Ich empfinde beides als zu förmlich für Dear Colleagues. Allenfalls Yours, Vorname, falls Dir die üblichen Varianten mit regards nicht zusagen.

Re #0.

At least for everyday communication in AE, I'd say that a simple "Sincerely," suffices.

The distinction between 'Yours faithfully' and 'Yours sincerely' is purely BE -- see the forum archive or any BE style manual. It was for traditional written letters and may indeed be needlessly formal for e-mail, but the BE speakers should be the ones to say.

It may depend in part on whether the 'colleagues' are really co-workers in the same office whom you know well, or whether you're using that term to address a large and less familiar group of other people in the same profession, like inviting them to a conference or something.

I agree that 'Sincerely' is fine for AE, or in e-mail, any of a number of other things like 'Regards,' 'Best,' or no particular closing.

This is an issue where there are lots of correct answers, and no matter which correct answer you select, someone will think you are doing it wrong.

NB There is no DIN standard for English-language letters.... it's all a lot more flexible

#5: "You may also want to note that in modern BE correspondence, no commas are used after the salutation" - quite untrue.

as I said, English is flexible. Perhaps my correspondence is with those who prefer a lack of punctuation and there may well be many who do it differently.

Ein kurzer Artikel von Merriam-Webster zur Grußformel "Best": https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play...

#8: 'Yours faithfully' is very very old-fashioned in BE.

Sorry, Kinky, emails don't come into it. I conduct a lot of written correspondence with all kinds of entities, and have not come across 'Yours faithfully' in many many years, in contexts where (say) 40 years ago it would be unthinkable not to use it.

This native BE speaker, aged a little over 50, always puts a comma after the salutation, and, on the rare occasions that I write a letter (not an email) addressed Dear Sir(s), I write Yours faithfully at the end. I wasn't aware I was so terribly old fashioned, but I suppose it's to be expected. Ho hum.

60+ here. Old habits die hard. I would still write "Yours faithfully" in a formal letter after a "Dear Sir/Madam" salutation, never in an e-mail, though. I tend to stick simply to "Regards" there.

Re ##15 & 16, the same goes for me (60+).

Early 30s. I write and receive a lot of letters at work. I always distinguish between Yours faithfully and Yours sincerely and I'd say 90% of the correspondence we receive does the same. (I work in publishing though, so people writing to us tend to try to pull out all the grammatical stops...) I've noticed no trend away from Yours faithfully. We were taught to use the two correctly at school only 15 years ago. Agree that neither is appropriate for an email.

(I'm a comma-free kind of person and really dislike any formulation with regards. But that's personal preference.)

So, now that we have such a representative collection of BE speakers ...

Have any of you answered the original poster's question about which closing to use after 'Dear colleagues' in an e-mail?

Strictly speaking I suppose it would be 'yours faithfully', but i think all the BE speakers here are agreed that it's too formal for an email, and certainly too formal for an email that begins with an informal 'dear colleagues'.

HW (#2) did you mean to add those Es in to 'writing' and 'using' in your correction of #0?? The OP's spelling is correct (although it would be better in present simple: 'I know that I can write..., but if I want to use..., should I use X or Y?')

#20: Have any of you answered the original poster's question about which closing to use after 'Dear colleagues' in an e-mail?

Re #21.

Perhaps more style than syntax? ;)

I don't think the OP misspelled words; I think s/he chose the wrong words to spell. (It's not about the spelling.) Yes, it might be considered a matter of "style," but I think it is more fundamental a problem than mere style.

Yes, thanks for pointing that out, hbberlin.

Off topic "grammatical terms": Wenn present progressive (in manchen Grammatiken: continuous) statt simple present verwendet wird, ist es keine Frage von syntax (structure of sentences, word order, sequencing of subject, verb, object ...) oder style, sondern von aspect.

OT, this is what HW's #2 looks like on my screen:

I know I can also use "Best regards" or similar endings, but I just want to know out of curiosity. I know THAT, [no comma] when I'm writEing "Dear Mr Sesambroetchen,[comma]" that I'm usEing "Yours sincerely" and when I'm writEing "Dear Sir or Madam," I'm writEing "Yours faithfully," [comma] but what if I'm writing "Dear colleagues"? It's not a NAMED direct person but it is ALSO not AN that unknown as "Dear Sir or Madam". I hope, [no comma] you understand my doubt.

I was so confused!

