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#その他趣味

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#その他教育

タグ ：

#その他教育

http://www.nhk.or.jp/gogaku/english/business2/index.html


Business Communication in Action 実践ビジネス英語

Hello, everybody.こんにちは。みなさん。

Hello and welcome to the show. This is Chris Matsushita. Let's take a look at conversation at work.
こんにちは。番組にようこそ。クリス松下です。実践的な会話を見てみましょう。

Customer Service Tips (5)

Kinkaid's impressed that their waiter asked if anyone had any food allergies.
Goto says the restaurant's a place where they still believe the customer's king.
Pearson observes that employees treat customers the way their superiors treat them
so bosses have to set a good example.


"You guys" is a very informal phrase in English.
You usually use it with people who are very close to you.
So a waiter acting like he's very close to you is maybe not the best thing, especially in
more expensive, fancier restaurants.
Also the phrase "you guys", although guys are usually male, doesn't always refer only to males.
In my family, my parents would call my sisters and I and brother you guys.

If he only said "you", it would be fine.

To patronize someone is to treat them condescendingly.
You're treating them as if they were in some way inferior to you.

To turn on the charm is to act charmingly, to be very interactive and friendly and behaving
in a way that makes other people feel very good.

To hanker for something is to want it.
And usually it's a pretty strong and almost restless desire for it.
Other words you could use are yearn or crave.

Kinkaid uses the word "detail" as a verb here.
Probably most of the time, when you hear the word "detail" used as a noun.
You can however use it as a verb.
And in this case, it means give the details of, or explain in detail.

Ummm. I've also heard of allergies, like peanut allergies, which seems to be a really bad one.
And glutamine or wheat allergy.

Yeah, in the U.S., people say the customer's king.
A similar phrase is "the customer is always right", meaning you should please the customer
whatever they say.
But in the U.S., the customer doesn't quite rise to the level of being a god.

The word "stuff" in English is usually uncountable.
You have a stuff. It means a group of people working together for a specific purpose.
And the stuff has its own organization. So you could have a hospital stuff, for example.
But because Pearson's talking about various businesses, they each have their own stuff,
or even various stuffs.
So as long as you remember stuff refers to groups, then you're okay using it with a plural.

If you need to refer to the people in a stuff or on a stuff, you can call them stuffers
or you can call them stuff members.

The opposite of this would be "do as I say not as I do."



That's all for today.

Please tune in again for part 6.

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#その他教育

http://www.nhk.or.jp/gogaku/english/business2/index.html


Business Communication in Action 実践ビジネス英語

Hello, everybody.こんにちは。みなさん。

Hello and welcome to the show. This is Chris Matsushita. Let's take a look at conversation at work.
こんにちは。番組にようこそ。クリス松下です。実践的な会話を見てみましょう。

Customer Service Tips (4)

This time you'll hear that the restaurant's owner trains his stuff to really listen when they
ask customers about their meals so that they can fix whatever's wrong.
Goto relates a bad experience she had with lukewarm salty soup.
She says it's the human touch that makes it different in providing the good service.


Wakimoto uses the phrase "drill into" to talk about teaching the stuff how they should act.
"Drill into" sounds quite forceful.
There's a couple ways to think about it.
He's using a "drill" to push things into their heads.
Or you could think of it as drilling like practicing again and again and again.
But I think Wakimoto's using it to mean "instill".
"Instill" is a little more general and maybe a bit more gentle way to say make sure everyone
learns the lesson.

Wakimoto also talks about fixing whatever's not right.
He could say, "pay attention to the answer and make it right."

Sometimes the question is even more direct: "Is everything all right?"

"Lukewarm" is a word that's often used to talk about water or some sort of liquid usually.
That's only mildly warm. And it tends to be used when that thing should be a lot hotter.

But you can also use "lukewarm" to describe someone who's lacking conviction,
or they don't have enough enthusiasm.
So for example, you could say, "Yeah, well he did it, but he was pretty lukewarm about it."

"Solicit" is a verb that means ask for.
But it's sometimes used a little bit specially.
So you should be very careful that the context is completely clear.
In this case, it's perfectly good, because it's clear they're asking for customer response.
However if the context isn't clear, soliciting is often used when another person is being asked
to do something immoral or illegal.

solicit customers 違法な行為

I think the phrase "the human touch" is probably difficult to translate.
In English, when you use the phrase "the human touch" , people are usually talking about
consideration or warmth in your dealings with other people.
You can say using the human touch is the opposite of only going by the rules or by the book.

