Help email readers communicate

- Miscommunication in email is often tied to cultural factors, but you can make it easier for your reader by providing some hints for how to best communicate with you. Let's talk about three strategies you can use to help your email recipients communicate comfortably with you and avoid embarrassing mistakes. First, include your preferred gender pronouns in your email signature. Generally, this is an inclusive communication practice that signals to others to do the same. This is also helpful because not all names indicate gender. I've encountered many students who share their frustration with people misattributing a gender to them. By including yours in your email messages, you help those who email you avoid embarrassing missteps by referring to you incorrectly. Second, write out the phonetic pronunciation of your name if it might be difficult for your recipients to pronounce. I have a Turkish friend whose name you see on the screen. Now, how would you pronounce that? If you're Turkish, or have encountered someone with the same name before, you know it's pronounced Shar-ra. Cagri makes it easy for people who get emails from her by including the English pronunciation phonetically in her email signature. I don't regularly practice this except when I'm emailing in specific global context. For example, the closest word to my name, Daisy, in the Korean language, is the word for pig. Since I happen to speak Korean, I make sure to spell my name out phonetically in my email signature and on my teaching slides when I'm working in that cultural context. Finally, sign your email with the name you'd like the recipient to call you. The from line of your email account may show Michael, but if you prefer to be called Mike, make sure you sign your email messages that way. Similarly, if you expect the recipient to use a title when referring to you, it's helpful to sign your name that way. For example, it's common practice for physicians to sign emails to other physicians with their first name, but use doctor with their last name with everyone else. Signal to your reader what you want to be called by signing with your preferred name. This is also really helpful for people who go by their middle name or a nickname. So, what do you do if your email sender hasn't indicated these things for you? Go neutral on gender by using they or they're and write out their whole name without a gender pronoun in your greeting. These simple, yet often overlooked details, will make it easier for people to communicate with you by email especially across different cultures.