BE 2：从你的商务英语邮件中删除的5个单词

这里是商务英语播客第二集。

This is the Business English Podcast episode two.

五个应该从你的商务英语邮件中删除的词语。

Five words to eliminate from your business English emails.

欢迎收听来自All Ears English的商务英语播客。

Welcome to the Business English Podcast from All Ears English.

获取你在全球商务中实现梦想所需的英语技能。

Get the English skills you need to achieve your dreams in global business.

无论是做演示、开会，还是参加办公室聚会，这里是真实商务英语，由你最喜欢的美国主持人Lindsay和Michelle带来，她们分别来自美国纽约和科罗拉多州。

For a presentation, a meeting, or your office party, this is Real Business English with your favorite American hosts, Lindsay and Michelle, coming to you from New York City and Colorado, USA.

嘿，Michelle。

Hey, Michelle.

最近怎么样？

What's going on?

你好，Lindsay。

Hello, Lindsay.

没什么特别的。

Not too much.

没什么特别的。

Not too much.

你好吗？

How are you?

挺好的。

Good.

今天，米歇尔，我想聊聊你找到的那篇有趣的文章。

Today, I wanna talk, Michelle, a little bit about this interesting article that you found.

你是在网上随便逛逛发现的，还是在脸书上看到的？

Were you just surfing around the web, or did you find this article on Facebook?

我是在脸书上看到的。

I found it on Facebook.

好的。

Okay.

在脸书上。

On Facebook.

这篇文章讲的是五个常见的词，会让你的邮件听起来不够自信。

So the article is five common words that make you sound less confident in emails.

而且，你知道，我们相信在All Ears English这里，连接的关键一部分就是自信。

And, you know, we know that a big part of connection, which is what we believe in here at All Ears English, is confidence.

我们想确保能真正和人建立联系，所以必须散发出那种自信的气场。

We wanna make sure that we can really connect with people, so we have to let out that confident vibe.

我觉得我们的听众经常问我们怎么做，不只是说话的时候，还有写邮件的时候。

And I think our listeners often ask us how to do that, not just in speaking, but also in emails.

但是那些……

But what were...

我们今天要讲的这五个词，实际上，我觉得它们……

The five words that we're gonna talk about today, actually, I believe that they serve the...

它们在说话和写邮件时会造成同样的问题。

They create the same problems in speaking that they do in an email.

它们会让你听起来不够自信。

They make you sound less confident.

你觉得呢，Michelle？

What do you think, Michelle?

我完全同意。

I I definitely agree with that.

所以我觉得我们应该一个一个来看。

So I think that we should go through them.

这篇文章真的很有意思。

This article, it's really interesting.

作者是Lily Herman，发表在the muse.com上，如果你想看的话。

It's by Lily Herman, and it's on the muse.com if you wanna check that out.

那么……

So...

总之，我们会尽量把这篇文章的链接放在这期节目的节目笔记里，allearsenglish.com/three……

Anyway We'll try to we'll try to post the link to the article in the show notes of this episode, allearsenglish.com/three...

米歇尔，这期节目是什么？

What's this episode, Michelle?

三点三十……

Three thirty...

哦，03:40，

Oh, 03:40,

我觉得。

I believe.

抱歉。

Sorry.

03:41。

03:41.

哦。

Oh.

那我们来看看这些吧，米歇尔。

So let's go through them, Michelle.

那它们是什么？

So what are they?

这些词是什么？

What are the words?

然后我们再讨论我们是否同意。

And then we'll talk about whether we agree or not.

在电子邮件中，第一个让你听起来不那么自信的词是什么？

What's the first word that makes you sound less confident in an email?

第一个词就是“just”。

The first word is just.

我们已经……

And we've...

好吧，我们之后再回到这个话题。

Well, let's go back to it after.

我们先看第二条。

Let's just read number two.

第二个是“hopefully”。

Number two is hopefully.

第三个是“actually”。

Three is actually.

好。

Good.

第四个是“kind of”。

And number four is kind of.

