Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast, number 20, Formal Emails.
This is English as a Second Language podcast, episode 20.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
On this episode we're going to listen to an email from a student to a professor that uses a little bit more formal language.
Let's get started.
Dear Dr Lee, I don't know if you'll remember me, but I introduced myself to you after your keynote at last week's conference.
As I mentioned to you I have read all of your work and I am a great admirer of your research.
Your article in the top journal Language Learning was groundbreaking.
I don't know if you are accepting any new students for the next year, but if so, I hope you will consider me.
I have included two attachments to this email.
I am sending a copy of my CV and I am also including a research paper I completed earlier this year.
I hope that these will give you an idea of my qualifications and experience.
Please let me know if you need more information or more samples of my academic work.
It was a pleasure and a privilege to meet you at the conference and I hope to hear more about your research at a future conference.
Sincerely, Lucy Hosovar.
Our email begins by the person writing it saying Dear Dr Lee.
A couple of things about this first line of the email, what we would call the salutation.
It begins by using the word dear, which is very common in writing letters and now emails, especially formal emails or letters.
Doctor, of course, is a title that a professor might have.
It also would be used, of course, for a medical doctor.
Lee is her last name.
In writing a salutation such as this, you wouldn't use the first and last name.
Normally in English, when you're writing a formal note or letter, you're going to just use the title of the person Mr Ms, Ms or, in this case, Dr And then the last name of the person.
So if this person's name was Judy Lee, you wouldn't say, Dear Dr. Judy Lee.
You would say instead, Dear Dr. Lee.
Finally, the colon in the salutation is also an indication that this is a formal email or, in the case of a letter, a formal letter.
If you use a comma, that's a little less formal.
The first paragraph begins.
This is a common phrase when you're writing a letter to someone whom you've met but you're not sure if the person will remember you.
Perhaps it was many weeks ago or even months ago.
Lucy says here, I don't know if you'll remember me, but I introduced myself.
I came up to you and told you my name after your keynote at last week's conference.
Okay, so it's only been one week since she has met this person, although the professor may have met many people at the conference, and so it's still a good idea to use this expression.
I don't know if you'll remember me.
Keynote K-E-Y-N-O-T-E refers to a speech at a large conference or convention that is given to a large group of people.
A conference is an event where people who are interested in the same topic, the same ideas, meet together and talk about those ideas.
Almost every professional group has its own conference, where you go and you can learn more about your particular area of interest or your particular type of job, talking with other people who have those same jobs or those same interests.
This was clearly an academic conference, a conference for university professors.
Lucy says, as I mentioned to you, as I said to you in our conversation, I have read all of your work.
Work here means all the things you have written.
To be an admirer A-D-M-I-R-E-R means to be a fan, someone who really appreciates and respects someone.
You can be an admirer in a professional sense.
You could also be an admirer in a personal sense.
We have the expression a secret admirer.
This would be someone who likes you in a romantic way but doesn't say who they are.
They may send you a note but not sign the note.
Or send you a flower but not say where the flower is from.
That would be a secret admirer.
Well, Lucy's not a secret admirer.
She's an admirer of Dr. Lee's research.
Research refers to scientific studies in this case that professors do.
So they have something to do with their time as a former professor.
That's not too far from the truth, let me tell you.
Anyway, Dr. Lee had an article in a top journal.
That is what Lucy says in her formal email.
A top journal would mean a very important journal or one of the best journals.
A journal is a scientific magazine where scientific studies articles are published.
This was a study in a journal called Language Learning that was, according to Lucy, groundbreaking.
Something that is groundbreaking, one word, is something that is new and important.
New information about a certain topic would be groundbreaking.
We often use this when we are talking about information that may start people researching in a completely different direction or in a completely different area.
Some of the earliest studies in a particular scientific field are often called groundbreakings.
Lucy says the reason she is contacting Dr Lee is that she would like to come to her university to study with her, to be her student.
She says I met some of your students at the conference and they couldn't stop singing your praises as a professor.
To sing someone's praises P-R-A-I-S-E-S means to talk about someone's good qualities, to say how good someone is at what they do.
Lucy is saying that she met some of Dr Lee's students at the conference and they were telling her about how wonderful a professor Dr Lee was.
Lucy says, I don't know if you are accepting any new students for the next year.
I don't know if you will allow new students to study with you next year.
But if so, if you are, I hope you will consider me.
To consider someone means to think about choosing them for a position or for a job or for a task.
I am considering John as our next president.
I'm thinking about him. and making him our next president.
This verb to consider is used in this case in formal situations, by people who are in authority, who have the power to make decisions.
Lucy says, I have included two attachments to this email.
When you have an attachment A-T-T-A-C-H-M-E-N-T to an email, you have a document attached or other file that you are sending with the email.
You could be sending a photograph.
You could be sending a Microsoft Word document.
You could be sending a text file, a PDF file.
All of these things would be called attachments.
She says, I am sending you a copy of my CV.
CV stands for curriculum vitae.
It's a document that describes your level of education, your previous jobs, your accomplishments, your publications if this is an academic position and so forth.
CV is usually used to refer to what in most companies is simply called a resume.
R-U-S-U-M-E.
CV however, is used for very high level positions or any position that involves being a professor or a teacher at the university.
Lucy says I am also including, I'm also attaching she could say a research paper I completed earlier this year.
She says, Please let me know if you need more information or more samples of my academic work.
Academic here refers to university or college level work that is part of your either school work, your school assignments or research that you've done at the university.
Finally, she says it was a pleasure.
Lucy said it was a privilege to meet Dr. Lee.
Privilege, P-R-I-V-I-L-E-G-E, is the same as honor, a special benefit that is not given to everyone.
She is saying it was very nice to meet her.
This expression it was a pleasure and a privilege is a very formal one that you would use anywhere.
In cases like this, where you're talking about someone who is important or who you want to say is important.
Lucy ends her email by saying sincerely and then a comma.
Sincerely.
Comma is followed on the next line by sincerely, the name of the person sending the email.
If this were a letter, you would have a few spaces after the sincerely comma and you would sign your name.
But we don't sign our emails typically, so you would just put your name.
In this case, it's Lucy Josevar.
Josevar is her last name in this story.
Now let's listen to the story this time. at a normal speed.
Dear Dr Lee, I don't know if you'll remember me, but I introduced myself to you after your keynote at last week's conference.
As I mentioned to you, I have read all of your work and I am a great admirer of your research.
Your article in the top journal Language Learning was groundbreaking.
The reason I'm contacting you is that I would like to come to your university to study with you.
I met some of your students at the conference and they couldn't stop singing your praises as a professor.
I don't know if you are accepting any new students for the next year, but if so, I hope you will consider me.
I've included two attachments to this email.
I'm sending a copy of my CV, and I'm also including a research paper I completed earlier this year.
I hope that these will give you an idea of my qualifications and experience.
Please let me know if you need more information or more samples of my academic work.
It was a pleasure and a privilege to meet you at the conference and I hope to hear more about your research at a future conference.
Sincerely, Lucy Josevar I'm an admirer of our scriptwriter, Dr. Lucy Say.
Thank you, Lucy.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again right here on ESL Podcasts.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
This podcast is copyright 2006.
