A note of condolence

GREEN LIGHT | Get writing
A note of condolence
VANESSA CLARK helps you to write letters, e-mails and more in
English. This month: how to write a card to the family
of someone who has died.
s.
nnis
sad new
Dear De
r
u
o
y
r
he a
orry to
a good
I wa s s
woman,
l
u
f
r
e
d
many
a won
. I have
d
n
ie
r
Val was
f
d
and a kin
times
mother
r
of our
s
ie
r
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emembe
m
e
lways r
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happy m
l
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w
ult
r, and I
at diffic
togethe
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e help
how sh
life.
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ren.
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he child
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all at th
Please g
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o
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I ´m thin
time.
difficult
m
Love fro
Patricia
•
•
A note of condolence [kEn(dEUlEns] is
never easy to write. The most important
thing is to show that you care (Anteil
nehmen), so don’t worry (sich Sorgen
machen) too much about your English.
Here are some phrases that might help.
The best way to start is usually the
phrase I was sorry to hear; for example, “I was so sorry to hear about your
wife” or “I was sorry to read your announcement (Anzeige) in the newspaper”.
•
•
Most people don’t like using words like
“died”, “dead” or “death” (Tod) in a note of
condolence. They prefer to speak of your
sad news and this difficult time.
Say what good things you remember
about the person who has died. Talk
about your happy memories. You can
say I will always remember...
or “I will never forget...”.
e
Us !
t
i
give sb.’s love to sb.
[gIv (lVv tE]
memory [(memEri]
6
Spotlight 1|14
liebe Grüße an
Erinnerung
Highlight the key words and
phrases that you would use if
you needed to write a card
like this yourself.
Fotos: Alamy; iStock; Peter Weber
Tips
Culture corner | GREEN LIGHT
I like…
Oxfam
Jeden Monat stellt ein Redakteur
etwas Besonderes aus der englischsprachigen Welt vor. SpotlightRedakteurin JOANNA WESTCOMBE
präsentiert eine Hilfsorganisation,
die ihr viel bedeutet.
What it is
Why I like it
Oxfam is a name that everyone in Britain
knows: they’ve put money into a collecting
tin, they’ve sent an Oxfam Christmas card,
or they’ve given books or clothes to their
local Oxfam shop.
Oxfam started in 1942. In Greece,
women and children were starving. A small
group of people in Oxford, England, wanted
to help them. They called themselves the
Oxford Committee for Famine Relief.
Today, Oxfam International is a group of
17 organizations that work to fight poverty
and injustice around the world. Oxfam
helps people to have clean water, medicine
and schools. It helps after disasters like
earthquakes and tornadoes, and it helps to
give people a voice, putting its hand up to
ask governments and the public to listen.
Oxfam is global, it is local, and it is part of
me. As they say, “Charity begins at home”.
In my family, there is usually a collecting tin
to be filled, a bazaar to be organized, or a
bag of books to be taken to the local Oxfam
shop. There, I can buy more books, fair
trade chocolate, children’s toys and, in January, maybe someone else’s unwanted
Christmas present. Oxfam shops have always sold second-hand clothes. Now that
“vintage” clothes are in fashion, so is Oxfam.
It even sells them online.
charity begins at home
[)tSÄrEti bi)gInz Et (hEUm]
collecting tin [kE(lektIN )tIn]
earthquake [(§:TkweIk]
famine relief [)fÄmIn ri(li:f]
fight poverty [)faIt (pQvEti]
goat [gEUt]
government [(gVv&nmEnt]
Greece [gri:s]
injustice [In(dZVstIs]
starve [stA:v]
voice [vOIs]
volunteer [)vQlEn(tIE]
Nächstenliebe
beginnt zu Hause
Sammelbüchse
Erdbeben
Hungerhilfe
Armut bekämpfen
Ziege
Regierung
Griechenland
Ungerechtigkeit
verhungern
Stimme
Ehrenamtliche(r)
•
•
•
•
The idea of British charity shops
arrived in Germany in 1986 with a
shop in Bonn. All the money went to
Oxfam GB.
There are now 44 Oxfam shops in
Germany, with 2,500 volunteers
working in them.
Oxfam is the biggest seller of
second-hand books in Europe.
For €56, you can buy two
goats from Oxfam. They
are not second-hand, nor
are they for you, but for a
family living in the poorest parts of Africa. Visit
your nearest Oxfam shop or
go online: www.oxfam.de
n
Fu ts
c
fa