Written genres: letter, application, CV, review

The personal letter

Opening: Дарагая Ганна! or Прывітанне, Янка! - with an exclamation mark, not a comma, which is the convention. Closing: З павагай for the formal end, Шчыра твой / твая, Абдымаю, Да сустрэчы for the warm end.

The body follows a predictable shape: ask after the reader before saying anything about yourself. Opening with your own news reads as brusque.

The formal letter and the заява

The заява - a formal application or request - has a fixed layout:

1. Addressee in the dative, top right: Дырэктару школы Пятровічу П. І.
2. Writer in the genitive below it: ад Іванава І. І.
3. The word Заява centred.
4. The request: Прашу plus an infinitive.
5. Date on the left, signature on the right.

Прашу plus infinitive is the whole engine of the genre: Прашу прадаставіць мне адпачынак з 1 ліпеня. No explanation is required unless asked for.

The CV

Headings: Асабістыя звесткі, Адукацыя, Досвед працы, Навыкі, Мовы. Entries are verbless noun phrases, dates first, reverse chronological. Language levels are given by the CEFR letters, and роднай мовай for a first language.

The review

A водгук or рэцэнзія runs: what the work is, what it is about, what it does well, what it does not, and a verdict. The hedging vocabulary from the academic article belongs here, and so does the litotes from the humour one - нядрэнна зроблена is real praise.

Email

Belarusian email convention sits between the letter and the заява. Subject lines are noun phrases; the opening is Добры дзень! or Шаноўны спадар...; the closing is З павагай plus your name. Signing off with only your name reads as curt.

Why the shapes matter

Genre errors are more visible than grammar errors, because the reader knows the shape before they read a word. A заява with an explanation where the request should be will be noticed by someone who would not have spotted a case ending.