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In English, these two variants can be said in a letter/message:

I hope this message finds you well.

I hope this message finds you in good times.

In trying to translate, I skipped the first as my potentially poor translation may convey the wrong meaning. However, this is what I came up with for the second instead:

Ich hoffe, dass diese Nachricht dich in guten Zeiten findet.

Is this okay to say or is it weird? I'd prefer the subjective part of the answer come from a native speaker, if possible.

If this is a totally crap, incorrect translation, is there a way to say something similar without deviating too far from the intent of the English phrase?

amadeusamadeus
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Dustin
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  • The literal translation is ok, however I'm not sure what the original is meant to say. – PMF Feb 03 '14 at 18:30
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    @PMF The English phrase is a greeting of sorts. It's essentially saying "I hope you're doing well at the time of receiving this message." – Dustin Feb 03 '14 at 18:49
  • I would use erreicht over findet in the literal translation (arives, reaches), because that is a common collocation with Nachricht. – CodeManX Feb 05 '14 at 02:51
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    There is no good equivalent because this would be overly personal for business related mails or anything official, and in personal correspondence you'd use other phrases. – Polygnome Feb 11 '21 at 13:36

6 Answers6

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If the meaning of the English phrasing is the one you mentioned in a comment then there is no direct equivalent in German apart the general wish for someones well being.

Ich hoffe, dir/Ihnen geht es gut. Ich hoffe, es geht ...

This sounds much more personal and hearty I reckon.

Emanuel
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There are corresponding phrases in German, but they all sound quite formal to me. I assume that they used to be more common.

Two examples that I have found:

Liebe Marlies, ich will nun schließen in der Hoffnung, daß Dich mein Paket wieder bei guter Gesundheit erreicht. Tausend Grüße u. innige Küsse für Dich u. die Kinder von Deinem Atte

Brief: Adolf Dick an seine Ehefrau am 27.11.1942

Nun mein lieber Heinz, für heut will ich schließen in bester Hoffnung, daß dich meine Zeilen bei bester Gesundheit antreffen, wie sie mich heut verlassen haben. Sei recht herzlich gegrüßt aus weiter Ferne von deiner stets an dich gedenkenden Hanni

Arbeitsmaid Hanni Heinze vom RAD Schwarzau an Heinz Klinke im Krieg in Russland, 1942

Carsten S
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  • Ich kenne "Ich hoffe die Nachricht erreicht Dich bei bester Gesundheit". – user unknown Feb 05 '14 at 03:21
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    "erreicht Dich bei bester Gesundheit" 152 Google hits. "message finds you well/in good health/in good spirits" 740.000/120.000/56.000 hits. The German hits indeed seem to come from texts older people have written. – Emanuel Feb 05 '14 at 15:11
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    "erreicht dich bei bester Gesundheit" is OK German for past centuries - Today it would probably considered a bit too floral language for a personal letter. – tofro Nov 04 '16 at 14:05
  • It should be noted that both of these examples seem to be placed at the end of the letter, as implied by "schließen". "I hope this message finds you well." is, on the other hand, typically written in the beginning, right after the salutation, in my experience. – O. R. Mapper Dec 11 '23 at 06:12
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I think, that the only use in a German letter (business or personal) would be to write "ich hoffe, es geht Ihnen gut", but you would only write this after you haven´t corresponded for a long time. If you just had a conversation a week ago, it would be strange to write that. I just received it in a business mail from a person I have seen 2 days ago, so I was wondering, what makes him wonder about my health state and if I have to react on that. :-)

Heike
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Ich hoffe diese Nachricht erreicht dich bei bester Gesundheit

would be the German equivalent. It is not very common though.

https://books.google.de/books?id=Bb5uAgAAQBAJ&lpg=PT53&ots=jXCgJpears&dq=ich%20hoffe%20diese%20nachricht%20erreicht%20dich%20bei%20bester%20gesundheit&hl=de&pg=PT53#v=onepage&q=ich%20hoffe%20diese%20nachricht%20erreicht%20dich%20bei%20bester%20gesundheit&f=false

jaba
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Ich hoffe, diese Nachricht erreicht Sie wohlauf.

Veit
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I study german language and literature and we mostly say it when we write our german professors. When we do so, we use "Ich hoffe, dass diese Nachricht Sie gut erreicht/findet" to be formal but still kind and build a good relationship with our lecturer. So in my opinion it's a good mediation phrase, but not an word to word equivalent.

Olga
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    The teachers will understand it and its intent (that's the important thing). But it's an anglicism I doubt you find in use in spoken or written language by native speakers. – planetmaker May 07 '23 at 22:00
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    "Ich hoffe diese Nachricht erreicht Sie bei guter Gesundheit" habe ich schon gelesen, "dass diese Nachricht sie gut erreicht/findet" drückt dies aber nicht aus, sondern dass der Nachrichtenfluss gelang (a good connection). – user unknown May 08 '23 at 00:06