Choosing the Right Register in a Letter
Your writing task is to produce a 250-character Chinese letter. The prompt says you are writing to your host family in Beijing to thank them after a three-week exchange, and to explain that you left a jacket behind and would like it posted to Australia. You plan to open with '嘿，你们好！' and close with '拜拜'. Your teacher has warned that the task tests 'appropriate tone for the audience and purpose'. You also want to mention that the postage will be expensive and ask if they would accept a bank transfer.
1. Evaluate your planned opening and closing, and propose alternatives.
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'嘿，你们好！' and '拜拜' are casual, spoken-style greetings suited to friends or peers, not to a host family you are thanking in writing. A letter to a host family should be warm but respectful. Better openings include '叔叔、阿姨：你们好！' or '亲爱的叔叔阿姨：'. Better closings include '祝你们身体健康' or '此致敬礼' for formal letters, though for a host family '祝好' or '期待你们的回信' is warmer and still appropriate. The model answer should explain the principle: Chinese letter writing marks relationships through address terms (叔叔/阿姨) and set closing formulas, and the exam rewards matching tone to the relationship, not just correct grammar.
2. How would you phrase the request about postage and payment so it does not sound demanding?
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You should soften the request with '不知道可不可以' or '如果方便的话', and acknowledge the cost before asking. For example: '我的夹克好像落在你们家了，是一件蓝色的。如果方便的话，能不能帮我寄过来？邮费可能不便宜，我可以转账给你们，请把账号告诉我。' This does several things: it identifies the item ('一件蓝色的'), uses a conditional softener ('如果方便的话'), recognises the burden ('邮费可能不便宜'), and offers a solution ('我可以转账'). A demanding version like '请把夹克寄给我，我付邮费' is grammatically fine but pragmatically blunt. The exam tests whether you can make a request while protecting the other person's face.
3. The letter must be about 250 characters. Explain how you would allocate the content and why.
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A sensible split is roughly 60 characters for greeting and thanks, 90 for describing the jacket and the request, 60 for the payment offer and reassurance, and 40 for the closing. The thanks should be specific, not generic: mention one or two concrete memories (a meal, a trip) so it does not read as a template. The request section needs the item description and the softener. The payment section needs the offer and a request for details. The closing should be warm and brief. This allocation matters because a 250-character letter that spends 150 characters on thanks leaves no room to make the request clearly, and the task requires both thanking and requesting. The model answer should show planning by purpose, not by writing whatever comes first.