雙語職場：六步教你寫出漂亮的郵件

1、雙語職場：六步教你寫出漂亮的郵件If youre reading this, theres a good chance that you have an email account. You may well have several perhaps separate accounts for professional and personal contacts。 如果你正在閱讀這篇文章，你肯定有一個或假設(shè)干個甚至是不同帳號的私人或辦公郵箱。 Its easy to assume that we know how to use email effectively: its

2、been around for long enough. But if you find yourself struggling to communicate effectively by email, these six tips should help: 郵件這樣的溝通方式早已經(jīng)滲入到了我們的生活工作中，因此可以說大多數(shù)人都能有效地使用郵件與他人交流。但如果你發(fā)現(xiàn)自己還沒做得足夠有效，我想以下這六點可以幫到你： 1. Start With an Appropriate Salutation 郵件開頭稱呼要恰當(dāng)： Some people jump st

3、raight into the text of an email without so much as a “hi”. Its polite to add a salutation, just as you would with a letter. That might look like: 有些人寫郵件不喜歡加稱呼，甚至連簡單的“你好”都忽略，直接開始正文內(nèi)容。孰不知就像在傳統(tǒng)的信件上一樣，寫上稱呼是一種禮貌的象征。稱呼可以這樣寫： #Dear Sir/Madam 親愛的先生/女士 #Dear Mr. Johnson 親愛的約翰遜先生 #Hi Sue

4、蘇，你好 #Hello Fred 你好，福瑞德 Your salutation needs to be appropriate. If youre writing to a prospective employer, “Dear Mr. Johnson” is probably the best way to go. “Hi Bob” is going to look unprofessional。 稱呼必須恰當(dāng)。假設(shè)郵件對象是你未來的上司，“親愛的約翰先生”這樣的稱照應(yīng)該為最得體的。像“你好，鮑勃”更適用于隨意的場合。 But dont assume

5、that formality is always the right answer. If youre writing to a friend of a friend, using “Dear” plus their surname is going to seem oddly stilted。 那么，是不是正式的用語就萬能呢？絕對不是。假設(shè)你給你朋友的朋友寫郵件，那用“親愛的+姓”就顯得異常別扭。 If in doubt, “Dear first name” will usually work just fine。 當(dāng)你判斷不出哪種場合該用什么稱呼合適，你可以使

6、用“親愛的+名”來應(yīng)付所有情況。 2. Get Straight to the Point 直奔主題 Your correspondent wont want to wade through paragraphs of waffle so get straight to the point. If youre writing to someone out of the blue, dont give them your life story before you make a request。 相信閱讀你郵件的人不會愿意仔細(xì)瀏覽你那空洞無聊的長篇大論，所

7、以你需要直奔主題。如果你想寫封郵件撫慰某個心靈受傷的朋友，開頭先把你的建議亮出來，然后再用你的親身經(jīng)歷來輔助說明。 Getting straight to the point might mean that the first line of your email (after the salutation) looks something like this: 直奔主題意味著郵件內(nèi)容的第一行應(yīng)該是這樣： #Im working on an article about Acme Widgets for XYZ publication, and wondered i

8、f you had a few minutes to answer the following three questions。 我現(xiàn)在正在寫一篇要交給某某出版社關(guān)于極致控件的文章，不知道您有沒有時間答復(fù)3個問題呢？ #Could you supply me with a quote for the following project? 可否對下面的設(shè)計項目進(jìn)行引證？ #Id like to discuss the revisions with you. Would Tuesday at 2pm be a good time? 我想和你談?wù)勑抻?/p>

9、的事。這周二下午兩點您有空嗎？ #Ive attached the documents you requested at our meeting yesterday。 昨天會議上您要求的文件已附上，請查收。 You may well need to include more details, but if you put the important point up front, your email is more likely to get a timely response. If your question comes too far down, the

