Talk shop不是聊天室、聊天小舖,而是……
Howard的老闆介紹了一個外籍客戶給他,談話談了一陣子。外籍客戶說:
"Nice talking to you."
Howard聽了,以為客戶很想繼續聊天,興致高昂講個沒停,一直到老闆使眼色。
客戶明明說"Nice talking to you."難道不是說,很喜歡和我們聊嗎?為什麼不繼續呢?不會會錯意,Nice talking to you.=Goodbye.
1. Nice talking to you.
- (X)很高興和你談話(我們繼續談吧)。
- (O)很高興和你談話(但我得走了)。
Nice talking to you.是”It was nice talking to you.”的簡化,是委婉地告訴別人你要離開,是有禮貌地告別,千萬別會錯意,以為對方還想繼續聊下去。
英文字典對Nice talking to you的解釋:
A polite phrase used when leaving a person with whom one had just been talking.
禮貌地告訴和你說話的人,你要離開了。
類似的句子還有:Nice meeting you.
要注意,不要一見到人就說Nice meeting you。這句話不是在一見面的時候說的,而是在初次見面後,告別時候用的。
幾個應用場景:
I'd better get going. Really nice talking to you!
我得走了,和你談話真愉快。
It was nice meeting to you, Sarah. We'll let you know our decision on Monday.
Sarah,很開心認識你。下周一會告訴你我們的決定。
2. Now you are talking.
- (X)你現在可以說話了。
- (O)你才對嘛!(用於表示贊同)
Now you're talking.也是老外常用的口語,並非字面意思,而是「你說的太對了、這才對嘛」的意思,表示贊同對方的意見。
OK, it's time for me to pull myself together.
Now you are talking!是啊,這才對嘛!
3.talk out of turn
Turn有輪流的意思,該輪我了,英文就會用 ”It’s my turn”。
In turn是一個個按順序來,例如:
She spoke to each of the guests in turn.
她一一和每個客人說話。
Out of turn是不按順序來,talk out of turn就是「不該你說話的時候,你說了」,也可以用speak out of turn,一樣的意思。
I hope I haven't talked out of turn.
我希望我沒講錯話。
I'm sorry if I spoke out of turn, but I thought you already knew.
如果我說了不該說的話,我很抱歉,我還以為你已經知道了。
4. talk shop
- (X)聊天室
- (O)與同事在工作時間外談論自己的工作
你身邊一定也有這樣的人,就算不在工作中,也三句不離本行聊工作,英文裡有專門描述這樣的情境的"talk shop"。
Shop本來就有「本行,職業上的事」的意思,是不可數名詞,例如
Soon they got back to shop.
- (X)很快他們就回到店裡去的。
- (O)不一會他們回到與本行有關的話題上去了。
這裡的Shop如果是小店,就是可數應該用the shop。所以它是指「工作上的事」。多看幾個例句,熟悉用法:
They like to talk shop during lunch.
他們喜歡在午餐時討論工作。
I don't usually go for a drink with my partner after work because he always talks shop, and I prefer to forget about the job until the next day.
下班後,我不太與我的搭擋去喝酒,因為他老是講工作,而我則喜歡把工作完完全全忘掉,明天再說。