7/2 (Wed.) 〜 7/4 (Fri.)

実践ビジネス英語　　　Wednesday, July 2

1) Lyons describes his memory problems, joking that he can never remember names, faces and something else that slipped his mind. Collins tells a joke about an elderly man
who can't remember if the elderly woman he proposed to said "Yes," while the elderly woman can't remember who she said "yes" to. Nissen chimes in with the joke about an elderly man who always calls his wife pet names, because he can't remember her real one.

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Senior Moments (1)

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2) be in a fix
Be in trouble, in a difficult situation. There's a feeling of "Oh, boy, what am I going to do?" Things like, "He 'was in a real fix' when he lost his passport." Or "I 'was in a real fix.' I got to the client's office and I'd forgotten all my presentation materials."

be in a bind とも言う

3) for the life of one
Lyons means no matter how hard he tries, he can't do something, even if his life depended on it, it's not going to happen. It's often used with "remember" and also with "understand" and "figure out," such as, "I can't 'for the life of me' understand why they hired him." Or "'For the life of me,' I can't figure out what the upcoming announcement will be."

4) elderly
This is a good word to use. It's a softer, more polite way to say "old." Likewise, "senior citizen" is a nicer way to say "old person." Railways offer discounts for senior citizens, for example.

5) ask for a woman's hand in marriage
This is an old-fashioned way to say "ask to marry a woman." You can also make it sound
even more formal and old-fashioned by saying "ask for a lady's hand in marriage." And it can mean ask the woman directly, or ask her parents, though that probably doesn't happen much anymore, such as "In olden days a man had to 'ask a woman's father for her hand in marriage.'"

6) We also have the expression "a match made in heaven," which means a perfect combination of two people or things, such as, "This merger is 'a match made in heaven.'" Or ”That job is perfect for Tom. It’s 'a match made in heaven.'"

7) pop the question
Ask someone to marry you. The question is "Will you marry me?" For example, "He 'popped the question' at a romantic French restaurant." Or "She was tired of waiting for him to 'pop the question," so she left."

8) term of endearment
A "term of endearment" is a word or phrase that we use to address people or things that we care about. We are expressing our affection through those names. When I was little, for example, my mother called me Princess, that was one of her terms of endearment for me.

9) We also say "endear someone to, " which means make someone loved or admired, such as "Her kindness has 'endeared her to' everyone in the office." So everyone in the office likes her because she is kind.

10) off in the kitchen
We often use "off" to mean a person is away in some other location. For example, "John's 'off' in Detroit this week, meeting with some clients." Or "Brian is 'off' in Hawaii, getting some much-needed rest."

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実践ビジネス英語　　　Thursday, July 3

1) Breakstone says she also has so-called senior moments, such as forgetting why she went to the kitchen or what she intended to buy at the store. Collins wonders if such forgetfulness can be the result of too much information. And Nissen says he tried to console his elderly uncle by saying that his life had been so full, he might have too much to remember. Breakstone comments on how memory is selective.

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Senior Moments (2)

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2) it's no secret
Everybody knows, it's well-known that..., things like, "'It's no secret' Paul and Jenny don't get along." Or "'It's no secret' that Frank dislikes our new marketing strategy."

It's an open secret. などとも言う

2) have one's own share of
Breakstone also has a good number of senior moments, she means. She also could have said, "I 'have my share of' senior moments," without the "own."

And you can use many other verbs in place of "have," things like, "'I've trained my share of' new employees." Or "'I've heard my share of' sexist jokes."

3) blank out
Breakstone means she can't remember, nothing comes to her mind when she tries to remember as if her mind is a blank sheet of paper. We can also use "blank on" and "draw a blank" to mean can't remember. For example, "I wanted to introduce him but I 'blanked on' his name." Or "I 'drew a blank' when my boss asked me for last year's sales figures."

4) memory lapse
Collins uses "lapse" to mean a brief or temporally failure. "Lapse in judgment" is also a very common expression, things like, "She got in trouble for downloading music through a company computer, serious 'lapse in judgment.'"

5) information overload
Too much information is put into the mind and it gets overwhelmed, Collins means. "Overload" can also be a verb. "He is 'overloaded' with work," for example. "I'm worried about his health." Or "They 'overloaded' him with information and he couldn't remember at all."

6) slip
"Slip" has a number of meanings. Here, it's decline from a former or standard level. So if I say, "Our productivity has been 'slipping" lately. Then, productivity has been going down." We also have the expression "slip of the tongue," which is when we say something unintentionally. This could be accidentally using the wrong word or switching the order of words. For example, "If I accidentally called Mr. Sugita Mr. Sugiyama, that would be a 'slip of the tongue.'"

7) eventful
Full of memorable events, striking incidents. And this can be good or bad, such as, "It's been an 'eventful' week. Two people announced their quitting and our computer system crashed."

8) selective
Breakstone uses "selective" to mean accepting or using only certain things, not the ones we don’t want. A highly "selective" university, for example, will only accept a small percentage of applicants. Not always, but it can have the nuance that certain things are unfairly ignored or dismissed, such as "Her anger is 'selective.' She criticized Helen for making a mistake, but didn't say anything to Francis."

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実践ビジネス英語　　　Friday, June 27

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The Impact of Changing Demographics (6)

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1[S]: Now, one of the topics in our current vignette is the rise of the millennials. Apparently a lot of US employers and businesses are going out of their way to accommodate this generation. Have you heard anything about this, Heather?

2[H]: Yes. I was just reading about how the hotel industry is catering to millennials, for example. They're a very important group: Travel spending by people in their 20s to mid-30s went up 20 percent in 2010. That makes them the quickest-growing age group.

So hotels have been introducing things like power consoles in rooms and public areas so it's easy for guests to charge all their various devices. Hotel lobbies are also getting massively reworked, partly because young guests tend to socialize and work there far more than they do in their rooms. So hotels are making sure that their lobby furnishings and designs are more attractive to young people. They're also hosting free events every day like wine tastings and yoga sessions.

Oh, and young guests are said to absolutely require free, high-speed, wireless Internet connections throughout their hotels. My reaction to getting that kind of service at a hotel has always been "Oh, how nice!" But millennials apparently consider it utterly fundamental.

3[S]: Well, I'm sure hotels don't want young people having a disappointing experience and writing about it online.

4[H]: True. As the article I was reading said, "Young people today don't gripe to the hotel manager. They head for social media." It's a daunting update on what a friend in public relations once told me that a satisfied customer will tell five friends, but a dissatisfied customer will tell 20.

Maybe that should be updated to, a satisfied customer will put up one complimentary post online, a dissatisfied customer will put up five, or something along those lines.

But it is a very serious concern. As a sign of just how serious, a few years ago, one of the largest hotel companies in the world created a team of about 20 people just to monitor and deal with complaints and comments posted online.

5[S]: What about the employers? What are some of the things they're doing?

6[H]: They're trying to accommodate the millennials' desire for things like quicker promotions, more flexible work schedules and greater communication with management. One software company in the Midwest, for example, basically guarantees that recent college graduates will be promoted within a year as long as their performance is acceptable.

And some managers at a major snack and beverage company have started giving feedback more often. As their vice president of human resources put it, "Managers here usually give quarterly feedback sessions. Millennials want it after a presentation."

7[S]: So what do you think, Heather, should companies be going to these lengths for millennials? Is it worth it?

8[H]: I think so. They're full of youthful energy and drive. They know all about technology that my generation has often never heard of. And they're not tied down by any established wisdom about what can or should be done. People like that bring innovation. And that's always been a critical commodity at any time in history.

【原稿チェック： Cecile, Hiromi】
【ディクテーション： Sanae】