Real World English: Holiday and Vacation
現實世界常用英語：Holiday（假期）和 Vacation（假期）
Do you say you're going on "holiday" or on "vacation"? What's the difference? And what on earth is a bank holiday, anyway? The answers depend on what variety of English you speak, and that depends on where you live or where you come from.
要表達自己去度假，你會用「holiday」還是「vacation」？兩個單字有什麼差別呢？而「bank holiday」又是什麼呢？答案其實取決於你講哪種英文，住在哪裡或者來自哪裡。
If you take a week or two off work, that's a "holiday" in British English and a "vacation" in American English. "Holiday" is often used in the plural. You can talk about what happened on your holidays or look forward to the summer holidays. If it's clear which one you mean, you can just say "the holidays." For American English, just replace "holiday," or "holidays," with "vacation." But never say "vacations." Simple, right? Not really. There's more.
如果你工作休假了一兩個禮拜，英式英文會用「holiday」，而美式英文會用「vacation」。「Holiday」通常都會用複數。像是你可以跟別人聊聊你假期（holidays）發生什麼事情，或者也可以說自己很期待暑假（summer holidays）。如果語境很清楚，你可以直接說「the holidays」就好。在美式英文中，要表達假期，就把「holiday」或「holidays」換成「vacation」即可。但千萬不能說「vacations」。簡單吧？其實沒那麼簡單。還有一些概念要釐清。
Although "vacation" isn't used in British English, "holiday" is used in American English, where it means a national legal day off work, like Thanksgiving or Independence Day. So, you could have a holiday during a vacation—if you're having time off work when a national holiday took place. In Britain, it's different. These national days off are called "bank holidays." If you're unsure of which word to use when you're communicating internationally, you could always say "public holiday" instead. "Public holiday" is common to British and American English and is used all over the world.
雖然英式英文中不會用到「vacation」這個字，但美式英文中會用到「holiday」，此時「holiday」是「國定假日」的意思，像是感恩節或美國國慶日。所以說，在假期（vacation）中有可能包含國定節日放的假（holiday）－－如果你在休假期間剛好遇到國定假日的話。英式英文就不同了。這些國定假日稱作「bank holidays」。如果你在國際交流中不知道該運用哪個單字的話，可以改成說「public holiday」。「Public holiday」這個說法在英式和美式英文中都很常用，全世界都通用。
And now that you're going on holiday or vacation, when exactly are you going? In our next video, we'll look at how people talk about dates and times in different varieties of English. I'll see you then.
那既然你要去度假了，你確切什麼時間要出發呢？我們下個影片要來看看在不同的英語環境中，大家會怎麼表達日期和時間。到時候見。