10、recipient may not even realise that you need a reply。 當(dāng)然，你需要再增加更多的細(xì)節(jié)內(nèi)容。假設(shè)將郵件重點放到內(nèi)容的開頭，你將收到更加及時的回復(fù)信息。如果你的問題在郵件后頭，收信人可能都不會意識到你在等他回復(fù)。 3. Keep it Short 內(nèi)容言簡意賅 Try to keep your email as short as possible. Make the paragraphs short, too long paragraphs can be difficult to read and take

11、 in。 盡可能將你的郵件內(nèi)容寫得簡單明了。文章太長不易閱讀和吸收。 Do make sure you give enough information for your correspondent to be able to make a decision, if thats required. You might find that its best to offer this as an attachment youll have more flexibility over formatting, and your correspondent can print out

12、 the attachment easily。 假設(shè)對方需要通過你的郵件來做決策，那你一定要在郵件中將相關(guān)信息寫完整。為了能更靈活地排版，你可以把這些信息作成附件形式，以方便對方將其打印出來。 4. Use Numbered Points 將內(nèi)容編號 If youve got several questions or points to make, its very helpful to number them. This makes it easy for the other person to respond to each one, especia

13、lly if some just require a yes/no response or a single word answer. For instance: 對于那些為了咨詢或提供各種問題的郵件，最好將問題一點一點的列舉出來，以便于他人對每個問題作答，尤其當(dāng)某些人更傾向于對問題只答復(fù)“是”和“否”的時候。例如： #Could you let me know: 能否告知： #1. How much it would cost for the website design 1. 網(wǎng)站設(shè)計費(fèi)用 #2. How much for the

14、 website design plus a tri-fold brochure 2. 網(wǎng)頁設(shè)計加一份三頁宣傳冊的費(fèi)用 #3. Whether you could complete #2 by the end of April 3. 您能否在四月底完成第二點所述工作？ Its also useful to list your questions or points as bullets in this way; if you write a single paragraph, some of your questions might get missed

15、。 將你的問題或觀點用圖標(biāo)的方式羅列出來是很實用的，倘假設(shè)你用一段話將幾個點全部涵蓋，那對方有可能會漏看其中的幾點。 5. Re-read and Use Spell-Check 重新閱讀一篇，校對拼寫錯誤 A typo or spelling mistake can turn one word into an entirely different one. If youre using email in a professional capacity, that mistake could be embarrassing or even offensi

16、ve. It might alter the whole meaning of your email: a missing “not”， for instance, could potentially cause problems。 排版或拼寫錯誤有時能導(dǎo)致對一個單詞的誤解。尤其當(dāng)你用郵件來溝通專業(yè)性內(nèi)容時，這樣的錯誤就很尷尬，甚至有些失禮。它可能改變你整個郵件的意思。比方：少寫了個“不”，就可能會引起某些問題。 Spell-check should help you avoid any silly mistakes but use your eyes and brain

17、too. There are plenty of words that spell-check wont pick up. If youre emailing from a device with predictive text and an auto-correct feature, make sure you always re-read what youve typed。 因此檢查拼寫將防止你犯這些低級錯誤，但這里強(qiáng)調(diào)不僅僅用眼睛檢查，還得用大腦思考。有些錯誤不一定能輕易檢查出來。如果你的郵件系統(tǒng)有字句聯(lián)想功能和自動糾錯功能，一定要把寫出來的內(nèi)容再通讀檢查一遍。 6.

18、 Make Your Signature Useful 充分利用郵件簽名 Do you have an email signature? (Thats the text that appears automatically at the bottom of your email。) Some people dont use one at all; others have a funny quote or favorite saying。 你設(shè)置過郵件簽名嗎(它將會在你每次郵件內(nèi)容的下方自動生成)？有些人從來都沒有使用過它，但我們也看過一些非常有意思和哲理的簽名。 Whether youre using email for professional or personal reasons, make your signature useful for both you and you