Email and the Russian Soul

These days it seems that I spend most of my day writing, reading, and checking my email, which is mostly in Russian, and I’ve begun to see some — for lack of a better word — standards begin to take shape.

When электронная почта (electronic mail) first appeared, most of the messages I received were written like a formal letter, and I was addressed as Уважаемая г-жа Берди (Esteemed Ms. Berdy), or, at the other end of the spectrum, were treated like an эсэмэска (text message, SMS) — and I got notes that began “Микуся! Приветик!” (Hiya, Micketoon!)

Of course, these standards are still a work in progress. First of all, Russian speakers are not of one mind about what to call the thing they are writing. It can be email, e-mail, емейл, е-мейл or имейл, with the last one probably heading towards the language standard. Some people also refer to them as сообщения (messages).

And then there is a huge range of ways to address recipients. You can go formal and polite: Уважаемый Сергей Николаевич! (Esteemed Sergei Nikolayevich), or polite but not very formal: Добрый день, Сергей Николаевич! (Hello, Sergei Nikolayevich!). Or you can simply give a greeting without a name: Добрый день! (Good day!), or give a name without a greeting: Иван (Ivan) — usually followed by a comma, but sometimes with an exclamation mark.

You can use the bizarre Доброго времени суток ([Wishing you] a good time of the day or night), dreamed up because the sender doesn’t know when the recipient will open the letter. You’d think everyone would just switch to Здравствуйте! (Hello!), which is not time-of-day sensitive, yet that is the greeting least commonly used in an email. Just another загадка русской души (mystery of the Russian soul).

In group letters, the most common form of address is Уважаемые коллеги! (Esteemed colleagues!) Next most common is simply Коллеги! (Colleagues!), either because the sender isn’t respectful or the recipients aren’t respectable.

Дорогой/дорогие (Dear) is used very rarely and seems to be used in Russian to express particular warmth – or a particularly urgent need. The дорогие коллеги emails almost always ask for money or other contributions.

For the body of the letter, there is no shillyshallying around. No хотелось бы (I would like) or Извините за беспокойство (I’m sorry to bother you). Just straight to the point: Сообщаем (We are letting you know), Просим (We request), Прошу (I request), Отправляю (I’m sending you), Приглашаю (I’m inviting you), or Обратите внимание на (Note that…).

This section can often be ended with demands like сообщайте (let us know) or обращайтесь (ask us). But more often the standard is to be politely grateful, from the formal благодарю (I thank you) to the cheery спасибо большое (thanks a lot). Sometimes there is a warm and polite ending: с уважением (respectfully yours), or с наилучшими пожеланиями (with best wishes).

Today among friends the most common quick response to a letter is three little letters: щас, a.k.a. сейчас, which means: Yup, got it, can’t deal with it right now, but will reply in detail in a minute.

I always think that we non-native speakers should take the high road of polite and formal writing styles. I’m in favor of уважаемый (esteemed), пожалуйста (please), and заранее благодарна/благодарен (thanking you in advance). Except in notes to friends, of course. They begin Привет! (Hi!) and end: Целую крепко, твоя репка — a bit of rhyming silliness that means hugs and kisses, from your favorite turnip.

Don’t ask about the turnip. It’s just another загадка русской души.