Japanese email etiquette

Hello. I’m interested in reaching out through email to a small museum with a question I had about an item in their collection (this is the museum in question: [http://www.hamasuuki.org/home/index\_e.html](http://www.hamasuuki.org/home/index_e.html)). This is my first time doing this and I want to make sure I don’t commit any major faux pas in this process; I was hoping someone here might give me direction on how to go about this.

My main questions are:

* Would this be considered an appropriate way to contact a museum with this sort of inquiry?
* I do not speak Japanese, should I write my email in English only or include a translation to potentially ease communication?
* Are there any email etiquette rules that I should know about?

3 comments
  1. It looks like this is a translation or transcription request, so I’ve automatically removed your post. Please post to /r/translator instead.

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  2. It looks like this post hasn’t been removed, so I’d say to definitely translate it and send both language versions in one email, with the Japanese translation first. Explain that that is a translation. I personally think that DeepL.com is the best.

    Just be polite in your English. Save that English version. Then take the Japanese translation and translate it back into English. If that translated English version sounds good to you, then use that Japanese version in the letter. If the English translation doesn’t sound good to you, then try to rewrite the original English version so that the Japanese version will sound right when translated back into English. I know it’s kind of complicated, but that will most likely get you a pretty good translation.

  3. — Are there any email etiquette rules that I should know about?

    art lovers, there are innumerable email ***rules for supplicants*** — someone making a request. dont used google trans. — too weak and will completely mess up the message. deepL does it better when set to JP polite mode. an eigo message will get you near zero. another approach: set up a language exchange with an eigo speaking JP art history student and ask for their help in shaping the messages. or go to the art school and explain your need. maybe, at a small cost, offer to pay such a person to work with you on this project. it will require a number of message to **navigate the museum system**.

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