商業Email沒有老師教,所以辦公室流竄著以訛傳訛的Email格式,與不合時宜的說法。想像收到一封信開頭是「親愛的女士/先生」,恐怕會認為是廣告垃圾信件吧,英文Email也是同樣的道理。
Part1 Dear已過時,Hi才是商業Email標準用法
還在用”Dear”判斷同仁有沒有禮貌的人注意了,英語系國家現在大多使用較輕鬆友善的”Hi”。
(△)Dear Angel,
其實沒有錯,只是就像銀行或其他服務寄來的「親愛的顧客您好…」,現在看起來有點太矯柔。
(X)Dears,
(X)Dear Both,
兩種用法都是台灣人自行發明,往來國外email請避免。
(O)Hello/Hi,
(O)Hi Everyone,
(O)Dear Team Members,
(O)Hey Folks,
更輕鬆的用法,請用在和熟人溝通。
(O)Angel,
過去我們認為沒有招呼語很失禮,事實上現在是可以直接稱呼名字的。
Part2 「由於」還是「導致」班機延誤?
在email中交代事由,抱著有單字就用的心態,小心鬧笑話。
(X)The bad weather resulted from the delay of the flight.
(O)The bad weather resulted in the delay of the flight.
壞天氣導致班機延誤,result in是導致,result from是由於,可以這樣記:
from something一定是原因。
另一個常見錯誤是,認為due to=because of,其實due to更像
caused by(起因於),而且前面要加be動詞。
(X)The meeting was cancelled due to the rain.
(O)The cancellation of the meeting is due to the rain.
Part3 「先謝謝了」很惹人厭
(△)Thank you in advance
意味著對方已經同意你的要求,讓看信的人不舒服,這是心態上的錯誤,
老中或老外都會犯。更好的說法是:
(O)Thank you for considering my request.
(O)I will be grateful for the help.
(O)I hope you will be able to provide the information.
Part4 Appreciate不是Thank you
(X)I appreciate you for the opportunity.
(O)I appreciate the opportunity.
Appreciate和thank相反,thank後面接人,appreciate後不接人。
(O)Thank you for the opportunity.
(X)He thanked for the opportunity.
Part5 謎樣的錯誤
(X)If any question, please let me know.
如有任何問題,請讓我知道。這句話少了「有」。正確說法是:
(O)If there is any question, please let me know.
(O)Should you have any question, please let me know.