♪What do you do? – 職業を訊ねる

今日は職業の訊ね方を学びましょう。学校で必ず覚えるフレーズといえば What is your job? これでもかまわないのですが…代わりに使っていただきたいのがこれ。

What do you do?

リスニングレッスン

トランスクリプト

Hi everyone! Thank you for tuning in to Time for English.

Today you’re going to learn how to ask what someone’s job is.

Now, we all learn this phrase in school: What is your job? This is okay. Nothing is wrong with that, except it sounds a bit too direct. And you may feel a little awkward asking this question because it can be a very personal question after all.

But don’t worry. You can use a different question, which is: What do you do for a living? And actually, you can drop the last three words, for a living, and say “What do you do?”

Well, the next time you want to ask what someone’s job is, use “What do you do?” instead of “What is your job?”. All right?

I’ll discuss how to answer this question on the website. So, please make sure to come visit us on Thursday.

In the meantime, here’s a little quiz for you. I’ll give you three sentences. Please listen carefully and choose the one that is TRUE. Ready?

1. In this session you’ve learned how to ask what someone’s hobbies are.
2. The question “what do you do for a living?” means “what do you have in your living room?”
3. The question “what do you do?” sounds more natural and less direct than “what’s your job?”

答えはこちら3

日本語訳

こんにちは。毎度エイゴの時間をご愛顧いただきありがとうございます。

今日は職業の訊ね方を学びましょう。

まず、学校で必ず覚えるフレーズがこちら。What is your job?「あなたの仕事は何？」これはこれでかまいません。問題ない。ないのですが、少々直截ではある。相手の職業を訊ねるというのは結局のところ、かなりパーソナルな質問にならざるをえませんから、あまりに直截な表現は気まずい感じがします。

でもご心配なく。ちゃんと別の言い方があります。それがこちら。What do you do for a living? これで「あなたのご職業は（何ですか）？」という意味になります。末尾の単語三つ、for a living はしばしば省略されます。で、What do you do?

もし今度、誰かに職業を訊ねる機会があれば、What is your job? ではなく What do you do? を使ってくださいね(^_-)

この質問への答え方はウェブサイトで議論したいと思います。木曜更新ですので是非いらしてくださいね。