# Addressing letters to foreign countries **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 15, 2003, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/addressing-letters-to-foreign-countries/155262 "2003-02-15T16:28:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/addressing-letters-to-foreign-countries/155262/1 "2003-02-15T16:28:23Z")
What is the proper way to address letters to a country whose populace speeks a different language from yours? For example, would I send a letter to “München, Deutschland”; or to “Munich, Germany”? I’m asking because the wife of a co-worker, who is from Mexico, addressed a letter to Nueva Mexico instead of New Mexico. The letter was returned a few weeks later because the USPS tried to send it to the city of Nueva in the country of Mexico. This same co-worker was stopped by someone on the street and was asked for directions to “Statta Co-yeh-hay”. It took him a minute to figure out that the guy was looking for State College Blvd. (Not that it would make a difference as an address printed on an envelope.) And I’ve seen Spanish-launguage news boradcasts where they refer to “Neuva York, Nueva York”. What if you’re sending a letter to someone in a country that uses a different alphabet, like Russia? If you use the Roman alphabet, would you write “Moscow”; or “Moskva”? Or are you expected to write the address in Cyrillic characters? ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/addressing-letters-to-foreign-countries/155262/2 "2003-02-15T17:05:05Z")
I’ve used both of the following methods with no problems whatsoever: [ol][li]Write the address in the normal manner and script of the country concerned. Then write the name of the country in English below that so the USPS will where to send the letter.[/li][li]Write the address in English with the name of the country, also in English, below the address.[/ol][/li] Apparently, I was only partially following the USPS’s [instructionf or sending international mail](http://www.usps.com/global/addressingintlmail.htm): > [@](#): > > The full address should be typed or legibly written in English - using Roman letters and Arabic numeral - and should be placed lengthwise on one side of the item. An address in a foreign language is permitted if the names of the city, province, and country are also indicated in English. > > The last line of the address block area must include only the complete country name (no abbreviations) written in uppercase letters. Hope this helps you. ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/addressing-letters-to-foreign-countries/155262/3 "2003-02-15T17:08:46Z")
The country name must be understood by _your_ postal service (to know what country to forward the letter to). So you should use the English name. In your example, if you used “Deutschland”, the USPS guys might scratch their heads then put the letter on the plane to the Netherlands (as “Dutch” and “Deutsch” are often confused). The rest of the address should be in the format used in the destination country, if at all possible with the real i.e. geographic names e.g. in your example the address would be $recipient-name $street-name $house-number $five-digit-postcode München GERMANY Using Latin script to countries with non-Latin (e.g. Cyrillic) alphabets seems to work in my experience. I imagine there are offices in these countries full of people who transcribe the addresses to the local script. More information on international addressing can be found [on the Universal Postal Union’s site](http://www.upu.int/post_code/en/addressing_formats.html). ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/addressing-letters-to-foreign-countries/155262/4 "2003-02-15T18:20:46Z")
ts: You stopped one click away from the definitive answer. See my posting above. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/addressing-letters-to-foreign-countries/155262/5 "2003-02-15T18:56:58Z")
well, the address MS JOYCE BROWNING 2045 ROYAL ROAD 06570 ST PAUL FRANCE quoted by the USPS guide might possible lead to problems. Translating a _street name_ looks not very sane to me. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/addressing-letters-to-foreign-countries/155262/6 "2003-02-15T20:11:08Z")
I see nowhere that anyone said to translate the names of the street. There is a huge difference between translation and transliteration. The example was obviously using a fictitious address–you might’ve noticed it was the same resident, residence number, and street name as the example to its left. ---
**Author:** ![Cillasi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@Cillasi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cillasi)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/addressing-letters-to-foreign-countries/155262/7 "2003-02-15T20:18:13Z")
When addressing foreign correspondence, always put the country name on the last line, by itself, in capital letters, in the language of the country you’re sending it from. You should not translate the street address or the city name, but you should use arabic numerals. If you think our postal workers had trouble with “Nueva Mexico”, can you imagine them trying to find “45 Rue de Pomme” (45 Apple Street). Oi!! ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/addressing-letters-to-foreign-countries/155262/8 "2003-02-15T21:36:05Z")
To say nothing of Anglicizing “Rambla de Circoncision” and other fun ways of designating address in foreign languages! ---
**Author:** ![dna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/47e85d/32.png) [@dna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dna)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/addressing-letters-to-foreign-countries/155262/9 "2003-02-15T21:58:45Z")
Reading the USPS site more carefully, it also suggests that the postal code be placed on the 2nd-to-last line, and that the “post office name” (presumably usually the city name) be given in English as well. Probably a good idea if you’re sending a letter from Alaska to Kamchatka, and don’t want it to go via Moscow… ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/addressing-letters-to-foreign-countries/155262/10 "2003-02-15T22:38:07Z")
dna: It makes sense for the USPS to have the foreign postal code not go on the last line. If that code happens to be five (or nine) numerals, the USPS’s machines will read it as a US ZIP code and the thing won’t even leave the country! ---
**Author:** ![Annie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/858c86/32.png) [@Annie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/addressing-letters-to-foreign-countries/155262/11 "2003-02-16T00:20:48Z")
When I sent mail from China to Canada I addressed it in English but wrote “Canada” in Chinese script (or more precisely, C&P’d the symbols onto a sticker,then slapped it onto letter). They were all delivered.