英文email 寫作－活得精采，劉偉澍的學習網站

英文email 寫作 English Email Writing

by David W. S. Liu

Outlines for English Email Writing

How to write Professional Business Emails

I. English Writing – an email vs. a letter

II. Be Clear, Concise, and organized

III. Guidelines for Request Emails

IV. Guidelines for Reply Emails

V. Email Do's and Don'ts

VI. How to Write a Persuasive Email

主講人

劉偉澍，朋友都叫他 David ，商業智庫首席顧問，中美晶監察人，前福特六和汽車公司財務長，前Mazda汽車副總經理，同時任教于國立台北大學商學院，教授企業管理、國際貿易等課程，並常受邀在工商企業界作專題演講。曾榮獲中華民國十大傑出經理人，中華民國管理科學學會管理獎章。著有1.「臺灣汽車工業發展文集」，2. 「Travel 趴趴走 David 帶你環遊世界，行遍天下」，3. 「活得精彩，做好個人管理」三書。

英文email 寫作 English Email Writing

溝通要雙向的two-way communication，如果只是單向的one-way communication，到頭來大多是失敗的。人與人之間的溝通從最直接的見面 face to face communication, 打電話communication by telephone, 到現在的e-mail communication。跟著時代腳步，Hollywood 已有幾部經典電影，像「電子情書」，男女主角是用 e-mail 來溝通。

E-mail Communication

現代人最重要的就是溝通，為什麼？因為通訊科技太發達了。在沒有個人電腦的時代裡，你寫信，一封信從寫好、寄到，然後對方再回信，可能要好幾天。可是今天，上網就好了，每次都是立即發生的，馬上問、馬上答。換句話說，你必須在很短的時間裡，很精確的掌握你的語言，掌握情境。更重要的是，很精確地掌握對方的心情，和他的想法。

以前我還會寫信，現在大概很少人寫信了。現在工作的communication 除了開會外，幾幾乎都是靠寫 e-mail。E-mail 的好處是快、迅速、方便，缺點則是太多的 unnecessary e-mail 或是些 garbage 垃圾郵件。有些人會 forward 太多的 e-mail 給他的朋友，相信你一定也收到過一大堆這類郵件。或許是經常收到太多的e-mail，有些人對別人的 e-mail 是相應不理，從來不做回應，其實這也不太好。應該有適當的回覆，這也是做人應對的基本禮貌。如果你不希望對方 e-mail 給你，應該禮貌性的告知對方，我相信對方自然會將你從 e-mail 名單中 delete 掉。像我偶而也會分享一些網路上的資訊，我的原則是at most once a week，而且只挑選有意義，好的文章才分享給別人。通常我會分享的文章不外乎是健康資訊，管理資訊或是我拍的照片和我自己寫的文章。

至於溝通的內容，我們應該要注意的地方有四：

1．要有主題

就像我們跟別人講話要有話題一樣，要讓別人知道你說話的主題，不要東扯西扯，不知所云。

2．要有內容

溝通的資料要有內容。要讓別人覺得你說話的內容，言之有物，不要流於空洞，乏善可陳。

3．要有重點

你要傳達的訊息 message 一定要有重點。重點不要太多，一次傳達的訊息，最好只有兩、三個重點。像我在寫e-mail 一定有重點，讓對方很清楚你的重點是什麼。重點不要太多，太多重點反而跟沒有重點一樣。以前我底下有一位經理，能言善道，淊淊不絕。但當他講完之後，你不知道他的重點到底是什麼。每一次當他說完，我一定反問他「你的重點是什麼? 」Please get to the point, point 1, point 2 and point 3。

4．要注意到時效性

有些事情是有時效性的，要適時的在時效內作答覆才是。

I. How to communicate by writing English

When you writing in English for an email or a short article to communicate with others, you should consider what kind of message you want to convey with your counterpart. Just like you speak with others, you don't want to confuse them, so your English in speaking usually is simple and short. Similarly, you also can make your English in writing short and sweet.

First, you should have a topic, a subject or a theme for the email, the letter you try to write.

Second, try to digest the content of your material in a more organized way; put it this way, you can convey your message by key points, say 1, 2 and 3. Do not try to cover too many messages in one short article, or making a short speech. People won't remember what you said or what you wrote if you have too many things to cover.

Third, respond on a timely basis – it is important to communicate on timely basis especially when there is a due day for reply.

