雙語(yǔ)：寫(xiě)一封完美的電子郵件
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Email, not the web, is the most-used Internet application by transaction volume. It's also the most misused. Since it's such an important and often overlooked component of our online lives, I'm going to step away from preaching about the web for a moment and focus on simple steps to make your email discussions more effective.
電子郵件，而不是網(wǎng)絡(luò)，從應(yīng)用來(lái)看是使用的最多的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)應(yīng)用，同時(shí)也是被誤用最多的。由于它是我們?cè)诰€生活如此重要而又經(jīng)常被忽略的組件，因此我暫時(shí)放下談?wù)摼W(wǎng)絡(luò)，集中討論一下讓您的電子郵件交流更有效的簡(jiǎn)單方法。
If you grew up like I did, you were taught how to write a letter. You learned how to write business and casual headings and salutations, state your purpose, make a request, set expectations for a response, and wrap it up with a Very Truly Yours.
如果你像我一樣，你從小就會(huì)被教導(dǎo)如何寫(xiě)信。你學(xué)會(huì)了怎樣寫(xiě)商務(wù)和普通信件的標(biāo)題、稱呼，說(shuō)明你的目的，提出要求，定出期望的回應(yīng)，并以一個(gè)"Very Truly Yours"的落款結(jié)束。
But an email is not a letter, and you're not typing at an IBM Selectric II typewriter. You may look at the days of formal graces in written communication with some sadness, but rest assured that they are as dead as Dillinger. If your purpose is to solicit information or action from another person via email, you must make that clear to them at the earliest possible point in the message.
然而，電子郵件并不等同于普通信件，你不是在用 IBM Selectric II 打字機(jī)打字。你可能懷著些許悲傷看著那些書(shū)面溝通日子的正式得體，但是剩下的日子證明他們像Dillinger一樣死板。如果你的目的是通過(guò)電子郵件獲取信息或者要求別人做什么，那么你必須在訊息的最開(kāi)頭就向他們傳達(dá)清楚。
I get hundreds of emails a day, not counting spam. I know I'm not alone. Email overload is a problem, and it will probably only get worse.
不算上垃圾郵件，我每天會(huì)收到數(shù)百封電子郵件。我知道有很多人像我這樣。電子郵件過(guò)載是個(gè)問(wèn)題，而且這個(gè)問(wèn)題只會(huì)變得越來(lái)越糟。
It's tempting for geeks like me to propose some kind of microformat as a solution: begin subjects with these words, format the first line like that. But email is too widely distributed to corral into a any kind of structure now. All we can do is focus on quick, concise, effective communication.
因此像我一樣的極客們提出某種微格式作為一種解決辦法，這個(gè)想法聽(tīng)起來(lái)很誘人：采用第一行那樣的文字和格式開(kāi)始討論主題。但是電子郵件的使用分布非常廣泛，目前不可能統(tǒng)一為任何一種結(jié)構(gòu)。我們所能做的就是專注于迅速、簡(jiǎn)潔、有效的溝通。
People differ in how they manage their inboxes, but attention to a few details can help make your messages more usable for everyone. These are the factors I've identified that will help you get a quick and valid response:
人們管理電子郵件收件箱的方式各不相同，但對(duì)一些細(xì)節(jié)的關(guān)注會(huì)讓你的信息對(duì)別人更有用。以下這些是我發(fā)現(xiàn)的能夠幫助你得到快速而有效的答復(fù)的幾個(gè)因素。
Brevity
簡(jiǎn)練
It's the soul of wit, you know.
你知道，這是幽默的靈魂。
Short emails rule. When I get an email that's several pages long, I have to make some decisions: do I have time to handle this now? Is it important enough to come back to? Can I pass it on to someone else? If I can't say yes to any of these, I will probably never get back to it.
簡(jiǎn)短的電子郵件最有效。當(dāng)我收到一封長(zhǎng)達(dá)幾頁(yè)的電子郵件，我必須作出決定：我現(xiàn)在是否有時(shí)間來(lái)處理這封郵件？它是否很重要而必須回過(guò)頭再來(lái)處理？能不能把它發(fā)給另外一個(gè)人呢？如果我不能對(duì)這幾個(gè)問(wèn)題作出肯定的回答，我將永遠(yuǎn)不會(huì)再回過(guò)頭來(lái)處理這封郵件。
You may have lots of information to share, but in email you are in a long list of others competing for your recipient's attention. Keeping it brief is a sign of respect, and it's less likely to cause added stress to your reader.
你也許有很多信息要與人分享，但是通過(guò)電子郵件，你是在同時(shí)與很多人爭(zhēng)取你的接收者的注意力。保持郵件的簡(jiǎn)明扼要是對(duì)別人的尊重，也不太可能給你的讀者增加壓力。
Supporting material or other important info can be attached, but keep it separate from who you are, what your issue is, and what you want from me.
