Corporate English workshops are a great way to learn email writing skills. Perhaps your company would benefit from a workshop. After all, it has probably lost opportunities due to employees sending emails with poor format & phrasing.
Those emails could have been many different kinds, everything from inquiries & information requests to marketing & promotional offers to simple updates & announcements. And if your company is “multilingual,” those emails could have been written in either Thai or English.
Whenever your employee writes an email in English, it can be a turn off to the reader if it is unprofessional in format & phrasing.
This article will discuss the things that employees in Thai companies can do to ensure their English emails look and sound professional and meet international business standards.
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Writing Emails With Proper Format & Phrasing
For non-native English speakers – particularly in Thailand where much of the English training focuses on grammar inputs rather than speaking & writing outputs – writing emails that meet international business standards can be a challenge.
This is not only due to the problem with English skills in The Land of Smiles. Writing is difficult even in one’s native language.
But if your employees are writing business emails in a second language – and aren’t totally aware of what is expected by Western readers – they may be sending emails that make recipients lose trust in your company. And lost trust leads to lost opportunities.
The good thing is, it’s pretty easy for employees to improve their emails so they look and sound professional. It comes down to recognizing the basic parts of a business email (format) and the basic English multi-words that every native-English speaker uses (phrasing).
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Learn how corporate English workshops will help your employees write emails with the right format & phrasing.
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The 5 Basic Parts of a Business Email
That might sound like a lot, but it’s really not. You are probably familiar with all five parts of an email.
Another good thing is that if you participate in ECSC’s corporate English workshops, you will learn that the five parts of an email include all the necessary vocabulary.
You’ll learn that writing a good email just requires an understanding of each part and then plugging in the right multi-words. In other words, you achieve the right format & phrasing at the same time. Easy!
NOTE: The red text below are the only multi-words vocabulary you would need for an inquiry email of this kind. Here we go…
- Subject line: Summarize the point of the email. DO NOT write a sentence. Keep it simple.Example: “Your Guitar Lessons in Silom”
- Greeting: For business emails always keep it “formal.” Always keep it polite. Keep it simple.Example: “Dear K. Seksan” or “Hello Mr. Sukpimai”
- ‘Pleasantry sentence’ & ‘opening sentence’: The word “pleasantry” means “something you say to be polite or show good manners.” So start your email with a pleasantry sentence like “I hope you are doing well.” Then, follow that up with a sentence that “opens” the topic of your email.Example: “I hope you are doing well. I am emailing you to inquire about your guitar lessons in Silom.”
- Body: Whether you’re making an inquiry (as we’re doing in this case), marketing a product, making an announcement, or anything else, this is where you write more sentences/questions about the topic. Again, keep it short and simple: Subject + Verb (statements) & Verb + Subject (questions).Example: “I would like to know which days you are available. I would also like to know how much you charge per hour. Can you also provide a map to your shop in Silom, please?”
- ‘Closing sentence’ & ‘pleasantry sentence’: End your email with a short summary and another sentence to show politeness. Pleasantry sentences here could be “Thank you for your time” or “Looking forward to your reply.”Example: “Please send me the information at your earliest convenience. Thank you K. Seksan, looking forward to your reply.”
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Writing professional emails in English doesn’t have to be difficult. Corporate English workshops can help you understand the five basic parts of email format and also the basic multi-words for polite phrasing.
Contact us today to learn more about our Corporate English Workshops & Courses, Executive Coaching, and Onsite Consulting.
