What do you do? - Asking about Jobs and Occupations in English
146,816 views γ» 2016-08-25
Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.
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Do you work or study?
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I bet many of you already have a job.
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Do you sometimes get asked about the work that you do?
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Do you know common ways to ask about someone's job in English?
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That's what we'll cover in this lesson.
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A common question is: What do you do?
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It's often said very fast.
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A variation is: Can I ask what you do?
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This second one is a little more polite
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because you're asking for permission to pose a personal question.
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In any case, people usually respond and tell you what you want to know.
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If someone replies and you don't understand their answer,
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ask for clarification. Listen.
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What do you do? - I'm an English teacher.
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English literature?
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No, I teach English as a second language. - Oh.
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There are other questions you can ask to find out what someone's job is.
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What do you do?
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Oh. What kind?
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What do you do for a living?
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How long have you been doing that?
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What line of work are you in?
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How long have you been doing that?
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What kind of work do you do?
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How about you? What do you do for a living?
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What you don't usually ask is:
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Although grammatically correct, these questions don't sound polite or natural.
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You could ask, "What is your profession?" / "What is your occupation?"
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But those questions sound like their part of an interview...official and formal.
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In the U.S., it's generally acceptable to ask someone what their job is
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even if you've just met.
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It's also safe to ask for a few details.
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For example:
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Be careful not to get too personal too quickly, though.
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If it's a friendly conversation, you can probe a little deeper.
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You can ask:
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Don't ask about wages or salaries.
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Americans don't usually discuss how much they earn openly.
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Also, pay attention to a person's response.
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You may understand very quickly that a person doesn't want to talk about work.
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And that's okay.
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As for me, I love what I do, so feel free to ask me about my job.
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I find teaching to be very rewarding.
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It's a wonderful profession.
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So I'm going to leave you with a few final expressions
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that you can use if you love your work as much as I love mine.
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That's all for now. Thanks for watching and happy studies!
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