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.

日常生活交流中，准确使用肢体语言能有效加强我们的交流能力。Emoji 表情如果恰当运用，在非口语表达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.

近几年，我注意到各种表情和微笑是如何走进我们办公室生活的。公司主管在聊天软件微信中分配工作说明时会用一些Emoji 表情以显得亲切。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、傲慢等表情。甚至秘书在制作第二天的工作计划时也会加红玫瑰的表情。

At first I’d typed:) or :( to indicate what I felt in my e-mails and messages to colleagues. They worked like arms and hands in a speech that helped me emphasize a point or ensure what I said was not misunderstood. But the colons and parentheses have quickly fallen from favor, with the rise of emojis that best encapsulates the basic communication tenet that a picture is worth a thousand words.

一开始我在键盘上输入：比如我想在邮件或者信息中表达出我对同事的好感时。Emoji 表情就像我的左膀右臂，他们总是帮助我不要忘记重点，或者确保我说的话没有被人误解。但是分号或者括号相比生动有趣的Emoji 表情就显得呆板了很多，因为Emoji 表情生动地囊括了基本交流中的很多语言。

For laughter, users can pick a face with a smile, snicker or giggle and other expressions that are too complex for a simple :) to show. The icons could also render words unnecessary in certain conversations. Last week, netizens watched two pandas mating in southwestern China and bemoaned their performance as they fell behind the record set by another pair last year. We also talked about it on WeChat, which could probably boil down to just a sweating face with raised eyebrows, which was posted by a co-worker at the end of the discussion.

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。上周，市民在中国西南地区看到一对熊猫交配的场面，很多人在感慨熊猫啪啪啪时长记录没有超越去年那对熊猫。这段视频在网上传得沸沸扬扬，这些讨论归结下来就可以概括为瞠目结舌和大开眼界。

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，尤其是包含着中国字符的表情图片并不适合每个人，并且在商业交谈中不是很合适。

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.

根据包括微信在内的聊天软件的供应公司腾讯公司调查，中国emoji表情用户主要是00后的年轻人，他们每天使用emoji表情。相比较而言，40多岁的用户只占了emoji表情用户的一小部分，他们每三天才用一次emoji表情。

Tencent found that in 2014, the top five most-used emojis were a wicked smile, anger, kissing, head beating and melancholy. Emojis favored by men tend to be nerdy and dorky while women prefer "cutesy" icons.

2014年，腾讯调查发现，最受欢迎的emoji表情是邪恶的笑、生气、亲吻、敲头和悲哀。男性常用的表情一般比较呆笨，而女性喜欢可爱的表情。

It’s a trend that domestic emoji developers have noted and marketed as they focus on products that are vivid, exaggerated and reflect the ethos of youthful, restless and hormonal internet users.

不难看出，国内emoji表情的开发者已经注意到和把市场定位在生动、夸张的表情符号上，这些恰恰能表达出网络用户的朝气蓬勃、躁动不安以及荷尔蒙高涨的特点。

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!"

一些年长点儿的用户想赶时髦，而恰恰时不时遭遇尴尬。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.

时常人们会对emoji要表达的含义持有不同的观点。写这篇文章时，我查看了几个同事在手机里保存的一些emoji表情的含义。我们很惊讶地发现我们对emoji表情的理解和它的本意是大不一样的。

The importance of knowing what it means hit home last Friday morning, when I sent what I assumed as a sign of prayer to a working mom who was applying for leave because her son was sick. She texted back: "The emoji technically represents a high-five, although we commonly take it as hands clasped in prayer."

上周五早晨，我意识到了了解emoji表情本意的重要性。一位在职妈妈想请假照看自己生病的儿子，我发了一个想表达祈祷的表情给她。她回复我说：“这个表情是表达击掌庆贺，尽管我们经常用这个双手合十表达祈祷”。