Pearson uses the verb, "empathize" to talk about understanding the situation
of their customers.
This is a really clear example where "empathize" is the right choice.
People often mix up "empathize" and "sympathize".
In this case, "sympathize" doesn't work,
because the customers aren't in sort of a bad situation.
They don't need pity, they don't need sympathy.
But they do need people to understand how they feel.

Saying "No problem" is a problem.
Fairly casually if someone says thank you for doing something, you can say, "No problem",
meaning it was easy for me, you don't really need to thank me.
But it is very casual and in some situations, it could mean,
"If it'd been a problem, I wouldn't have done it", which doesn't sound very nice or considerate.



That's all for today.

Goodbye.

タグ ：

#その他教育

「トットちゃんとトットちゃんたち」　黒柳徹子

「アリアドネの弾丸」　海堂尊

－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－

「トットちゃんとトットちゃんたち」　黒柳徹子　…もう、ほんとうに悲惨としか言いようがない。

p262-263
　（ルワンダでは、）人口七百五十万人のうち、百万人もの人が虐殺されたのです。
　（ルワンダの）首都キガリから車で三時間の距離にあるニヤマタの教会には、二千体もの遺体が、重なり合うように横たわっていました。そこに集められ、ナタで、銃で、手投げ弾で殺されたということでした。洋服から骨になった腕や足が出ています。すべてナタで切り落としてありましたから頭蓋骨と体は、ほとんどが離れていました。四ヵ月前（一九九四年）の出来事ですが、遺体がそのまま放置されてあるのは、片付ける家族も親戚もみんな殺されてしまったから、ということでした。国も手がまわりません。遺体のそばに、あわただしく詰めたと思われる鞄が、むなしく転がっていました。なかには、小さな頭蓋骨の上に、大きな骨が重なっているのもありました。お母さんが子どもをかばいながら、死んでいったのでしょうか。これほどひどい惨劇を、私は、見たことがありませんでした。

p264-266
　今回のルワンダで起こったことは、他の国の場合と大きく違っていました。殺した人が、見知らぬゲリラではなくて、おじさんが甥を殺すとか、近所の人、隣の人、村長さん、というふうに、ふだん顔見知りの人同士の殺し合いだったからです。
　生き残った人は、殺した人を知っているし、殺した人は、生き残った人に顔を見られているために報復を恐れるというふうに、人びとは疑心暗鬼に陥っていました。
　キガリのユニセフに勤めている二十一歳の女性が、いきなり「今日、どうしても辞めさせてください」といってきたのだそうです。この女性は、両親と兄弟を全部殺されていました。「どうして？」と聞いたら、「いま来るとき、前の方から自分の家族を殺した人が歩いてきたので、素知らぬふりをしていたんだけど、すれ違いざまに、耳元で、『あっ、おまえのこと、殺すの忘れていたな』といったんです。もう、ここにはいられません」というのでした。
　それから、こんな話もありました。避難民キャンプで、ユニセフの人が、小さい男の子に、両親が殺されたそうだけど？　と聞いたときのことです。その子は「わかんない」といいました。小さいので、覚えていないのかな、と思って、別れて、しばらく歩いていたら、うしろからその子が追いかけてきて、「本当は、知っているよ」といいました。「じゃあ、あのとき、どうして話さなかったの？」と聞いたら、「だって、あそこにいた通訳の人がころしたんだもん」といったそうです。
　もし「殺したの、知ってるよ」といったら、その通訳の人は子どもを殺すでしよう。彼らは報復を恐れているから、五歳か六歳の子どもが、目の前で家族を殺されたうえに、必死で芝居をして知らん顔をしている。その子の心の中は、どんなでしょうか。

p270-271
今回の（ルワンダの）虐殺は、今年（一九九四年）の四月六日に起きた事件からはじまりました。飛行機が爆破され、乗っていたルワンダのハビャリマナ大統領が亡くなったのです。大統領は、ツチ族寄りのフツ族でした。現政府は少数派のツチ族です。大量虐殺は、その直後から、フツ族によってはじまりました。犠牲になったのは、ツチ族の人たちでした。
　そうはいっても、フツ族とツチ族の人たちとの混血も多いのです。そんな場合、フツ族出身の妻に、「おまえは殺さない。でもツチ族の夫は殺す。四人いる子どものうち、半分はツチ族の血だから、二人は殺す。どの子か選べ」といったようなことも、数多く起こったそうです。母親にとって、どの子を選ぶなんていうことはできません。でも、選ばなければ、四人とも殺すといわれます。本当に地獄とは、こういうことをいうのでしょう。