Like jamqueen I'd never use 'dear colleagues', and I'd be surprised to see it from a BE native speaker. I'd expect 'dear all' or similar

Ah, wahrscheinlich habe ich jamqueen falsch verstanden. Also: Im Deutschen ist "Liebe Kolleginnen und Kollegen" nach meiner Erfahrung üblich, im Englischen schreibt man aber normalerweise nicht "Dear colleagues". Richtig?

Re #30 (and #27).

Re #32: Right.

But in order to suggest better options for the salutation, it might help to know how well the writer knows these 'colleagues,' as I mentioned in #4.

''Dear colleagues" is rather smarmy in BE, but certainly not unheard of.

perhaps in some international organisations it's a case of (linguistic) interference.

So going back to the question of what salutation to use when writing an email to multiple colleagues, I've just sampled the recent contents of my 'Sent' folder and come up with the following breakdown for emails written in English to two or more colleagues:

#38: Whether it is or isn't smarmy is obviously a matter of personal opinion, but at least we are in agreement (other posters' comments notwithstanding) that it is perfectly acceptable BE :)

just for the record. Nobody thought it was unacceptable. Just not something that would be used in a general (office) environment.

#41 - #31 did

John! I think that's unfair. I said in #31 I'd be 'surprised' to see 'dear colleagues' -- that's very different to thinking something's unacceptable.

I think the sentence taken as a whole expresses strong objection to the phrase.

Gerade in TIME Magazine gelesen: Laut einer Studie werden diejenigen Mails, die mit "thanks" o.ä. enden, am ehesten beantworten, während "best" weit abgeschlagen ist. http://time.com/money/4880284/this-is-the-onl...

"Regards is only for foreigners who might expect it." - ah well, I suppose I am a 'foreigner', then ... (shrug)

#47 und #49: Ist nicht so ziemlich jedes "Thanks" unter einem Mailtext nur eine Ellipse für "Thanks in advance"?

My mother's etiquette book by Emily Post (the equivalent of Knigge) had something like 40 pages of the exact words to use in writing letters. How do I address the Pope? If I'm not Catholic? How does a married woman sign a letter to a married man who was once divorced? How do I address the Orleanists and the Bourbonists if I am a Bonapartist? Is "yours most sincerely" too much for the granddaughter of a duke writing to the stepson of a baron? Or not enough? When is "I remain your humble etc." correct?

Ah, but what if the granddaughter of a duke, the one who is writing to the stepson of a baron, was married to (but divorced) someone who had previously been the dancing companion of a dowager queen?

Oh, da sind wir Deutschen doch unkomplizierter: Beim Besuch von William und Kate (sic) in Deutschland riefen die winkenden, fotografierenden Menschen ganz einfach "William!" oder "Kate!", damit sich die Fotomotive ihnen zuwandten. Hat funktioniert, ganz ohne "Your Highness" oder so.

re # 50. No, the "in advance" is not - ever -used, see also Jurist's comments. Different mentality.

What do you mean? Of course it's used.

#54: No, the "in advance" is not - ever -used

thanks for your reply Spike. I've not come across it and certainly wouldn't use it. But there you go.

Ich stimme #56 und #57 zu - ich emfpinde "danke im Voraus" sicher nicht als Ersatz für einen späteren Dank. Allerdings zögere ich, es zu nutzen. Ich weiß ja - vor allen Dingen bei etwas aufwändigeren Anfragen, die auch ablehnend beantwortet werden könnten - gar nicht, ob ich mich hinterher bedanken will.

Das mit dem hinterher Bedanken ist so eine Sache: Damit stehle ich dem Menschen, der schon etwas für mich getan hat, ja seine Zeit, weil die Dankesmail auch geöffnet und gelesen werden will. Und wenn ich in Outlook auf "Unterhaltung aufräumen" klicke, habe ich als letzte Mail die Dankesmail und muss mich beim späteren Nachlesen dann erst zum Inhalt durch-lesen.

In a current thread, the OP closes with Danke für jede Hilfe! While that's not necessary, I find it appropriate and certainly unobjectionable, in contrast to my gut reaction to Thanks in advance.

just a bit of chat on the topic. I'm afraid it's on facebook but I thought it was quite pertinent (comments as well).

Aus dem Link in # 46:

they still recommend a simple "thanks".....

All of this is a matter of personal preference. I am not offended whenever anyone thanks me, so long as it seems to be sincere.

I am not offended any road, although I may think the writer is a hypocrite if it's evidently insincere :)

Just another online reference

http://m.wikihow.com/End-a-Letter-Sincerely