General culture question

Hi All,

Sorry to hit you with a boring question, but I just wanted to get an idea of when it is appropriate to address a business contact by his first name in Germany...In this particular instance, I am corresponding with a corporate recruiter who is the father of a casual friend of mine. I decided it wise to begin my first e-mail with "Dear Mr. ___", however, I don't want to sound like an overly formal twit by continuing with that if I don't have to ...really I'd rather just call him by his first name, as I would in the U.S. or UK. Another option is I could call him "Dr. ______", as his e-mail autosignature reads.

I don't speak German, but I'm asking this question because I want to be professional and I speak French and thus know there can be different rules in terms of formally addressing people in various languages etc.

P.S.- I guess I could just REALLY break the ice and say "Yo, Klaus baby! Whassup dog?"

Tricky one, a lot of Germans attach a great deal of value to their titles (especially Dr. !)
so if you don't actually know him personally I'd always stick to the formal, and in this case
I'd probably user "Herr Dr. xxx" ...on the other hand I know a lot of people in the UK who
have correspondance with our firm who use standard UK/USA approach i.e. Dear John etc...
and I've never noticed anyone getting miffed about it, I guess the branch of business you're
in will also play a role but as I said if it I was writing I'd at least start off formal

...for what it's worth

I'd also use "Herr Dr. xxx", especially if he uses the title on his signature and then see how he signs off when he replies and take it from there. As Neil commented, they love their titles over here

Although from you post it sounds like you have already been emailing him, if so then take your cue from how he addresses you.

Thanks for your prompt responses!

It's a small issue, but this is a tough one to solve- He addressed me as "Mr _______", but that could very well be only because I had begun by doing the same for him...thus perhaps inadvertently creating a self-perpetuating cycle of over-formality!

His autosignature reads "Dr. ____", but he signed off his e-mail with just his name- no Mr. or Dr.

So should I possibly take the plunge and address him by his first name, especially since he knows I'm anglo?

In my experience, Germans tend to indicate whether they are interested in a first-name/"Du" relationship by the way they sign off their letters or e-mails.

If they're not interested, you just get a "Müller" or whatever at the bottom of the letter; if they're interested you'll get a "Dieter Müller". This isn't a hard and fast rule of course, just my experience.

You could also try to sign off an e-mail with your first name "by mistake" and see how he reacts.

Ben

In my old company there were colleagues who'd been working together since the company had been founded 26 years previously, and although they referred to each other as Wulff, Anja, Birgit, etc., they still addressed each other as 'Sie'!

In your case, I'd do unto him as he does unto you -- address him as "Dr. ..." and sign off with your first name. This way, you've retained the formality of a polite address, but left the door slightly ajar for more informal communication in the future. Even then though, I've known some people who had a Dr. title, but they were really quite embarrassed by it and insisted on being referred to simply as 'Herr' or 'Mr'. I think it's safe to play it slightly too formally and then you can always allow relations to relax a bit, but it's nigh on impossible the other way round!

Yours sincerely,

reggie

Thanks : )

I went with "Mr. ____" to be safe but signed off with just my first name.

A funny story- My father is British and moved to the U.S. in his early twenties. He's a very warm guy, but perhaps slightly more reserved and proper initially in corporate situations. He's tall, with impeccable posture.
The last job he had before retiring was in an advertising agency in South Carolina, where his boss, a charismatic, rather unrefined American redneck, greeted him each morning by yelling "HEYYYYYY, BIG DAWG!!" at the top of his lungs and offering my father a "high five" slap.

Priceless!!!

They do make things complicated, don't they.

So formal and polite to your face, but they'll turn you over at the first chance

The whole doctor thing is a complete joke too.

I apply the "when in Rome" rule:

If I write in English, I go with the first name if I know it.
If I write in German, I go with the Herr Dr Schnausenhausen.

As a slight aside:
I always find it amusing at work that when I have a meeting in English we all call each other "Klaus", "Herman" etc etc and then 5 mins later when we have a coffee (in German) we are back to Herr, Frau etc.

Then, when I go to the work gym and have a shower and see a work colleague, we still use "Sie" even though we have just seen each other's naughty bits.

Normally, I would offer/expect to be offered the "Du" before showing anyone my naughty bits.

Oh, I dunno, personally I think I'd prefer to keep a little professional distance between myself and a colleague's naughty bits.

Just in addition to the Dr bit. I went to the (very special...whatever it is called) dentist and his title was 'Dr Dr' yep that is two Dr's.

Seems that if you mount up your Dr qualifications you get to string them all together...over kill or what.

Anyone go to a Dr Dr Dr... ?

Christ! And I've been addressing every German I meet by saying "Yo dude!!" No wonder I haven't gotten any job interviews yet!

Just kidding

I knew a character at Bayer a few years back who insisted on being addressed as "Herr Dr. Dr..." and I don't believe for a minute he was an exception - in a minority group perhaps, but no way unique!

quite a few people I know insist on Herr Prof. Dr. which is just stupid as you can't become a Prof. without being a Dr. first. so the title subsumes Dr. Nearly as bad as people calling themselves Dr. xxx PhD

Pointless and egotistical!