Usually, mistakes are not serious (真剣). If you forget (忘れる) “a” or “the” people will be able to understand you, or if you say “Go to shopping” instead of (変わりに) “go shopping” (買い物は場所ではないから”to”は使えない), people will still understand your meaning. But some mistakes can be very dangerous.
This series is about the most dangerous mistakes in English. These are mistakes that could cause a serious misunderstanding (重大な誤解の原因になる). Here’s number 2:
Many students say that negative questions are very difficult. It’s true that it’s difficult to get used to them, but after you do, they are easy. Please look at these two questions:
多くのの生徒さんが否定疑問文は非常に難しいと言っていますが、慣れれば簡単に感じると思います。次の二つの質問を見てください：
Do you like sports? (スポーツは好きですか？)
Don’t you like sports? (スポーツは好きではないですか？
English speakers don’t care if it is a positive question or a negative question. If we like something or something is true, we say “yes.” If we don’t like something or something is not true, we say “no.”
ネイティブは肯定文でも否定文でも気にしません。事実であれば「Yes」で答え、事実ではないのなら「No」で答えます。
I really like taking photos. If you ask me “Do you like taking photos?”I will say “yes.” If you ask me “Don’t you like taking photos?” I will say yes too. The reason is because I am saying “Yes, it is true that I like taking photos.”
写真を撮ることがとても好きです。もし「写真を撮るのが好きですか？」と聞かれたら「Yes.」で答えます。「写真を撮るのが好きではないですか？」と聞かれた場合、「写真を撮ることが好き」は事実なので、こちらも「Yes.」で答えます。
If you ask me “Do you like working overtime?” I will say “No.” If you ask me, “Don’t you like working overtime?”I will also say no. The reason is because I am saying “No, it is not true that I like working overtime.”
残業はとても嫌いです。もし「残業するのが好きですか」と聞かれたら、「No.」で答えます。「残業するのが好きではないですか」と聞かれたら「残業するのが好き」というのは事実ではないので、これも「No.」で答えます。
Here is a little quiz. Please read the information and answer the questions:
クイズです。以下の情報を読んで質問に答えてください：
名前：鈴木直子
国籍：日本
趣味：スノーボード・テニス
好きなもの：映画(ラブロマンス系)・旅行
嫌いなもの：タマネギ・残業
1. Is her name Naoko?
2. Isn’t her name Naoko?
3. Doesn’t she like playing tennis?
4. Isn’t she a fan of romantic movies?
5. Doesn’t she like working overtime?
6. Does she like working overtime?
7. Doesn’t she hate onions?
8. Isn’t she from China?
9. Does she like snowboarding?
10. Doesn’t she hate traveling?
The answers are in the comments.