If I wanted to ask a professor if he would write a letter of recommendation for me and wanted to convey the same feeling as "I was wondering..(if you could write a letter of recommendation for me)" what verb would I use?
Could I say, Я размышлял, можете ли Вы написать...?
Спасибо
In Russian there are several conversation starters (which is what I was wondering is) that can be used in informal conversation:
Я тут подумал, а не сходить ли нам на рыбалку
Мне тут пришла мысль, не создать ли нам рок-группу
As you can see in the example above I have used them in the context of an informal request. The examples above in my opinion have slightly different "feeling" as to I was wondering even if they literally mean the same. In English the phrase implies a polite request, in Russian the phrases above have more informal meaning. They will not be applicable to request a professor to write a recommendation letter. In such cases I would start a conversation with a description of my current situation and then used something like не затруднит ли Вас..., like this:
Здравствуйте Александр Николаевич.
Через неделю у меня интервью на работу.
Не затруднит ли Вас написать рекомендательное письмо...
Another option is "не могли бы Вы" or "не можете ли Вы". This sounds "polite" enough. Note the negative part "не" in all variants.
Another starter sentence is Я хотел Вас спросить... (if you are male) or Я хотела Вас спросить... (if you are a woman).
For example: Я хотел Вас спросить, могли ли Вы написать для меня рекомендательное письмо?
"Could I say, Я размышлял, можете ли Вы написать...?" - sounds wrong.
"размышлять", I would translate as "to contemplate/reflect".
"Я (по)думал(a)" - "I've been thinking", is more common.
In your case, I would probably use: "Я хотел(а) <бы y> Вас попросить/спросить" - "I would like to ask you".