p322-324
　地雷は、ちょっと触れただけで爆発します。大人は、手足を失いますが、治療で、生き残ることができます。でも、子どもは、体が小さく、弱く、死んでしまうのです。運よく命が助かっても、手足を失ったり、お腹や生殖器に重傷を負い、地雷の破片で、失明した子も、たくさんいるのです。
　それにしても、子どもをねらった地雷や爆弾が、こんなにたくさんあるということは、考えてもいないことでした。そして信じられないことでした。
　アイスクリーム・コーンの形をしたプラスチック製の地雷が、地面にばらまいてあります。小さい子は、アイスクリームだと思って、ひろいます。そして、手にとって、食べようとすると、いきなり、爆発して、楽しみにした、その子は死ぬのです。
「キンダー・エッグ」という、中に、おもちゃの入った、子どもなら誰でもほしがる卵形の、銀紙に包んだチョコレートの形をした地雷まで、あったと聞きました。銀紙をはがすと、爆発するのだそうです。あと、おもちゃのパトカーとか自動車にしかけた地雷。
　そして、「はじめに」で書きましたが、ぬいぐるみにしかけた爆弾。凄い戦闘がはじまり、家が爆撃されました。お母さんは、子どもを連れて逃げようとします。子どもは、「ぬいぐるみも」といいました。お母さんは「荷物になるから、おいていきなさい」といって必死で子どもの手を引いて逃げました。爆撃が終わって家に帰ると、大切なぬいぐるみが、ありました。「ああ、よかった。ごめんなさいね。連れていかなくて」。子どもが、ぬいぐるみを抱いた瞬間、ぬいぐるみは爆発しました。家を空けていた間に、敵がしかけたのです。また、空からたくさんのベルが降ってきます。地面につくと爆発するのですが、木にもたくさん、ひっかかります。ベルからは紐が下がっています。子どもは面白がって、紐をひっぱります。そうすると、落ちてきて、地面で爆発し、子どもは犠牲になるのです。子どもは、みんな面白そうなことが大好きです。お腹を空かせています。そういう子どもの心理を研究して、子どもをねらって殺す。考える人だって、自分の子どもがいるでしょうに。こういう悪魔のようなことを考えるのが戦争なのです。

「アリアドネの弾丸」　海堂尊　…うん、これもよかったよ。このシリーズ、田口ではなくて白鳥が主役なような気がする。

p350-351
　谷口本部長はおそるおそる尋ねる。
「だから発射エネルギーの低いパチンコを使った、という推測になるわけですか。でも、なぜ高階容疑者はわざわざそんなことをしたんでしょうか」
「ちょっと待った」
　白鳥が手を挙げる。それからぐるりと場を見回して言う。
「今、谷口本部長は、なぜ高階先生がそんなやり方をしたのか、と言いましたよね、聞いたよね、みんな？」
　順々に指さされ、ひとりひとり確認を要求された俺たちはやむなくうなずく。宇佐見警視だけは無表情で反応しない。最後に谷口本部長を指さして再確認する。
「ああ、確かにそう申し上げましたが」

p385
　ずばりと切って捨てると、白鳥は続ける。
「真実は単純でね。気がついたら簡単すぎて涙が出た。でも気づかなければ永遠に気づかない。真実とは、空気のように無色透明なものなんだ」

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#その他趣味

「マリアビートル」　伊坂幸太郎

…「グラスホッパー」の続編。これもすごくよくできてる。映像化すべき。

p62
「君は東京から電車に乗って、上野に降りる仕事もできないの？」と低い声で言った。「いったん何ならできるの？　レジ打ち？　絶対無理ね、レジ打ちには臨機応変に判断することが多いし、凄い仕事なんだから。じゃあ、東京駅から新幹線に乗るだけならできるのね。乗れるけど、降りられない。今度からそういう仕事を探しておくから」

p76
お孫さんは興味があること以外はほとんど覚えていないのですよ、と小学校の時に、担任の教師が祖父母に言っていた。「ドラえもん」のどの巻に何の道具が出てくるのかは空で言えるのに、校長先生の名前は一向に覚えないのですよ、と呆れたようだった。檸檬はその担任教師が何を嘆いているのか理由がわからなかった。校長の名前を覚えていることと、「ドラえもん」の道具の登場場面を覚えていることと、どちらが重要であるのかは明らかだ。

