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I've seen some emails ending with 何卒宜しくお願い致します but I was wondering if it just raises the respect/politeness of a letter or does it have specific situations where it should/shouldn't be use?

Like when you're expecting a response, I usually end with ご回答の程、宜しくお願いします。 But I'm really not that clear with 何卒 usage.

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  • A quick internet search brought up this page, which explains it clearly: whatimi.blog135.fc2.com/blog-entry-91.html The author says it's basically about adding stress to the お願い.
    – chigusa
    Jun 20, 2014 at 5:32
  • In addition to @chigusa's comment, I'll add that I've often seen this used as a more formal synonym for 是非, such as in ご質問等がございましたら [是非・何卒] ご連絡ください。
    – Eiríkr Útlendi
    Jun 20, 2014 at 6:53

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As something of a fossilized and archaic term, 何卒{なにとぞ} comes across as more formal and stiff. This would not be used in everyday talk. Possible use cases in the closing of formal correspondence might be:

  • ご質問{しつもん}等{とう}がございましたら 何卒 ご連絡{れんらく}ください。
  • 何卒 宜{よろ}しくお願{ねが}い致{いた}します。
  • 何卒 どうぞ宜{よろ}しくお願{ねが}い致{いた}します。
    Some folks consider this last one to be redundant or incorrect with both 何卒 and どうぞ, as these have basically the same meaning, but I do find numerous examples of use by what appear to be native speakers, so take that for what you will.

Breaking this term down, Shogakukan explains that this is 何{なに} "what" + と (particle) + ぞ (particle), with the 卒 character serving as ateji. The ぞ isn't used much and might be less well-known. In this context, it basically serves as an intensifier, a bit like も after question words. The resulting meaning of the phrase is a bit like English "whatever the case may be", or "no matter what". Synonyms listed in the dictionary entry are どうぞして, なんとかして, and どうか. (Incidentally, the ぞ in なにとぞ is the same ぞ in どうぞ.)

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    For what it's worth, the Balanced Corpus of Contemporary Written Japanese (BCCWJ) has 4147 results for どうぞ, 72 results for 何卒, and 0 results for 何卒どうぞ.
    – user1478
    Jun 24, 2014 at 22:39
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    Interestingly, there is apparently one example of どうぞ 今後とも 何卒 宜しくお願い申し上げます (hit number 26 when searching for 何卒), suggesting that these words might appear together in different kinds of combinations.
    – Eiríkr Útlendi
    Jun 27, 2014 at 1:16
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In this case,the 何卒 means "please". It is a bit formal way to tell something to someone.

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