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.

我们知道，在公众场合讲话时，正确使用肢体语言能有效提升我们的交流能力。而如果Emoji表情运用恰当，在非口语表达中也可以起到相似的作用。

In recent years, I've noticed with amazement¹ how emoticons and smiley faces have crept into my office life. Supervisors³ 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 instilled⁴ a personal note in her daily reminder⁵ to all for the submission⁶ of the next day's work plan, with an icon² of a red rose.

近年来，我注意到了各种表情符号和微笑是如何潜入我们办公室生活中的。公司主管在一天开始、在聊天软件微信中分配工作说明时，就会用一些Emoji表情。二三十岁的员工也会使用各种丰富的表情，例如大笑、哭泣、害羞、傲慢等。甚至秘书在每日记事簿里制定第二天的工作计划时也会加上红玫瑰的表情。

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 giggle⁷ and other expressions to show.

Emoji表情就像我的左膀右臂，他们总是帮助我强调重点，或者确保我说的话没有被人误解。比如说‘笑’，我们可以选用Emoji表情中的微笑、窃笑、咯咯大笑或者其他的丰富表情。

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国字符的表情图片并不适合每个人，而且很有可能在商务沟通中不是很合适。

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.

根据中国最受欢迎的社交软件微信的供应公司腾讯的调查显示，中国Emoji表情用户主要是00后的年轻人，他们每天发送的Emoji表情最多。相比较而言，年龄在40岁及以上的Emoji粉丝的数量只占很一小部分，他们每三天才发送一次Emoji表情。

Older users who want to be "on trend" may sometimes find they're courting embarrassment⁸. 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 pointed⁹ out, " Even you're using it!"

一些年长点儿的用户想赶时髦，但却时不时遭遇尴尬。一次我和同事在讨论一个可能失败的项目时，我用了中文字符表情，“吓死宝宝了”，一个同事很快回复说，“你都在用这个啊！”

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，人们经常会对emoji要表达的含义持有不同的观点。在写这篇文章时，我和几个同事就手机里保存的一些emoji表情的含义展开了讨论。我们很惊讶地发现，我们对emoji表情的理解大不相同，和它的本意也是大不一样的。