The assignment for TRENAK2 is to write a standard, 'positive' recommendation letter which gives your support to the candidate's qualifications for the object of his or her application.

However, it is essential to know the distinctions in English usage between the standard 'positive' letter and less-standard 'negative' letters, e.g. those which do not clearly support the candidate for the position in question, and thus are usually understood as not supporting the candidate. In short, if a [standard English-language] recommendation letter is NOT clearly 'positive'; it is generally understood as being 'negative'.

Brief Summary of 'Positive' Recommendation Letters

As discussed in class, and as can be seen in the various AK2 model letters (as well as the real-life examples shown in class on transparencies), standard 'positive' recommendation letters will always (a) present a fair amount of detail supporting the applicant, and will always (b) have at least one, and usually two, sentences which say explicitly that the referee indeed highly recommends the candidate.

Thus, as a kind of "form letter," experienced application readers will first look at the quantity of description provided and the explicit sentences of support. If they are present, it is clear the referee supports the candidate. If they are not present, however, this is understood to indicate a lack of support for the candidate. In other words, it is the absence of information that makes a recommendation 'negative' rather than specificly 'negative' language.

Brief Summary of 'Negative' Recommendation Letters

The vast majority of recommendation letters are clearly positive. The main reason for this is that usually the candidate has identified referees who would be willing to support his/her application; given the choice, candidates will obviously select referees they know are likely to support them.

However, occasionally candidates are required to list specific people (such as one's major professor in a university, one's current supervisor in a workplace, etc.). If this person is then asked for their recommendation and they either (a) do not know what the applicant's qualifications for the position are; or (b) do not think highly of the applicant's qualifications to begin with, then a letter must be produced, but the intention of the letter would not be to support the candidate.

Almost never are there letters which say directly "I don't like this person" or "she should not get this position" (although the real letter examples presented in class via transparencies include one example of this) as — while such letters tend to remain in filing cabinets for years — the applicant's qualifications may subsequently improve dramatically; strongly 'negative' letters have even been the grounds for lawsuits.

What Makes a 'Negative' Recommendation Letter 'Negative'?

Therefore, the most common procedure for situations where one is required to write a recommendation letter for a candidate one does not support is not to say directly that you do not support the person, but rather to write a shorter rather than longer letter, and also omit the explicitly positive statements of support.

Such letters should also give some factual data, expressed in neutral language, which hints at the overall qualifications of the candidate without doing so directly. They may also contain ambiguous sentences which might be understood to be positive, but could equally be understood as 'negative'. Without the explicit statements of support, and with only brief detail in the whole letter, the ambiguous sentences will then be understood as 'negative.'

See the sample 'negative recommendation' [PDF] for one way this may be done.

Relationship of 'Negative' Letter Custom to 'Positive' Letters

With this concept of how a 'negative' recommendation letter is understood to be so, it may thus be more clear how important it is for a 'positive' letter to have an adequate volume of detail about the candidate, as well as the explicit sentences of support. If a positive letter is not obviously supportive, it runs the risk of being considered at least only 'neutral' if not 'negative'.

This is occasionally relevant for translation work as well, inasmuch as the standard Finnish recommendation letter is relatively short and seldom explicitly positive. If such letters are translated directly, despite the referee wishing to support the candidate, they run the risk of being understood as 'negative' letters. In such cases the translator may wish to contact the referee to explain the English cultural perspective on the letter, and suggest a bit more detail be added in order to make it clear that the letter does in fact positively support the candidate.