If you’re reading this, there’s 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，你肯定有一個或若干個甚至是不同帳號的私人或辦公郵箱。

　　It’s easy to assume that we know how to use email effectively: it’s 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滲入到了我們的生活工作中，因此可以說大多數人都能有效地使用郵件與他人交流。但如果你發現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：

　　Some people jump straight into the text of an email without so much as a “hi”. It’s 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，直接開始正文內容。孰不知就像在傳統的信件上一樣，寫上稱呼是一種禮貌的象徵。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 蘇，你好

　　#Hello Fred 你好，福瑞德

　　Your salutation needs to be appropriate. If you’re 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。若郵件對像是你未來的上司，“親愛的約翰先生”這樣的稱呼應該為最得體的。像“你好，鮑勃”更適用於隨意的場合。

　　But don’t assume that formality is always the right answer. If you’re writing to a friend of a friend, using “Dear” plus their surname is going to seem oddly stilted.

　　那麼，是不是正式的用語就萬能呢？絕對不是。若你給你朋友的朋友寫郵件，那用“親愛的+姓”就顯得異常彆扭。

　　If in doubt, “Dear [first name]” will usually work just fine.

　　當你判斷不出哪種場合該用什麼稱呼合適，你可以使用“親愛的+名”來應付所有情況。

　　2. Get Straight to the Point

　　直奔主題

　　Your correspondent won’t want to wade through paragraphs of waffle – so get straight to the point. If you’re writing to someone out of the blue, don’t give them your life story before you make a request.

　　相信閱讀你郵件的人不會願意仔細瀏覽你那空洞無聊的長篇大論，所以你需要直奔主題。如果你想寫封郵件安慰某個心靈受傷的朋友，開頭先把你的建議亮出來，然後再用你的親身經歷來輔助說明。

　　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容的第一行應該是這樣：

　　#I’m working on an article about Acme Widgets for XYZ publication, and wondered if you had a few minutes to answer the following three questions.

　　我現在正在寫一篇要交給某某出版社關於極致控件的文章，不知道您有沒有時間回答3個問題呢？

　　#Could you supply me with a quote for the following project?

　　可否對下面的設計項目進行引證？

　　#I’d like to discuss the revisions with you. Would Tuesday at 2pm be a good time?

　　我想和你談談修訂的事。這週二下午兩點您有空嗎？

　　#I’ve 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 recipient may not even realise that you need a reply.

　　當然，你需要再增加更多的細節內容。若將郵件重點放到內容的開頭，你將收到更加及時的回復資訊。如果你的問題在郵件後頭，收信人可能都不會意識到你在等他回復。

　　3. Keep it Short

　　內容言簡意賅

　　Try to keep your email as short as possible. Make the paragraphs short, too – long paragraphs can be difficult to read and take in.

　　盡可能將你的郵件內容寫得簡單明瞭。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 that’s required. You might find that it’s best to offer this as an attachment – you’ll have more flexibility over formatting, and your correspondent can print out the attachment easily.

　　若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資訊寫完整。為了能更靈活地排版，你可以把這些資訊作成附件形式，以方便對方將其列印出來。

　　4. Use Numbered Points

　　將內容編號

　　If you’ve got several questions or points to make, it’s very helpful to number them. This makes it easy for the other person to respond to each one, especially if some just require a yes/no response or a single word answer. For instance:

　　對於那些為了諮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，以便於他人對每個問題作答，尤其當某些人更傾向於對問題只回答“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. 網站設計費用

　　#2. How much for the website design plus a tri-fold brochure

　　2. 網頁設計加一份三頁宣傳冊的費用

　　#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？

　　It’s 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.

　　將你的問題或觀點用圖標的方式羅列出來是很實用的，倘若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 you’re using email in a professional capacity, that mistake could be embarrassing – or even offensive. 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致對一個單詞的誤解。尤其當你用郵件來溝通專業性內容時，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。比如：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 too. There are plenty of words that spell-check won’t pick up. If you’re emailing from a device with predictive text and an auto-correct feature, make sure you always re-read what you’ve typed.

　　因此檢查拼寫將避免你犯這些低級錯誤，但這裡強調——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。如果你的郵件系統有字句聯想功能和自動糾錯功能，一定要把寫出來的內容再通讀檢查一遍。

　　6. Make Your Signature Useful

　　充分利用郵件簽名

　　Do you have an email signature? (That’s the text that appears automatically at the bottom of your email.) Some people don’t use one at all; others have a funny quote or favorite saying.

　　你設置過郵件簽名嗎（它將會在你每次郵件內容的下方自動生成）？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 you’re using email for professional or personal reasons, make your signature useful for both you and your recipient. That might mean:

　　無論你是為了工作還是私人聊天，加注簽名對你和郵件接收者都有好處，因為這意味著可以：

　　Giving the link to your website

　　加上你的網頁鏈結

　　Including your work address and/or phone number

　　寫上你的工作地址或電話號碼

　　Adding links to your social media accounts

　　注上你的社會媒體工具帳號（例如部落格，微博，論壇）

　　Putting in a line to promote your recent book / blog / product

　　宣傳你最新的書籍，博文或產品

　　If your email provider allows it, you may even want to create several signatures to use for different purposes (e.g. one for emailing friends, one for new business contacts).

　　有些郵箱甚至還提供用戶根據不同目的設計不同簽名的服務（比如：一個對朋友使用，一個對新結識的企業夥伴使用）。