寫作訣竅

l 開頭：引起讀者興趣

l 正文：多舉例子

l 結尾：首尾呼應

l 結構：段落術接流暢

l 文句及格式：通順、簡潔

美國訓練與發展協會（American Society for Training and Development）指出在職場上撰寫專業電子郵件，必須注意以下七點：

1. 直接切入重點
儘可能在第一段就說明主旨，切勿將重要訊息放在郵件第二頁，大部份的人並不喜歡閱讀冗長的電子郵件。

2. 善用主題欄
主題欄應該寫明電子郵件的主旨，例如，會計部門需要購買新的辦公桌，讓收件人一目了然，並且知道郵件是否具有急迫性。主題欄過於模糊，容易遭到收件人忽略，甚至刪除。

3. 清楚告訴對方你的期望
不要讓收件人在看完郵件後，仍然不知道你寄發電子郵件的原因。

4. 容易閱讀的形式
郵件中段落不宜過長，可以採點列方式濃縮資訊，並且適時在郵件中增加空白處，以減少收件者在閱讀時的壓迫感。

5. 慎選收件人
只寄送郵件給相關者，常常隨意四處散發電子郵件，別人可能會開始忽略你的郵件。

6. 檢查郵件語氣
寫完電子郵件後，從頭到尾讀一次，注意語氣是否夠專業、郵件中有沒有字句可能引發誤會、用一個溫馨的開頭或結尾，會不會讓對方的感覺更好些等。

7. 最後總檢查
按下寄送郵件的按鈕前，確定郵件中有無錯字、標點符號使用是否有誤，以及是否將所需附件附上。

It is important to have good business English writing skill, because

Customers see your writing more than they see you.
Good writing skills show that you really care.
Good writing skills contribute more forcefully to arguments/persuasion/selling.
Good writing skills reduce risk of losing a customer or damaging a customer relationship, and foster good relationships with colleagues.

Business writing is different, because (a) business writing is goal-oriented; (b) business writing takes place in real time; (c) the writer is responsible for successful communication and (d) a business message should present the writer, his company, and his department, in a favorable light.

III. Guidelines for Request Emails

A request email is a message asking the receiver to do something. Write a request email when you think the receiver may already be willing to do as you ask without having to be persuaded.

Focus immediately or very soon on the information you need. Make your call for action at or near the opening of the email. Be specific about what you need, including dates, amounts, names, approvals, or appropriate format of the information.
Tell why you need the information if the reason is not obvious.
Emphasize due dates. Phrases such as "at your earliest convenience" or "as soon as possible" seem polite, but they make it easy for the reader to delay answering; if you have a due date in mind, say so. For special emphasis you can put the due date in a paragraph by itself. Avoid a demeaning tone if the reader's response is optional.
Supply any further forms, information, contact names and numbers, or attachments so the reader can respond quickly and easily.

IV. Guidelines for Reply Emails

A reply email provides the information that has been requested.

Thank the reader for the inquiry.
Mention immediately or near the beginning the information you are providing.
Mention anything you can't send and explain why.
Offer to help the requester in some other way. What information can you provide? Can you refer the requester to someone else who may be able to help?
Express appreciation and invite further inquires if that is appropriate.

V. Email Do's and Don'ts

Email often seems to be closer to a telephone conversation than to a formal letter. Nevertheless, too much informality in terms of the language you use is not a good idea in business situations -- especially when you're writing to people inside your company at higher levels than you, and when you're writing to people outside your company, such as customer or vendors.
How many times have you sent out an email, and then realized that, once again, you forgot to add the attachment? When you first open a new email window, add your attachments before you start writing the email. Make this a habit, and you'll never forget the attachment again.
Your Subject Heading is very important. Try to make it specific so that your reader can find it easily. Subject Headings such as "need your help" or "a special request" don't help. If you are not sure what to write, then write a longer, more specific Subject Heading, rather than a shorter one. Your reader will appreciate it if they need to search for your message three months later.
Be careful about using bold, underlining, or italics. Even if your system can read them, there's no guarantee that your recipient's system can.
Use the Urgent / Priority marks (!) in Outlook sparingly. If you use them too much, people will begin to ignore them – and your emails.
AVOID TYPING YOUR MESSAGES IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS, LIKE THIS. It's rude – like shouting constantly. And, like constant shouting, it makes people stop listening. All caps may be used, IN MODERATION, for emphasis.
Don't click "send" too fast. Take a good look at the whole email again. Spell check won't catch "four" when you mean "for", or "your" when you mean "you're". Careless emails give the reader the impression that you – and maybe your company – are also careless.