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Cordially versus Sincerely

English translation: Sincerely

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18:54 Dec 11, 2008

English to English translations [Non-PRO]
Marketing - Marketing / Market Research

English term or phrase: Cordially versus Sincerely

Which is best for a closing of a letter to large audience without sounding too stuffy or being ordianary.

Kellie

English translation:Sincerely

Explanation:
I've never heard of ending a letter "Cordially", though maybe it is done in US English.
In the UK we end letters "Yours sincerely", in the USA I believe just the word "Sincerely" is more often used.

Selected response from:

Jack Doughty
Local time: 02:19

Grading comment

Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

3 +7

Sincerely

Jack Doughty

Sincerely or Yours truly

Martha Schwan

Sincerely

EricaM

Summary of reference entries provided
Cordially - Cordialement	d_vachliot

Answers

4 mins confidence:

cordially versus sincerely Sincerely or Yours truly

Explanation:
That's because I have worked with a lot of commercial letters in Toronto/Canada and I'm very positive about It.

Martha Schwan
Brazil
Local time: 22:19
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

English,

Portuguese

6 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +7

cordially versus sincerely

Sincerely

Jack Doughty
Local time: 02:19
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 68

Grading comment

Selected automatically based on peer agreement.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)

agree

Tina Vonhof: I think cordially is a outdated and was used for colleagues, friends, etc. who are close but not close enough for "love".

1 hr

-> Thank you.

agree

Armorel Young

1 hr

-> Thank you.

agree

Mara Ballarini: For a British audience Yours sincerely or Yours faithfully - wouldn't it work here, since the audience is vast and the letter is probably started with Dear Sir or Madam (in which case you can't use Dear sincerely)?

2 hrs

-> Thank you.

agree

Phong Le

6 hrs

-> Thank you.

agree

Mohamed Mehenoun

7 hrs

-> Thank you.

agree

Christine Andersen: There are good explanations in the Longman Guide to English Usage (Greenbaum & Whitcut), and Michael Swan, but the above just about sums it up. Personally, I hate ´best regards´ and am not alone! If in doubt, keep to ´Sincerely´or ´Yours sincerely´ !

13 hrs

-> Thank you.

agree

d_vachliot: The French sometimes close their letters with "cordialement"= cordially and it is sometimes used by non-native speakers, instead of the English equivalent (best regards.)

5 days

-> Thank you.

5 hrs confidence:

cordially versus sincerely Sincerely

Explanation:
I say "High" vs. "Highest" confidence level only because "Sincerely" is an extremely common way of closing a letter in the U.S. and therefore rather ordinary. I have often used "Regards" or some variation of "Best/Warm/Warmest Regards" instead. It conveys the same level of casual professionalism with slightly more distinctiveness.

Example sentence(s):

Gary, we look forward to your reply.
Best regards, The XYZ Organization

EricaM

Reference comments

5 days

Reference: Cordially - Cordialement

Reference information:
http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=297636

d_vachliot
Greece
Native speaker of:

Greek

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Cordially versus Sincerely

English translation: Sincerely

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Cordially versus Sincerely

English translation: Sincerely

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