职场英语：误解

谢谢收听这个播客。

Thanks for listening to this podcast.

我们正在为你制作《职场英语》的新一期内容。

We're working on new episodes of Office English for you.

meanwhile，这里有一期去年的节目，帮你温习一下商务英语。

In the meantime, here's an episode from last year to help you revise your business English.

好好听。

Enjoy.

你有没有过在工作中听不懂别人说话的时候？

Do you ever find you don't understand people at work?

如果工作中我不明白一项任务，就会觉得特别沮丧。

If I don't understand a task at work, I feel frustrated.

这确实会让人有点压力。

It can be a bit stressful.

真的很烦人，还得去麻烦别人帮你解决问题。

It's really annoying and you have to ask other people to help you with something.

没人喜欢老是问别人该怎么做，时间一长，真觉得自己挺笨的。

Nobody likes to keep asking how to do something so you can end up feeling a bit stupid really.

在今天这一期《职场英语》中，我们来聊聊当你听不懂的时候该怎么说。

In today's episode of Office English, we're talking about what to say when you don't understand.

你好，欢迎收听《职场英语》。

Hello, and welcome to Office English.

在这个系列里，我们会讨论现代职场中需要用到的表达方式。

In this series, we talk about the language you need in the modern workplace.

我是菲尔。

I'm Phil.

我是皮帕。

And I'm Pippa.

你可以在我们的网站 bbclearningenglish.com 上找到本期节目的文字稿。

Find a transcript for this podcast on our website bbclearningenglish.com.

我们刚听了一些 BBC 学习英语团队的同事说，工作中出现误解时，既让人沮丧，又挺尴尬的。

We've just heard from some of our BBC Learning English colleagues that it can be frustrating and embarrassing when there are misunderstandings at work.

你有过这种经历吗，皮帕？

Is that something you've experienced, Pippa?

有。

Yes.

如果你发现你和同事对同一件事的理解不一样，那种感觉确实挺尴尬的。

I think it can feel quite awkward if you realise that you and a colleague have interpreted something in a different way.

有时候真挺烦的，因为会白白浪费时间和精力。

Sometimes it just is annoying because it leads to kind of wasted time, wasted effort.

还可能引发矛盾。

It can lead to conflict.

我倒是没遇到过。

Not in my experience.

通常我们就会说，哎呀，咱们刚才沟通岔了。

Usually, you know, we just said, oh, we've got our wires crossed there.

是彼此理解错了。

We've misunderstood each other.

这当然要看误解的内容是什么。

It can depend what the misunderstanding's about, of course.

如果谈的是冲突，有些误解可能比其他更危险。

If we're thinking about conflict, some misunderstandings might be more dangerous than others.

今天我们要聊的是，当你没听懂，或者觉得对方可能误会了你的时候，该怎么办。

Today, we're going to talk about what to do when you don't understand or when you think someone might have misunderstood you.

我们先来举个例子吧，菲尔。

Let's start with a scenario, Phil.

想象一下，你的老板交给你一项任务，但你不太确定自己有没有理解对。

So imagine your boss has given you a task to do, but you're not sure if you've understood them correctly.

你不想把任务做错，但也不想让老板觉得你能力不够，甚至有点笨。

You don't want to do the task wrong, but you also don't want your boss to think you're not good enough, you're a bit stupid.

那你该怎么跟他说呢？

What should you say to them?

你可以直接请他再解释一遍。

You could just ask them to explain it again.

我想确认一下，我理解得对不对？

Know, can I just check that I've understood that right?

是的

Yeah.

这样很好，因为依然很礼貌。

That's nice because it's it's still polite.

你也可以说：不好意思，能再帮我明确一下吗？

You could also say, oh, I'm sorry, but could I just clarify?

人们通常更愿意多解释几遍，确保做对，而不是以为你听懂了，结果做错了——那样反而更浪费时间。

I think people would usually rather explain it more times and it'd be done right than think you have understood them and then you do it wrong because that actually is gonna waste more time.

那如果有人不敢问老板呢？

What about if somebody can't ask their boss?

也许他们就是不敢开口，或者担心向老板求证会显得不够好。

Maybe they're just not able to, or they're a bit worried to ask for a clarification from their boss.

那你有什么建议？

What would you recommend then?

