ネイティブ・スピーカーがよく使うけど日本人が使わない英語ーDo you know

 Imagine you are lost and want to find the train station. What would you say? Many students say, "Excuse me. Where is the station?" (すみません。駅はどこですか。） That's not wrong, but it doesn't sound very natural. (間違いではないけれどあまり自然に聞こえない。）
 The best way is to say something like "Excuse me. Do you know where the station is?" (すみません。駅はどこかを知っていますか。） It sounds softer because it shows you understand the person may not be able to answer the question.（その人が質問の答えを知らない可能性も含んでいることを表しているため柔らかく聞こえる。）
 "Softeners" like "Do you know..." or "Could you tell me..." are really useful but they are a little difficult because the word order (単語の順番）is different from a normal question.
 To make these questions, you have to think of the answer to the questions. For example:
     Q. Where is the station?
     A. The station is on Oak St.
To make the polite question, ask "Do you know" + "who/what/where/why/when/how" + the subject (主語） and verb (動詞） from the answer.

Here are some examples:
Q. What time does the bank open?
A. The bank opens at 10:00.
→Do you know what time the bank opens? (銀行は何時に開くかを知っていますか。）
Q. How far is it to Central Park?
A. It is eight blocks.
Could you tell me how far it is to Central Park? (セントラル・パークまでどれぐらい時間がかかるかを教えてもらえますか。）

Here are some questions. Can you say them more politely?

1. What time does the train arrive?
2. What is her name?
3. Where is this train bound for (行き先）?
4. How long has he worked here?
5. What is this line for?
6. Who is in charge (担当者）?
7. Why is he so angry?
8. How often do the trains run?

If you write your answers in the comments, I will check them.

A Wonderful Travel Video

Hi. Sorry, today's post is not about English but if you like traveling, I think you'll really like this video. It's called "Where the Hell is Matt?" (マットさんは 一体どこにいる？！）


It's an American guy named Matt who travels all around the world and films himself dancing. He's a really bad dancer, but his videos are really funny because he's doing a strange dance in beautiful, exotic places. The music is really good too. You can watch the videos at:
http://www.wherethehellismatt.com/videos.shtml






I read that Matt's videos are so famous that he now has a sponsor (とても有名でスポンサーができた） to pay for his trips!

I'll try to write a post about English this week.

Going to Greece!

I'm going to Greece on July 16. I'm very excited, and I've been telling many of my students, but I almost always have to explain (説明する）what "Greece" means. Greece is ギリシア in Japanese. Many students have also never heard of Athens (アテネ）.

I'm going to stay in Greece for two weeks, and will visit Santorini, a beautiful Mediterranean （地中海）Island that has many beautiful white buildings, and is said to have the most beautiful sunsets (夕焼け）in the world. We're also going to visit an old resort city called Napflion, and go to Sparta. At the end of our trip we'll visit Athens. I hope to have some nice photos to show you when I get back.

Here's a quiz about some famous cities and countries that are different in English and Japanese:

1. ウィーン　
2. オランダ　
3. スイス　
4. タイ　　　
5. トルコ　
6. ドイツ
7. フィレンツェ　
8. ベネチア　
9. ベルギー　
10. ミュンヘン　　　
11. ローマ　

Can you say them in English? The answers are in the comments.