第五个是“sorry”。

And number five is sorry.

这些词都有点……

All of these words are kind of...

我不知道，Michelle。

I don't know, Michelle.

你觉得这些词有什么共同点？

What do these words have in common in your mind?

它们有点……

They kinda...

我刚刚说了“有点”。

I kinda just said kinda.

它们会削弱你说话的分量。

They they take away from what you're saying.

它们……

They...

它们不够直接。

They're indirect.

它们有点多余，对吧？

They're kind of unnecessary, aren't they?

我刚刚也说了“有点”。对。

And I just said kind Yeah.

又说了。它们确实多余。

Of again They're unnecessary.

它们削弱了你说话的分量。

They take away from what you're saying.

它们确实让你听起来不那么直接，但它们并没有真正增加任何价值，对吧。

They do make you sound less direct, but they're not they're not really adding any value Right.

对你所说的话。

To what you're saying.

你知道吗？

You know?

而且一开始，我的意思是，这个词，我们已经提到过几次了，米歇尔，当我们讨论性别的时候……

And to start off, I mean, this word just, we've touched on this a couple of times, Michelle, when we talked about gender...

不同的性别，我们谈到女性往往更常用这个词。

The different genders, and we talked about how women tend to use this more.

或者我发现自己……

Or I find myself you...

我发现自己去星巴克，点一杯咖啡。

I I find myself going to Starbucks, and I'll order a coffee.

我走过去，然后说，哦，我就要一杯中杯的，你知道，深烘焙的。

I'll walk up, and I'll say, oh, I'll just have a tall, dark, you know, dark roast.

就。

Just.

就。

Just.

我为什么说“就”呢？

Why do I say just?

这太有意思了。

It's so interesting.

而且，你知道，我们其实还聊过，比如用“想要”这个词。

And, you know, we've actually even talked about, you know, using wanted.

我只是想要。

I just wanted.

然后……

And...

但有意思的是，我们经常用这个词，但不知道为什么。

But it's interesting, you know, because we use it all the time, but I don't know why.

确实有意思。

And it's interesting.

比如说，如果我们写邮件开头用这些词，文章里就警告说不要这样开头。

I mean, you know, for example, if we if we start the email, what they warn against in this article is starting emails with things like this.

比如“只是来问一下”或者“我只是想问个问题”。

Just checking in or I just wanted to ask a question.

“我只是想发个消息”。

I just wanted to drop a message.

就是诸如此类的。

You know, things like that kind of...

这些会削弱……

They take away from...

确实会让你听起来不够自信。

They do make you sound less confident.

而且我有过这样的情况，比如我在给约会对象发短信的时候，我……

And I've had times when I've been texting someone that I'm dating, for example, and I...

我正要写‘哦，我只是想打个招呼’。

I'm about to write, oh, I just wanted to say hi.

然后我想，不行。

And I think, no.

不行。

No.

不行。

No.

我不能……

I don't...

我不应该说‘只是’，因为那会让我听起来不够自信。

I shouldn't say just because it makes me sound less confident.

所以其实，你直接说‘嗨’就行了。

So really, you should just say hi.

就直接说声嗨。

Just say hi.

更直接一点。

Be more direct.

就是……

Be...

而且说声嗨也更简单。

And it's also just simpler to say hi.

你好。

Hello.

你知道吗？

You know what?

我以前从来没想过这个。

And and I never thought about this before.

而且……

And...

但就是，就是……

But it's just it's just...

太真实了。

It's so true.

而且我觉得我们需要在说话时听起来更自信。

And I I think that we need to work on sounding much more confident.

我完全同意你的看法，Lindsay，这不仅仅适用于邮件。

And I totally agree with you, Lindsay, that this is not just for emails.

所以，就……

And and so just...

天哪。

Oh my gosh.

我又这样了。

I just did it again.

我简直不敢相信。

I can't believe it.

所以再说一遍，当你说“我只是来问问”、“我只是想问你一个问题”的时候，你听起来好像自己没那么重要……

So to reiterate, when you say, I'm just checking in, I just wanted to ask you a question, you're making it sound like you're not as import...

