Am I saying this right?

[rlam767056]

Hi guys,

So I want to send an email to a store asking if they have a shirt in stock in a size two. I've just started learning Japanese and am cheating a little by having Google assist me here. Hoping someone can offer some assistance on wording/correctness of the translation.

So what I want to ask in English is below:

"hello. i wanted to know if you have the blue shirt in a size 2 in stock? thanks."

Here's what I've cobbled together:

"こんにちは。私はあなたが在庫でサイズ2で青いシャツを持っているかどうかを知りたいと思った？ありがとうございます。"

For starters, I'm not exactly sure if anyone says it this way in Japanese so hopefully someone can correct me if it's wrong. Secondly, is arigatou gozaimasu too formal to close an email or would a simple arigatou work? Finally, (and I've never written a letter/email in Japanese) so I'm wondering if you would close with a "sincerely, xxxxx" if it's a simple question or just close with a thank you?

Thanks in advance for any help!

[mmmason8967]

I think the main problem is going to be not so much writing the e-mail as being able to understand the answer when you receive it. It might be a good idea to explain that you're learning Japanese, and then to break the question up into short, unambiguous sentences. For example "I like the blue shirt. I am size two. Do you have it in stock?" Hopefully they will then reply in simple Japanese that you might well be able to understand without any help!

I don't know how you close a Japanese letter or e-mail. You can't really use あいがとうございます though, because it very specifically thanks someone for something they've already done. I'd go for よろしく because it means something along the lines of "I am relying on you" or "thanks in advance".

マイケル

[community.japanese]

rlam767056-san, マイケルsan,
kon'nichiwa!

Thank you very much for a great advice, マイケルsan!
I agree; if you write an email in perfect Japanese, you'd probably receive a reply in a high-level Japanese.
Breaking down into 2-3 sentences would be a great idea!

こんにちは。私はあなたが在庫でサイズ2で青いシャツを持っているかどうかを知りたいと思った？ありがとうございます。
This is perfectly understandable without major mistakes at all! And you'd receive a reply written in basic
Japanese without complicated expressions.
Just for you to learn, this might be more natural in Japanese:
こんにちは。
サイズ２の青いシャツがほしいのですが、在庫はありますか。
お返事をおまちしています。よろしくおねがいします。

As to "thank you" at the end of email, we don't use ありがとうございます like Michael-san already explained
and よろしくおねがいします would be the perfect one to say "thank you" in this case.

Good luck!

Natsuko (奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com