你还在用“How to say”来表示“怎么说”吗？

你还在用“How to say”来表示“怎么说”吗？

中国人说英语，最常听到或用到的一句话恐怕就是“How to say?”了。我们每次不知道该说什么的时候，总会用“How to say?”来打马虎眼。但事实上“How to say?”是chinglish，是中式英语，英美人却是从来不这么说的。那么，当他们想表达“怎么说呢”这种概念的时候，他们都会怎么说呢？

 

1. How do I put it? / What should I say?

 

这是最常用的两句了。简单明了，通俗易懂哦！

 

2. I don't know what tosay.

 

过于激动、气愤、恼怒、悲伤或者高兴的时候，总会一时语塞、说不出话来。这时，你就可以说"I don't know what to say!"。比如：You say you spent $100 on the car! I don't know what to say! I can't believe you did that!（你说你花了100美元买车！我真是不知道该说什么好了，真是难以置信！）

 

3. something like that

 

有时我们是真的找不到合适的表达法。这时就可以说：

A: What do you think of the idea of permanent education? That is, letting people go on learning until they die?

B: Well, that sounds quite new to me. Do you mean evening schools, or something like that?

 

4. kind of ..., you know.

 

这个a sort of..., you know 最适合想了半天却什么也没想出来的场合，让对方从你说话的语境（context）中去判断你要表达的意思。例如：This man is so unpopular here. He is just a sort of..., you know.

这个人在这儿可不怎么受欢迎。他有点……，你懂的。

 

5. You know what I mean.

 

前面说一大通，最后不知道怎么总结，便可以用You know what I mean. 来“偷懒”喽! 例如：To be honest, this will be difficult. You know your application form will be read not just by me but by at least three members of the academic council, and it's no easy matter to have all of us agree on one thing... you know what I mean.

说实话，这很难。你知道不止一个人要看你的申请，学院委员会至少还有两个人要看。要让我们大家都同意可不是件容易的事……你知道我的意思。

 

6. 一些“会话填充词”来填补思维空白

 

此外，你还可以用一些会话中的填充词（conversational fillers）来争取一些思考的时间。常用的有：Mm, Uh, um, er, well, well then, now, actually, of course, in fact,I mean, you know, you see, as a matter of fact, shall I say..., sort of, kind of, like, and等等。这一点上课时我也强调过。

 

 

转：http://dg.youdao.com/index.php?app=group&ac=topic&id=130997