Jo:  You’re looking a bit puzzled Jean – is everything OK? 
 
Jean:  Oh hi Jo – 是，我真的是很伤脑筋。I’m filling in a form and it’s all just a bit confusing 真的把我搞糊涂了！
 
Jo:  Well maybe I can help you – and we can also help Rose Guo from Beijing who wrote to us saying she wants some advice on filling in forms in English.
 
Jean:  我们本周BBC Learning English《你问我答》节目中正是为大家解答在用英语填写表格的时候容易遇到的一些问题。- 希望节目里学习之后我也能轻松从容的把我手上的这个表格填完！
 
Jo:  So what’s confusing you Jean?
 Jean:    Well it says I have to write my family name 就是我名字里的姓 but then it also says initials 姓名中的大写字母and I don’t know what to write.
 
Jo:  Ah OK – well let’s get some advice on this from our BBC Learning English expert, Callum.
 
Insert
 
I need to explain a little bit about how we do names in Britain. My name is Callum Robertson. Callum is my given name. My family name, my last name, my surname– is Robertson. On a form it might just say, What’s your initial? And your initial is the first letter of your name – so for example my name is Callum but the initial is C. But if I’m asked to write my name with initials I do include my middle names so I would put C.J.S. Robertson.
 
Jean:  Callum 他说到了given names – 就是你的父母给你起的名字。在西方，有的时候这个名字的另一个叫法是Christian name, 也就是你的first name或者有的表格上要求你填写的F.O.R.E. forename, 就是你的名而不是你的姓。
 
Jo:  Then he talked about his family name – which is sometimes called your surname or your last name.
 
Jean:  所以在英语里，一个人名字的姓一般有三种叫法 – family name, last name或者 S.U.R. surname. 
 
   2
Jo:  On forms it might just ask you to write your initial and your family name. So Callum explains that your initial is the first letter of your given name.His name is Callum so his initial is C.
 
Jean:  在英国和其它很多国家，你的父母给你起的不只是你经常用的这个名字，他们还会给你起一个中间名 middle name，放在名和姓之间。这样的中间名其实并不十分常用，一般只是会出现在你的身份证等正式文件上。通常大家互相称呼都用不到这样的中间名，都是直接叫名字，像 Callum，Jean 或者 Jo。很多时候，父母会给子女起不只一个的中间名。
 
Jo:  A middle name.
 
Jean:  所以如果你的父母给你起了中间名，你名字的全称排列顺序就是你的名字、中间名、后面跟姓。而需要给出 initial 名字全称的第一个字母的时候，就要写上这些中间名的头一个字母。比如 Callum 的全名是 Callum  James Stewart Robertson – 所以如果要写他名字的大写字母后面跟姓氏的话，就是C.J.S. Robertson. 
 
Jo:  Here  are  some  other  things  that  you might  see  and need  to  know when you fill in a form in English.
 
Insert
 
Title is how you are referred to officially – for men it’s usually Mr. and for women it can be Mrs, Miss or Ms. And also if you have a title that you have earned – for example if you’re a doctor, then rather than Mr. you would be Dr.
 
D.O.B. stands for date of birth, so if you see the initials D.O.B. it means, when were you born? 
 
When we sign our name it can be very difficult to actually read what it says so you’ll also be asked to print your name which means write your name clearly using letters that are not joined up together.
 
If you are asked to write in block capitals it means write everything – all of the letters in every word as a capital letter.
 
Jean:  That is so useful – I think I can complete my form now. So title is 头衔、称谓，就是你比较正式的头衔或者尊称。
 
Jo:  It’s how you’re referred to officially – so Mr. for men and Mrs. Ms. or Miss for a woman. 
 
Jean:  男士一般的称谓是Mr，不过女性就不只是一种了：如果你是已婚那你的title就应该是“夫人”Mrs，如果未婚则是“小姐”Miss。不过有人觉得这很不公平，为什么女的分得这么清楚而男的已婚未婚酒都没区别。所以后来就又发明出了一个女性的title就是 Ms“女士”。如果你是读过博士学位毕业，你的title也可以是doctor，以此来代替Mr。诸如此类的例子还有很多。
 
Jo:  D.O.B. means date of birth – the date you were born.
 
Jean:  Date of birth出生日期有时在英文表格上以缩写的形式出现D.O.B. 还有的时候在个人签名signature一栏旁，表格会要求你拼出你的姓名，因为有的人签名是比较龙飞凤舞，很难分辨出他的名字拼写。所以Print在这里出现的时候就是让你以印刷体写字的意思。写联体字就是… 
   3
 
Jo:  Joined-up writing. So if a form says ‘print your name’ next to the signature you write your name clearly using letters that aren't joined up. And finally you are often asked on forms to write in block capitals, so write every letter as a capital so it’s easier to read.
 
Jean:  以大写字母拼写，这样的方式填写表格会让对方比较容易看清楚、看得懂。Thank you for all that useful information Jo and Callum.
 
Jo:  And we hope that helped you too Rose. Now don't forget you can email us with any question you have about English – questions.chinaelt@bbc.co.uk And you can see other questions we’ve answered on our website www.bbcchina.com.cn.  
 
Jean:    Right I’m going to finish off this form then. See you next time.
 
Jo:    Good luck with it Jean. Bye.  

