文／dr.j.j.

中文裡常會形容某人的工作能力在某些方面很「強」，當然在英文用法裡並不會直接翻譯成 “strong” 這個字，反而比較常用的是另一字 “forte”（強項）。

在音樂中，“forte”是強音的記號，而其衍生之意，就是指抽象的專長，這跟通常用來指涉實際體能上的 “strong”完全不同。

philip：hey, i heard that our new boss is from holland and he doesn’ t speak a word of chinese. how am i going to communicate with him in the future? i’ m really getting paranoiac.

philip：嘿，我聽說我們新老闆是從荷蘭來的，而且一句中文也不會。以後我怎麼跟他溝通啊？我真是快抓狂了。

alex：so just speak english with him then! i don’ t understand why you’re being so frightened.

alex：那你就跟他用英文啊！真搞不懂你在怕什麼。

philip：you’ re not listening to me. you’ ve known me since childhood and you know languages were never my forte at school. i only know how to say “hi” and then “bye.” that’ s as far as i got.

philip：你根本沒仔細聽我說。你可是從小就認識我的，在學校時，語言從來就不是我的強項。我只會說hi，然後就bye了，我就會這麼多而已啊。

alex：stop panicking. you know all those technical terms in english. even you just say those terms in english, i’ m sure your new boss will understand you perfectly.

alex：別慌。你知道那些專業術語英文怎麼說啊，即使你只用英文講那些術語,你老闆一定聽得懂你要講什麼啦！

philip：do you think it’ s too late if i start practicing english from now on?

philip：你想我現在開始練習英文來得及嗎？

alex：yes, it’ s too late!

alex：來不及了！

philip：gosh, you are really good at comforting people!

philip：厚～你還真的很會安慰人也耶！