輔助材料或其它重要信息可以附加上去，但是要與這些內(nèi)容分開(kāi)：你是誰(shuí)，你的問(wèn)題是什么，你想從我這兒得到什么。
If you're passing a thread along, trim what isn't needed. Why make the email look longer than it really is?
如果你正在傳遞一根線，剪去不需要的部分。為什么要讓電子郵件比它實(shí)際看起來(lái)更長(zhǎng)呢？
Context
上下文
If I don't know you by name, tell me how you came to contact me. We talked about mixers at a podcasting meetup. You saw a panel I was on last year. You divorced me and married my best friend from high school. Something I would remember. I don't need or want a resume, but I do need to know where you're coming from.
如果我不知道你的名字，告訴我你是怎樣聯(lián)系到我的。你看到了我去年所在的工作小組。你同我離婚又和我高中時(shí)候最好的朋友結(jié)婚。類(lèi)似這樣能讓我記起的事情。我不需要或者說(shuō)我不想要一份簡(jiǎn)歷，但是我需要知道你來(lái)自哪里。
Getting a lot of responses asking, “What do you mean?” Context is your problem. When you're asking a question, anticipate any missing details that could cause an extended back-and-forth. Each time someone sends you a reply, you've gone to the back of that person's line. Do what you can to make your emails count the first time.
收到很多這樣的回復(fù)：你指什么？缺少上下文是問(wèn)題所在。當(dāng)你在問(wèn)問(wèn)題時(shí)，預(yù)先考慮到所有可能遺漏的細(xì)節(jié)，以免造成長(zhǎng)期的反反復(fù)復(fù)。每當(dāng)別人回復(fù)你的時(shí)候，你就站在了對(duì)方思路的線索背后了。盡你所能讓你的電子郵件一次奏效。
And for god's sake, have a subject line. One that makes sense. Some of the most important emails I've received didn't have a subject, and they almost fell through as a result. Don't waste that space with words like “Important” or “Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:”. If the topic changes, change the subject line to match it. Remember that on recipients' screens, your subject competes with a large number of others for their attention.
老天，加個(gè)標(biāo)題吧，一個(gè)有意義的標(biāo)題。我收到的一些最重要的郵件甚至都沒(méi)有標(biāo)題，因此而差點(diǎn)被錯(cuò)過(guò)了。不要用像"重要"或"Re:Re:Re:Re: Re"這樣的文字浪費(fèi)標(biāo)題的空間。如果郵件中所談的主題變了，改變標(biāo)題使其匹配。記住，在郵件接收者的屏幕上，你的標(biāo)題在同很多其它的標(biāo)題爭(zhēng)搶接收者的注意。
Old-school email users have a tendency to trim everything out of the body of an email except their replies. Don't do this. For example, if you send me an invitation to speak at a conference and I ask what the topic is, you might reply with just the topic, snipping out all the details of the conference. If I've forgotten about your email by the time you reply, this means that I've got to go back through an enormous email archive to find your original message in order to figure out what you're talking about. Even if I remember, it means that I no longer have the details to hand. Don't trim email. Let it run long. It's the 21st century: an email with an extra 10k of old text at the bottom of it isn't going to swamp my mailer (the 20,000 daily spams are doing that very nicely, thank you).
守舊的電子郵件用戶有這樣一個(gè)傾向，在回復(fù)郵件時(shí)，他們?nèi)サ舫嘶貜?fù)以外的所有內(nèi)容。不要這樣做。舉個(gè)例子，如果你給我發(fā)送一封郵件，邀請(qǐng)我在一個(gè)會(huì)議上發(fā)言，我問(wèn)發(fā)言的主題是什么，你可能只回復(fù)我這個(gè)主題，剪去了所有關(guān)于這個(gè)會(huì)議的細(xì)節(jié)。如果這時(shí)我忘記了你之前發(fā)給我的郵件，這就意味著我不得不重新翻出大量的電子郵件存檔來(lái)找到最初的信息，弄明白你說(shuō)的是什么。即使我還記得那封郵件，我手頭上也沒(méi)有了關(guān)于這個(gè)會(huì)議的詳情。所以不要隨便剪去郵件內(nèi)容，讓它一直向下延續(xù)。現(xiàn)在是二十一世紀(jì)，一封底部帶有10k字節(jié)舊文字的郵件不會(huì)淹沒(méi)你的郵箱的（每天兩萬(wàn)封的垃圾郵件正在出色地完成這件事，謝謝）。
Something to act on
需要遵照?qǐng)?zhí)行的事情
Make your requests clear.
讓你的要求更加清楚明白。
You should set them apart from the rest of the message by paring them down to one sentence, with white space before and after. Make lists with dashes, asterisks, or bullets if you use HTML email. Closed-ended (yes or no, this or that) questions are preferred; open-ended questions can get long and involved, reducing their overall relevancy and the likelihood that you'll get the response you desire.
