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Yes, you can mail a letter written in another language, because the postal service does not read the letter inside the envelope. What matters is the address on the outside: it must be readable by the postal workers and machines in the destination country, so write the address in the destination country's script or in clear Roman letters.
No. A letter in Spanish, Arabic, Mandarin, French, or any other language travels exactly like an English letter. Postal services handle the envelope, not the contents, and they do not open letters to check the language inside. The same holds for a letter written by hand in a non-Roman script, or a letter that mixes languages, like a note in English with a greeting in another tongue.
The one exception is customs and security screening for international parcels, which is a different process from letter mail and does not apply to an ordinary sealed letter. A personal letter is private correspondence, and its language is the sender's choice.
Write the destination address the way the destination country's post office reads it. For most international mail, that means writing the address in Roman letters, even if the recipient's local address is normally written in another script. Postal workers in the sending country need to route the letter to the right country first, and Roman letters are the common ground that sorting systems share.
For mail within a country, use that country's normal script. A letter mailed inside Japan should carry a Japanese-script address, and a letter mailed inside Egypt should carry an Arabic-script address, because the local carriers read those scripts daily. When in doubt, write the address twice: once in the local script and once in Roman letters, one above the other. Postal services accept this, and it gives both the sending and receiving sorters something they can read.
| Mailing situation | Address script to use |
|---|---|
| Within the same country | That country's normal script |
| From one country to another | Roman letters, with the country name in capitals on the last line |
| Unsure about the local script | Both scripts, local script on top, Roman letters below |
| Canada, English to French areas | Either English or French address format works across Canada |
| Letter body | Any language, any script, no restriction |
Transliteration means writing sounds from one script in the letters of another, and it is where most foreign-language address problems start. Copy the address exactly as the recipient writes it in Roman letters, rather than transliterating it yourself from the local script. A recipient who writes their own address in Roman letters has already chosen the spelling their post office recognizes.
Watch for sounds that do not map cleanly. A name with a soft "ch" sound, a throaty consonant, or a long vowel can be spelled several ways in Roman letters, and a wrong guess can send the letter to a different street. Diacritics, the small marks above or below letters, matter too: leaving them off is usually harmless, but adding the wrong one can change a word. Print the address rather than writing it in cursive, since printed Roman letters are easier for machines to read.
Canada is officially bilingual, and its postal service accepts addresses in English or French anywhere in the country. A letter to Montreal can be addressed in French, and a letter to Vancouver can be addressed in English, and both will be delivered. Street types like Rue, Avenue, and Boulevard appear in French in Quebec and in English elsewhere, but the postal code does the heavy routing work either way. For LetterAgent letters to Canadian recipients, the address shows through a window envelope, so a clear printed address in either official language works.
The United States Postal Service delivers mail with addresses in Roman letters, including Spanish-language addresses, which are common in many states. A letter addressed in Spanish to a US address, with the street, city, state, and ZIP code in the usual order, will be delivered. The body of the letter can be in any language. The practical rule is the same as everywhere: the address must be machine-readable, so print it clearly and include the full ZIP code.
Ready to mail it? Send your letter with LetterAgent: describe it to your AI assistant, approve the exact quoted price, and it is printed and mailed.
LetterAgent is a working name. Prices include print, postage, and our service fee. US prices in USD, Canadian prices in CAD (Canadian prices exclude applicable sales tax, added at checkout). Currently in private testing.
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