节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2012-01-02
难易度:Low
关键字:gesture, complicated, factor, approach, Afrikaans
Welcome back, friends.
We've been talking about greetings around the world and how people meet each
other for the first time.
You can gesture, like a bow or a kiss or a shake with your hands.
Or people just say Hello or Hi in English, or other words like Haai in Afrikaans
or Ciao in Italian.
Well, we've also learned that it can be a bit more complicated.
So now let's take a look at line 12 and find out what is in a greeting.
(Music).
Greetings!
Greetings depend on many factors.
Sometimes it's the time of day, like good morning, good afternoon and good
evening.
Other times it depends on the age or sex of the person being greeted.
With the Ambulas of New Guinea, there are different greetings for people
arriving, sitting down or going somewhere!
There are greetings in West Africa for people who are working.
In the Philippines, there are greetings when someone is approaching a house.
So much for simple greetings!
Welcome back.
So now we're talking about what is actually in a greeting.
Why are greetings different in many different parts of the world?
Well, greetings depend on many factors.
That's right. And that's very true.
A greeting is never just one word or one gesture, it depends on different
factors.
A "factor" is like a different part.
That's right.
Factors include facts, information or situations or different parts that are
influential.
They are important.
They change the result of something else.
So a different factor could be the weather.
Maybe you want to go on a hike one day, but the factors would be the weather and
if the trail is open - so two pieces that influence the end result.
Exactly. You might think: Oh. Well, hiking sounds like fun.
But if there is bad weather, then that is a factor that would make it not fun.
That's right. So factors change situations.
So a greeting would change depending on a factor.
Yeah. Now we're going to see what some of those factors are.
Sometimes it's the time of day, like you would say good morning in the morning,
or good afternoon in the afternoon, or good evening.
That's right. In English we say we have morning, afternoon, evening and night.
So we would say good morning, good afternoon or good evening when you greet
someone.
Ryan, why wouldn't we say "good night" if we see them for the first time at
night?
That's a good question.
Usually when we say "good night," it's when we are going to sleep.
So you see someone you're not going to see them until the next day maybe, so
you'd say, "OK, good night." It's like saying goodbye.
OK. That's right.
It's another way of saying goodbye when it is dark outside.
Exactly.
So good night is goodbye.
It does not count... like "good evening" is hello.
Exactly.
Now other factors, other times it depends on the age or sex of the person being
greeted.
Now this is very common in a lot of cultures.
Depending on how old you are or if you are a male or a female depends on how
someone would greet you.
So sometimes, since I am a girl and Ryan is a boy, I would have to greet him a
certain way.
Yeah. Now we don't really have that factor in English necessarily.
But in other languages or perhaps in other parts of the world, that is an
important factor.
But Ryan, I do think in English there's a respect level with age.
So you wouldn't greet someone who is much older than you with "howdy." It's not
very respectful.
You would say hello or hi.
And if you're greeting someone in charge, maybe your boss or maybe a president
of a company, you would never say hey.
Exactly.
You would want to be polite.
That's right, yeah.
And it depends, of course, on the situation.
Are you, you know, playing with your friends where you can just say: Hey, there?
Or are you at some place that is more professional, and you want to greet
someone more professionally: Hello there. How are you doing?
That's right.
So even in English, there are different factors, different pieces that change
the result of which word we use.
That's right.
Now in the Ambulas of New Guinea, there are different greetings for people
arriving,
people who are sitting down, or for people who are going somewhere.
Now I think this would be extremely confusing.
If you were sitting down when they come into the room, they would say one thing.
But if you were standing up, it would be something different.
That would be very hard to learn the language because you have so many different
ways of saying hello.
That's right, yeah, whether someone is going somewhere even.
If they look like they're going to go shopping, you wouldn't just say hello.
You would have to say a special phrase depending on what they're doing.
It could be really complicated.
Absolutely. But this is not the only culture where it can be complicated.
There are greetings in West Africa for people who are working.
So if you're just resting, or if you are working, depends on what greeting you
would get.
That's right, yeah.
So this is another example of how you need to be prepared and know how people
greet.
If ever you go to Africa and you want to say hello to someone who's working, you
might want to know the right way to do it.
That's right. And it's good to know and to practice before you visit another
culture.
But Ryan, I also think in cultures maybe where you're not familiar, they
wouldn't... they wouldn't hold... they wouldn't think it's a bad thing.
They would... maybe they'll laugh at you a little bit because it sounds funny to
them.
Right.
But it's probably not going to ruin your trip.
Just try to be respectful.
Exactly. Now another example of some complicated greetings:
In the Philippines, there are greetings when someone is approaching a house.
What does that mean?
When you "approach" something, that means you are coming closer to it.
You are coming near to it.
Exactly. You're approaching or going towards a house.
And so if you see someone doing that, you would have a special greeting in the
Philippines.
Well, with all of these complicated factors, so much for simple greetings.
That means: Oh. Well, I guess it's not as easy to greet someone as I thought it
should be.
That's right. Saying "hello" in other languages is not as easy as you might
think.
Join us tomorrow as we continue talking about Greetings.
But before we go today, let's visit the Chat Room.
Hey, Bryan.
Hi, Ken.
Hey, thanks for inviting me to your New Year's Eve party.
I had a great time.
You're welcome.
I'm glad you enjoyed it.
I know you worked really hard getting the party ready.
Did you get a lot of rest yesterday?
Ken, I was planning to do that, but then my sister called.
She got a new TV for Christmas and wanted a help getting it set up.
So did you help her?
Yes, I took a look at it but some parts were missing.
We had to take it back to the store and get a new one.
Even when we had all the parts, the directions were really confusing.
Oh. That sounds frustrating.
So did you finally get it set up?
Yes, I took a look at it but some parts were missing.
So we had to take it back to the store and get a new one.
Even when we had all the parts, the directions were really confusing.
Oh. That sounds frustrating.
So did you finally get it set up?
Yes, we did.
But it took us four hours.
So much for relaxing.
So much relaxing?
I don't get it.
Oh. No, Ken, I said "so much for relaxing." When you say so much for something,
it means that you expected it to happen but it didn't.
In this case, I expected to be able to relax but I couldn't, so I said: So much
for relaxing.
So if I plan to wake up early to finish something but end up waking up too late,
can I say "so much for getting up early"?
Sure. That's a great example.
OK. So "so much" there doesn't mean a lot?
No. If you say I have so much work to do, then in that case, "so much" means a
lot.
So you have a lot of work to do.
That's right.
But "so much for something" is a phrase that means something didn't turn out the
way you wanted it to.
OK. Well, thanks, Bryan.
This conversation has taught me so much about English.
Glad I could help, Ken.
(Chinese).
Hi, everyone. I'm Michelle.
(Chinese).
And that concludes our Language Tips today.
Goodbye and take care.
Thanks, Michelle.
Another factor in knowing how to greet someone properly lies in the formality of
the situation.
For example, at a wedding or business meeting, you might greet someone you don't
know by using the formal English question: How do you do?
So then, what would you say to close friends?
Try using the very informal slang phrases: How's it going? or What's up?
But be careful if you are in England because "what's up" doesn't mean hello, it
means "what's wrong." OK, friends.
Let's look more at the finer points of saying "hello" tomorrow.
Until then, I and everyone else here at Studio Classroom hope you have a great
day. Bye-bye.