<談文論譯> 英語禮貌客氣用語was wondering 與 am wondering 蘇正隆

昨天有臉有分享實用英語禮貌客氣的用語，thoughtco.com: Learn How to Ask Polite Questions in English，不過裡頭沒提 "I was wondering if "及" I wondered if"等相當於「請問可不可以」，「請問願不願意」的客氣說法。

前天一位程度很好的學生要我幫她檢查一封英文信，其中有個句子是 "I’m wondering if it’s possible for us to sit in again." 這句子沒問題，不過我把它改為 "I was wondering if we could observe again."

我告訴同學 “was wondering is more tentative and/or polite than am wondering.”

Google search也顯示它更常用："I was wondering if we could"約有 8,560,000 項結果；"I'm wondering if it's possible" 約有481,000 項結果。(July 28, 2017)

Macmillan English Dictionary 裡就有以下例句：

I was wondering whether you would like to come to the theatre with me?

I wondered if you could possibly lend me some money?

無論是口語或書信，"I was wondering if you could" 及 "I wondered if you could" 都是常見表示客氣的用語，可惜台灣學校裡似乎沒教，甚至有些老師還以為是時態用錯了！ (Jerome Su, July 30, 2017)