Glossary entry (derived from question below)
German term or phrase:
e-mail/email/Email
English translation:
E-mail / e-mail
Added to glossary by
Manuel Plaza
Jul 23, 2003 06:36
23 yrs ago
4 viewers *
German term
e-mail/email/Email
The company my sister works for is about to switch all its numbers and addresses to DIN/ISO compliant spelling. She asked me how *e-mail* was spelled in English according to ISO (e.g. e-mail, E-mail, Email, email etc.). Is that even the subject of an ISO standard? According to DIN, the German spelling is E-Mail (she said). Can someone help?
Proposed translations
(English)
| 4 +3 | E-mail / e-mail |
Manuel Plaza
|
| 5 +5 |
Gabi François
|
|
| 4 +3 | no fixed rule |
Ken Cox
|
| 4 | e-mail [ih-mehl] |
Inna (X)
|
Proposed translations
+3
3 mins
Manuel Plaza
Spain
Spain
Spain
20 years in international programs
Native in: Spanish (Variant: Standard-Spain) 
Works in: French to Spanish, English to Spanish
Related KudoZ points
:
16
Selected
E-mail / e-mail
E-mail if it is starting the sentence: e-mail if not
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Nicholas Hogg
2 mins
|
| disagree |
Chris Rowson (X)
: Not many people write it with a hyphen in English. I don´t think w e have ISO standard spellings, though.
1 hr
|
| agree |
invguy
: Recently ran across an article on that. It said, no hard rule, but e-mail usage prevailing - and growing - both by English speakers and internationally. Cap E *only* when beginning a sentence. Lowercase 'e' when standalone, as e.g. in bizcards.
2 hrs
|
| agree |
CathyFS
: As invguy said, E-mail/e-mail. Backed up by Microsoft style guide and The New Oxford Dictionary of English
4 hrs
|
| agree |
Aniello Scognamiglio (X)
1 day 3 hrs
|
3 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Thanks - the reference to the Microsoft style guide (they rule our life, after all ;-)) convinced me. I didn't think there was an ISO for this kind of thing. "
+5
12 mins
Gabi François
Germany
Germany
Native in German
Germany
Fachübersetzungen Recht + Technik
Native in: German
Works in: French to German, German to French, English to German, and 2 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
44
according to Oxford Dictionary 2001
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Note added at 2003-07-23 06:50:17 (GMT)
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Just by the way: Your sister is right, in German it is E-Mail (confirmed by Duden latest edition).
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Note added at 2003-07-23 06:50:17 (GMT)
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Just by the way: Your sister is right, in German it is E-Mail (confirmed by Duden latest edition).
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Sven Petersson
45 mins
|
|
thank you
|
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| agree |
Mario Marcolin
: Indeed. This is becoming a word in its own right.
50 mins
|
|
thank you
|
|
| agree |
Chris Rowson (X)
1 hr
|
|
thank you, too
|
|
| disagree |
CathyFS
: New Oxford Dictionary of English (monolingual) gives e-mail. Microsoft style guide also hyphenates e-mail
4 hrs
|
|
The mine was Oxford Dictionary, Thesaurus and Wordpower Guide from 2001. So who's right?
|
|
| agree |
lone (X)
4 hrs
|
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thank you, too
|
|
| agree |
Nancy Arrowsmith
: on the web, the simpler the better: the hyphen is gradually becoming obsolete
6 hrs
|
|
thanks
|
|
| agree |
Aniello Scognamiglio (X)
: any other suggestions? What about eMail?
1 day 2 hrs
|
+3
4 hrs
no fixed rule
The 'traditional' form (if this can be said of such a recent word) is 'e-mail', but 'email' is also used. As to which form will prevail, only time will tell (dictionaries and the like are not prescriptive in English; they essentially record the state of use of the language, and I it's hard to imagine that the English spelling of the term would be governed by an ISO standard).
Personally, I'm old-fashioned enough to always use 'e-mail', if only becuause that corresponds to normal English pronunciation rules.
Personally, I'm old-fashioned enough to always use 'e-mail', if only becuause that corresponds to normal English pronunciation rules.
2 days 3 hrs
e-mail [ih-mehl]
Langenscheidts Internet-Woerterbuch (Englisch-Deutsch), Berlin, 2000
Discussion