商業英語溝通策略一：告?"how to say"的年代

如果要列出英文錯誤排行榜，"How to say?"這句話肯定列得上前十名。我們很不自覺地，每次不知道該說什麼時，就來一句"How to say?"（怎麼說）。基本上"How to say?"文法上就不對。當找不到合適的詞時，要怎麼說呢？

• How do I put it? / What should I say?
  這是最常用的兩句了。簡單明瞭，通俗易懂。
  
• I don't know what to say.
  過於激動、氣憤、惱怒、悲傷或者高興的時候，總會一時語塞、說不出話來。這時，可以說"I don't know what to say!"。比如：
  You say you spent $100 on that car! I don't know what to say! I can't believe you did that! !（你說你花了100美元買車！我真是不知道該說什麼好了，真是難以置信！）
  
• Something like it/ whatever you call it
  有時真的找不到合適的表達法。就可以說：
  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 it?
  實在不知道permanent education是怎麼回事，於是就用and ... and something like it?來代替了。
  
• A sort of ..., you know.
  這個a sort of..., you know 最適合想了半天卻什麼也沒想出來的場合，讓對方從你說話的context中去判斷你要表達的意思。!
  例如：This man is so popular here. He is just a sort of ..., you know.
  這個人在這裡真受歡迎。他真是......，你知道的。
  
• You know what I mean.
  前面說很多，不容易總結，可以用You know what I mean.。
  例如：To be honest, this will be difficult. You know your application form will be read 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.
  老實說，這很難。你的申請起碼必須經過三位評審委員審核。要讓大家意見一致不是件容易的事......總之，你知道我的意思。
  
• 還可以用一些conversational fillers來爭取一些思考的時間。常用的有： well then，now，actuall! y，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。