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Old 12.07.2012, 21:33
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How Do You Say This Professionally in French?

I need to send this email in French!

Dear***,

This is ******, kindly re-inform me with my appointment for next week with Dr.****, time and date.


Regards,
****

---
What should I write in the subject field?

Thanks in advance.
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Old 12.07.2012, 21:40
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Re: How Do You Say This Professionally in French?

Cher (Chère/ if female)

C'est ......, pouvez-vous me rappeler la date et heure de mon rendez-vous avec le Docteur ...., merci.

Meileures salutations signed

Subject field 'rappel rendez-vous'


Very difficult to translate without knowledge or whether you are sending this to a friend, a professional, his/her secretary, etc. Your rendition does not sound like a message aimed at a professional.

Last edited by Odile; 12.07.2012 at 22:08.
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Old 12.07.2012, 21:43
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Re: How Do You Say This Professionally in French?

I need to send this email in French!

Dear***,

This is ******, kindly re-inform me with my appointment for next week with Dr.****, time and date.


Regards,
**
Cher (to man) Mnsieur or Chère (to woman) Madame

Merci de me rappeler la date et l'heure de mon rendez-vous de la semaine prochaine avec le Dr.

Salutations distinguées

subject - Rappel de la date et de l'heure de mon rendez-vous de la semaine prochaine avec le Dr.
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Old 12.07.2012, 21:43
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Re: How Do You Say This Professionally in French?

*sigh*

French is such a beautiful language...

Why oh WHY do I have to learn German instead???
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Old 12.07.2012, 21:46
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Re: How Do You Say This Professionally in French?

Many possibilities... but I find anything with "Cher" in non-private mails just daft. What I would write:

Subject field: Rappel de rendez-vous.

If you know the name of the person:
Monsieur....
Madame...


If you do not know the name of the person:
Madame, Monsieur,

J'ai un rendez-vous chez le docteur.... (name of the doc.) au nom de ..... (your name) la semaine prochaine. Pourriez-vous m'en rappeler la date et l'heure exacte ? Je vous remercie de votre aide.

Cordialement,
(in e-mails, it has become kind of standard)
Sincèrement, (in e-mails, it's a touch more formal)

Sign with your full name
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Old 12.07.2012, 21:57
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Re: How Do You Say This Professionally in French?

Didn't expect you guys reply fast, thanks, really appreaciated.

I'm sending this email to the receptionist, because I lost the appointment card, and they don't speak English on the phone.

So:

Subject:Rappel de rendez-vous.


Chère Madame,


J'ai un rendez-vous chez le docteur **** au nom de****. Pourriez-vous m'en rappeler la date et l'heure exacte ? Je vous remercie de votre aide.


Sincèrement,
***

(PS I want to add the word next week in the above letter, where should it be placed?)



--
Thanks again everyone
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Old 12.07.2012, 22:03
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Re: How Do You Say This Professionally in French?

I saw too late that I forgot it, I edited and added it after "au nom de****"
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Old 12.07.2012, 22:08
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Re: How Do You Say This Professionally in French?

Oh, ok.

Thanks, I will email it in the morning.
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Old 12.07.2012, 22:43
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Re: How Do You Say This Professionally in French?

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Chère Madame
Not in an email... I would go with Faltrad's suggestion.

For the next week bit: J'ai un rendez-vous la semaine prochaine chez le docteur xxx.

Edit: missed Faltrad's edit about the next week bit :-)
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Old 12.07.2012, 23:10
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Re: How Do You Say This Professionally in French?

By the way, the best kept secret of French word order: in general, the shorter a phrase, the quicker you have to find a place for it. The longer the phrase, the more towards the end you should put it.
It can be changed to fit the context with what stands just before (topicalization, textual rhema etc.) but it's a surprisingly helpful trick to remember.
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Old 12.07.2012, 23:56
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Re: How Do You Say This Professionally in French?

Note that your location says ..

If you are sure your doctor is female (yes, I know, but it's just possibly someone you've not met before)... its 'J'ai une rendez-vous avec (or chez) la doctoresse ******* la semaine prochaine'.
Especially in Suisse Romande where we're really touchy about these things.
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Old 13.07.2012, 06:38
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Re: How Do You Say This Professionally in French?

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By the way, the best kept secret of French word order: in general, the shorter a phrase, the quicker you have to find a place for it. The longer the phrase, the more towards the end you should put it.
It can be changed to fit the context with what stands just before (topicalization, textual rhema etc.) but it's a surprisingly helpful trick to remember.
Could you give exemple please?
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Old 13.07.2012, 12:20
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Re: How Do You Say This Professionally in French?

Il va se promener à pied dans la forêt avec tous ses enfants
is nicer than
Il va se promener avec tous ses enfants dans la forêt à pied.

Elle a passé ses vacances avec moi dans le Lubéron
is nicer than
Elle a passé ses vacances dans le Lubéron avec moi

J'ai rendez-vous demain chez le médecin en début d'après-midi
or
J'ai rendez-vous chez le médecin demain en début d'après-midi (keeping the time indications all together)
are nicer than
J'ai rendez-vous demain en début d'après-midi chez le médecin.

However, breaking this (vague) pattern will focus on the part that is put forward, and that might be a natural thing to do if that information is directly related to the sentence before or is the new information expected in the context etc. It's a trick, not a grammar rule. It doesn't apply to the phrases with "de" because the genitive structure implies that the head is first in a nominal phrase. With double object construction too, one prefers to put the direct object first and the indirect object second (so Accusative-Dative and not like German Dative-Accusative except pronouns).
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Old 13.07.2012, 13:01
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Re: How Do You Say This Professionally in French?

Thank you for that! As a French speaker who is learning her fourth language, I do forget lots of proper grammar, syntax, etc in
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Old 13.07.2012, 13:09
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Re: How Do You Say This Professionally in French?

I know the feeling... I use television as a language updater for the quantity, and literature for the quality.
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Old 13.07.2012, 13:29
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Re: How Do You Say This Professionally in French?

Oh, I see a French class.

Ok, she replied. Do Swiss people reply back with a thank you, or not?
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Old 13.07.2012, 20:50
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Re: How Do You Say This Professionally in French?

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Oh, I see a French class.

Ok, she replied. Do Swiss people reply back with a thank you, or not?
You could just reply with a simple acknowledgement : "Merci de la confirmation" or, more formal, "Je vous remercie de votre réponse rapide" (thanks for answering so quickly) and your name...

I don't think email etiquette requires anything more than that... having said that, I'm not Swiss and I work in an international environment.
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Old 13.07.2012, 21:18
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Re: How Do You Say This Professionally in French?

Now that the OP's question has been answered let me digress: How important is the precise choice of words in this kind of interaction?

Years ago, while making a reservation by email, I started off with:
Quote:
Veuillez excuser mon français "Made in USA".
To which s/he replied:
Quote:
Votre français "Made in USA" est bien meilleur que mon anglais "Made in Switzerland".
I still attempt to be reasonably correct, using a French spelling checker (a Firefox add-on) and a verb conjugator as needed, but no longer obsess over the finer points of grammar or usage.
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Old 13.07.2012, 21:28
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Re: How Do You Say This Professionally in French?

Frankly, there is a large acceptance for foreign speakers. However, mistakes lead easily to misunderstanding between French and English, so why not checking.
If one wants to learn and progress, it's also nice to make the effort or just have the curiosity to do one's best with help where help can be found.
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