Outstanding business english

Chapter Nine

Writing tips for everyday business

Writing a date

Differing conventions

There are a number of correct ways of writing dates in English. The UK English format (which most of Europe uses) is:

DD/MM/YY, where D = day, M = month, Y = year.

This contrasts with the US format, which is:

MM/DD/YY.

And both are in contrast with the format used in Japan, for example, which is:

YY/MM/DD.

Not understanding the different conventions can create immense problems. If you have to book international transport or hotel accommodation, or arrange deliveries, meetings and so on, you’ll know how important it is to input the correct dates. It can simply be a question of house style regarding the format you choose to be your default convention. However, ...