Emoji表情成爲辦公室交流的雙刃劍

We know that in public speaking, correct use of gestures will help enhance our messages. Emojis that flourish in our daily non-verbal communication can serve this function too, if they are employed properly.

我們知道，在公衆場合講話時，正確使用肢體語言能有效提升我們的交流能力。而如果Emoji表情運用恰當，在非口語表達中也可以起到相似的作用。

In recent years, I've noticed with amazement how emoticons and smiley faces have crept into my office life. Supervisors start the day with them as they issue instructions on social messaging app WeChat. Staff who are mostly in their late 20s and 30s respond with a wild variety of emojis that laugh, weep, blush or swagger. Even the secretary has instilled a personal note in her daily reminder to all for the submission of the next day's work plan, with an icon of a red rose.

近年來，我注意到了各種表情符號和微笑是如何潛入我們辦公室生活中的。公司主管在一天開始、在聊天軟件微信中分配工作說明時，就會用一些Emoji表情。二三十歲的員工也會使用各種豐富的表情，例如大笑、哭泣、害羞、傲慢等。甚至祕書在每日記事簿裏制定第二天的工作計劃時也會加上紅玫瑰的表情。

They worked like arms and hands in a speech that helped me emphasize a point or ensure what I said was not misunderstood. For laughter, users can pick a face with a smile, snicker or giggle and other expressions to show.

Emoji表情就像我的左膀右臂，他們總是幫助我強調重點，或者確保我說的話沒有被人誤解。比如說‘笑’，我們可以選用Emoji表情中的微笑、竊笑、咯咯大笑或者其他的豐富表情。

But emojis, especially those pictures with Chinese characters, are not for everybody and most probably not appropriate for business communication.

但是Emoji表情，尤其是那些包含着中國字符的表情圖片並不適合每個人，而且很有可能在商務溝通中不是很合適。

Chinese emoji users are predominantly young people led by millennials who send the most emojis per day, according to Tencent Holdings Ltd, one of the most popular providers of social media including WeChat in China. In comparison, users aged 40 or older account for only a small fraction of emoji fans and they sent an emoji every three days.

根據中國最受歡迎的社交軟件微信的供應公司騰訊的調查顯示，中國Emoji表情用戶主要是00後的年輕人，他們每天發送的Emoji表情最多。相比較而言，年齡在40歲及以上的Emoji粉絲的數量只佔很一小部分，他們每三天才發送一次Emoji表情。

Older users who want to be "on trend" may sometimes find they're courting embarrassment. Once I sent a new emoji with Chinese characters "I'm panicky" when we discussed a project that could fail, one of the colleagues quickly pointed out, " Even you're using it!"

一些年長點兒的用戶想趕時髦，但卻時不時遭遇尷尬。一次我和同事在討論一個可能失敗的項目時，我用了中文字符表情，“嚇死寶寶了”，一個同事很快回復說，“你都在用這個啊！”

And often, people disagree on what certain emojis were supposed to represent. When writing this article, I've checked with several colleagues on the meanings of some emoji stored in our cellphones, and we were surprised to realize how our understanding could differ from each other and from the emoji's actual intent.

此外，人們經常會對emoji要表達的含義持有不同的觀點。在寫這篇文章時，我和幾個同事就手機裏保存的一些emoji表情的含義展開了討論。我們很驚訝地發現，我們對emoji表情的理解大不相同，和它的本意也是大不一樣的。