p96-97
　人間には自己正当化が必要なのだ。
　自分は正しく、強く、価値のある人間だ、と思わずには生きていられない。だから、自分の言動が、その自己認識とかけ離れた時、その矛盾を解消するために言い訳を探し出す。子供を虐待する親、浮気をする聖職者、失墜した政治家、誰もが言い訳を構築する。
　他人に屈服させられた場合にも同様だ。自己正当化が発生する。自分の無力や非力、弱さを認めないために、別の理由を見つけ出す。「俺を屈服させるからには、この相手はよほど優れた人間に違いない」と考え、さらには、「このような状況になれば、誰であろうと抵抗はできないはずだ」と納得する。自尊心があり、自信を持つほど、言い聞かせの力は強く、一度、そうなってしまえば、力の上下関係は明確に擦り込まれることになる。

p325-326
「いいか、一つだけ質問をするぜ」檸檬は銃の安全装置を外すと、銃口を木村に向けた。
「俺にか」と木村は思わず、言ってしまう。俺を狙うのか、と。本当に悪いにんげんは、俺よりもこの中学生であるのにか。口の先まで出かかった。

p331
　ルワンダでの虐殺、それについて書かれた本のことを思い出した。ツチ族は、主に鉈によって殺害された。酷く痛めつけられた者も少なくない。だから、ある人物は自分の持っている財産を、いよいよとなったら相手に差し出そうと、決めていた。つまり、「銃で殺してもらう」ため、だ。殺さないでくれ、ではなく、楽に殺してください、と懇願し、賄賂を渡す。これほど低い望みがあるのか、と王子は感動した。全財産を差し出し、「楽に殺してください」と願うとは、これには興奮を感じずにはいられなかった。

p333
　「いいか、殺人がいけないってのは、殺されたくない奴らが作ったルールに過ぎねえんだよ。自分では何もできねえくせに、守ってもらいたい奴らが、だ。俺に言わせれば、殺されたくなければ殺されないように振る舞えばいいんだ。人に恨みを買わねえ、とか、身体を鍛える、とかな。方法はあるだろ。おまえもそうしたほうがいいぜ」

p352
「車内にはたくさん乗客がいる。発砲なんてしたら、パニックだ」
「そんなに乗客はいないはずだ」峰岸は断定口調だった。
「いや、満席ですよ」蜜柑は躊躇なく、嘘をついた。峰岸にこちらの空席状況が分かるはずがない、と思ったからだ。が、峰岸にはばれた。「満席なはずがない。大部分の指定席は私が押さえた」
「押さえた？」
「君たちがその新幹線で、息子を連れてくると判明した後で、空席だった分を全部押さえた」
「空席を全部？」予想外のことに蜜柑もさすがに声が裏返った。不可能とは思わないが、そこまでする必要があるのか、と疑問が湧く。
「できるだけリスクを減らすためだ。新幹線の車内で何が起きるか分からない。乗客は少ないほうが、君たちも、息子を守りやすい。そうだろ」

p410-411
「ちょっと、あまりに強引じゃないか」七尾は乱暴なやり方に腹が立つ。「銃をしまわなければ俺が撃つ」
　男はようやく、七尾の銃に気づいたかのような素振りで、「やめておけよ。弾入っていないだろ」と言った。
　七尾はぐっと押し黙った。確かに、弾倉はゴミ箱に捨ててあったが、どうして、と思った。どうして分かるのか、と。ぱっと見て、それがばれるとは思っていなかった。
「入っていないわけがない」
「じゃぁ、試してみろよ。俺も撃つぞ」

p413
「分からねえけどな。ただ、一つ言えるのは、頭のいい奴と対決する時には、相手の意思通りにさせたら、絶対に駄目だってことだ。どんな些細なことであれ、俺たちの裏をかくための行動かもしれねえんだよ。たとえばな、昔、ラーメン屋で店の男と向き合っていた時だ。俺は、そいつに銃を向けていた。ラーメンがまずかったわけじゃないぞ。詳しいことは忘れちまったが、重要な荷物をよこすように、そいつに命令していた。仕事だったんだ。で、そこに店の電話が鳴った。店主は、電話に出ないと怪しまれます、と訴えた。なるほどそうか、と俺は優しいところを見せて、『余計なことは喋るな』と念を押してから、電話に出させた。店主は、味噌ラーメンだかチャーシューメンだか、とにかく出前の受け答えをしたんだがな、これがびっくり、実は合図だったんだ。少ししたら、物騒な援軍がやってきた。狭いラーメン店で、銃撃戦だ。もちろん俺は生き延びたが、それにしても面倒だった。もしくは、こうだ。どこかの事務所で、そこの社長と交渉している時に、机の電話が鳴った。俺は親切に、その電話に出てもいい、と応じた。で、社長が電話に出た途端、どかん、だ。つまり、どういうことかといえば」

