Here's a copy of a recent presentation we did on writing and managing emails in English. Part of our "Working In English" seminar series

2. WRITING IN ENGLISH
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

3. THE EVOLUTION OF
WRITTEN ENGLISH

4. GEOFFREY CHAUCER 1342 - 1400

5. Whan that Aprill, with his shoures soote
The droghte of March hath perced to the roote
And bathed every veyne in swich licour,
Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breeth
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
Hath in the Ram his halfe cours yronne,
And smale foweles maken melodye,
CANTERBURY TALES - PROLOGUE

6. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE 1562 - 1616

7. “Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio, a
fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent
fancy. He hath bore me on his back a
thousand times, and now how abhorr'd in
my imagination it is! My gorge rises at it.”
Hamlet Act 5, scene 1

8. WINSTON CHURCHILL 1874 - 1965

10. EMAIL IS AN EVOLUTION OF
THE BUSINESS LETTER
But less formal and simpler.

11. OVER THE LAST 10 YEARS
EMAIL HAS GOT SHORTER AND MORE INFORMAL

12. Dear Chris,
!
001
2
Thank you for your email.
!
In answer to your points raised in your email I can confirm
that we can go ahead with the project, but I think we will
need the authority of our Singapore office before we can
begin the project.

13. Hi Chris,
014
2
!
To answer your questions:
!
•
•
Yes, we can go ahead with the programme.
We need authority from Singapore before rolling
out the new plan.

14. Dear Fred,
!
Do you have time in the next two weeks for an update meeting?
!
My trip to visit my family this Christmas is booked and I shall be flying on the
19th December returning on the 2 January, so it would be nice to meet with you
before I go.
!
Thursday this week around 3:30pm would be good, or next Monday (16th)
anytime after 2pm.
!
Look forward to hearing from you
!
Andy

15. Thursday looks good
!
Fred
THE PERFECT RESPONSE

16. 80
72 HOURS
60
40
24 HOURS
20
0
LETTER
EMAIL
HOURS TO REPLY

17. PREPARATION

18. QUESTION:
DO YOU REALLY NEED TO SEND AN EMAIL?
Would a telephone call
be better and faster?

19. NOBODY READS LONG EMAILS
When was the last time you read a
2000 word newspaper article?

20. USE
“WHAT + WHY”
What do you want.
Why do you want it.

21. USE
“WHAT + WHY”
Dear Pedro,
!
Could you send me a copy of the management
report for the last LUP?
!
We would like to begin using the same strategy as
you guys did in the Philippines.

22. LAYOUT

23. LOSE THE STRUCTURE
GET TO THE POINT
• USE PARAGRAPHS FOR EACH POINT
• USE BULLET POINTS FOR EMAILS WITH A LOT OF POINTS.
• PUT A SPACE BETWEEN PARAGRAPHS.

24. “Mr Jobs,
I humbly ask why Apple is so wonderfully attentive to
the needs of students, whether it be with the latest,
greatest invention or the company’s helpful customer
service line, and yet, ironically, the media relations
department fails to answer any of my questions which
are, as I have repeatedly told them, essential to my
academic performance.”
STUDENT’S EMAIL TO STEVE JOBS

25. “Our goals do not include helping you
get a good grade. Sorry.”

26. LANGUAGE

27. “DEAR” v “Hi”
IF YOU KNOW THE RECEIVER WELL - “Hi”
!
IF YOU DON’T - “Dear”

28. ADVERBS
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN:
URGENT
VERY URGENT
This is urgent.
This is very urgent.
ery urgent”?
ou reply to “v
faster will y
how much

29. REMOVE ADVERBS.
really
much
very

30. WHEN WRITING IN ENGLISH
STOP THINKING IN KOREAN
The languages are so different.
Korean is a very polite language.
English is not.

31. 고객님께
Dear Customer,
In English this would be considered impolite
CUSTOMER. I AM A PERSON !
I AM NOT A
USE THE PERSON’S NAME

32. REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
Dear CEO Mr Swain,
!
I hope you are well and that you keeping warm in this cold weather.
!
I was wondering if you might possibly have time to send me a copy of
the AP Sales Breakdown Report for 2012? We need this AP Sales
Breakdown Report for 2012 to help us put together our P of A for 2014.
!
I am looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Regards
!
JiWon Park

33. REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
language
flowery”
This is “
!
I hope you are well and that you keeping warm in this cold weather.
Dear CEO Mr Swain
!
I was wondering if you might possibly have time to send me a copy of the AP
Sales Breakdown Report for 2012? We need this AP Sales Breakdown Report for
2012 to help us put together our P of A for 2014.
!
I am looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Regards
!
JiWon Park

34. REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
Dear CEO Mr Swain
!
I hope you are well and that you keeping warm in this cold weather.
!
I was wondering if you might possibly have time to send me a
copy of the AP Sales Breakdown Report for 2012? We need this
AP Sales Breakdown Report for 2012 to help us put together
our P of A for 2014.
waffle
his is just
T
!
I am looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Regards
!
JiWon Park

35. REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
Dear Mr Swain,
!
Could you send me a copy of the AP Sales Breakdown Report for 2012?
!
Regards
!
JiWon Park

36. REPLY TO A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
Dear Seve,
!
Please find attached a copy of the clinical trial results you requested.

