Toodles23

Hi,

Our case officer signs herself Te A***** W**** on her emails so up till now we've stayed safe and formal and used the whole thing. We got our passports complete with blue stickers yesterday (yippee!) and I thought it might be nice to send a 'thank you' but don't know how to address it, using her full name seems a little formal.

I'd guess I just use A*****, since I thought 'Te' was just 'the' but don't want to mistakenly cause offence. I just thought they probably get lots of people complaining about why they have been rejected or why it's taking time to process the application and not many thank you's when it does come through.

Thanks in advance wise forum peeps!

bourbon-biscuit

Hello, is that defo her name, not title?

Toodles23

I think so... Desperately hope so now, still she can't be too upset with us if she gave us the visa! Google Translate definitely doesn't come up with anything for it. I think I'll play safe and keep it vague.

One day I'll learn not to overthink things

bourbon-biscuit

Can you PM me the actual name - I am intrigued now!

marblep

Hi Toodles - congrats on securing your blue stickers. And what a thoughtful gesture to thank your case officer.

I'd probably play it safe and use Te A***** on the card. I have a friend called Te Hine**** N*****. We call her Hine. Some people prefer to be called by their full name of Te ******* and some prefer a shortened version of their name without the Te, and to be called a full version of the name without the Te may seem a bit odd. e.g Te Maharangi Smith (made up name) may liked to be called Maha - and to then be called Maharangi without the Te will seem a bit strange.

Hopefully that makes sense. But reading it back I'm not sure it does. I'm an overthinker too.

Toodles23

Thanks marblep, that's useful.

Bourbon-biscuit, have pm'd as requested... Can't leave you hanging

I do wish hubby had paid more attention during his interview to how she introduced herself! I think I'll just address the card to her then not put a name in the card.

jmh

I asked my mum, who works a lot with Maori and she said you should send it Dear Te ...... in full, especially if that's how she signed her letters.

I had a client called Te Anga who called himself David. Go figure.

Bo-Jangles

Te Aniwa is quite common girls / ladies name and yes you do say the Te.

marblep

Agreed. Te is a common prefix for both mens' and womens' Maori names and also surnames. I'd definitely use the full name. Just to be safe. She'll probably be so chuffed to receive a thank you, she won't give a sh!t either way

Toodles23

Thanks everyone, I just didn't want to find I'd essentially put "Miss Jo" which would have been odd.

That said I work a lot with people in India and my maiden surname was Johnson. I got a lot of emails starting Hi John (I'm female).

marblep

Ha ha. Nope,it's definitely not a prefix.

We have slightly similar trouble with my Samoan, Tongan and Niuean cousins. Growing up we addressed them by their shortened names, e.g. Talagiatonoa is Noa. But as we've got older they've set their email addresses etc to their full names. It takes some brain power to rememeber them all! Anything over 3 syllablells and I've forgotten.

Hazelnut

My surname at work is long and tricky, especially for people of Asian or French origin, to say. We compromise and some students call me Mrs Hazelnut. I think it rather sweet and it meets their feeling of dutiful politeness without needing them to try and pronounce something they will, almost inevitably, find very hard to say correctly.

I would hope most people with non-mainstream names would be equally understanding and not mind about an incorrect naming when done with the spirit of being polite and saying thanks.

j19fmm

I teach a girl with Te at the beginning. I always refer to her that way, her cousins drop that bit and just call her by the second part of her name. It's just a shortening of a name as we all do. I'm sure your case officer will be thrilled anyway

Dandy du2

Hello Toodles

We have had the same case officer. I asked how she pronounced her name during the telephone interview and she said A***** so I would send a card with that on.