p445
「いいことを教えてやるよ」木村は銃をぐっと上げ、中学生の眉間に銃口を定める。「六十年、死なずにこうやって生きてきたことはな、すげえことなんだよ。分かるか？　おまえはたかだか十四年か十五年だろうが。あと五十年、生きていられる自信があるか？　口では何とでも言えるがな、実際に、五十年、病気にも事故にもやられずにな、生き延びられるかどうかはやってみないと分からねえんだ。いいか、おまえは自分が万能の、ラッキーボーイだと信じているかもしれねえが、おまえができないことを教えてやろうか」
　そこで中学生の目が光った。煌めくようなものではなく、爽やかで、整った顔立ちには違和感があるほどに、粘りけのある火が、瞳に浮かんだ。自尊心を傷つけられた憤りがあった。「できないことって何ですか？」
「この後、五十年生きることだ。残念だが、おまえよりも俺たちのほうが長生きをする。おまえが馬鹿にしている俺たちのほうが、おまえより未来を見られる。皮肉だろ」
「本当に撃つんですか？」
「大人を馬鹿にするなよ」木村は言った。
「あなた、そういえば携帯電話ってどこにかけたのか番号が残るんですよね？　さっきこの子に返した電話、繁君の番号が残っていますよ。消さなくていいんですか？」晃子が言った。
「いいんだ。問題ない」
「問題ありませんか？」
「こいつが携帯電話を使うことなんて、もうないからな」


p446
　中学生がじっと視線を向けてくる。
「いいか」と木村は説明する。「ここではまだ、おまえを殺さない。撃って動きを止めて、運び出すだけだ。なぜか分かるか」
「分かりません」
「おまえに反省の機会をやるためだ」
　中学生の顔に少し明かりが射した。「反省の機会ですか」
「勘違いするなよ。おまえ、反省したふりが得意だろうが。反省して、大人に大目に見てもらってきて、今まで生きてきたんじゃねえのか。いいか、俺はそんなに甘くないぞ。おまえの臭さはな、俺の経験した中では最悪だ。今まで散々、悪いことやってきたんだろ。なあ。反省する機会はやるけどな、だからと言って、おまえの罪を見逃したりはしないからな」
「そんな」
　木村茂は特別な高揚もなく、淡々と話をする。「楽には死ねねえぞ」
「あなた、怖いですよ」晃子も言葉の割に、太平楽な様子だった。
「そんな。だって、お孫さんは無事だったんですよね」中学生が泣き顔になる。
　木村は噴き出す。「俺は年よりだからな、目はぼやけるし、耳は遠いし、おまえの演技もよく分からねえんだよ。とにかくだ。おまえは、俺たちの孫に手を出した。残念だったな。諦めろ。反省したら、少しは楽に死なせてやる。人生は厳しいもんだ」

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Business Communication in Action 実践ビジネス英語

Hello, everybody.こんにちは。みなさん。

Hello and welcome to the show. This is Chris Matsushita. Let's take a look at conversation at work.
こんにちは。番組にようこそ。クリス松下です。実践的な会話を見てみましょう。

 

Customer Service Tips (3)

 

Kinkaid says she read in the paper that the restaurant had just won a service award

from the city.

She adds that the service business in general could learn a lot from the restaurant.

Pearson, Kinkaid and Goto talk about some of the details of good service. 

 

 

Kinkaid talks about this morning's paper.

And I think in Chicago, they still have a morning paper and an evening paper.

But lots of cities don't have evening papers anymore.

In that case, you probably just say today's paper.

Although the papers do tend to come in morning when there's only one.

 

Do's and don'ts is a phrase that's often used in English to talk about, I guess, you could say

etiquette or manners:

the things you should do in a specific situation and the things you shouldn't do.

 

Do's and taboos

 

Another phrase people sometimes use that's somewhat similar to do's and don'ts is the phrase

haves and have-nots.

You put in s on the end of haves and then end on nots.

And it means people who have things and people who don't have things.

So the lucky people and the unlucky people. 

 

haves and have-nots.

have nations and have-not nations 持てる国と持たざる国

 

 

This is an example of something that you shouldn't do in a restaurant business that applies

very clearly to other situations. 

For example, if you've given a presentation and someone asks you a question,

you probably shouldn't say, "ahh good question,"  because it implies that the other questions

were not so good. 

However people often say, "good question", because it buys them a little time.

They use it as a filler to help them think about what to say next.

Or sometimes good question pops out when the speaker doesn't know how to answer

the question. 

 

There's an interesting phrase that people use sometimes when they get this feeling.

