英语口语学习:怎样跟陌生人打招呼
编者按:出门在外总会遇到想要与陌生人打招呼的情况,这个时候应该怎么称呼呢?先生,小姐,美女等等词汇,一旦用错了会产生尴尬哦,我们来看一看用英语应该怎么称呼陌生人吧。
Lady? Miss? Waiter? Chinese has many ways to address people, and they're all risky.
Imagine you just left the office and find a Chinese restaurant that looks satisfactory, head on in, and find a seat that faces the entrance. An employee hands over a menu and you peruse the options. After deciding, you look up, and it suddenly dawns on you that the identity of the female employee across the room is a mystery. Maybe you should say 老板 (boss/lǎobǎn), in case she's the owner? Maybe 服务员 (attendant/fúwù yuán) would be fine? Then there's the possibility of小姐 (Miss/xiǎojiě), 美女 (pretty lady/měinǚ), or simply 你好 (hello/nǐhǎo).
The scenario is familiar to everyone in China, and is not just limited to dining services. The vast number of salutations available in Chinese makes it hard to get people's attention in unfamiliar settings—especially when coffee-shop employees insist that they are not 服务员 (waiters) but 咖啡师 (baristas).
Fortunately, there is one underused phrase that is applicable to every circumstance—laojia (劳驾láojià).
Laojia is a fairly archaic word that can be translated as “excuse me.” Constructed from the characters for “service” (劳láo) and “harness” (驾jià), the phrase is not used by much of the population, but despite its lack of prominence, laojia has many advantages over more common phrases with similar meanings, such as 不好意思 (bù hǎo yì si) and 打扰一下 (dǎ rǎo yī xià).
It is inherently more polite in its address of others, as well as being short. Laojia also implies a need for aid or for others to make way, depending on the context, reducing the need for extraneous words.
But it is the underlying respect and reverence that makes it such a useful tool to have in one's verbal arsenal.
One may cause offence with options is chosen, but it is almost one hundred percent impossible for someone to be offended by laojia.
Of course, it may be more convenient and less formal to use the relevant honorific (of which there are many) if you know the person. For everyone else, there's laojia.
公众号:HanFan汉风
本文为原创文章,版权归作者所有,未经授权不得转载!
-
英语语法中特殊疑问句的相关知识讲解
编者按:特殊疑问句,以疑问词开头的疑问句.下面小编就来带你一起学习下特殊疑问句,希望对大家有帮助。特殊疑问句2.1绝大多数特殊疑问句是在一般疑问句前加上一个疑问词:例如:Whodidyouask?你问谁了?HowdoyoufeelaboutDalian?你觉得大连怎么样?Whyhaveyounotgotup?你...
-
英语口语:口语讲解带中文
Well,anemperorisaking,andakingisanemperor.Insomecountriespeoplecallhimemperor,suchasinChina,andinJapan.Butinsomecountriespeoplecallhimking,suchasintheUK,andThailand.AndinmanycountriespeoplecallhimChairman,suchasinChinatoday,andinsomecountri...
-
英语词类转换:前缀派生词和后缀派生词
英语中的词类可以通过一定的构词方法实现相互转换。词类之间的转换一般有派生词、兼类词和合成词三类。1.派生词派生词是指那些由词根+词缀构成的新词。其中词缀可以分成前缀和后缀。前缀加在词根前,后缀加在词根后。例如:happyadj.高兴的happy+-ly→happily...
-
最实用的英语口语:飞机上的突发状况
原文标题:Day90丨旅游英语每日一课重点句式:CanIget/have……?Four突发状况4机舱空调开太大、太冷,怎么要条毛毯?Excuseme.It’salittlecoldinthecabin.CanIgetablanketplease?机舱有点冷,我可以要一条毛毯吗?【口语小技巧】这类情景中,最好不要主...