美語情景對話 第380期:Bar Service 酒吧服務

Todd: So, Simon, you live in Japan and you were just in Germany. How is the service in restaurants different in Japan than it is in Germany?

託德：西蒙，現在你在日本生活，而之前你在德國生活過一段時間。日本餐廳和德國餐廳的服務有什麼不同嗎？

Simon: Yeah, I can talk about that. Well, I might be stereo-typing here and I'll talk about maybe Japan, Germany or Europe, and then North America. Ah, I think in Germany there was definitely an emphasis on efficiency, so when I went into a pub and I said, "I wanna order a beer" and Munich is famous for beer, so there's many kinds, so I was thinking."What should I order? What should I order?" and the server said, "Well, you can't decide, I'll come back in a minute. Thank you" and then quickly off. In Japan, if I did the same thing, the emphasis would be on politeness, so the server would wait and if I said, "Mm, what should I order?" the server would patiently wait and says "Take your time. I'm here," you know. You know, "Thank you for deciding," things like that. And you know, in my home in Canada, Vancouver, you know, they would try to be cool and friendly, so everybody would be like "Hey, did you try our special? Would you like to drink our special beer today?" you know and smile, you know, and that's that, so Japan the emphasis would be on politeness. In Germany, or Europe, the emphasis would be on efficiency and in North America the emphasis would be on friendliness or being cool.

西蒙：有，我可以談一下。我可能會有些刻板印象，我會談一下日本、德國、歐洲和北美的不同。我認爲德國絕對是注重效率的國家，比如我走進一家酒吧說“給我來杯啤酒”，因爲慕尼黑以啤酒著稱，所以那裏有許多種啤酒，那我就會想“我要點哪種啤酒呢？我要點哪種啤酒？”這時服務員就會說，“你現在好像還沒有決定點什麼，那我一會兒再過來爲你點餐。謝謝你”，之後就會快速離開。而日本注重的是禮貌，所以如果我做同樣的事情，服務員會等在旁邊，如果我說，“嗯，我要點什麼呢？”服務員會耐心地在旁等候，並說“慢慢來，不着急。我就等在這裏。”你知道，他們會說“謝謝你的決定”這類的事情。你知道我家在加拿大溫哥華，那裏的氛圍又酷又友好，所以服務員會說“嘿，試試我們的特色啤酒吧？今天來杯我們的特色啤酒怎麼樣？”，他們會微笑着說這種話。所以日本注重的是禮貌。而德國，或者說歐洲注重的是效率，而北美注重的則是友好或是酷酷的感覺。

Todd: Interesting.

託德：真有意思。

重點講解：
1. be famous for
因……而聞名；
eg. The parks of this city are famous for their ornate fountains.
這個城市的公園以其華麗的噴泉而著名。
eg. David is famous for his billiards technic.
大衛因他的檯球技術而出名。
2. in a minute
馬上，立刻；
eg. Should anyone call, say I shall be back in a minute.
如果有人來找我，就說我一會兒回來。
eg. I have a meeting in a minute.
我待會兒有個會議。
3. take one's time
不着急；不慌忙；慢慢來；
eg. "Take your time," Cross told him. "I'm in no hurry."
“慢慢來，”克羅斯對他說，“我一點都不急。”
eg. She wanted her kids to take their time over their homework, as haste makes waste.
她要孩子們慢慢寫作業，因爲欲速則不達。