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