An Email for foreign trade is different from traditional business letter, it generally use informal style, so the salutation on the first line of the body doesn’t need to use the expression like “ Dear Mr. John”. You can call his/her name directly or use their title and their last names, for example, Tommy, or Mr. Smith. It also uses large amounts of abbreviations in Email writing, such as He’s, We’re, He’d, etc.

Another characteristic of the body is that it is simple, easy to read. Long content can be sent as an attachment. One paragraph is of one or three sentences by most. The complimentary close is also simple, usually of one word, like “ Thanks”, “Best”, “Cheers”, while not like “ Sincerely yours” or “Best Regards” in traditional letter. It needs to have a space between salutation and body, body and complimentary close, one paragraph and another paragraph, but the beginning should be without space. For example:

Jessica,

Thanks for your files!

I would discuss the project with our engineers on Monday.

Best,

David

Also, it is popular for people using some acronyms or abbreviations according to pronunciation. For example:

d u wnt 2 go out 2nite: Do you want to go out tonight?

lol: Laughing out loud

oic: Oh, I see.

mte: My thoughts exactly.

brb: I’ll be right back.

c u 2morrow: See you tomorrow.

tnx 4 ur elp: Thanks for your help.

gr8: great

btw: By the way

imho: In my humble opinion

asap: As soon as possible

And there are some smileys for emotion. Such as “::-)” means “ I’m smiling at this”, “:-(“ means “ I’m sad about this”.

Of course, the above abbreviations and smileys should be used according to the specific condition while not abused.

Although the body is of informal style, it doesn’t mean it can be written carelessly, especially for business email, you should check if it has spelling, grammar or punctuation errors seriously before sending it to foreign clents.

I think when we write emails, we should pay some attention on these aspects so that our communication with foreign clients will be better.