correspondence

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Correspondence in the USA
Schriftverkehr in den USA

Writing: the conventions

Emails, faxes, letters, reports: the basics are pretty much the same almost everywhere around the world, except for a few differences in formats and wording between British and American English.

Some of the most important differences in form are that in the USA:

Dates are always written differently from the European style, as the month is first, then the date and then the year, so 4/7/2013 means the 7th of April in the year 2013 and 7.4.2013 means the 4th of July!

Salutations or greetings without a name are common, although it is still generally seen as better style to use someone´s name if you can.

American business language tends to use far more commas, semi-colons or colons than British English: salutations, closes and addresses are always written with - to European eye - a lot of punctuation.

Email language is generally less formal in American English just as it is in British English.

Conclusion

It is often far easier to comprehend American intentions than British, as there is little or no "beating around the bush". However, this does not mean that courtesy is forgotten, although political correctness may mean that old-fashioned chivalry seems to have been shown the door!

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