職場で英語を使う時、
「こんな微妙なことはどう言えばいいんだろう？？」
と悩むことはありませんか？
そんな悩みを解決するべく、
今後、ビジネスで使える英語表現を
シリーズ「Weekly Workplace Word Wisdom」として
お送りしていくことにしました。
ネイティブ・スピーカーからのWisdom（知恵・知識）を
ぜひ日常生活にお役立てください！
さて、第一回目は「遅刻の言い訳」です。
仕事には
遅刻しない事がもちろん大切ですが
もし、遅刻してしまった場合に
是非ご利用ください。
===============================================
Ok, it happens, there are times that we are late for work.
There are a variety of reasons why; sometimes it is our fault, and other times it is completely out of our control.
Here are some useful English expressions that you can use when it happens to you;
Regardless of the reason, you should always start with an apology;
①まずは謝りましょう！
-I am sorry I am late….
-I am really sorry…
-I am terribly sorry..
-Please forgive me for being late….
Then we need to give a reason for our late arrival;
②理由を述べるとしたら・・・
-I overslept.
-I slept through my alarm.
-I missed my train.
-The train was delayed.
-There was an incident on the Chuo line.
-The Keiyo line was shut-down because of the wind.
We usually close with a comment about the future to show we have learned from our mistakes or from the situation. In this case of an error on our part we might say;
③今後の解決策を示すとしたら・・・
-It won’t happen again.
-I will be more careful in the future.
or if we could have anticipated the problem, such as the case with weather we might say;
-I will take the Tozai line next time.
-Next time I will check the weather forecast/traffic reports before leaving home.
Of course there are times when you are late because of factors that you could not anticipate or avoid and your language should reflect this. You cannot promise that it won’t happen again if you do not have control over the situation.
（おまけ）不可抗力の場合、こんな言い訳も・・・
-It was out of my control.
-There was nothing I could do.
-It was unavoidable.
Ideally the best scenario is to avoid being late, but when it happens, remember to apologize, state what happened and make a promise for the future, do keep in mind that honesty is the best policy.
Example)
"I am terribly sorry that I was late this morning. I was reading the annual report on the train and missed my stop. It won’t happen again."
===============================================
vol.1ではJonathan講師に
アドバイスをいただきました。
謝罪をする際に
正直になるのが一番なのは、日本でも同じですね。
もちろん、
親戚に不幸があった・・・等の
嘘の言い訳はNGだそうです。
事務局・山口