This paper describes different strategies of politeness in e-mail communication between students and teachers and between colleagues in Academia. The data are found in e-mails in the following languages: Danish, Swedish, French, and Italian. The aim of the study is to give insights into differences and similarities across languages and cultures. The analyses are anchored in pragmatically oriented research in politeness as well as the diasystematic dimensions, as proposed by Eugenio Coseriu, and inspired by the theory of linguistic supertypes as proposed by Per Durst-Andersen.