你好像不是个重要的人。

You're not an important person.

就像，你……

Like, you're you...

你不重要。

You're not important.

你知道吗？

You know?

你几乎是在让人觉得你在打扰别人，或者你自己也这么认为。

You're kind of making it sound like you're bothering someone almost, or you believe that.

有点像你轻轻拍别人肩膀，但脸上却带着很犹豫的表情。

Kinda like you're, like, tapping on their shoulder, but with this really hesitant face.

你知道吗？

You know?

不好意思打扰你了。

I'm sorry to bother you.

请给我一点时间。

Please do have a moment for me.

我只是一个可怜的……

I'm only a poor...

我是个可怜的乞丐之类的。

I'm a poor pauper or something like that.

我喜欢这个。

I like that.

该得奖的女演员，米歇尔。

Deserve actress, Michelle.

我觉得你骨子里就是个演员。

You're an actress at heart, I think.

但是……

But...

好的。

Okay.

我们继续下一个吧。

Let's go on to the next one.

下一个是关于“充满希望”的。

So the next one was hopefully.

那这个有什么问题呢？

Now what's the problem with this?

所以……

So...

你，你……

You you...

你为什么充满希望？

Why are you hopeful?

你，你，你应该对事情有所期待。

You you you should expect things.

这是你应得的。

You deserve it.

所以文章里她说，如果你告诉别人你希望能完成某件事。

So in the article, she says if you're telling someone that you'll hopefully get something done.

比如，如果你说，希望星期二之前能完成。

So for example, if you say, hopefully, I'll have this done by Tuesday.

如果你在商务邮件里这么说，你就是在……

If you say that in a business email, You are...

就像写这篇文章的人说的，你等于在说你对自己做的事情没有掌控力。

You're kind of saying that as as the person who wrote this article suggested, you're kind of saying that you don't have any control over what happens.

几乎就像我们不能指望你。

Almost like we can't count on you.

我们不能依赖你。

We can't rely on you.

所以与其说希望星期五之前能完成，不如直接说星期五之前会完成。

So instead of saying, hopefully, this will be done by Friday, just say this will be done by Friday.

这正是我想说的。

And that's what I was saying.

对，就是要……

Like, yeah, be...

就是要期待它。

Like, expect it.

就是说……

Like, this is...

就是你对它有信心。

Like, you're confident in it.

就像这个人说的……

As this person says...

据说，作者的导师说过，你不应该对任何事情抱有希望。

Apparently, the the author's mentor said, oh, you shouldn't have to be hopeful for anything.

你应该知道结果。

You should know.

你应该有信心。

You should be confident.

所以，你……

So you you...

别人可以期待你，也可以依赖你。

People can expect it and can rely on you.

如果你今年夏天要考雅思，但不知道从哪里开始，你可以从我们的“七步达到雅思7分或更高”开始。

If you are taking your IELTS exam this summer, but you don't know where to start, you can get started with our seven steps to a seven or higher on the IELTS.

这是一份免费的一页PDF下载，会准确告诉你该怎么做，帮你朝着7分迈进。

It's a one page PDF download that's free for you and will show you exactly what to do to get on your way to your seven.

访问 allearsenglish.com/seven。

Go to allearsenglish.com/seven.

就是 allearsenglish.com/seven。

That's allearsenglish.com/seven.

那里见。

See you there.

这些其实是我们说话中非常细微的差别，你知道吗，即使是母语者，我们也需要注意这些。

Now these are such subtle nuances in our speech that, you know, even as native speakers, we need to pay attention to this.

这个是我现在开始想多加注意的地方。

Now this is something that I wanna start paying more attention to.

我觉得我有时候也会犯这些错误。

I think I commit these errors sometimes.

