节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2012-01-03
难易度:Low
关键字:well-being, thoughtful, obvious, blessing


























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Welcome back, friends.
We've seen that greeting other people in many different parts of the world can
be quite complicated.
We talked before the break about some phrases that you might say, including
questions like, in English, How are you?
Or maybe in some other parts of the world, you might be asking something like
Have you eaten today?
Or maybe something more thoughtful like How is your soul seeing the world?
These are all wonderful questions.
But now we want to talk about some more factors that go into greeting people
around the world.
So join us on line 5.
Greetings.
In some cultures, people state the obvious when they greet one another.
In Papua New Guinea, someone might ask Are you here? (An easy question to
answer.) In Brazil,
you might hear Are you awake? (Another easy question.) In Swaziland, someone
might greet you with I see you.
(I see you too!) Most greetings wish blessings to the other person.
The Arabic greeting salam aleikum is a wish for peace.
And in Hebrew, people use shalom (peace) for hello and goodbye.
So, Shalom!
(Music).
All right. So there are many questions people ask around the world:
How are you? What did you dream?
But now we're going to talk about some more phrases.
That's right. In some cultures, people state the obvious when they greet one
another.
Yeah. Now this is interesting to me, and I think this might happen in English
sometimes too.
But when they state the obvious, that means you're talking about something that
everyone already can know or can see.
That's right.
"Obvious" means it is clear, easy to see, recognize or understand.
So there are a lot of things in life that could be obvious.
If a man proposes to a woman, he says, "Will you marry me?" The obvious answer
should be yes.
Well, we would hope so anyway.
Yeah.
It doesn't always work out like that.
Oh!
But, yeah...
But in most parts of the world, people in their greeting might say something
obvious.
We're going to learn some examples of what that is now.
That's right. In Papua New Guinea, someone might ask Are you here?
Now that's an interesting question to ask.
We actually see it's an easy question to answer.
If you ask "Are you here," if a person is not here, they're not going to answer.
That's right.
Are you here?
Yes, I'm standing right here. Thank you.
But maybe it means something a little bit more.
That's right. And it is an easy question to answer.
They're there, the answer is obviously yes.
Now we're going to go to Liz with Grammar on the Go.
Hello, friends.
Greetings for Papua New Guinea.
My name is Liz, and it's time for Grammar on the Go.
I hope you're doing well so far in this new year.
In our article today, we read:
In Papua New Guinea, someone might ask Are you here?
This sentence is then followed by another sentence in parentheses.
(An easy question to answer.) Our Grammar Tip focus will be on this sentence in
parentheses.
Normally, we would use the parenthesis symbol in a sentence when we want to let
readers know about some additional information.
In the case of today's sentence, the writer is simply answering the question
found in the previous sentence: Are you here?
Since this question seems so obvious and easy to answer, the writer just adds on
a personal comment that this is an easy question to answer.
However, since the writer's opinion isn't really part of the article,
the parenthesis is added to let readers know that the sentence is not really
that important.
You will find this style of writing in informal writing or in articles that tell
a story.
For example: Mary went to the mall to do some shopping. (She is always there.)
Or,
let's say a tourist got to try some stinky tofu at a Taipei night market, so he
might write:
My friends challenged me to try some stinky tofu, and I did (but it wasn't easy
for me to swallow.) If you'd like to see more example sentences,
they're available in today's Grammar Tip section in your Studio Classroom
magazine.
That's it for today.
This is Liz with Grammar on the Go, signing off, from Papua New Guinea. Bye-bye.
Are you here, friends?
Well, I hope you're joining us still because we have a lot more to talk about
with these greetings.
That's right. We're talking about questions with obvious answers that people
might ask around the world in a greeting.
Another example is in Brazil, people might say Are you awake?
(Background Noise).
Oh. Excuse my yawn.
In Brazil, I would have to say, "Yes, I am awake" because that is another
obvious answer.
I would not answer if I was asleep.
Exactly. Yeah, it's an easy question to answer.
You're not asleep, then you're going to say yes.
If you're asleep, you're not going to hear anything.
That's right. You might not be all the way awake.
You might be a little bit tired.
But hopefully, you can answer their question.
That's right.
Now another obvious question: In Swaziland, someone might greet you with "I see
you." Actually, that's not a question at all.
