■出演
・カーラ先生(ETCマンツーマン英会話)

■聞き手
・青樹洋文

☆番組の中で紹介した書籍

『その英語、ネイティブにはこう聞こえますSELECT』
(David A.Thayne、小池信孝 著、主婦の友社 刊)　

(※ 出演者が話した言葉をそのままテキストにして掲載しています。)

Q: I WANT is very strong.

Not very. I mean it’s stronger. You can make it sound very strong, if you want. “I WANT YOU TO” sounds very strong. But of course the moment you put “I” in first, that’s sort of like an order kind of thing. Right. If you, even if you think of other languages, The “I”, it’s quite sounds very coming from YOU.

Q: That’s why, if I say “could you” sounds much softer and nicer.

The “You” come secondly. Not the “I”. So you are giving, you are asking for permission to the person in order to say I am asking you to do something for ME.

This is also very interesting. If you think about the psychology, if you always use “I” “I want” “I do” “I go”, you are always talking about yourself. You are the No.1 maybe. Right. So again if you really look at the words, you understand if I say I first, that’s my wish. That’s my hope, my order. So if you ask for permission, would you say could you…

But too much modesty is also wired.

Q: Wired?

Wired. Strange. I mean, for example, you are talking to your kid, of course sometimes you could say “Could you bring me that piece of cheese, please”, ok, it’s fine. But I want you to go to school tomorrow. You are asking the kids to “please don’t stay too late”. So you have also think about it, if you have too much modesty, “could you please” “Could you please”. Sometimes you say, “I’d love to”. I would love to if you come with me tomorrow. I want you to come with me tomorrow, because it is an important party or conference or whatever. You are asking to your friend or to your boy friend or to you husband. So sometimes you have to tell the person the importance, that is for you.

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