[라이브 아카데미] 영어로 영어 배우기 💡충고할 때 You should 대신 I would 라고 말하기

A: When did your daughter start speaking?

B: Well, it depends on what you mean by 'speaking', but I think she spoke her first word around 10 months or so.

A: My son is almost twenty months old now, and he's using only a few words.

B: Well, you know, kids learn at different paces. And, from what I understand it, boys tend to develop language skills slightly later than girls? So, as long as he's expressing himself, using gestures and responding when you talk to him, I wouldn't worry about him too much. But I'd keep an eye on him. And, if you haven't already, it certainly wouldn't hurt to have your pediatrician take a look at him.

 

Details.

Alright, today's lesson is pretty simple.

I want you to focus on the last few sentences especially the part where B says:

'As long as he's expressing himself, using gestures and responding when you talk to him, I wouldn't worry about it too much.'

So, when you only consider the meaning, it's pretty much the same as saying:

'You shouldn't worry about it too much'

But it's expressing that with a much more controlled tone when we're giving someone advice or making a suggestion about something.

Obviously, there are a lot of expressions that are commonly used and 'You should' is certainly one of them it's probably one of the most commonly used expressions.

However, it can often sound a little too strong a little too certain

As if, that is the only option / as if the person will suffer consequences if that action is not taken.

And once again of course sometimes that's exactly the kind of tone that we want to use, but in a lot of cases we

want to avoid that.

We want to avoid being too certain even if we're giving someone advice based on our personal experience.

So, to express that in a much more controlled way instead of saying 'You should', native speakers often say 'I wouldn't' or 'I would' (i would do this or i wouldn't do this) instead of saying 'you should or you shouldn't'

Okay? So uh going back to our conversation here

'I wouldn't worry about it too much'

Instead of saying you shouldn't worry about it, so, think of it this way, instead of telling the person what or what not

to do, you're simply sharing an idea, you're sharing your thoughts or you're sharing a potential solution for that person to consider.

That's what this feels like. That's what I mean by using a controlled tone. Okay?

So, that's what this feels like, 'I wouldn't worry about it' means maybe you shouldn't too.

All right so moving on, but 'I'd keep an eye on him'

So, it's basically the same deal here.

Instead of saying 'you should keep an eye on him', we're saying 'I would keep an eye on him'.

So maybe you should too. Okay? So y,ou're sharing your thoughts, you're sharing a solution for that person to consider and so moving on.

And, if you haven't already, it certainly wouldn't hurt to have your pediatrician take a look at him.

Again same deal, we could say 'you should have your pediatrician take a look at him' if we feel very certain.

If we feel that it's very important maybe even urgent for that person to do that, then we can say this 'you should have your pediatrician take a look at him'.

There's nothing wrong with it, it's perfectly natural.

However, in a lot of cases, we want to avoid being too certain

And, if that's the case, we might want to take on a more careful tone.

Such as this, 'it wouldn't hurt to do something' instead of 'you should'

'It certainly wouldn't hurt to do something', I'm sure you all know this expression 'It doesn't hurt to do something'

Basically, it means nothing bad can happen by doing this.

So, we say, it wouldn't hurt to do something, and if you haven't already, it certainly wouldn't hurt to have your

pediatrician take a look at him

'If you haven't already', this is another really great expression, that's very commonly used.

We often say this when we want to show the other person that we're taking into account the fact

that the person may have already done that, but if they haven't, then you know it wouldn't hurt to do this.

So it's an expression that we often use when we're giving an advice or making a suggestion, but at the same

time we're trying to show that we understand that you may have already done that, but if you haven't already, if

you haven't already done that, then you know this wouldn't hurt. Okay?

I don't think that's very hard to understand.

Okay. So the main takeaway here from this lesson is:

When you're giving someone advice or making a suggestion about something or just more generally speaking helping the person figure out a solution.

Or, you know, helping the person think things through to make a decision about something.

Instead of using a strong expression like 'you should', because again it can often sound a little too strong, so instead of saying 'you should' or 'you shouldn't' native speakers often say 'I would' or 'I wouldn't' that is the main takeaway today

 

그래서 의사표현을 하고 제스처를 쓰고 말을 걸었을 때 반응만 하는 거라면 그렇게 걱정할 필요는 없을 것 같지만 유심히 지켜볼것 같긴해요.

그리고, 아직 안 하셨다면, 소아과 의사한테 검사를 한번 받아봐서 나쁠것은 없죠.

 

So, as long as he's expressing himself, using gestures and responding when you talk to him, I wouldn't worry about him too much. But I'd keep an eye on him. And, if you haven't already, it certainly wouldn't hurt to have your pediatrician take a look at him.

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출처: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXh1Wo6fx0k&ab_channel=%EB%9D%BC%EC%9D%B4%EB%B8%8C%EC%95%84%EC%B9%B4%EB%8D%B0%EB%AF%B8