2013.11.29
Point 15 ”Can you give me a minute?” 初級ビジネス英会話
初級者向けビジネス英会話 Bizmates for beginners 第15弾は、”Can you give me a minute?” です。
日本人は “please” を使うと丁寧な表現になると思っている人が多いです。
ただ “please”をつけていても、相手に選択する余地を含んだ言い方ではないため、
シチュエーションによっては、まるで命令しているようなニュアンスに
聞こえてしまう場合があることは覚えておいてください。
例えば、社内でミーティングをしようとしているシチュエーションで
“Are you ready to start the meeting?” 「ミーティングを始めていいですか？」
と言われた際に、「もう少し待ってください。」と伝えたい場合、あなたならどういいますか？
ビジネス英会話に慣れていない人だと
“Please wait.”
といった言い方が思い浮かんだかもしれません。
ただ、これこそがまさに先ほどお伝えしたような、
命令しているかようなニュアンスで伝わっている状態といえます。
こうしたシチュエーションにおいては、
“Can you give me a minute?”
と言うようにしましょう。
ビジネスに相応しいナチュラルな表現になります。
ぜひ覚えておいてください！
Hello and welcome to this Bizmates for beginners
video series for Japanese businesspeople.
And today's question is can you give me a minute?
A minute.
Hmmm... what does this mean?
Well first, we will do our test.
OK. So do you remember?
I say, ah, can I sit here?
Good. Did you get that? Go ahead. It's very natural.
Not, a please please. Hmmm... go ahead.
OK, so today's question, can you give me a minute?
Hmmm... what does this mean?
Well this is what I often hear OK.
So imagine Taro and I, we are having a meeting.
OK. So we are having a business meeting.
And I say, OK, are you ready to start the meeting?
Are you ready?
And Taro says, yeah, please wait.
OK. It's very strong. Please wait.
OK, it's like an order. Wait, yeah.
So it's not so good OK.
A better way is this one.
OK so if I say, are you ready to start the meeting?
OK?
He can say, yeah, can you give me a minute?
Yeah, it's very natural. It means, please wait one minute.
Or two minutes or three minutes.
But please wait a short time.
Can you give me a minute?
OK. Let's look at pronunciation.
It's not can you, but it's canya, canya.
And it's not give me, but it's gimme, gimme.
Canya gimme, canya gimme aminute?
Canya gimme aminute? You try.
One more time.
Canya gimme aminute?
OK let's try it with my question.
OK, are you ready to start the meeting?
Hmmm, OK no problem. One minute, sure.
OK, just like that.
OK so for homework, next time I will say,
are you ready to start the meeting?
And you say,
yeah, can you give me a minute?
OK, so please practice this and
we will see you next time. Thank you.
video series for Japanese businesspeople.
And today's question is can you give me a minute?
A minute.
Hmmm... what does this mean?
Well first, we will do our test.
OK. So do you remember?
I say, ah, can I sit here?
Good. Did you get that? Go ahead. It's very natural.
Not, a please please. Hmmm... go ahead.
OK, so today's question, can you give me a minute?
Hmmm... what does this mean?
Well this is what I often hear OK.
So imagine Taro and I, we are having a meeting.
OK. So we are having a business meeting.
And I say, OK, are you ready to start the meeting?
Are you ready?
And Taro says, yeah, please wait.
OK. It's very strong. Please wait.
OK, it's like an order. Wait, yeah.
So it's not so good OK.
A better way is this one.
OK so if I say, are you ready to start the meeting?
OK?
He can say, yeah, can you give me a minute?
Yeah, it's very natural. It means, please wait one minute.
Or two minutes or three minutes.
But please wait a short time.
Can you give me a minute?
OK. Let's look at pronunciation.
It's not can you, but it's canya, canya.
And it's not give me, but it's gimme, gimme.
Canya gimme, canya gimme aminute?
Canya gimme aminute? You try.
One more time.
Canya gimme aminute?
OK let's try it with my question.
OK, are you ready to start the meeting?
Hmmm, OK no problem. One minute, sure.
OK, just like that.
OK so for homework, next time I will say,
are you ready to start the meeting?
And you say,
yeah, can you give me a minute?
OK, so please practice this and
we will see you next time. Thank you.