They might turn to their friend and say, "What am I - chopped liver?"

 

cf.

Since eating chopped liver may not be appreciated by everyone, the Jewish English expression

"What am I, chopped liver?", signifies frustration or anger at being ignored on a social level.

An alternate explanation for the etymology of the "What am I, chopped liver?"

expression is that chopped liver was traditionally served as a side dish rather than

a main course.

The phrase, therefore may have originally meant to express a feeling of being overlooked,

as a "side dish."

 

In this case, she could have said: "That had never occurred to me."

 

When I was in high school, I worked in a restaurant.

It wasn't such a high class place. It was a steak house.

So it wasn't an eatery. It wasn't a diner. It's a little better than that.

But it certainly wasn't a high class place.

But the waitresses, we didn't have waiters, were expected to do this.

They were expected to know who ordered what in all the details. 

 

It's not what you know, who you know.

 

Oh, and that's even a better version.

I've even heard people say, for example, "Who's a steak?" Or "Even steak?"

 

"Offhand" is a word you can use to mean inconsiderate or thoughtless.

You use "offhand" to talk about things that weren't prepared for or thought of ahead of time.

 

If you use the phrase "onhand", it's not the opposite of "offhand."  "Onhand" means available.

There's some other rude well, maybe not rude exactly but some other kinds of behavior

that expensive good restaurants expect their waiters and waitresses to do.

One of them is to serve the whole table at once, even if it's a large group, a large party. 

 

 

That's all for today.

 

Ciao.

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Business Communication in Action 実践ビジネス英語

Hello, everybody.こんにちは。みなさん。

Hello and welcome to the show. This is Chris Matsushita. Let's take a look at conversation at work.
こんにちは。番組にようこそ。クリス松下です。実践的な会話を見てみましょう。

Customer Service Tips (1)

Pearson, Wakimoto, Kinkaid and Goto are discussing a great restaurant
Wakimoto introduced them to.
Pearson's impressed with the service and excellent food.
Wakimoto says he heard about it by word of mouth observing that a solid reputation
is the best kind of advertising.


Pearson says he was really impressed.
In this case, "really" doesn't mean actually so much as it's simply an intensifier.
So instead of "actually", if you wanted to replace "really", you could use, "very."

Delavy's apostrophe s Delayvy さんのお店

Jack Wakimoto says "book a table" meaning make a reservation so that you can have dinner
at that restaurant.
It's a very common way to talk about it.

book a table = reserve a table

Pearson talks about the restaurant being a showcase.
Literally, a showcase is a kind of display case or cabinet that the stores or retailers, merchants
use to show their goods.
But you can also use "showcase" the way Pearson does here figuratively
meaning a setting to show someone or something off.

display case

display window

"By word of mouth" is a very common phrase to talk about something that someone told you.
Before computers, they could spread by word of mouth pretty quickly because of telephones.
But nowadays, "viral" seems to be even faster than by word of mouth.
I think because you can send the same note or information to all of your hundreds of friends
on your social networking site.

word of mouth communication 口コミによるコミュニケーション
　
word of advertising　口コミによる広告

viral virus の形容詞形

viral video

The old　way to talk about something that's spread really quickly like that is to say
it's spread like wildfire.

Wakimto talks about his fiancee.
When you have time to look, you'll see fiancee is spelled with two e's.
That's because he's a guy and his fiancee is a woman.
Fiance is pronounced the same way when it's a woman talking about her fiance, a guy.
But it's spelled differently. The final e is not there.
The two words come from French.
And for some reason they've maintained the French spellings.

restaurant = place / joint

Joint's very informal.
So I don't think you could use it to talk about a very expensive and elegant restaurant.

Pearson talks about hearing about something through the grapevine.
When you hear it through the grapevine, it means it was probably some kind of gossip or rumor.
It was spread very informally.
You can also use it though to talk about something when you know the source but you don't
want to reveal the source.
So if someone says, "why do you know that?"
You say, "Well, I heard it through the grapevine", which is not actually a lie,
but on the other hand, you're not revealing what you actually do know.
A similar phrase people sometimes use is, "A little bird told me."

You could use either phrase, for example.
If you've heard some news about somebody and you wanna confirm it, you could walk up to them
and say, "Well, a little bird told me you're getting married."
If it's actually a secret, you might not wanna tell the source of your knowledge.

Full marks is a phrase people often use to talk about giving a full credit or complete praise
for something someone did or something that someone has.
It's known in the U.S. But I think it's a little bit more of a British tone of phrase.

