商務(wù)郵件里能用驚嘆號(hào)么？
How do you convey tone in email without seeming childish or girlish? Can you ever use exclamations in emails?
如何在郵件里傳達(dá)語(yǔ)氣的同時(shí)又不顯得幼稚或娘娘腔呢?郵件里能用驚嘆號(hào)嗎?
As we all know, tone is hard to convey properly via email. However, whenever I am inclined to use an ! to convey a positive tone, I get the sense that it actually reads as childish or immature. I also never seem to notice men using !’s in emails, either…. I’d love to hear yours and others thoughts on this!
我們都知道，通過(guò)郵件是很難傳達(dá)語(yǔ)氣的。然而，每當(dāng)我試圖利用一個(gè)驚嘆號(hào)來(lái)傳達(dá)積極的語(yǔ)氣時(shí)，我卻發(fā)現(xiàn)這讀起來(lái)讓我顯得很幼稚。我也從未見(jiàn)過(guò)有男人在郵件里使用驚嘆號(hào)……我很希望聽(tīng)到你們和其他人對(duì)此的想法!
A lot has been written about overuse of exclamations in emails — with some people even suggesting that one exclamation mark per email is a good rule to follow. There’s even an app to help you check the tone of your email! My best general advice is that abbreviations, multiple punctuation marks (!!!), and overly casual phrases (“amazeballs!”) have no place in professional emails. Beyond that, I think a lot of this depends on why you want to use a positive tone. For example:
很多讀者都寫(xiě)到了在郵件里過(guò)度使用驚嘆號(hào)的問(wèn)題——有些人甚至覺(jué)得每條郵件里都加一個(gè)驚嘆號(hào)是個(gè)很好的'習(xí)慣。甚至還有人開(kāi)發(fā)了能幫你檢驗(yàn)?zāi)汔]件中的語(yǔ)氣的app!但我最好的一般性建議是，縮寫(xiě)語(yǔ)、多個(gè)重復(fù)的標(biāo)點(diǎn)符號(hào)(!!!)以及過(guò)于隨便的詞句(“酷斃了!”)都不應(yīng)該出現(xiàn)在商務(wù)郵件里。除此之外，我就你為什么要使用積極的語(yǔ)氣做了些思考：
If you’re telling a subordinate he or she did a good job: They don’t care if you use exclamation marks; they’re just happy to get the praise. I think something like, “Outstanding!” is professional and encouraging without seeming juvenile.
如果你想要告訴一位下屬他/她干得不錯(cuò)：他們根本不在乎你有沒(méi)有用驚嘆號(hào);他們總是很高興得到表?yè)P(yáng)的。我覺(jué)得就像“真不錯(cuò)!”這樣的語(yǔ)句就很職業(yè)而且很能激勵(lì)人，還不會(huì)顯得太幼稚。
If you’re trying to sugarcoat a bad situation for a superior: Exclamation marks aren’t going to help you here — in fact, they’ll probably hurt you. You don’t want to be overly grave (“I am so sorry this happened!!!”), or overly breezy (“…but on the plus side no one lost a limb!!!”)… it’s a tough tone to strike in email. Which, honestly, is why I recommend picking up the phone or dropping by your boss’s office. Not only do you not have to worry about tone, but you can better gauge your boss’s reaction, and — bonus! — there’s no paper trail that might get forwarded, misconstrued, filed away, etc.
如果你想在你的主管面前粉飾一個(gè)糟糕的情況：驚嘆號(hào)對(duì)你不會(huì)有幫助的——事實(shí)上，它們可能還會(huì)有壞處。你一定不想顯得太過(guò)鄭重(“對(duì)發(fā)生這樣的事我感到非常抱歉!!!”)或是太過(guò)輕松隨意(“……不過(guò)值得慶幸的是沒(méi)人受到了什么損失!!!”)……這種語(yǔ)氣在郵件里會(huì)顯得特別強(qiáng)硬。實(shí)話實(shí)說(shuō)，這是為什么我建議你打電話或者直接到老板辦公室去說(shuō)。那樣你不但不用擔(dān)心你的語(yǔ)氣，還能更好地觀察你老板的反應(yīng)，另外，這樣也不會(huì)留下會(huì)被轉(zhuǎn)發(fā)、誤解、存檔的書(shū)面記錄。
I guess that’s my best tip — if you’re worried about the tone being misunderstood, it’s best to have the conversation orally . Otherwise, trust yourself and the English language — word choice goes a long way towards, you know, communicating. For example, writing “Great news, team: we are done with the doc review.” doesn’t need any exclamation marks to get the point across.
我想這是我最好的建議——如果你擔(dān)心你的語(yǔ)氣會(huì)被誤解，最好就做口頭交流。或者，就相信你自己和英語(yǔ)這門(mén)語(yǔ)言——你知道，選詞對(duì)于交流來(lái)說(shuō)關(guān)系重大。比如說(shuō)，如果你寫(xiě)“同志們，大好消息：我們的文檔審查做好了。”這句話不需要任何的驚嘆號(hào)，也能夠正確傳達(dá)意思。