hey michelle what's shaking hey lindsay not too much how are you awesome i'm excited to
be on the show today we're talking a little bit about business emails and we got a question today
from one of our awesome students in our business english course fabiana so big thank you to fabiana
for sending in a question thank you so much you know what though lindsay could we please start
in five minutes and then could later could you please send me some other episode ideas please
oh michelle you're overdoing it on please oh oh oh oh i'm sorry it sounds a little too sweet right
like it's a little too much too much a little too much i'm over tone it down okay okay okay i'll try
so lindsay that is what the question is about guys we're going to be talking about the word please
today um specifically really dealing with emails so guys if you want to look for other episodes we
may have done dealing with this word but this is about emails this is answering fabiana's question
so we really sticking with that today yeah i mean we did do a whole module in our business english
course about email writing right writing reports writing emails so guys if you want to see that
get some templates go over to aldersenglish.com business and check out that course so michelle
should i go ahead and read fabiana's question sure let's go for it all right hi lindsay i just heard
the episode about the use of thank you in advance which was 1726 by the way guys this was an alert
for me because i use it often and in my mind i was always being kind i've never wondered about
the other side from now on i will pay more attention to deciding when to use it still
talking about email i'd like to know your opinion about the use of please i tend to use please more
than one time in an email especially when i'm talking asking for more than one thing even
um when i'm asking that some even when what i'm asking about is related to the person's
job okay so she's saying even if she's asking for something that the person is required to do
right okay sometimes i use please at the beginning and use bullets to ask what i needed what ask for
what i need but sometimes for some reason this is not possible so my question is how can i be
kind when i'm asking people to do something via email without over using please thank you
fabiana business english course awesome awesome fantastic question i know that fabiana does
business in english every day i believe wow so she's in a very key position where english is very
crucial for her and for so many other listeners we have right for their career right exactly
exactly so this is a great question so fabiana is using english all the time
in business so guys she's going to ask questions that are very important for the real work
world so thank you for that question yeah that's a great one and guys remember like we said to
listen to that other episode 1726 if you want to learn more about what fabiano was referring to
so uh we're gonna get started on this but guys we want to remind you that if you want to get your
business english level head on over to all ears english dot com slash work quiz is that right
lindsay that's right michelle that is a great way to figure out what business english level you
are at right do you know the idioms that you need and if you don't what can you do
to start to learn those okay so go over there allairesenglish.com work quiz awesome
yeah so what do you think michelle what's your first reaction is it possible to overuse the
word please especially in an email business email yes i definitely think it would be possible to
overuse the word please i think it's impossible to use thank you you know just like these words
that show it shows that we're almost trying too hard to be polite and and while it's nice and
very important to be polite if you use i mean really this goes for so many things or most things
in in speaking or writing like anything there's always it can always be too much right sure sure
if you repeat anything you know more than x number of times with an x number of words it's gonna
sound unnatural and a little annoying yeah so we're gonna i think we've talked about like sorry
and things like that before right like you know things like people i think i think it's common to
want to overuse the excuse me sorry please thank you you know these like special words um and
you don't know should you say it but it can it can be too much so yeah um that's that's what i
think i mean fabiana says she uses it uh more than once um in an email or in bullet points so like
it sounds like she might say like please and then like write like a few things
yeah i mean the other danger of overusing please just broadly speaking before we get more into it
is that it becomes meaningless anything that you overuse becomes completely meaningless so
when you really do want to have a big ask we're not really big on that phrase have a big ass
it's not going to mean anything to your coworkers right if you've been saying please 10 times in
each email before right so right right right exactly exactly so use it when it really matters
um so i mean i i think you can use it more than once right but just like make sure it's
separated i i think maybe more than twice is a little much but you know if you say please
do this and please do that like that's definitely too close don't you think lindsay
yeah i do um i think you know i think pairing please and thank you going back to our old
you know p's and q's right we learned when we were kids like though that works well right but
you know it just it ends up being repetitive i wish i could see the emails that she's talking
about yeah you know maybe fabiana you could bring your emails into our facebook group
for the business course oh that's a great idea right ask some questions let us know so we can
really understand exactly what you mean right there is a way to be concise here and pair with
other things like i really appreciate it thank you uh-huh sorry guys i'm gonna turn that down
um so exactly um so again i think that you can use it more than once just make sure it's separated
maybe one please and then another please later in the email or maybe somewhere towards the end so
if it is a part of the person's job right do you have to say please i mean i think maybe we might
disagree a little bit here i think it's still good to say please it does sound very kind of
formal in a way to say please but it's still good even if it's part of the person's job if you're
like let's say you're putting in an order you work in a hospital putting in an order for blood
work right maybe i have no idea how this gets done but you know saying please run this blood work um
even if it's their job and they work in the lab i feel like that's that's okay uh what do you think
michelle what do you think yeah no i don't think there's anything wrong with that i don't think
it's completely necessary for everything you ask someone to do all the time again because i think
that can be overdoing it but i mean it's nice to want to be nice um but it's just if for every
single time you use it i think that's what it is yeah it's better to err on the side of more please
don't get us wrong here fabiana it's better to err on the side of more use of please than less right
right you build a relationship with your colleagues but at some point we look at our
writing and we say am i overusing this thing is this just too much is it becoming redundant right
no i mean the point is we want our listeners have more expressions right michelle more ways to say
