微信发语音是职场身份的象征

WeChat has a voice message function that allows you to press a button and record your message. For the uninitiated, this is just another way of sending messages that’s interchangeable with text messages. However, sending a voice message on WeChat is considered obnoxious in the Chinese professional world, and usually only tolerated if it is sent from a superior to a subordinate.

微信有一种发送语音信息的功能，按下按钮便可以口述记录你想发送的信息。对于那些缺少经验的人来说，这不过是另一种可替换文字信息的方式而已。但是，在中国职场，用微信发送语音信息却会令人生厌，通常只有上级发给下级的语音信息才会被容忍。

Why is that?

为什么呢？

Many professionals in China use WeChat, not email, as the primary medium for workplace communication. A chat situation like the one below is guaranteed to infuriate the recipient:

中国的很多职场人士在工作中一般不用电子邮件，而主要通过微信来交流。

If you’re in a noisy place (e.g., a networking event or a party), you have to strain your ears or find a quiet place to hear it. If you’re in a library, you have to dig up your headphones. If you’re in a meeting, you have to wait until the meeting is over. Fully taking in the message requires careful listening and sometimes even transcription.

如果你正处于嘈杂环境中（比如社交活动或派对），你必须竖起耳朵或找一块僻静地方才能听清；如果在图书馆里，还得翻出耳机来听；如果正在开会，只能等会议结束。要想完全了解对方说了什么，你不仅要认真听，有时候还要借助语音转录功能。

Worse, the message content doesn’t live anywhere in textual form so nothing mentioned will be searchable in the future. Audio messages also cannot be forwarded.

更讨厌的是，语音信息无法以文字形式保存，因此以后也不能通过关键词搜索找寻到。语音信息也不能转发。

WeChat does have a function to automatically convert audio messages into text messages if you hold a bubble down. But this only works in the simplified Chinese version of the WeChat app. And the conversion may not be accurate if the sender speaks a Chinese dialect or has a strong accent.

虽说微信有将语音信息自动转化为文字的功能（长按语音信息即可选择），但这仅适用于简体中文版本的微信应用。而且，如果发送者讲的是方言或口音较重，都会影响文字转换的准确性。

Moreover, WeChat does not support pausing in the middle of playing a voice message or scrubbing the audio to jump to another point in time. If you miss one important word, you must replay the whole message from the very beginning. Receiving voice messages also takes up more data, which could incur costs if the recipient doesn’t have wifi.

此外，微信并不支持在播放一段语音信息时停顿或快进。如果你听漏了一个重要的词，就只能从头播放整段信息。接收语音信息也会耗费更多流量，如果不是在无线网络环境下，就会产生更多通信费用。

Sending someone a voice message—instead of typing it out—tells them: “I’m obviously busier and more important than you.” The sender saves time—at the recipient’s expense. Thus it is almost always used in asymmetric relationships: when a boss is communicating a directive to a subordinate, for example.

向某人发送一段语音，而不是把文字打出来，无异于向对方宣告：“我显然比你更忙也比你更重要。”发送者节省了时间，却让接收者付出代价。因此语音信息一般只用于不对等的关系中，比如，当老板向下属下达指令时。

So, do not send voice messages on WeChat in a professional situation unless you are communicating with people who clearly consider you to be their boss. Even if you are sending a very long message, type it out—and type it in one long message instead of in multiple short sentences. This reduces the number of times the recipient’s phone vibrates and saves them battery life.

所以，在职场中不要用微信发送语音信息，除非和你交流的人把你当成领导。即使你发送的是一条超长的信息，也请打成文字，而且最好是一条长信息而非多个短句。这会减少对方手机震动的次数，节省电池电量。

If you have to send voice messages for special reasons (e.g., you are driving and the message is urgent, or if your fingers are broken and you cannot type), begin with an apology and communicate that you have no other choice.

如果你出于特殊原因不得不发语音信息（比如正在开车而要说的事很紧急，或者你的手指断了无法打字），你得先道个歉并告诉对方你实在没办法。

While the microphone button is tempting, stick to the keyboard.

总而言之，尽管微信上的麦克风按钮很诱人，还是老老实实打字吧。