main purpose clear changes the whole text. I think that tone is not easy and you get it by reading and writing a lot. However, to think about the tone you should use is a really good first step!
DD
With the classes we all have had, for me, the easiest part when writing an email are the opening and the closing, because usually they are the same after each email I have to write. For example, in spanish I often use "attentive to your comments" or "best regards" for the closing, and I almost never use other ones.
ReplyDeleteNow, the hardest part for me is the grammar, wich can be improved by the help of word's office (using it in english, of course), due to my lack of practice, so I write the words down and when I see one underlined in red I correct it. The way I often try to practice my english is watching movies and series without subtitles, but that's no way to practice grammar.
Have a nice week, see you on wednesday,
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteDear Ignacio,
DeleteYou're right. Watching movies and listening to music helps, but not in grammar. However, most of the times what students call "grammar" is simply verb tenses. We might go over a couple of them, although at this point, it's a matter of practice!
Reading can be a great tool, though. You can choose build-up phrases and that creates a strong sense of grammar.
Let me know what you think
DD
The most difficult part, at least for me, is write using the properly the english grammar. I often think that will be easy to write down what I have in my mind, but almost all the times I realize that it is harder than I thought to find out how to write what I want to write.
ReplyDeleteThe easiest part is find out what to say, the main idea for my email. Most of the times the ideas come easily to my head, but the problems begin when I try to pass from my mind to Outlook.
Grammar is not easy, but not impossible either. You already know a lot, is just that you might not be using it often enough to make it a habit. We'll go over verb tenses and that might help you up.
DeleteAn email itself is a "fast way" of the old fashioned letter, and in this sense it not easy to express your ideas properly. In a letter it was good to explain every detail of something and it could be very very long (more than one page), in the case of an email if you send a long email, is likely not to be understood completely and/or the reader will get bored and will not follow up your idea.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately you know that your email was not entirely read or understood once you talk with the person who was directed the email.
Also, as Carlos posted, you tend to write using literally translated grammar from spanish. And as I realize, is not the way you write an email.
Writing emails has both benefits and drawbacks. Sometimes, sending such a clear message also creates tension, especially among colleagues. It's not easy, because the reading process involves a lot of the reader's personal background. However, you have a good point when you mention the boredom. Most of the people simply get bored after the second paragraph.
DeleteI think the most important think is find the right tone. With our South African colleagues most of the times the tone is friendly, informal, however it’s is very polite (I’m not sure if this is because they are South Africans). On the other hand, when we talk with a colleague from USA, it is a little different, because these guys are not as friendly as the South Africans. In general, Americans don’t seem very kind by email.
DeleteWhen the email is for a client, it is a completely different history. In this case, it is always better be very polite, formal and keep it very short…the tension is avoid being very kind with the greetings.
Bye guys, have a very good weekend.
José Luis Flores wrote...
ReplyDeleteWhen I have to send a email, the most difficult part is to explain in a few lines the main idea,
trying to be assertive, although the assertivity is difficult to achieve in any languages.
In relation the easier part, I think that is sum up the email context in the subject using three or
four words
Regards
Dear José Luis,
DeleteExactly. It's really difficult to be "accurate" in English or any other language... but the first goal is to make sure you are communicating, and for that, you don't need to be so accurate, but clear.
Thanks for your great comment...
anybody else considers writing the subject easy?
DD