That's a phrase.
That's right.
I see you.
Well, I see you too!
That makes a lot of sense.
Someone to just say I see you, you might think: Well, yeah, you see me. I'm
right here.
That is a little obvious.
That's right. But it's also very nice.
It shows that they recognize, that they are noticing you.
I actually like this greeting - I see you.
Exactly. It's a little bit better than just Hello or Hi.
You might want to learn some of these greetings if you're planning on traveling.
That's right.
I think what makes this one really special is that it is making you feel special
yourself that they're taking the time to actually say: I see you.
Yeah. It's not just I see you with my eyes, they're almost saying I care about
you.
That's right. I think I actually really like this one.
The Swaziland people really got this.
That's good. Yeah. So if you're traveling to any of these countries, write these
down.
You might want to know how to say these greetings if you're going to be meeting
anyone in those countries.
Well, most greetings wish blessings to the other person.
And that's a wonderful thing to do.
A "blessing" is something you would say to wish for someone, possibly to make
them happy.
That's right.
It's giving them, wishing them good luck or blessings - here's the word
blessings - wishing them something wonderful that they'd be happy in life.
Exactly. You might say this in English too, like Good luck or Have a nice day.
That is a way that you would bless someone or to wish blessings on them.
That's right. There are all kinds of ways we might greet each other.
But blessing someone is very special.
You do that to someone whom you care about.
This is a wonderful way to show care.
Yeah. And that's not just true in English.
The Arabic greeting salam aleikum is a wish for peace.
And in Hebrew, people use shalom, which means peace, for hello and goodbye.
And that's actually one of my favorites, Kaylah.
It means hello and goodbye.
But like you said, it also means peace.
Well, Shalom, friends.
It's been wonderful talking about greetings with you today.
Join us next time.
But before we go, let's visit the Chat Room.
Good morning, Bryan.
Morning, Ken!
Morning?
Shouldn't you say both words, good morning?
Well, "morning" is an abbreviation for "good morning" that Americans often use.
It's very informal, but it's a greeting used among family and friends.
Oh. Thanks for talking to me like a friend then.
Does that mean Americans also say other shorten greetings like afternoon and
evening?
Yes, they do.
But they usually add the name of the person they're talking to, so it would be:
Afternoon, Billy, or Evening, Jennifer.
OK. That's good to know.
Are there any other greetings I should know about?
Good question.
Let's take a look at what Studio Classroom Editor-in-Chief Doris has to say.
Oh, OK.
In America, the most commonly used form of greetings are good morning,
good afternoon or good evening, depending on the time of day.
When you meet someone for the first time, it's common to shake hands and say:
Pleased to meet you, or It's nice to meet you.
When other people greet you, they will often say: How are you?
The polite answer is: Fine, thank you. And you?
OK. So according to Doris, it's best to give a short and simple answer when
someone asks me how I am.
That's right, especially in formal situations.
Of course, if you're talking with close friends, you can go into more detail
about yourself and your situation.
What about "How do you do"?
Do I respond by saying, "Fine, thank you"?
No. "How do you do" is more formal than "How are you." And you can't answer:
Fine.
You could reply: How do you do.
Or: Pleased to meet you.
Or: Nice to meet you.
Also, "How do you do" is only used when you meet someone for the first time.
I see.
You know, I'm curious, Bryan.
What do you usually say when you're greeting your close friends?
That depends on who it is, Ken.
Sometimes I say "How's it going?" and "What's up?" to my good friends.
Do your friends always give you a response?
No, not always.
It's a kind of a fun way to say Hi.
How about Hello?
Is that an informal greeting too?
In America, Hello is appropriate in both formal and informal settings.
Got it.
(Chinese).
(Chinese).
And it's obvious that we have to say goodbye now.
I'll see you next time. Bye-bye.
If we wanted to say hello to every person on the planet, we'd have to learn
about 2,800 languages, so.
To help get us started, let's go to Georgia, not the state in America,
the country in Central Asia where they say Hello with the phrase Let you win.
Next, let's go to the northwest African country of Mauritania where Hello is the
same as saying On you, no evil.
Further south in Swaziland, saying Hello is as simple as saying I see you.
But I'm not sure if they say that when they're talking on the phone.
OK, everyone, please join Studio Classroom tomorrow when we'll meet a gorilla
named Koko.
Bye-bye.