Dear Sirs

Swedish translation: Till den det berör

17:34 Dec 12, 2019
English to Swedish translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Law (general) / Dear Sirs
English term or phrase: Dear Sirs
Translating Dear Sirs to Swedish - all my research leads me to Bästa herrar, but as a native Swedish speaker that sounds very alien and formal to me!! It refers to a very formal business letter (where the recipients names are not known).

Thanks!
Alex O Suilleabhain
Ireland
Local time: 02:30
Swedish translation:Till den det berör
Explanation:
Just a suggestion...or "Till den det vederbör" if you want to be really formal. This also deals with the gender issue. It might be a woman in some cases, I presume.
Selected response from:

Michael Larsson
Sweden
Local time: 03:30
Grading comment
Agreed, thanks
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +2[leave blank]
EKM
3 +1Bästa Affärskollega
Kristina Hagen
3 +1Till den det berör
Michael Larsson
4 -1Hej
Sven Petersson
3 -1Kära mottagare
Anders Ericsson


  

Answers


1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +1
dear sirs
Bästa Affärskollega


Explanation:
Ett förslag. I dagen läge är det ju inte troligt att det bara är manliga mottagare.

Kristina Hagen
Sweden
Local time: 03:30
Native speaker of: Native in SwedishSwedish
PRO pts in category: 24

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Anna Herbst: Eller bara "Bästa kollega".
7 hrs
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): -1
dear sirs
Kära mottagare


Explanation:
Yes, these kind of greetings are always very painful to deal with in translations to swedish. There does not exist any good general solution to this problem, it has to be coped on a case by case basis.
The usually smoothest is if you can establish what the relationship is between the writer and the receiver(s), such as instead of Dear Sir, you go with "Kära/bäste kund/kollega" or with whatever you can figure out fits the recipients ("Bästa åklagare/intressent/byggnadsansvarige")
The most generic I can think of is "Bästa mottagare", if everything else fails.

Anders Ericsson
Sweden
Local time: 03:30
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in SwedishSwedish
PRO pts in category: 8

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Anna Herbst: "Bästa" är nog att föredra i affärssammanhang.
7 hrs
  -> Probably, I think it depends a little bit on the relationship and preference (and probably what generation one belongs to).

disagree  Joakim Braun: "Kära" är personligt (mer personligt än "dear"), medan "mottagare" är opersonligt. Blir en konstig mix. "Kära" används till familj och vänner.
1 day 15 hrs
  -> Läs min motivering. "mottagare" var min "last ditch/cach all".
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +1
dear sirs
Till den det berör


Explanation:
Just a suggestion...or "Till den det vederbör" if you want to be really formal. This also deals with the gender issue. It might be a woman in some cases, I presume.

Michael Larsson
Sweden
Local time: 03:30
Native speaker of: Native in SwedishSwedish
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Agreed, thanks

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Anna Herbst: Bra alternativ.
6 hrs
  -> tack :-)
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

7 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): -1
dear sirs
Hej


Explanation:
:o)

Sven Petersson
Sweden
Local time: 03:30
Native speaker of: Native in SwedishSwedish, Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 420

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  Anna Herbst: I ett affärsbrev? Absolut inte.
1 hr

neutral  Joakim Braun: Jo då, "hej" är helt okej - om man lägger till mottagarens förnamn. Om ingen person är mottagare är det bättre att utelämna hälsningsfrasen.
1 day 10 hrs
  -> Ja, med förnamn!
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

9 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
dear sirs
[leave blank]


Explanation:
Så vitt jag har sett är det vanligaste i formell rättskorrepondens på svenska att inte skriva någon hälsningsfras alls i inledningen av brevet.

Om mottagarnas namn är kända kan de anges i fet stil på raden direkt ovanför själva texten.





EKM
Sweden
Local time: 03:30
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in SwedishSwedish
PRO pts in category: 35

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Anna Herbst: Vad jag fick lära mig på 70-talet, och vad jag själv föredrar att använda i affärsbrev och i officiella sammanhang.
1 day 56 mins

agree  Joakim Braun: Bästa alternativet i de flesta fall.
1 day 7 hrs
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)



Login or register (free and only takes a few minutes) to participate in this question.

You will also have access to many other tools and opportunities designed for those who have language-related jobs (or are passionate about them). Participation is free and the site has a strict confidentiality policy.

KudoZ™ translation help

The KudoZ network provides a framework for translators and others to assist each other with translations or explanations of terms and short phrases.


See also:
Term search
  • All of ProZ.com
  • Term search
  • Jobs
  • Forums
  • Multiple search