也许你有个在这方面的资深同事，你很确信他们清楚自己在说什么。

It might be that you've got a colleague who's really experienced in that area, and you're confident that they know know what they're talking about.

所以你可以直接去问他们。

So you could always ask them.

是的。

Yeah.

你可以说：你能给我讲讲你平时是怎么做这个的吗？

You could say something like, can you walk me through how you usually do this?

这样你就确保自己真正理解了整个流程。

And then you've just made sure that you're understanding the process.

如果你刚来，这种方法尤其有用。

This is particularly useful if you're new, I guess.

有时候，了解自己为什么要做某件事也很有帮助，这样能避免误解。

Sometimes I think it can also be useful to know why you're doing something that can help avoid misunderstanding.

比如别人可能会问：我们做这个是因为什么？然后你给出自己对背后原因的理解。

So you might be asked something like, are we doing this because and then giving what you think is the reason for something.

是的。

Yeah.

这取决于你的工作环境、你所在的公司，以及你被要求做的具体事情。

It will depend on your kind of workplace culture, where you work, and the kind of thing you've been asked to do.

有些地方，质疑上司是不常见的。

Some places, it's not normal to kind of question your boss.

你肯定不希望让人觉得你自以为是，或者认为他们做错了。

You wouldn't want to kind of give the impression that you think you know better or you have kind of thought that they're wrong.

所以关键是澄清，而不是直接质疑整个任务。

So it's just about kind of clarifying rather questioning the whole task altogether.

明白了。

Okay.

所以，这些是在你不理解上司时可以参考的方法。

So that's some ideas for when you don't understand your boss.

那如果你不明白同事说的话呢？

What about if you don't understand something that a colleague says?

比如，你正在开会，同事发表了一个意见，但你没听懂他的意思。

For example, you might be in a meeting and a colleague makes a contribution, but you don't understand what they mean.

是的。

Yeah.

我觉得这种情况确实挺难处理的。

That's a tricky one, I think.

我通常会先道个歉。

I would often start with an apology.

我会说：‘抱歉，Phil，你能再解释得详细一点吗？能不能再给我讲讲你的想法？’

So I might say, I'm sorry, Phil, but could you explain that a little bit more and just get you to kind of tell me more about it?

对。

Yeah.

另一种说法是：‘我没太跟上你的意思。’

Or another way of saying it is, I'm not sure I follow you.

你能再给我讲一遍吗？

Can you just talk me through that again?

你还可以用另一句话：我想确认自己完全理解你的意思了。

Another phrase you could use is, I just want to be sure I've got you a 100% right.

你是说……再解释一下，你认为他们刚才说了什么？

Do you mean and then again, explain what you think they've said.

这样你就能确认双方对所说内容的理解是一致的。

So then you're just kind of checking that you're both interpreting what's been said in the same way.

没错。

Right.

我们刚才聊了很多在工作中听不懂别人时可以说的话。

We've talked about lots of things we can say when we don't understand other people at work.

但要是你觉得别人没听懂你，Phil，该怎么办呢？

But what if we think somebody doesn't understand us, Phil?

你可以问问别人：这样说得清楚吗？

Well, can always ask other people, does that make sense?

或者主动邀请大家提问。

Or invite questions maybe.

对

Yeah.

有时候我会说，如果有什么不清楚的地方，随时告诉我，或者直接喊一声。

Sometimes I'll say things like, if any of this is confusing, just let me know, or just shout.

我通常也会在邮件里加上这句话。

I would put that in an email as well often.

如果我发了一封很长的邮件，里面有很多复杂的指示，我一般会在最后加一句：如果有任何地方看不懂，尽管告诉我。

If I've sent a really long email with lots of complicated instructions, I'd usually end with, if any of this doesn't make any sense, let me know.

因为有时候你自己觉得很清楚，但可能并没有表达得足够清楚。

Because sometimes it makes sense to you, but you maybe haven't explained it as well as you could have done.

还有，有时候你可能需要用不同的方式来表达，比如在开会时解释某个内容，看到大家一脸茫然，或者感觉大家没完全理解你的话。

Also, yeah, sometimes you might wanna say things in different ways, particularly, I don't know, you're in a meeting explaining something and you could see lots of blank faces or you're getting the feeling that people haven't understood exactly what you said.

