Please believe, Madame, in the assurance of my distinguished sentiments

This week I have some important letters to write in French. I have a French-speaker check them over before I send them, but for the basic letters, I use a couple of books. One is called Cinq cents lettres pour tous les jours (Five Hundred Letters for Everyday; by the way, the French capitalize only the first words of a title).  Of course, books like this exist in English too and tend to share the same slightly out-of-date language.

My French is actually pretty good. But I need the book for the "formules de politesse," or formulas to end a letter, which are anything but intuitive to an "anglo-saxonne."

Here are some examples I have today on my desk.

Americans use "Sincerely" for almost all non-personal letters.

The British use "Yours sincerely."

The Germans say, "With friendly greetings." (Mit freundlichen Grüßen)

The French say: "Thanking you for your confidence, I pray you to believe, Monsieur, in the assurance of my best sentiments."

Or, "I pray you to receive, Madame, the expression of my distinguished consideration."

Or, "Receive, Monsieur le Président du tribunal correctionnel, my distinguished salutation."

Or, "Please accept, Madame l'Inspectrice d'Académie, the expression of my high consideration."

Or, "In hoping very strongly for a favorable response, be assured, Monsieur, of my perfect consideration."

Or, "Please accept, Madame, my respectful homage."

A woman must not, however, send her "sentiments"or "homage" to a man (oh-là-là!) but should use "expression of my respect" instead.

These are not a joke. The French really write this way.

Comments

[schuey]

I love this one ! It's so funny to reread them in english and grasp the absurdity of it ! Nice

[L'Amerloque]

Hi Sedulia !

/*/These are not a joke. The French really write this way./*/

Yes. (smile) Took Amerloque ages to figure out the degrees ... and he, too, keeps a book to hand when writing letters out of the ordinary (to kill a parking ticket, for example).

Best,
L'Amerloque

[samantha]

I know, I always think those "formules" are so funny and pretentious. I've been looking for a book like that (Fab's not the best help when writing letters) - would you recommend that particular one?

[The Bold Soul]

Wow, that's really good to know. I knew the French were more formal but had no idea it was THIS bad! I'm already overwhelmed by how much I don't know about French so I will file this away with all the other great tidbits I will need for future reference.

[Franje]

Holy cow!! ROFL!!!

[laurie]

Holy crap! I have been sending "sentiments" without realizing what a faux pas that is! No wonder everyone thinks I'm a slut.

[kim]

Wow, how you can know all this is beyond me, how long have you studied french? all your life??? :)

[marco]

"sinceres salutations" is a simple and usually sufficient in most cases... but sometimes you definitely need those "agreer" and "distinguees" and "dans l'attente"

[Frog in L.A.]

This is so true! I make a living in the U.S., just advising clients when to send their sentiments vs. salutations, distinguished, respectful, cordial, whatever...so that they get what they need/want. I was drilled on the subject by my upper-class mother, and you can find thick how-to books at FNAC. That "savoir-vivre" (nonsense?) is disappearing progressively, because web-writing kills true etiquette. Nevertheless, it's useful to have a basic understanding of it, as the right "formule" still can make your case...or break it!

[Sedulia]

Hi Samantha-- That particular book is kind of out of date. I'm sure you can find a better one in the "Savoir-Vivre" section of bookshops. The new ones even have suggestions for email. The long formulas are gradually dying out, but you certainly still need them for any kind of polite letter to businesses or schools, especially any time you are asking for something .

Kim--I have sort of been learning French my whole life. My grandparents were French speakers in southern Louisiana, and I started learning it in school down there at age 8. I grew up hearing French around me, all the old people spoke it, although it was an accent that now sounds funny to me!

[Jennifer]

I never realised how ridiculous these 'formules' look in English.

The French are truly mad. France is a large asylum.

No wonder I fit in so...

[Fabrice]

Marco's right. These days the most common formula is "Sincères salutations", when someone wants to sound civil, or simply "Salutations" though it's usually used to convey an unfriendly attitude. When people expect an answer, especially a quick one, they use "Dans l'attente".

But basically yes there are a lot of pompous pricks here, especially in public service jobs where people like to view their role and stature as more important than they really are.

However when you ask a favor to the french IRS, or to a judge, someone who can make your life miserable if he feels like to, well, you've got to give in to that. And i would add that there's a politeness formula at the beginning of the letter in those cases. Something like, Dear Mister the president, i am honored to humbly sollicitate your high benevolence... bla bla bla.

However i was a bit puzzled by what you say about "Sincerely" being used in all non-personal correspondence in the US. In my case, and i've worked with Americans for almost 20 years, Best Regards is used almost everytime. When there's no civility, it's simply Regards. When the other person is a woman and the correspondence lasts for a while and the tone is warmer while remaining strictly professional, it can turn into Kind Regards. In contrast, i get sincerely in a good deal of personal correspondence but it's not the most common formula. Care to enlighten me on that ?

[William]

Fabrice,

Sedulia is correct. "Sincerely" is used customarily.

"Regards" and "Kind regards" would not be commonly used. "Best regards" might be used a little more often.

But "Sincerely" is the norm.

From Sedulia:

Sincerely is normal for almost all business letters, but Regards is used for someone you want to seem friendly to-- but real friends wouldn't use it!

[Kim]

it is always funny when you translate French into English exactly as it is written.

[Fabrice]

Williams, thanks a lot, this is really helpful. I just cant believe i only discover this after so many years. And it's a bit embarrassing too, i've spent most of my life trying to get the deepest aspects of the American culture and i believe i've come a long way, only to find out i am still clueless when it comes to such basic stuff !

[Cree A.]

LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE your blog. It's my new favorite. I'm linking to you and visiting every day in the hope that some of your wittiness will wear off on me.

[Flip]

Lol :),

The worst is that we are aware that all of this is more than ridiculous... But since it's a kind of custom, it's not that easy to change and this nonsense remains.

An other weird thing is that you must HANDWRITE the letters when applying for a job. Send one made with word and it go right now in the bin. Too bad.

Too, when we are writting an essay, our scheme (sorry I'm unsure of the well fitted word) but I mean that :

I] - title 1
1)subtitle 1
2)subtitle 2
3)subtitle 3
II] - title 2
1)subtitle 1
2)subtitle 2
3)subtitle 3
III] - title 3
1)subtitle 1
2)subtitle 2
3)subtitle 3

the content written under Title 1,2 and 3 should have *almost* the same lenght (number of lines)
and the content written under subtitle 1,2 and 3 should have *almost* the same lenght (number of lines)
and the content written under Title 1/subtitle 1 should have *almost* the same lenght (number of lines) that Title 2/subtitle 2

This has been some pain for me for years at school.

[Ousmane]

All these so-called polite formula, illustrate how conventional languages are. Each one has its own requirements and learning a language thus equals abandoning (at least for a while)some previous rules and embracing new ones. It's all a matter of deconstruction and reconstruction, n'est-ce pas?

[Lolita]

Hi everybody,

I am french and I just wanted to say how foolish you can be to laugh at french politeness!
It is normal I think, when you apply for a job or anything else and you do not know the person, to show your respect and consideration to him/her. How could it be otherwise? "thank you dude, bye"? Plus, finding a job is very difficult in France, and the impression you will give to your employer is essential.
Moreover, please notice that you american people are far from having a good reputation in France. Being american is to us, and I'm afraid to the rest of the world, very often synonymous of being a rude, dumb and impolite person, even if this is a cliché.
So, instead of laughing at the french polite formulations, maybe you should take example of all this to build you a better reputation.

[Sedulia]

I guess we should become polite, like you.