Goto calls the restaurant a winner.
I don't think she's talking so much about competition as describing the restaurant as a winner
because it's very good, it's excellent, it's in a peak form.


That's all for today.

Thanks for joining us.

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Business Communication in Action 実践ビジネス英語

Hello, everybody.こんにちは。みなさん。

Hello and welcome to the show. This is Chris Matsushita. Let's take a look at conversation at work.
こんにちは。番組にようこそ。クリス松下です。実践的な会話を見てみましょう。

Changing Spending Habits (5)

Hughes says that retailers are making their promotions more targeted keeping them focused
on selected items and only available online for a couple of hours.
He says retailers can't afford to overdo it on products that might not sell well.
Goto notes the opposite response among some high end retailers.


Hughes talks about midday sales.
Midday has a pretty wide meaning in English depending on a context.
In this case, I would probably say, "around noon", "around the noon hour", say from 11 till 1
when many people have their lunch breaks.
It makes sense to me that department stores would have special short term sales
at the lunch break so that people can go out and buy something when they're not in the office.
Hughes also talks about social media alerts.
Social media refers to web sites that make it very easy for you to keep in contact with
friends and family or the whole world if that's what you want to do.

A two- to three-hour window is kind of an interesting phrase I imagine.
In this case, window is used as passage or opening.
And from that meaning, you can get the idea of opportunity:
an open space where you can get something.

The big home-supplies stores are often big-box stores, great big huge warehouses with
almost anything you could think of that you could use at your home.
Usually for the building itself, the building in the ground.
So you find things like hammers and pipes for plumbing and mirrors
if you wanna upgrade your bathroom.
They probably even have a plant section so you can put some nice plants
in your flower garden outside.

A tough call is something that's difficult to judge or decide.
Sometimes people will say, "it's your call" when you're the one who should decide.

Goto talks about taking a calculated risk.
A calculated risk is one that you know all about, you're comfortable with it.
You know what might happen but probably it won't.
And even if that risk does come to pass, you know how you're gonna handle it.
It's a well considered plan for a risk.

She also talks about selling yourself apart from the rest of the herd.
That means differentiating yourself, showing how you're not the same as everybody else.
A herd usually describes a large group of animals like cows or horses and sheep
that tend to move in large groups.

Crisis is kind of interesting.
In English people say, "don't let a crisis go to waste" or "never waste a good crisis",
"never allow a crisis to go to waste."
There are many variations about using trouble.

Something that's well-founded is solid and secure.
It's grounded in reason.

That's all for today.

Don't forget to tune in for part 6.

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Business Communication in Action 実践ビジネス英語

Hello, everybody.こんにちは。みなさん。

Hello and welcome to the show. This is Chris Matsushita. Let's take a look at conversation at work.
こんにちは。番組にようこそ。クリス松下です。実践的な会話を見てみましょう。

Changing Spending Habits (4)

Kinkaid says more people are using discount coupons and buying in bulk.
Hughes says all this is a major change for retailers.
Goto wonders how retailers are dealing with it.
Wakimoto says smart retailers are managing inventory and adjusting product lines
among other things.


Kinkaid talks about discount coupons.
Some people pronounce this word [kyuupon].
But the probably better pronunciation is [kuupon].
And she describes the coupons as discount coupons.
Most of the time, people don't bother with the word "discount",
because it's usually clear what kind of coupon you're talking about.
It's just a slip of paper: a coupon.
And you can have coupons for free gifts and all kinds of other purposes.
However the ones she's talking about are ones usually you can cut from the newspaper,
or from fliers that are put in the newspaper, or sometimes that you can pick up at the store.

money off coupon

A retailer that has its own magazine with coupons is a little bit unusual I think in the U.S.
Most people collect coupons from newspapers.
I think Wednesdays in many cities is a big day for coupons in the newspapers.
Kinkaid talks about a big-name supermarket.
Big-name is used as an adjective so it has a hyphen between the two words.
A big-name supermarket chain would be a famous one, a very well-known supermarket chain.

big-ticket item 高額の

Also related to the retail theme, you'll hear the phrase "big-box store."
A big-box store refers to the kind of building it's in.
It's usually a great big large warehouse kind of a building where prices are quite low,
although you often have to buy in bulk.

cf. A big-box store (also supercenter, superstore, or megastore)
is a physically large retail establishment, usually part of a chain.
The term sometimes also refers, by extension, to the company that operates the store.
Examples include large department stores such as Wal-Mart and Target.




big-city lifestyle 大都市の生活様式

Kinkaid is talking about a big-name supermarket.
In the U.S., a supermarket is focused first on food, but also usually includes other things,
but usually only one shelf for, for example, of ahh over-counter-drugs perhaps, or stationery.

