Die Anrede im ersten Kontakt: Sie, du oder beides?
Your place is confirmed: three weeks in July at a Freiburg Umwelttechnik firm, brokered by Jugendbrücke e.V. Twelve days before departure you come off your bike and fracture your left wrist. The doctor clears you to fly and to work at a desk, but forbids lifting anything over five kilograms for six weeks. The placement as described includes two days of Lagerlogistik and a weekend on the firm's Messe stand. Your contact is Frau Dr. Behrens, who has written to you twice in the Sie-form and signed off „Mit freundlichen Grüßen“. The welcome pack she forwarded addresses all Praktikantinnen und Praktikanten as „du“ and mentions the firm's „Du-Kultur“. At the selection weekend you spent an evening with her colleague Jonas on first-name terms. The task: a 250-word email that reports the injury, asks whether the duties can be adjusted, asks whether the Unfallversicherung still applies, and leaves no doubt that you are coming.
1. Do you write to Frau Dr. Behrens as „Sie“ or „du“? Justify the choice and give the exact greeting and closing you would use.
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Sie. The deciding signal is not the firm's policy but the individual in front of you: she has written to you twice as „Sie“, and a decision-maker's own usage outranks a generic „Du-Kultur“ printed for all Praktikantinnen und Praktikanten. That FAQ line is marketing copy addressed to nobody in particular; it cannot override a personal email. Jonas's first-name basis does not transfer either - familiarity with a colleague says nothing about your standing with her. Note also what the email asks for: an adjustment of duties and a ruling on insurance. Distance protects both sides, because a refused request made in the Sie-form is an ordinary administrative outcome, whereas the same refusal between „du“ partners feels personal.
- Greeting: „Sehr geehrte Frau Dr. Behrens,“ - title included, because she uses it of herself.
- Closing: „Mit freundlichen Grüßen“, mirroring hers, followed by your full name.
Avoid „Hallo Frau Dr. Behrens“ (casual, and mismatched with a request) and „Sehr geehrte Frau Behrens“ (silently demoting her). Mirroring is a rule, not a decision taken once: if she replies „Liebe/r …“ and switches to „du“, switch with her in the next email.
2. Rewrite these two sentences so they fit the email: „Ich kann nicht schwere Sachen heben. Können Sie die Aufgaben ändern?“ Explain three changes you made and why each one matters.
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Rewrite: „Leider darf ich nach einem Radunfall sechs Wochen lang keine schweren Lasten heben. Ich wäre Ihnen sehr dankbar, wenn Sie mir mitteilen könnten, ob sich die Aufgaben im Lagerbereich entsprechend anpassen lassen.“
- „kann nicht“ → „darf nicht“. The restriction is a medical prohibition, not a personal shortcoming. „Dürfen“ carries the doctor's authority into the sentence and removes any suggestion that you simply don't want to lift things.
- Reason before request. In the original the demand lands first and the explanation trails behind; German professional writing prefers the justification to set up the request so it reads as a consequence rather than a claim on her time.
- The direct yes/no question is replaced. „Können Sie … ändern?“ forces an immediate decision and puts her on the spot. „Ich wäre Ihnen dankbar, wenn Sie mir mitteilen könnten, ob …“ uses Konjunktiv II to create distance and asks for information instead of a ruling. The „ob“-clause lets her answer with a description of what is possible.
- „ändern“ → „entsprechend anpassen“. „Ändern“ implies the whole plan is being renegotiated; „anpassen“ keeps the placement intact and adjusts only what has to be adjusted - which is exactly the message you want to send.
3. What do you put in the email to stop it being read as a withdrawal, and what do you deliberately leave out?
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Put the commitment first, before the problem: „Ich freue mich sehr auf das Praktikum und werde am 8. Juli wie geplant anreisen.“ Then the injury, then a concrete offer - desk-based research, phone calls, Messe-betreuung im Sitzen - so she is answering a proposal, not absorbing a crisis. End with one clear question, not three.
Leave out:
- The full medical history. She needs the constraint (six weeks, five kilograms), not the X-ray.
- Stacked apologies. One „Leider“ plus one thank-you is the German professional norm; three expressions of regret read as anxiety, not politeness.
- „Ich hoffe, das ist kein Problem“ - it invites exactly the answer you don't want and signals that you expect rejection.
- Any offer to give up the place, and any mention of a possible replacement.
Avoid openings that belong to a different text type: „Leider muss ich Ihnen mitteilen, dass …“ is how cancellations begin, and a reader who sees that phrase has already formed a judgement before reaching the explanation. Competence here is demonstrated by precision about dates, weights and duties, not by contrition.