你應(yīng)該將他們剝離出來(lái)獨(dú)立成句，前后留出空間，以便與其他信息區(qū)分開(kāi)來(lái)。如果你寫(xiě)的是HTML格式的郵件，用破折號(hào)、星號(hào)和子彈號(hào)立出清單。封閉式（是或否，這或那）問(wèn)題當(dāng)然更好，開(kāi)放式問(wèn)題會(huì)讓郵件變得很長(zhǎng)很混亂，減少了總體的相關(guān)性，并且你可能會(huì)得到并非你期望的答復(fù)。
Don't give people an excuse to misread you. If you've written a request at the end of a long paragraph, or been passive (“it'd be nice if somebody could…”), it's likely to have been missed on the receiver's end. If you sent an email, you have a point. Get to it.
不要給人誤讀你的理由。如果你在一個(gè)很長(zhǎng)的段落后面才提出要求，或者很被動(dòng)（"如果某人能......那將會(huì)是非常好的"），那么很有可能在最后被接收者錯(cuò)過(guò)。如果你發(fā)送一封郵件，你必然有你的目的，抓住它。
Some examples:
一些例子：
Can I call you tomorrow morning at 10am PT?
Here is my contact info for your address book.
Would you send me any links you have where I can read more about x?
Would you forward this to person y?
I need your travel itinerary by end of day.
明天上午10點(diǎn)我能打電話叫你嗎？
這是我的聯(lián)系信息，請(qǐng)記錄到你的地址簿。
我想更多地閱讀一些關(guān)于x的東西，你能發(fā)給我你所有的鏈接嗎？
你能將這封郵件轉(zhuǎn)發(fā)給y嗎？
我需要在今天之內(nèi)知道你的旅行路線。
Reasonable expectations
合理的期望值
Given that most of us have several current projects to keep up on, it's not very likely that we're be able to spend more than 10 minutes at a time helping someone who is emailing me out of the blue. My ability to draft my famous page-scrolling expositions of a given issue is limited. If I've already written something that covers it, I might just send you a link. Otherwise, if you can frame the question such that a lengthy answer isn't required, you're apt to get a quicker response.
我們中的大部分人都是同時(shí)要做好幾項(xiàng)工作，因此不太可能一次花上多于10分鐘的時(shí)間來(lái)幫某個(gè)向我發(fā)送郵件的人解決問(wèn)題。我起草著名的滾動(dòng)頁(yè)面闡述某個(gè)問(wèn)題的能力有限。如果我已經(jīng)寫(xiě)了一些關(guān)于這個(gè)問(wèn)題的東西，我可能只會(huì)發(fā)送給你鏈接。如果你能發(fā)出一個(gè)不需要很長(zhǎng)答案的問(wèn)題，那么你就很容易得到更快的答復(fù)。
A deadline
最后期限
There comes a time when the response you seek is no longer useful. If you know when that is, tell your recipient. This can be a good way both to prompt a speedy turnaround, and to let people off the hook in the long term. When someone sees that, for example, you need a proposal in a timeframe they can't make, they will probably bow out, rather than leaving you hanging. Everybody wins. Especially whoever it is you end up choosing in their place.
總會(huì)有一個(gè)時(shí)間期限，過(guò)了這個(gè)期限之后，你想要的答復(fù)將不再有用了。如果你知道這個(gè)期限，告訴你的接收者。這是一個(gè)不錯(cuò)的方法，它既能促使對(duì)方快速回復(fù)，長(zhǎng)期來(lái)看，又能讓人擺脫郵件壓境的困擾。當(dāng)對(duì)方知道了這一點(diǎn)，比如你需要在一段時(shí)間內(nèi)制定出解決方案，而他們無(wú)法完成，他們可能就會(huì)直接放棄，而不是讓你繼續(xù)等待。這樣對(duì)大家都好，不管你最終選擇讓誰(shuí)去做。
You can't win them all. If you need to send a single reminder, do so, but if that doesn't do the trick, pick up a phone. If it's not important enough to call the person directly, then let it go.
你不可能讓每件事都那么完美。如果你需要向?qū)Ψ桨l(fā)送一個(gè)提醒，馬上做，如果這樣不起作用，給他一個(gè)電話。如果事情并不是十分重要，沒(méi)有必要直接打電話通知對(duì)方，那就讓它去吧。
Daily reminders suggest to recipients that they're being bossed around, and that's not the best way to manage people, and certainly no way to treat casual contacts. They may be too busy, or away from the computer, or actually working on your last request. If you're forcing the issue, you don't improve your chances of success with that person in the long term.
每天提醒會(huì)讓接收者覺(jué)得他是在被你控制，這不是最佳的管理人的方式，當(dāng)然更不能用這種方式來(lái)對(duì)待偶然碰到的聯(lián)系人。他們有可能太忙了，或者不在電腦前，或者正在處理你的上一個(gè)要求。如果你正面臨著這樣的問(wèn)題，從長(zhǎng)遠(yuǎn)來(lái)看，這將不利于改善你和對(duì)方一起成功的機(jī)會(huì)。
翻譯：AlwaysOn