Bizmates初級ビジネス英会話 Point 135 ”a bit of a stretch”

初級者向けビジネス英会話 Bizmates for beginners 第135弾は、”a bit of a stretch” です。

どう考えても無理矢理なスケジュールで仕事を頼まれることってありますよね。
今回はそんな場面で使える表現をご紹介します。

ヒカは同僚のタロウに仕事を依頼しました。

“Taro, could you finish this by tomorrow?”
「このレポート、明日までに仕上げてくれる？」

「それは難しいな。」
と言いたい場合、あなたがタロウなら何と言いますか？

“It is difficult. ”

良く聞く表現ですが、こんな時もっと自然な言い回しがあります。

そこで、
“Sorry that’s a bit of a stretch.”

と言ってみましょう！とても使える表現です。

発音もビデオでチェック！
ぜひこの表現を使ってみてください。

Hello and welcome to this Bizmates for
beginners video series

and today's idiom is
a bit of a stretch

OK, just a bit of a stretch.
What does this mean we will

find out but first let's do our test.
So let's imagine we are colleagues and I say:

What did the customers say?
Did you receive a reply from your customer?

And you say...

That's right.
No word yet.

OK no response yet. I hope you got that
ok thats go on to today's idiom

a bit of a stretch

Now here's what I sometimes hear.
OK, so imagine Taro is my colleague

and I say: Taro, could you finish this by
tomorrow? This report by tomorrow?

And he says:
It is difficult.

OK this is a very common answer I hear.
Not "yes" or "no"

It is difficult. OK, but it's not such a
natural response in English.

OK, so here's a more natural way to say this.

So if I say:
Taro, could you finish this by tomorrow?

And Taro says:
Sorry that's a bit of a stretch.

OK, it's the deadline, it's too tight to finish.

I can't reach the deadline.
It's a bit of a stretch.

OK you can imagine the deadline is there,
I can't reach it. It's a bit of a stretch.

OK, let's look at pronunciation, it's:
Sorry, that's abitofa...

abitofa stretch.
Sorry, that's abitofa stretch. You try...

Good. OK, with my question:
So could you finish this by tomorrow?

OK well maybe the day after tomorrow then.

OK, so for homework next time, I will say:

Can you finish this by tomorrow?
And you say...

Sorry, that's a bit of a stretch.

Please remember this and we will
see you next time. Thank you.