内容简介

职场中难免会犯错，但犯错后应该如何得体地承认失误、表达歉意，并向同事或上司说明情况呢？本期节目中，我们分享一些实用的英语表达，帮助你在承认错误、解释原因和说明改进措施时表达得更加自然、专业。

文字稿

（关于台词的备注: 请注意这不是广播节目的逐字稿件。本文稿可能没有体现录制、编辑过程中对节目做出的改变。）

Buli
Hi Georgie. How are you doing?

Georgie
Hmm, I'm OK… a little bit embarrassed!

Buli
Oh no, why?

Georgie
Well, I was given an important project at work, and I completely forgot to finish it! I must've forgotten to put it on my to-do list – oops!

Buli
Oh dear. Well, you can make up for it by helping me to answer a listener's question. Funnily enough, it's all about work failures!

Question
Hi BBC Learning English. I have accidently failed some tasks at work lately, and don't know how to tell people about them. Could you share some expressions I can use to say 'sorry, I missed that' or 'sorry, I failed'? How do people mention their failures to other people in English, and/or soften the blow?

Buli
这位听众提到，自己最近在工作中遇到了点小麻烦，有一些事情没能顺利完成。在这种时候，怎么跟别人说 “我有些任务进展不顺利” 或者 “目标没完成” 可能还真的有些难以启齿。

Georgie
Gosh. Well, I can relate to this question! Don't worry. I can tell you exactly how I dealt with my situation.

Buli
Great! OK, so in your situation, it was your fault, so it's best to take accountability – that means you acknowledge your responsibility.

刚才 Georgie就提到，她最近不小心把一项工作给忘了。当我们由于自己的原因出现了失误的时候，经常需要 “take accountability”，也就是 “承担责任，主动承认和接受自己的错误，并采取行动进行弥补”。

What did you say when you forgot to complete the project on time, Georgie?

Georgie
Well, to introduce the issue, I said: "There's something I need to draw your attention to." Then, "I didn't meet the deadline, and I apologise for that." You could also say, 'I take responsibility for that,' or an informal expression, 'I dropped the ball on that.’

Buli
Those are some good tips, and they are all expressions showing sincerity.

常有人说 “真诚才是最大的武器”。在英语中，我们可以用 “There's something I need to draw your attention to（有件事得请你关注一下）” 来引出具体出问题的事情，然后再用 “I apologise for that” 或者 “I take responsibility for that” 来诚恳地承认错误。如果事情并不严重，或者你在和关系较好的人口头交流，那么还可以说 “I dropped the ball on that”，意思就是 “我不小心把那事搞砸了”。

But next, you've got to put forward a solution. You need to let your manager or colleague know that you want to reduce the negative consequences.

Georgie
Exactly. You could say, 'But don't worry, I have a plan to sort it out. Here's what we can do.' Then, you should tell them how you plan to fix it. In my case, I said that I would finish the project this afternoon, so it would only be a day late.

Buli
这位听众在问题中提到了一个很有意思的表达 “soften the blow”，它的意思就是 “减弱打击，降低坏消息的影响”。 而在英语职场中，“soften the blow” 的最好方式就是在呈现问题的同时提供一个解决方案。比如，Georgie 刚才提到的表达 “I have a plan to sort it out（我有个解决问题的办法）” 和 “Here's what we can do（我们可以这样做）” 都可以帮助我们强调自己已经想好了如何解决这个问题。

So, after owning up to your mistake, then providing a plan to fix it. What's next, Georgie?

Georgie
To reassure other people, the next stage is to show how it will not happen again. In my case, I just said: “I'll make sure to write a clear to-do list each morning so nothing can be forgotten.”

Buli
OK. But what about in a situation where an error has happened, such as the wrong email being sent out, or a spelling error in a report? What could you say?

Georgie
You could say, 'Let me get to the bottom of how that happened so that it doesn't happen again.' The expression 'get to the bottom of something' means you investigate the problem by analysing it deeply to understand why it happened.

Buli
That's very useful. I've also heard the phrase 'rest assured', for example 'Rest assured, it won't happen again.'

大多数时候，我们遇到的可能都是一些小问题。比如，偶尔忘了事或者写错了信息，并不需要特别复杂的解决方案。这时，我们就可以用 “Let me get to the bottom of how that happened.” 来表示 “我会仔细研究一下为什么出现了这个问题”，或者用 “Rest assured, it won't happen again.” 来向对方保证 “放心吧，下次我肯定不会再出错了”。

Georgie
Yeah, that's a good one. Very professional.

Buli
你正在收听的是 BBC 英语教学制作的 “你问我答” 节目。在本期节目中，我和 Georgie 正在讨论当我们在工作里犯错时，如何用英语承认错误、降低影响，从而维护好和他人的关系。

Georgie
I think the best thing to keep in mind is that you want to acknowledge the issue, apologise, give a brief explanation about why it happened, and then give the next steps. I made a mistake, and here's what I'm doing about it.

Buli
Yeah, it's all about reassurance. Something has gone wrong, but you're going to fix it, or at least learn from it.

Buli
其实不只是工作，我们在生活中有时难免也会犯点 “小迷糊”。比如，忘记和他人的约定、错过了见面的时间或者不小心摔坏了东西等等。在这些时候，直截了当地说 “Sorry that I missed that.（抱歉，我把那件事忘了；我没注意到那件事）” 或者 “I must apologise for something.（我得为一件事道个歉）”，永远比闭口不言给人留下的印象要好得多。

Georgie
Yeah. I dropped the ball, but I'll do better next time! Remember, if you have a question that you'd like us to answer, you can email us too at questions.chinaelt@bbc.co.uk

Buli
你还可以通过微博向我们提问。我们的微博账号是 “BBC英语教学”。Bye!

Georgie
Bye!