37. REPLY TO A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
Dear Seve,
!
I have attached a copy of the clinical trial results you asked for.

38. THE CHASE
WHAT TO DO WHEN SOMEONE IGNORES YOUR REQUEST

39. THE CHASE
CALL THEM

40. THE FORMAL CHASE
I refer to my email dated 6 December. I note I have not
received a reply.
!
This matter is urgent and I would appreciate it if you
could let me have the information as soon as possible.

41. THE INFORMAL CHASE
I wonder if you have had time to find the information I
asked for last week.
!
This is urgently needed and I would be grateful if you
could let me have it as soon as possible.

42. PREPOSITIONS /
ARTICLES
I SHALL BE AVAILABLE FOR A CONFERENCE CALL ON
MONDAY AT 1:30PM
I HAVE ATTACHED A COPY OF THE SALES REPORT FOR
LUP and Delta

43. EDITING

44. REPLACE THESE WORDS:
THEREFORE
THUS
HOWEVER
IN ORDER TO
with SO
with SO
with BUT
with TO

45. AVOID BUSINESS JARGON
MSR / MR
POA
FTEs
CRM DATA
CFSS
SAM
?

46. IF IT IS POSSIBLE TO CUT A WORD OUT,
THEN CUT IT OUT
you
I wonder if you could send me a
copy of the report.
v

47. “IF YOU HAVE AN IMPORTANT POINT TO MAKE, DON'T
TRY TO BE SUBTLE OR CLEVER. USE A PILE DRIVER. HIT
THE POINT ONCE. THEN COME BACK AND HIT IT AGAIN.
THEN HIT IT A THIRD TIME - A TREMENDOUS WHACK.”
!
WINSTON CHURCHILL

48. BEFORE HITTING SEND CHECK YOUR EMAIL !!!

49. SIMPLIFYING

50. THE AVERAGE OFFICE WORKER RECEIVES
40
EMAILS PER DAY

51. THAT WORKS OUT AT
1 HOUR 30 MINS
Spent just looking at your mail each day

52. THAT’S WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
TO KEEP YOUR EMAIL SHORT
ut the person
Think abo
writing to!
you are

53. Dear Fred,
BAD
Just a reminder with regards to the sales meeting in Dublin, Ireland on the 5
January 2014, which is coming up. We have not yet received your confirmation
with regards to you attending to the meeting.
Please, note that the hotel needs to be booked by 31 December 2013 so, please,
make your booking ASAP. To assist you, I have copied below the e-mail sent by
the hotel last week with all the instructions for the booking.
Thank you in advance for your kind attention.

54. GOOD
Dear Fred,
Are you coming to the sales meeting meeting on 5 January? If so please let me
know asap! If you want a discounted room you need to reserve by 31 December
(see enclosed information).
Hope to see you there!

55. FIRST EMAIL - 84 WORDS
SECOND EMAIL - 37 WORDS

56. LESS IS MORE!
SIMPLIFY, SIMPLIFY, SIMPLIFY

57. MANAGING YOUR EMAIL

58. INBOX ZERO
WHAT IS IT AND HOW DOES IT WORK?

59. How many of you have this?

60. INBOX ZERO
DO
DELETE
DEFER
DELEGATE
For information materials,
place then in a
REFERENCE FOLDER
less than 2 mins - DO IT NOW
If it has no purpose - DELETE IT
If it will take more time - DEFER IT
If someone else can do it better

61. GMAIL, APPLE MAIL & OUTLOOK HAVE
EXCELLENT SEARCH FUNCTIONALITY
You don’t need to have a lot
folders in your email programme.

62. CHECKING IS NOT DOING

65. USE GMAIL KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS
IT CAN SAVE YOU HOURS
“C” = Write new email
“R” = Reply to an email
“Y” = Delete
“f” = Forward

66. BE AN EMAIL NINJA
learn the keyboard shortcuts

67. AUTO REPLY
NEVER PUT ANY PERSONAL INFORMATION IN AN AUTO REPLY
that’s how spammers
and hackers get your
personal information

68. AUTO REPLY
Thank you for your email. I am away from the office and
will return on Monday, December 16. If your message
requires a reply, I will respond when I return.
For immediate needs, please contact:
[NAME OF COLLEAGUE] [COLLEAGUE’s EMAIL ADDRESS]

69. PROFESSIONAL PEOPLE
ACKNOWLEDGE RECEIPT
Dear Mike,
!
Thank you for the copy of the new Recruitment Policy.
!
Regards

70. Dear Steve,
!
Thank you for sending me a copy of the management accounts.
They will be very useful.
!
Regards

71. 80%
OF YOUR EMAIL WRITING IS FROM
THE SAME 10 RESPONSES

72. TEMPLATES SAVE YOU HOURS
CREATE A FOLDER IN EMAIL CALLED “TEMPLATES”
SAVE ANY EMAILS YOU SEND REGULARLY TO THAT FOLDER.
better still, use an application like Textexpander

73. WRAP UP
THINK ENGLISH NOT KOREAN WHEN WRITING IN ENGLISH
KEEP IT SHORT
SIMPLIFY, SIMPLIFY, SIMPLIFY

74. WRAP UP
MANAGE YOU EMAIL - KEEP IT UP TO DATE
ADOPT THE INBOX ZERO METHOD
LEARN THE KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS

75. CONTACT ME
carl@fandcorp.com

76. www.fandcorp.com