Could you send the revised figures by Thursday at 3 p.m.?
수정한 수치를 목요일 오후 3시까지 보내 주시겠어요?
Ask, object, deadline. All three. An apology is not an ask.
02 The note they forward · 8 min
Ask without three apologies
A long apology feels polite in Korean and unclear in English. The reader still does not know what you need, only that you feel bad about needing it.
Objective
Make one request that contains the object and the deadline.
On the exam
Writing raters call this development. A position with no request, or a request with no reason, sits in the same band as a polite paragraph that never lands.
Don't translate it like this
Don't say
I am sorry to bother you, but maybe if you have time could you possibly look?
Say
Could you send the revised figures by Thursday at 3 p.m.?
Three hedges and no object. Sorry does not say which file, or when.
Phrases
Read them aloud. Listen if you want a model. Nothing is recorded.
Happy to walk through the numbers on a ten-minute call.
수치는 10분 통화로 같이 봐도 됩니다.
Offer the next step. Please check leaves the next step to them.
I recommend we keep the Friday review.
금요일 점검은 유지하자고 제안합니다.
Recommend we keep, or recommend keeping. Not recommend to keep.
What I'm not clear on is the cost.
아직 분명하지 않은 건 비용입니다.
A precise gap is more useful than “I have a concern.”
In the room
The ask
You need revised figures. You do not need to describe your feelings about asking.
You
Could you send the revised figures by Thursday at 3 p.m.? I need them for the Friday review.
Analyst
The cost line will move. Is that a problem?
You
What I'm not clear on is the size of the move. Send the range. We can walk through it in ten minutes.
What would you say?
All three have to be right to close the lesson.
Answer every question, then check.