Email header and footer conventions?

If I wanted to send an email to someone in a superior position (in this case, a professor), would I head it with [Professor’s surname]様? Or would ~さん be more appropriate?

Also, in the footer are there phatics like “sincerely” that people use, or is it more normal to sign only with your name?

1 Like

I close with よろしくお願いします regularly in many situations, and have when I have asked if it is a good closing, I have frequently had good feedback.

I don’t know if さま or さん or even 先生 would be right for a professor. Personally, I would go with 先生 if you really respect them.

1 Like

If you’re delivering his pizza, then 様.

2 Likes

■■先生 would be the appropriate way to address a professor in an email. It’s also customary to end the email with something along the lines of お忙しいところ恐れ入りますが、何卒よろしくお願いいたします, with a few variations depending on the situation.

There’s a couple of online sources with sample emails for various scenarios when writing to a professor, e.g. Townwork’s 教授へのメールの書き方と文例が丸わかり.

This topic was automatically closed 365 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.