但是，你知道，我们的听众，如果你们想提升到高级水平，开始关注这些真的很有意思，注意母语者什么时候会用这些，然后决定你们是想把这些融入自己的说话方式，还是从一开始就选择不用它们。

But, know, our listeners, as our listeners wanna push up to that advanced level, it's really interesting for you guys to start to look at this and notice when native speakers are using these and decide whether or not you wanna put this into your speech patterns or whether from the beginning you wanna leave them out.

没错。

Exactly.

所以第三个其实是。

So the third one is actually.

其实。

Actually.

什么……

What...

什么，什么问...

What's what's prob...

问题出在哪里？

The problem here?

你知道吗，我觉得这几乎已经变成一个口头禅了。

You know, I feel like this has become a filler word almost.

而且，我是说，我在这个节目里也经常用。

And, I mean, I use it on this show a lot.

所以我觉得我甚至没资格说我们不该用，但它确实有点烦人。

So I I feel like I I I don't have the right to even say we shouldn't use it, but it is kind of annoying.

我是说，你知道，我们就是...

I mean, you know, we just...

我们总是这么说。

We say it all the time.

什么...

What...

你什么时候会说“实际上”这个词？

When do you say actually?

这个嘛……

To...

这是个好问题。

It's a good question.

我什么时候会说“实际上”呢？

When do I say actually?

我知道我经常说这个词。

I know that I say that all the time.

我其实，我，我确实觉得我们应该这么做。

I actually I I actually think that we should do this.

为什么我不能直接说，哦，我觉得我们应该这么做呢？

Why can't I just say, oh, I think that we should do this.

这几乎又让你听起来不那么自信了。

It's almost like, again, it makes you sound less confident.

我的网站负责人，我的网页开发员，在邮件里老是说“actually”这个词，这让他听起来像个男人。

My my web guy, my web developer uses this word actually all the time in emails, and it makes him sound as a man.

这让他听起来不够自信。

It makes him sound less confident.

尤其是作为一个男人，用这个词更显得不够自信。

Especially less confident as a man when he uses this.

所以，各位，尽量别用这个词。

So, guys, just try to avoid it.

如果没必要，就别加进去。

Don't put it in if it's not needed.

直接说你想说的就行了。

Just say what you wanna say.

没错。

Exactly.

所以，是的，你随时可以继续说下去。

So, yeah, you can always go through.

你知道，我在发邮件之前会尽量多编辑一下，现在我要去把一些这样的词删掉。

I, you know, try and edit a lot of my emails before I send them out, and now I'm gonna go through and delete some of these words.

好的。

Okay.

第四点，有点。

Number four, kind of.

有点。

Kind of.

那真的很……

That's really...

你就是在……

You're just...

你就是在回避你真正想说的话。

You're you're backing off from what you really wanna say.

你有点……

You're kinda...

有点，你就是在半途而废。

Kind of, you're going halfway.

就像这篇文章说的……

As this article says...

文章说，你没有完全投入，或者根本不知道发生了什么。

The article says, you're not totally committing or have no idea what's going on.

这是文章里的话。

That's from the article.

比如说，如果你说，我有点觉得我们应该换这期节目的主题。

If you say, for example, I kind of feel like we should change the theme of this episode.

你是什么感觉？

What do you feel?

你觉得我们该不该换？

Do you think we should change it or not?

这太模棱两可了。

It's too wishy washy.

太模糊了。

It's too vague.

这个词用得好，米歇尔。

That's a good word, Michelle.

模棱两可。

Wishy washy.

我喜欢这个词。

I love that word.

要下定决心。

Commit.

要下定决心。

Commit.

而且，你知道，即使你还没准备好，有句话叫“假装直到你真的做到”。

And, you know, even if you aren't, there's a phrase, fake it till you make it.

没错。

Exactly.

那是什么意思？

What does that mean?

意思是，即使你对某件事不是百分之百有把握，或者你并不完全自信，只要你表现得自信，别人就会相信你自信，最终你也会真的变得自信。

It means even if you're not feeling a 100% about something or you don't feel completely confident, if you act confident, people will believe you're confident, and eventually, you're gonna get there.

没错。

That's right.

对。

Yep.

你明白了。

You got it.