this right yeah exactly so how can you kind of say please or be polite without saying please please
saying that's the way we're describing today's episode of saying hey please without saying please
please ah that's a good title that's a good one yeah i love it okay the first one fabiana that you
could use that would convey the sense of please is the phrase when you get a chance and we use this
all the time phrases like this we use a lot in our company because we're a little more formal i'm
sorry informal what would be an example michelle uh when you get a chance could you send over those
numbers this is serving the same purpose as please it's just not so repetitive as saying it 100 times
right right and i think it's this is still being polite as fabiano wants to be right and mentions
that it would be good to still be polite right um because it's not saying like do this now
yes exactly exactly and then there's another one if you don't mind right and if you don't mind
i'd love to meet with you at noon to discuss this also good right yeah exactly exactly
or if you could something that would be great so yeah if you use this all the time yeah yes uh-huh
okay go ahead michelle uh if you could finish that report by 3 p.m that would be great now
why do you use this all the time tell us why this is one of your favorites because it feels a little
my i guess leadership style is a little less like demanding right i'm not like i don't want to throw
out orders so to me that would be great if you could do x that would be great feels a little
less direct and even more informal that a little less encroaching than saying please do this it
just feels a little more suited to my personality and i know that our team is we get stuff done so
there's no need to be demanding do you know what i mean exactly so you're able to kind of use that
polite yeah expression and you could you you could to kind of switch this around you could say if you
could blank that would be great or it or it would be great if you could whatever yes yes very useful
very common especially in modern day business i think yeah um and then should we do one more
sure this is great uh here's the last one guys i'd appreciate it if you could again very similar to
that would be great right right right this is very similar i'd appreciate it if you could call uh
call some of our clients for feedback today right something like that perfect perfect and i don't
know what do you think michelle what else do we want to say do we have any find any things we want
to go back and forth on and debate here discuss what do you think i mean do you think that you
can only yeah sure like do you think that you can only use these expressions if you are the boss no
absolutely not that's what i mean i think anyone asking in a company for anyone else to help them
with something or to send them something you can totally use them absolutely i would recommend it
yeah i i think i mean maybe like i'd appreciate it if you could or if you could that would be
great like i think like maybe some of them sound more like you're telling what to do in a nice way
um but like with co-workers that's also this is also just business english and we also just kind
of talk like that i think especially in emails yeah i mean in the end you know even if you're
not like in a position of power compared to the other person like you're horizontal or
whatever right you still need like we all all the departments in a big company have to work together
like you need something from that department you have to find a way to communicate that so today
fabiana and our other listeners were giving you really good ways to basically say please
without having to repeat that same word right exactly and another way that you can be polite
i mean because all of these are softening but if you want to sprinkle in the thank yous the
appreciation right yes overall it doesn't have to be you know like please is not the only way to be
polite you know it's also with the other things like just showing appreciation saying thank you
um asking how the person is you know there are other ways to do it rather than just always say
please um i mean can you like can you ever just i mean what would it sound like if you didn't say
please at all do you think i mean it would just be like you know get me this report by friday
or do this it's you do need something so i think fabiana is airing on the on the right
side right it's better to err on the side of too much politeness then don't get us wrong right
it's much better to do that you really can't be that direct you need something there for sure
right actually you know what it is i think now the way that we're talking about it it makes me
it sounds it sounds childish if you're just always like get this do this i mean it's r and actually
with my son currently um he i mean and that's what it sounds like he like he's we're working on
no you you can't just say oh get that like yeah we're working on like and and it's it actually
it's funny i'm not just related so um you know dan is always like oh say like please and i'm like
you don't have it's not that you have to say please every time like he doesn't need to say
like mommy can you please bubble but like i i hope i don't make the sound like his child
like i no one really talks like that so to teach him to be like like i'm not a robot yeah like can
you please do that it's like but you have to ask it in a certain way you have to say
can you or like would you be you know i mean he can't learn that but like the main idea is
like it's not from what i'm learning in my in my personal life with my child is that even with a
child i think you can overdue please yeah that's a good point so what i think you're saying is that
it's about the whole context of the conversation yeah it's about oh what about the reason that
you need that thing from that person how about like what position are you in oh my gosh i was
up all night i would really appreciate it if you could help me out with this
that is basically saying please because you've offered an explanation that you're in a pinch
you've gone to this person you're saying how it would feel if they helped you you don't need to
say please in that case so fabiana it's really about the whole context the relationship also
who are you calling on for these things and how have you built that relationship up until now
that's awesome exactly oh my gosh so much we got so deep on this show we get deep we love it
so good i love it so good so yeah be observant don't be repetitive but think about context
that's the key right michelle exactly exactly so know who you're talking to as we always say
um and you know can consider what would be the right way to to to email them and how you would
ask and be polite in other ways um without these other expressions um or just by saying thank you
or you know sprinkling other things of being polite throughout and in general having good
um relationships with people so i love it i love it so thank you to fabiana for the questions if
you guys have if another question has sparked in your mind due to this episode especially if it's
a business english question we love getting into the nitty-gritty about this kind of business stuff
right uh there's a lot more to talk about so send your questions to lindsay at allersenglish.com
and we will do our best to answer your question on the show right michelle yes exactly exactly
well this was fun thanks fabianna and please uh listen to the next next episode please please
please pretty please yeah all right michelle talk to you soon take care all right bye you