撇开蹩脚的Chinglish先不谈，很多中方职员写英文邮件时往往犯一些特别基本的格式习惯问题。
1. Never say “just”
不要用“just”这个词
作者先介绍了当初给供应商电话用“just”被上级批评。
I once had a boss who overheard me on the phone to a vendor saying, “I was just calling up to ask…” She stood over me for the rest of the call, and when I got off the phone the first thing she said to me was “You’re never ‘just’ doing anything. You’re doing it. No just.”
“just”是一个非正式语，充满了乞求甚至道歉的感觉。包括写邮件不要出现I’m just emailing to see if you have those reports”这种描述。
She told me that “just” was wishy-washy, and not authoritative, making me seem like I was somehow apologizing for whatever question I had. She said that in business, it was unnecessary to make apologies when working with a client for a mutually beneficial goal. And she’s right. Saying “just” in an email (i.e., “I’m just emailing to see if you have those reports”) sounds a lot like a passive apology for asking for a perfectly normal thing to ask for in a professional context. It’s like your mom caught you with your hand in the cookie jar and you stammer out an “I was just looking to see what was in there…” The fix here is simple: go back over your emails and delete any superfluous “just” (i.e. “I’m emailing to see if you have those reports.”)
2. Spell correctly
不要有错别字
这是必须的。错别字会让你这个人显得懒惰、粗心。尤其注意千万不要把对方名字写错。作者从来不答复把她名字都写错的邮件。好在现在有很多输入法是带拼写识别的，记得启用。
This is a no brainer. Spelling mistakes, whether they’re the result of you genuinely not knowing how to spell or simply because you were being lazy and mistyped something, make you look stupid, and are clearly very bad. Fortunately, computers are equipped with a nifty little thing that checks spelling for you. Also, pay extra attention to PROPER NOUNS, for the love of LinkedIn. You don’t want to spell the name of a HR person or a company you’re seeking employment from wrong in an email. As someone who has had to trawl through emails to employ people in the past, trust that I never replied to anyone who spelled my name wrong (“Cat” or “Kate”? Next!), regardless of how good their resume was, probably because I never bothered to read past the misspell in the first line of their email.
3. Use as few words as possible
别瞎BB废话多
特别中国人写英文邮件容易废话多，还觉得语法很漂亮。大多数职场人的邮件都很多，没空听你那精彩的人生故事，而是希望尽可能快地了解邮件意图。这里举了个例子。
Just be concise. No one wants your life story in an email. Everyone appreciates being able to get through their emails as quickly as possible. Make one sentence statements about what you’re looking for. For instance:
Hello,
I’m emailing to see if you have those reports.
Please send them through at your earliest convenience.
We also need to schedule a meeting. How is Tuesday at 4pm for you?
Best,
Kat
谁都不愿意看到，明明几句话的内容，被展开到好几个篇章。这也是为何我们越来越少打工作电话——对话都废时间啊亲！
Too often, people will extrapolate what could be said in four lines into four meaty paragraphs. There’s no need for lengthy prose in email. People are busy, and need to digest information quickly. This is why we don’t call each other at work any more: No one has ten minutes to spend in conversation over something that only takes one sentence of text to convey. Likewise, no one has ten minutes to spend deciphering convoluted, unclear emails.
4. Start a new paragraph for each new point
新的要点就另起段落
每个任务要点都要另起段落，实际上英文邮件一个段落不要超过两句句子。如果你要说的事情需要长篇大论，你最好还是打电话给对方。否则你可能为此不停地在收发邮件。
Each new task point should be a new paragraph. As above, each paragraph should be no more than two short sentences. If something requires long passages of explanation, that’s probably a good indication that it needs a vocal conversation rather than an email. I can’t stress enough: With the volume of emails sent and received in the average person’s day, the briefer and clearer you can be, the better.
5. Use the rich text formatting option
用富文本写邮件
比如你的邮件有超链接，最好不要把长长的地址整个贴过来，而是用邮件超链接功能。适当的排版能让邮件更优美，界面体验更友好（大多数邮箱都支持html书写），但也不要玩过头用激进的字体和颜色。
If you have a link, don’t just copy and past the URL into your email. LINK YOUR TEXT. It’s neater, looks nicer, and shows that you know what you’re doing, as opposed to looking like some hack who copies and pastes URLs into emails. Don’t be that person. It’s 2015. Use the rich text formatting option in your email to make your formatting look good. Italicize titles. Underline addresses. Don’t go overboard (no fancy colors or crazy fonts, dear god), but definitely use the tools at your disposal to make your email appear both user friendly and the work of a person with above par emailing skills (and by default, intelligence).
6. Have a signature
签名一定要正式
姓名、职务、邮箱、电话、传真、公司LOGO什么的。
Go to your settings and make an email signature. It should include your name, and depending on your profession, a contact phone number, link to your Twitter, and/or a few links to sites of relevance to you and whatever your job is. If you do something visual, have a logo, or the logo associated to your job. For instance, my signature says:
Kat George
@kat_george
Bustle | [and a few other sites I write for, separated with these | and all linked]
7. Proofread
核对工作
发邮件不是跑步比赛比谁手快。写完邮件把整个邮件都检查仔细，从标题到附件到正文到签名。
This is simple, and you’re probably offended by how obvious it is, BUT I WOULDN’T HAVE TO SAY IT IF MORE OF YOU WOULD DO IT. It’s simple: before you send anything out, read it again. If it’s an especially important email, like a job application, see if one of your friends or family members will give it a once-over for you too. If you can’t do that, save the email as a draft, and walk away from it for ten minutes. You’ll be surprised at the clarity you’ll have after giving yourself a break from whatever you’re writing and coming back to it with fresh eyes. Remember: when it comes to important and work-related emails, it’s not always a race to get it out as fast as you can, but rather, an exercise in precision.
8. Always be nice
用语要友好
无论你跟谁发邮件，态度都一定要友好。消极情绪的词汇会在邮件中放大，因为对方并不是听着你说出消极的词汇，看到你比较友好的表情。记住，你在写邮件时候内心可能是读出来的，但读者只是从文字里获取你的思想。如果你确实要批评某人，同时要记得鼓励他做的好的地方。
No matter who you’re emailing or what it’s about, be nice. Even when you’re complaining about a service you’ve received, it will always work in your favor to start with something like “I am a loyal customer and big fan of your brand. Lately, I have been disappointed because…” Aggression can come off exceptionally aggressive in email, because you don’t have the benefit of your negative words being tempered by a gentle voice or sympathetic facial s. Remember that people aren’t reading what you’re writing in the tone you intended, but in the tone they set in their head, which is almost always going to be far more dramatic than you could’ve anticipated. If you’re reprimanding someone at work, be sure to also mention their good qualities. If you’re sending a tough email to a friend, remind them that you love them before getting into the nitty-gritty. Don’t make apologies—but do include positive statements with negative ones to promote diplomacy. And do your best to never start conversations off on the wrong foot.
9. For the love of God, do not use emoji in professional emails
看在上帝的份上，别在邮件里插表情！
Unless you’re emailing your boyfriend or your mom, DO NOT USE EMOJI. Whether it’s a fancy iPhone emoji or a makeshift colon and bracket smiley face, nothing makes you look less professional than including emojis in your email. If you feel the urge to emoji in a professional email, Gchat the following to your best friend a thousand times to get it out of your system: ~@~ (Please do it. You won’t be sorry.)
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