There's a phrase in the U.S. to talk about buying things in large quantities to get a discount.
It's cheaper by the dozen.
１ダース買えば安くなる

You'll also see packaging in the U.S. with the phrase large economy size.

economy size 経済的なサイズ　大型のお買い得商品

bulk sell tactic 大量売り戦術

The basic meaning of the word "bulk" is something large.
And often it means large and unwieldy, a little bit difficult to handle because of its size,
not necessarily its weight but because of its size.
So as an adjective, the word becomes bulky.
You can talk about your winter coat being kind of bulky.
So if you're going to be indoors most of the time or on a train, for example,
you might wear a lighter coat, instead of your big-bulky warm coat.

And if you find it(vulnerablility) difficult to pronounce, don't worry about it.
English speakers trip over this one sometimes too.

Wakimoto talks about retailers slowing expansion.
When you talk about expansion, usually people think about opening new shops
and new locations.
But expansion could be adding new product lines or expanding existing product lines.
So Wakimoto's saying that many retailers are avoiding doing these things
which they would naturally do if times were better.

promotional pricing 販売促進価格



That's all for today.

Talk to you again soon.

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Business Communication in Action 実践ビジネス英語

Hello, everybody.こんにちは。みなさん。

Hello and welcome to the show. This is Chris Matsushita. Let's take a look at conversation at work.
こんにちは。番組にようこそ。クリス松下です。実践的な会話を見てみましょう。

 

Changing Spending Habits (2)

 

Kinkaid's skeptical that a little spending adds up to a real return from the recession.

Wakimoto observes that Americans are leery of giving up their frugal ways.

Many people are still unemployed.

Kinkaid says that consumers including herself don't mind haggling

and that penny pinching is expected

 

 

Kinkaid uses the word "rebound" to talk about recovery or returning from the recession.

"Rebound" has a meaning, "return" or "recover."

But it also includes the idea of springing back or bouncing back.

It's a quick kind of a recovery.

You can use "rebound" both for physically bounding back or metaphorically 

where there isn't any actual physical movement.

The phrase "on the rebound" is often used in connection with people's personal life.

If they lose or separate from ahh significant other or get divorced, for example,

lose a boyfriend or girlfriend.

If they get a new replacement fairly quickly, that replacement person might say,

"Ahh on the rebound, it's kind of a dangerous time."

 

Wakimoto uses the idiom "come out of one's shell."

Shell is a kind of a protection. 

If you think of snails, they hide inside their shells when they feel threatened. 

Someone coming out of their shell is often someone who's losing their shyness,

they're becoming more confident and able to be more functional out in society

where they could be injured.

In this case, Wakimoto describes the shells as frugal shells.

So Wakimoto says people were protecting themselves from spending too much money.

And they're beginning to reveal their true selves and they're using a bit more money 

like they'd like to.

 

Kinkaid talks about many Americans being unemployed.

Unemployed is one of the many ways you can talk about people who aren't working.

Usually unemployed means they want to work, they wish they were working.

You could also say they're jobless, or out of work, out of employment.

People who are unemployed in the U.S. usually receive unemployment insurance.

It's a payment from the government that you can receive for up to 99 weeks nowadays

in the U.S.

And people who are coming up towards that 99 week limit recently have been called

Ninety-niners.

 

between jobs 仕事と仕事との合間

 

Hughes uses the idiom "be out of the woods."

The basic meaning of be out of the woods is to be in a safe place,

to be out of a threatening place.

Woods or forests were considered large, dark, scary places that might be hiding something

very dangerous.

So until you're out of the woods, until you can see clearly and you have the bright sun light, 

you don't know what dangers are around you,

so you should be careful until you're out of the woods.

 

Don't holler/cry till you're out of the woods.

 

To haggle is to negotiate.

But "negotiate" is a much more formal word. 

"Negotiate" could be used in any situation. 

It's also the widest word.

When you haggle, you're often negotiating over small things, small prices.

In fact, sometimes "haggling" is considered a little bit negative, 

because you're hardly saving any money.

Other words you can use are "dicker" or "bargain."

Or you can even talk about "horse trading."

 

"Derigueur" is a phrase that comes from French.

It's very similar to saying "required" in English.

But the requirement comes from social or fashionable pressures, I guess you could say.

It's the custom or what etiquette requires.

Sometimes you could substitute the word "proper" as well.

In this case, I think "required" is a little better.

 

 

That's all for today.

 

So long.

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