Jo:  You’re looking a bit puzzled Jean – is everything OK?
 
Jean:  Oh hi Jo – 是，我真的是很伤脑筋。I’m filling in a form and it’s all just a bit confusing 真的把我搞糊涂了！
 
Jo:  Well maybe I can help you – and we can also help Rose Guo from Beijing who wrote to us saying she wants some advice on filling in forms in English.
 
Jean:  我们本周BBC Learning English《你问我答》节目中正是为大家解答在用英语填写表格的时候容易遇到的一些问题。- 希望节目里学习之后我也能轻松从容的把我手上的这个表格填完！
 
Jo:  So what’s confusing you Jean?
 Jean:    Well it says I have to write my family name 就是我名字里的姓 but then it also says initials 姓名中的大写字母and I don’t know what to write.
 
Jo:  Ah OK – well let’s get some advice on this from our BBC Learning English expert, Callum.
 
Insert
 
I need to explain a little bit about how we do names in Britain. My name is Callum Robertson. Callum is my given name. My family name, my last name, my surname– is Robertson. On a form it might just say, What’s your initial? And your initial is the first letter of your name – so for example my name is Callum but the initial is C. But if I’m asked to write my name with initials I do include my middle names so I would put C.J.S. Robertson.
 
Jean:  Callum 他说到了given names – 就是你的父母给你起的名字。在西方，有的时候这个名字的另一个叫法是Christian name, 也就是你的first name或者有的表格上要求你填写的F.O.R.E. forename, 就是你的名而不是你的姓。
 
Jo:  Then he talked about his family name – which is sometimes called your surname or your last name.
 
Jean:  所以在英语里，一个人名字的姓一般有三种叫法 – family name, last name或者 S.U.R. surname. 
 
   2
Jo:  On forms it might just ask you to write your initial and your family name. So Callum explains that your initial is the first letter of your given name.His name is Callum so his initial is C.
 
Jean:  在英国和其它很多国家，你的父母给你起的不只是你经常用的这个名字，他们还会给你起一个中间名 middle name，放在名和姓之间。这样的中间名其实并不十分常用，一般只是会出现在你的身份证等正式文件上。通常大家互相称呼都用不到这样的中间名，都是直接叫名字，像 Callum，Jean 或者 Jo。很多时候，父母会给子女起不只一个的中间名。
 
Jo:  A middle name.
 
Jean:  所以如果你的父母给你起了中间名，你名字的全称排列顺序就是你的名字、中间名、后面跟姓。而需要给出 initial 名字全称的第一个字母的时候，就要写上这些中间名的头一个字母。比如 Callum 的全名是 Callum  James Stewart Robertson – 所以如果要写他名字的大写字母后面跟姓氏的话，就是C.J.S. Robertson. 
 
Jo:  Here  are  some  other  things  that  you might  see  and need  to  know when you fill in a form in English.
 
Insert
 
Title is how you are referred to officially – for men it’s usually Mr. and for women it can be Mrs, Miss or Ms. And also if you have a title that you have earned – for example if you’re a doctor, then rather than Mr. you would be Dr.
 
D.O.B. stands for date of birth, so if you see the initials D.O.B. it means, when were you born? 
 
When we sign our name it can be very difficult to actually read what it says so you’ll also be asked to print your name which means write your name clearly using letters that are not joined up together.
 
If you are asked to write in block capitals it means write everything – all of the letters in every word as a capital letter.
 
Jean:  That is so useful – I think I can complete my form now. So title is 头衔、称谓，就是你比较正式的头衔或者尊称。
 
Jo:  It’s how you’re referred to officially – so Mr. for men and Mrs. Ms. or Miss for a woman. 
 
Jean:  男士一般的称谓是Mr，不过女性就不只是一种了：如果你是已婚那你的title就应该是“夫人”Mrs，如果未婚则是“小姐”Miss。不过有人觉得这很不公平，为什么女的分得这么清楚而男的已婚未婚酒都没区别。所以后来就又发明出了一个女性的title就是 Ms“女士”。如果你是读过博士学位毕业，你的title也可以是doctor，以此来代替Mr。诸如此类的例子还有很多。
 
Jo:  D.O.B. means date of birth – the date you were born.
 
Jean:  Date of birth出生日期有时在英文表格上以缩写的形式出现D.O.B. 还有的时候在个人签名signature一栏旁，表格会要求你拼出你的姓名，因为有的人签名是比较龙飞凤舞，很难分辨出他的名字拼写。所以Print在这里出现的时候就是让你以印刷体写字的意思。写联体字就是… 
   3
 
Jo:  Joined-up writing. So if a form says ‘print your name’ next to the signature you write your name clearly using letters that aren't joined up. And finally you are often asked on forms to write in block capitals, so write every letter as a capital so it’s easier to read.
 
Jean:  以大写字母拼写，这样的方式填写表格会让对方比较容易看清楚、看得懂。Thank you for all that useful information Jo and Callum.
 
Jo:  And we hope that helped you too Rose. Now don't forget you can email us with any question you have about English – questions.chinaelt@bbc.co.uk And you can see other questions we’ve answered on our website www.bbcchina.com.cn.  
 
Jean:    Right I’m going to finish off this form then. See you next time.
 
Jo:    Good luck with it Jean. Bye.