你可以说：让我再讲得清楚一点。

You might say, let me make myself really clear.

我的意思是，换一种方式重新解释一下刚才的内容。

What I mean is and then you find a different way to explain what you've just said.

是的

Yeah.

所以与其一直用同样的表达，尤其是在国际职场里，大家都是把英语当第二语言的时候，最好换几种说法，确保每个人都听懂了。

So rather than just using the same language all the time, particularly, I guess, in an international workplace where people are speaking English as their second language, you kind of want to use a few different ways of saying it so that you make sure that everyone knows what you're talking about.

在这样的工作环境中，最好避免用太复杂的语言，尽量说得简单明了。

And maybe in that kind of workplace, not to use a lot of very complicated language, trying to keep things very simple and very clear.

我们其实有很多方法可以避免工作中出现误解，但有时候还是难免会发生。

So we have lots of ways we can try and avoid confusion and misunderstandings at work, but sometimes they happen.

我们再来听听BBC的同事尼尔和贝丝怎么说。

Let's listen to our BBC colleagues, Neil and Beth, again.

你没听懂不是问题。

It's not a problem that you have misunderstood.

只是需要再解释一下而已。

It's just it's got to be explained.

我觉得首先得指出，刚才确实存在误解。

I think first of all you have to draw attention to the fact there has been a misunderstanding.

然后你需要说明你是从什么角度理解这件事的。

Then you have to explain how you saw something from your perspective.

这样或许就能看出误解是怎么产生的。

And then maybe that will reveal why a misunderstanding happened.

这有助于把事情妥善解决。

And that helps to get it all smoothed out.

所以，就像我们节目一开始说的，如果出现了误解，有时候可能会引发冲突。

So yeah, as we mentioned at the start of the programme, if there's been a misunderstanding, sometimes it can lead to conflict.

有时候，一个人误解了另一个人，可能感到被冒犯；也有可能只是导致某人做错了事。

Sometimes maybe someone's misunderstood someone, they've become offended, but also it just might mean that somebody's ended up doing something wrong.

比如，用错了方法完成任务，或者浪费了时间做本来根本不需要做的事。

They've ended up doing a task in the wrong way, or wasted some time on a task they didn't need to do in the first place.

是的，通常最好的做法是先处理误解带来的后果，而不是马上生气或怪罪别人，先把问题解决掉。

Yeah, and it can also often be best to deal with the consequences of the misunderstanding first, rather than getting angry and blaming people, sort out the issue first.

没错，等处理完后果之后，弄清楚误解的原因会有帮助，但你更应该关注的是为什么会发生这种沟通失误，确保以后不再重蹈覆辙。

Yes, and then once you've dealt with the consequences, it can be useful to know why the misunderstanding happened, but you probably want to focus on why it happened and making sure that in the future you avoid the miscommunication.

以上就是本期《职场英语》的全部内容。

That's it for this episode of Office English.

我们很想知道你们在办公室里都用哪些英语表达，也欢迎提出你们的问题。

We'd love to hear about the English you use in the office and answer your questions.

请发送邮件到 learningenglishbbc dot co dot uk。

Email learningenglishbbc dot co dot uk.

下一期，我们会聊聊电话推销，就是你在工作中要主动联系不认识的人。

Next time, we're going to talk about cold calling, which is where you have to contact people you don't know at work.

我真的很讨厌电话推销，不过还是挺期待聊这个话题的。

Oh, I hate cold calling, but I'm looking forward to talking about it.

那我们下期见。

See you then.

再见。

Bye.

再见。

Bye.

每周通过我们的播客《The English We Speak》学一个新英语表达。

Learn a new English phrase every week with our podcast, The English We Speak.

你知道怎么随机应变吗？

Do you know how to think on your feet?

你是不是总爱拖延？

Are you always kicking the can down the road?

还是你就是喜欢唠叨个没完？

Or do you just love to yap?

三分钟内学会这些非正式英语表达，还有更多内容。

Learn these informal English expressions and more in under three minutes.

在你的播客应用里搜索‘learning English conversations’，或者访问我们的网站 bbclearningenglish.com。

Search learning English conversations on your podcast app or visit our website, bbclearningenglish.com.