How to write the perfect e-mail… Maybe a little bit pretentious ahahah. Well, we can rephrase. How to write an e-mail in Spanish. Better, isn’t it? No need to tell you that this one will be the topic of the “Spanish language” column of this crazy February.
As any other “linguistic” post, this one will be shorter than the traditional helpMadrid posts. We are actually sad because we have so many things to tell you and so many things to ask you… We could go on pages telling you how we are improving our skills in Spanish thanks to In2Spanish or how much fun we have with our tandem partners. Unfortunately, we cannot make too long digressions (we have promised). What we can do though is providing you with our precious suggestions as language learners.
One of the first things we have to learn when we move abroad is writing both formal and informal letters and e-mail (we are old school. Therefore, we prefer letters ahahah). Especially when we are beginners, we need some guidelines to address correctly to the recipient. Thanks to the hundreds of websites that provide this information, we have been able to sum up and write down some of the most used phrases, both formal (if you send an e-mail to a friend) and informal (if you send an e-mail to a professor or unknown person). In that way, you will not have to look around your shared flat waiting for the e-mail translation of your Spanish friend! Actually, if you live in a shared flat, you may be lucky enough and have a Spanish roommate… Good reason to choose this accommodation, right?
By the way, here some useful phrases to begin and end your formal or informal letters and e-mails…
FORMAL LETTER
How to begin
A quien corresponda, = To whom it may concern (if you do not know the recipient)
Estimado señor y señora …, = Dear Sir or Madam
Estimado Sr. / Sra. / Srta. …, = Dear Mr. / Mrs. / Ms.
Body of a letter
Mi nombre es… y soy... = My name is...
Escribo de parte de... = I am writing on behalf of...
Adjunto encontrará… = Attached please find…
Le escribo para… = I am writing to…
Lo/la estoy contactando sobre… = I am reaching out regarding...
Gracias por su asistencia con este asunto = Thank you for your assistance in this matter
Quedo a la espera de ricibir noticias suyas tan pronto le sea posible = I look forward to hearing from you at your ealiest convenience
Por favor no dude en contactarme si necesita más informaciónes = Please do not hesitate to contact me if you require any further information
How to end
Saludos cordials, = Best regards,
Cualquier cosa estoy a su disposición = I am available should you have any question
Quedo a la espera de sus noticias, = Looking forward to your reply,
Cordialmente, = Yours sincerely,
Muchísimas gracias, = Thank you very much,
INFORMAL LETTER
How to begin
Hola…, = Hi…,
Body of a letter
Te escribo porque = I’m writing you because
Tanto tempo sin hablarnos = Long time no talk
¿Cómo te va? = How are you doing?
Espero que estes bien = Hope you are doing well
Encantado de ayudarte = Happy to help
¡Nos vemos! = See you!
How to end
Un saludo, = Cheers,
Saludos, = Bests,
Seguimos en contacto, = Let’s keep in touch,
Espero saber de ti pronto, = Hope to hear from you soon,
Besos, = Love,
Hablamos pronto, = Talk soon,
Mantente en contacto, = Keep in touch,
Muchas gracias, = Many thanks,
Are you already writing that important e-mail that you have to write in Spanish? We think we will refer to this blog post several time. Actually, these phrases are extremely useful guidelines to be appropriate when writing something important. For every single language we have studied, the part of writing a letter has always been one of the hardest ones and we are glad there are so many pages that provide these kind of templates.
As mentioned above, living in a shared flat may offer you the chance to ask for corrections to a Spanish native speaker. A good advantage, right? This should be one of the reasons to rent a shared flat instead of a studio or a flat on your own. We have suggested you this kind of accommodation several time because it may really help you improving Spanish and, as you remember one of our post, we have suggested you some activities to train with your friend. Have a look at the post about the language learning techniques!
This post was supposed to be short! And, as always, it turned into a very (very) long chat between helpMadrid and its beloved readers… It is better that way ahahah. Nonetheless, it is time to say goodbye, but we will come back soon to discover new interesting things of the Spanish language.