2017.04.14
“Uphill battle”の意味と使い方 Bizmates初級ビジネス英会話 Point 188
Uphill battle ってどういう意味？
Uphill battle は「苦戦」や「困難な状況」といった意味になります。敵軍を攻めるのに上り坂を駆け上がらなければならないという不利な状況で戦っているイメージです。
Uphill battle ってどういう場面で使うの？
仕事では、たとえば、以下のような会話でこの表現を使うと自然です：
A: How’s your new management position?
B: It’s an uphill battle.
A: 課長になってみて、どう？
B: いやー、苦戦しています。
一般的には”It’s challenging”などと、辛い状況をポジティブに言い表しますが、困難さを強調したい場合は、”It’s an uphill battle” と表現します。
Uphill battle の自然な使い方を動画で学ぶ
こちらの動画で、発音や、会話の中での自然な使い方を、Bizmatesのプレゼンター Justinが解説します。
【CC】ボタンを押すと字幕機能も利用可能ですので、英語学習に是非お役立てください！
Hello everyone, it is Friday and that
means it's time for another Bizmates for
beginners video lesson. This week,
everyone, we are going to take a look at
the expression "uphill battle." It's a
good one, so stay tuned and let's find
out what it means and how to use it, but
first let's do a quick review of last week's phrase.
OK, so everyone, imagine I say:
You know Todd? He works until
midnight everyday! And on weekends too!
Now on top of that, Todd says he likes it.
He loves working every day until midnight.
So you think Todd must be a
little bit crazy. So how do you respond?
What do you say? You've got five seconds
OK, everyone? Go.
Alright time is up.
If you said "he's cuckoo," then that's exactly
right. Yes, Todd must be completely cuckoo
to want to do this everyday, right? But
maybe he's really passionate about his
work, which is a good thing. OK so let's
move on to this week's expression
"uphill battle."
Now this is what I sometimes hear...
OK, I'm talking to my colleague, Taro.
And Taro, he's an excellent worker so he
recently got a promotion. So now Taro is
a manager, so I asked Taro:
Hey, Taro! How's your new management position?
Are you enjoying it?
And Taro, he says:
It's a hard challenge.
And yes, I can understand,
management is really tough. There's a lot
of things you need to worry about, so
it's not an easy job. Now although this
is okay, a more natural expression that
we can use is...
that's right. It's an uphill battle.
So anything that's really challenging --
that's really tough -- is an
"uphill battle." So we use the word "uphill"
to emphasize it's really hard. So for
example, if you're running; if you're jogging...
if you are jogging downhill it's
pretty easy, right? It's not so bad, but if
you have to jog or run up a hill, it's
much more tiring. It's much more
difficult, so it's an "uphill battle," okay?
Now for pronunciation, just one small thing.
Okay, you'll see "battle" here it has two
T's, but whenever you see two T's in the
middle of the word, it becomes a D sound
OK, everyone? So battle becomes "baddle," okay?
So please repeat after me" It's an
uphill battle. Your turn.
Very good! OK, now after my question:
How's your new management position?
OK, that's right.
It's an uphill battle. OK, everyone so please
remember this for next time. Our bonus
question this week is another way to say:
"Pace up." If you know the answer, leave it
in the comments below and we'll get back
to you. Recently, we've got a lot of great
comments from JP Dynabook, so shout out
to JP Dynabook, thank you very much for
your comments and for always answering
the bonus questions. If you don't know
the answer, everyone, see if you can find
it in one of our previous Bizmates for
beginners video lessons. OK, everyone so
thank you so much for watching. I hope
you enjoyed this week's video, have a
great weekend and we'll see you next time.
Thank you.
means it's time for another Bizmates for
beginners video lesson. This week,
everyone, we are going to take a look at
the expression "uphill battle." It's a
good one, so stay tuned and let's find
out what it means and how to use it, but
first let's do a quick review of last week's phrase.
OK, so everyone, imagine I say:
You know Todd? He works until
midnight everyday! And on weekends too!
Now on top of that, Todd says he likes it.
He loves working every day until midnight.
So you think Todd must be a
little bit crazy. So how do you respond?
What do you say? You've got five seconds
OK, everyone? Go.
Alright time is up.
If you said "he's cuckoo," then that's exactly
right. Yes, Todd must be completely cuckoo
to want to do this everyday, right? But
maybe he's really passionate about his
work, which is a good thing. OK so let's
move on to this week's expression
"uphill battle."
Now this is what I sometimes hear...
OK, I'm talking to my colleague, Taro.
And Taro, he's an excellent worker so he
recently got a promotion. So now Taro is
a manager, so I asked Taro:
Hey, Taro! How's your new management position?
Are you enjoying it?
And Taro, he says:
It's a hard challenge.
And yes, I can understand,
management is really tough. There's a lot
of things you need to worry about, so
it's not an easy job. Now although this
is okay, a more natural expression that
we can use is...
that's right. It's an uphill battle.
So anything that's really challenging --
that's really tough -- is an
"uphill battle." So we use the word "uphill"
to emphasize it's really hard. So for
example, if you're running; if you're jogging...
if you are jogging downhill it's
pretty easy, right? It's not so bad, but if
you have to jog or run up a hill, it's
much more tiring. It's much more
difficult, so it's an "uphill battle," okay?
Now for pronunciation, just one small thing.
Okay, you'll see "battle" here it has two
T's, but whenever you see two T's in the
middle of the word, it becomes a D sound
OK, everyone? So battle becomes "baddle," okay?
So please repeat after me" It's an
uphill battle. Your turn.
Very good! OK, now after my question:
How's your new management position?
OK, that's right.
It's an uphill battle. OK, everyone so please
remember this for next time. Our bonus
question this week is another way to say:
"Pace up." If you know the answer, leave it
in the comments below and we'll get back
to you. Recently, we've got a lot of great
comments from JP Dynabook, so shout out
to JP Dynabook, thank you very much for
your comments and for always answering
the bonus questions. If you don't know
the answer, everyone, see if you can find
it in one of our previous Bizmates for
beginners video lessons. OK, everyone so
thank you so much for watching. I hope
you enjoyed this week's video, have a
great weekend and we'll see you next time.
Thank you.
