Dear CyberFriend,   

My question is about how to close an email. One of my students was practicing informal English and signed it "All my love". First, I was a little surprised, but then I realized he probably was translating from an informal closing in his language.   

How do I explain the use of "All my love" without making him feel bad or    embarrassed?   

Red-faced teacher

Dear Red,

I know the feeling.  My wife and I used to correspond with a French friend who always signed her letters "je t'embrasse toujours," which means 'I hug (or kiss) you always.'  When writing back to her, I would often use the same closing, but I never used the same closing with other French people.

It is hard to know how to close a letter or message because what you use depends on the relationship between the two correspondents.  In your student's case, the use of "love" is inappropriate because this word is used only between people who have known each other well for a long time.  I sometimes use it with very close friends, but never with people I know professionally or whom I have met only through email. 

Of course, your student didn't know this, and was either translating, or copying a closing from someone who knew the other person well.  Or perhaps your student is trying to show appreciation.  And as an experienced teacher, you know this and understand that your student only needs help with the language so that he or she doesn't make a mistake with someone less understanding.

The best way to know how to close email is to look at a lot of messages written by native speakers and see how they close them.  Dave Winet sometimes uses "Sincerely."  This is a very safe all-purpose closing.  I like to use "All the best," which is also safe in most situations.  Other safe closings might depend on the situation, such as "Thanks," or "Have a nice weekend."  "Looking forward to hearing back from you," would be another safe ending.

Often with email, no closing is used.  Many people have a 'Signature' and simply attach that to the end of a message.  The signature has the sender's name and email contact information and perhaps information about where the sender works, or even an interesting quotation.

You might ask the students in your class to look in their email files and report back to you on the closings they find on messages from native speakers. 

Here's my closing to this message:

I hope that you have a happy new year wherever you are,

Cyber Friend

cyber.friend@usa.net