所以尽量别用这个词。

So try to avoid this if you can.

第五个是“抱歉”。

Number five is sorry.

抱歉。

Sorry.

用“对不起”这个词。

Using sorry.

哦，这有什么问题吗？

Oh, what's wrong with this?

你不需要为那些没必要道歉的事情道歉。

You don't need to apologize for things that you don't need to apologize for.

这个有点棘手。

Now this is sticky.

这确实是个很棘手的情况，因为去年我们做了一期节目，当时我的前搭档也在。

This is a really sticky situation because last year, we did an episode when my former cohost was on the show.

她非常坚持认为我们太常说“对不起”了。

She had a very strong belief that we say sorry too often.

然后我们收到了一位听众的回应，是我的学生，来自巴西。

And then we had a response from one of our listeners, from my student, from Brazil.

她有点不高兴，因为她担心我们给大家留下一种不需要礼貌的印象。

She got quite upset because she was worried that this, we were giving people the impression that we don't need to be polite.

我确实认为礼貌和真诚非常重要，你知道的。

I I do believe it's very important to be polite and to be kind of, you know, in integrity.

当然，当你做错了事，道歉是应该的。

Of course, when you've done something wrong, it's good to apologize.

但这是另一回事。

But this is different.

这种情况是你不需要为某件事道歉的时候。

This is kind of when you don't need to apologize for something.

没错。

Exactly.

只是感觉像是……

Just to feel like...

人们随便就把道歉挂在嘴边。

People just throw it in wherever.

而你并不……

And you don't...

有些事情没那么严重，不需要道歉。

Some things aren't so serious that you need to apologize for them.

该做对的事就做，但别总觉得要道歉。

You need to do the right thing, but don't feel the need to always apologize.

这让我想到……

This makes me think of...

在英国，你知道，他们……

In England, you know, they...

这差不多成了个口头禅。

That's kind of becomes a slang.

我今年一月在伦敦的时候，你知道，每个人都在说对不起。

When I was in London in January, you know, everybody's sorry.

对不起。

Sorry.

什么事都说对不起。

Sorry for everything.

这其实真的就是……

And that's really just...

这是他们文化的一部分。

That's a part of their culture.

而且我其实……

And I actually...

我觉得我挺融入的，因为我发现自己经常道歉。

I feel I feel like I fit right in because I think I apologize a lot.

哦，但是……

Oh, But

我不该这样。

I shouldn't.

所以，这很文化相关。

So, It's very cultural.

在这里我觉得我们也经常这样，但尤其是在商业场合，我觉得你可能会显得有点软弱。

And here I think we do it a lot too, but especially when it comes to something with business, I think you might sound a little bit, you know, weak.

软弱。

Weak.

我正想这么说。

That's what I was gonna say.

我的意思是，她在这篇文章里举的例子是，当你试图安排时间，有人提议周一，你在邮件里回复说，抱歉。

I mean, the example that she uses in this article is when you're trying to arrange a time and someone suggests Monday, and in the email you write back and you say, sorry.

周一不行。

I can't do Monday.

周二可以吗？

Does Tuesday work?

为什么要说抱歉？

Why say sorry?

直接说，周一不行。

Just say, I can't do Monday.

周二可以吗？

Does Tuesday work?

所以那种情况下，你真的不需要说对不起。

So that's the kind of thing where you really don't need to say sorry in that case.

直接说你没空

Just say that you're not available

周一不行。

on Monday.

但你知道好笑的是什么吗？

But you know what the funny thing is?

我读这些的时候在想，如果有人直接给我写‘周一不行’

I'm reading these and I'm thinking, well, if somebody just wrote to me, I can't do Monday.

‘周二可以吗？’

Does Tuesday work?

我可能会觉得他们有点太直接了。

I I might feel that they're being a little bit abrupt.

不会吧。

No.

确实如此。

That's true.

这有点棘手。

It's tricky.

我是说，人们也需要通过邮件之外的方式了解你。

I mean, people need to get to know you also beyond your emails.

