{"id":906,"date":"2016-01-04T13:18:41","date_gmt":"2016-01-04T13:18:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/superior-english.com\/2016\/01\/04\/906\/"},"modified":"2016-01-16T20:02:51","modified_gmt":"2016-01-16T20:02:51","slug":"906","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/superior-english.com\/en\/2016\/01\/04\/906\/","title":{"rendered":"Why I hesitate to write „please don’t hesitate“"},"content":{"rendered":"

If writing emails is hard work, writing emails in a second language is even harder. Not only is it difficult, it\u2019s time-consuming and fraught1<\/sup> with opportunities to make embarrassing mistakes. That\u2019s why it makes sense to cut corners2<\/sup> whenever we can. Falling back on our favorite tried-and-true phrases is a great way to save time and effort. But business emailers beware: some of the most commonly used phrases in email correspondence deserve a second look. \u201cPlease don\u2019t hesitate to contact me\u201d is just one of them.<\/p>\n

Please don\u2019t hesitate to contact me <\/em>(sowie das leider inzwischen — warum auch immer — eingedeutschte: Bitte z\u00f6gern Sie nicht, mich zu kontaktieren <\/em>oder \u00e4hnliche Floskeln im Englischen, die mit please don\u2019t hesitate <\/em>beginnen) is unceremoniously slapped onto the end of what feels like every other email. It\u2019s so commonplace that its appropriateness may seem \u00a0unquestionable, even to native speakers, but in terms of style, consider the following:<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unnecessarily wordy:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Isn\u2019t it? And I say that as a guy who likes words very much indeed: Please don\u2019t hesitate<\/u> to contact me if xyz <\/em>is nothing more than a long-winded3<\/sup> way of writing \u201cPlease contact me if\u2026\u201d<\/strong>. Why waste time and space doing it the hard way? But more importantly, why would your clients be hesistant to contact you? Are you not insinuating4<\/sup> you\u2019re a rather scary, nasty person to do business with?<\/p>\n

Strive to make every email a shrine to brevity5<\/sup>, keeping things as short, simple and readable as you can. After all, according to a recent survey, American workers spend up to 14% of the workweek emailing. Why burden yourself and your reader with all those unnecessary words? Especially when we think in terms of emailing using English as a second language the reason to avoid this phrase becomes clear. Choose the path of least resistance!<\/p>\n

It\u2019s actually kind of bossy:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Take another look at the first two words of the phrase\u2014please don\u2019t<\/strong>\u2014and the second issue I take with this phrase becomes clear. Here\u2019s a fun challenge: take an inventory of the other times you tell your clients in writing to please not do something<\/em>. With the exception of please don\u2019t hesitate to contact me<\/em>, I\u2019ll bet your list of please don\u2019ts <\/strong>will be mighty short. As a rule, I\u2019m not a fan of being told what not do to. Why use the negative when we can get the same point across with something more positive?<\/p>\n

Please contact me if\u2026<\/p>\n

Feel free to reach out if\u2026<\/p>\n

Please let me know if\u2026<\/p>\n

I hope you\u2019ll let me know if\u2026<\/p>\n

Try to use phrasing that sounds more like a friendly invitation, and less like a ban or command. After all, the intended message is, \u201cI\u2019m here for you if you need me.\u201d<\/p>\n

1<\/sup>voller [xyz] stecken\/ [xxx]-belastet\/beladen\/behaftet sein, \u00a02<\/sup>die Kurve schneiden, \u00a03<\/sup>langatmig, \u00a0\u00a04<\/sup>andeuten\/unterstellen, \u00a0\u00a05<\/sup>kurze Ausdrucksweise\/Pr\u00e4gnanz<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If writing emails is hard work, writing emails in a second language is even harder. Not only is it difficult, it\u2019s time-consuming and fraught1 with opportunities to make embarrassing mistakes. That\u2019s why it makes sense to cut corners2 whenever we can. Falling back on our favorite tried-and-true phrases is a great way to save time … Continue reading Why I hesitate to write „please don’t hesitate“<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[273],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","no-featured-image"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t