4）爱炫耀英文水平。

丘吉尔讲过一句话，大致的意思是，真正的高手，你要把最复杂的东西用最简单的文字表达出来，全部用最简单的句子，最简单的词汇，让小学生都能看懂。

其实把简单的东西复杂化很容易，把复杂的东西简单化就不容易了，需要多学多模仿客人的邮件，用最简单的词汇来表达你要表达的东西。外贸函电的精髓就是，“简单简单再简单”，能用一个词表达的绝对不用两个词或短语，能用一句话写清楚的，绝对不写两句。谁能用最少的句子表达同样的意思，那就是最厉害的！

举个例子吧，我以前招助理的时候，会考他们的email水平，我把中文意思告诉他们，然后让他们用英文来模拟一封邮件。内容很简单，写一封邮件告诉客人Mike，上次收到的样品已经寄给工厂了，但工厂说材料不是ABS，而是PP，价格他们需要重新核算，但近期内原材料涨价，希望您能尽快确认，我们好采购原材料并安排生产。

第一个应聘者是这样写的：

Dear Mike,

This is Jenny from EDF Co. Ltd. We're so pleased to receive your samples. I already sent them to our factory last week, and was informed the real material is PP, not ABS as you mentioned last time. What's the matter?

I'll give you reply as soon as we get the offer from the factory. It will take several days. Please be more patient. But they also told me, the raw material increased these days. Could you please confirm the price quickly after you get it? We'll purchase the raw material and do the production immediately!

Looking forward to your reply. Thank you!

Best regards,

Jenny

这封邮件写得好么？老实说还可以，虽然主动语态和人称多了点，但是内容都点到了，表达也算通顺，用的词汇也都是挺简单的，不难懂。但是不是有点啰嗦？如果能简单一点，是不是更好？我们看看第二位应聘者写的email：

Dear Mike,

How are you?

We received your all samples. The factory checked the details, and found the material was PP, not ABS as you told.

Please give them some more time to re-check the price, because the material is different from the past orders. However, the material was increased very quickly! Therefore, please kindly place the order soon if the price is ok for you! We'll do production asap.

Thank you in advance!

Kind regards,

Tommy

这封呢？我个人觉得比上一封号一点，毕竟主动和被动语态结合，“We”只出现了一次，不算太枯燥。内容也稍微简单了一点，点到位了。最重要的是，他把purchase the raw material去掉了，直接用“We'll do the production asap.”这样更简洁，毕竟你要生产，能不采购原材料么？所以这是废话。缺点是，我个人感觉还是啰嗦了一点。

我会这样写：

Hi Mike,

Samples received and already passed to vendor. The material was PP, not ABS. Offer sheet is preparing and will be sent to you soon.

By the way, raw material increased these days, pls make a decision quickly to go ahead after price confirmed. We'll arrange the mass production asap.

Thanks and best regards,

C

只要做到“简洁”、“清楚”、“准确”，这就是一封好的email了。