所以这个想法……

So the idea...

发邮件的目的，希望不只是永远和某个人邮件往来。

The point of an email is hopefully not just to email with someone forever.

我们希望最终能和他们见面，以某种方式认识他们，了解他们这个人。

Hopefully, we want to eventually have a meeting with them, meet them somehow, and know them as a person.

但我确实觉得这些词让我们显得有点软弱。

But I do think that these words make us feel a little bit weak.

我是说，我基本上同意这篇文章的观点。

I mean, I basically agree with the article.

米歇尔，你基本上同意这篇文章吗？

Do you agree with the article basically, Michelle?

我非常同意这篇文章。

I do agree with the article very much so.

我想说的是，第五条让我稍微想了一下，因为我在想作为这些邮件的接收方是什么感觉。

I I would say that the the number five was the one that made me think just for a second because I'm thinking about being on the receiving end of these emails.

你知道，有时候一封邮件，即使发件人没有那个意思，也可能给人某种感觉。

And you know, sometimes an email, even if the person doesn't mean to sound a certain way, they sometimes can.

而且我是那种人——我觉得我们可以以后再聊这个——我喜欢感叹号。

And and I'm the type of person, and I think we could talk about this more another time, about who I love exclamation points.

就像……

Like...

我可能之前也提过，但我真的很喜欢感叹号。

And I may have even mentioned this before, but I love them.

而且我发现如果有人用感叹号写信，我会觉得他们很友好。

And I find if somebody writes with exclamation points, I feel like they're very friendly.

其实，就是有人按了shift加一而已，这能说明什么呢。

And, really, it's just somebody just pressed shift one, and it has...

这并不能说明他们是什么样的人。

It says nothing about them necessarily.

你懂吧？

You know?

所以有时候人们……

So sometimes people...

这要看人。

It depends on the person.

有时候有人可能觉得你有点生硬，但他们也会觉得你很自信。

Sometimes someone might think you're being a little bit abrupt, but they're they're also gonna think that you're confident.

而且说实话……

And really...

所以如果你想要达到那种效果，当然你应该这么做，那就大胆去做吧。

So if that's what you're going for, and you should be, of course, then go for it.

完全同意。

Totally.

而且，与人建立联系的一部分就是理解他们的感受。

And a part of connecting with people is understanding how they might feel.

所以，一个更高级的技巧是，如果我给你或给其他我知道可能会更在意的人发邮件，我会根据收件人调整我的措辞。

So a more advanced tactic would be if I'm emailing you or emailing someone else that I know might take something more personally, I might change my language depending on who I'm emailing.

我们在口语中经常这样做。

We do that in in language, spoken language all the time.

但今天，我们只是想把这些观点抛出来。

But today, we just wanna just throw these out there.

所以，请告诉我们你们的想法。

So let us know what you guys think.

欢迎回到 allearsenglish.com/340one。

You know, come on back to allearsenglish.com/340one.

告诉我们你们是同意还是不同意。

And let us know if you agree or disagree.

那在你们的文化里呢？

And what about in your culture?

你知道，这些词的翻译。

You know, the translations of these words.

你们在口语或邮件里会用这些词吗？

Do you use them in in your spoken language or in your emails?

它们会不会让你觉得自己有点软弱？

And do they make you feel seem kind of weak?

或者你们有没有类似的词，显得多余、没必要，还让你看起来不够自信？

Or do you have similar words that are redundant, they're not necessary, and they make you appear less confident?

所以，我们想听听大家的想法。

So let's hear what you guys have to say.

欢迎回到我们的网站。

Come on back to our website.

Michelle，你还有什么要补充的吗？

Michelle, any final thoughts?

还有什么最后的建议或技巧吗？

Any final tips or tricks here?

要坚强。

Be strong.

要自信。

Be confident.

要美丽。

Be beautiful.

好的。

Alright.

我们就以这个结束吧。

Let's end on that.

谢谢，

Thanks,

米歇尔，祝你今天愉快，林赛。

Michelle, for your Have a nice day, Lindsay.