[交流] two funny stories——Can you speak English?/Do you speak English? 已有2人参与

Once I asked directions at Frankfurt airport,,,blablabla,,,after I said my words, the guy whom I caught was quite bewildered. Maybe he is a native speaker and incapable of speaking English. I thought, however, I did not wanna walk away.
With the thought that I must caught at every straw, I asked him, "Can you speak English?"
"Of course I can!" his face seemed to have a bit of resentment.
"oh, I'm sorry, I do not mean to offend you,,,blablabla,,,well, do you speak English?" I decided to make a desperate attempt.
"I am afraid not, 'cause I am French!" , an arrogant and proud smile in his face could be even felt by plants, I swear.
faint,,,sigh,,, "I full U(我服了你)" I said silently. I met a Frenchman in Germany who can speak English but not willing to speak it.

When it comes to facing this situation, which one would be better? Hope my little story would help you make the distinction between ‘can you speak English’ (你会说英语吗)and ’do you speak English‘（可以说英语吗）.
Generally speaking, when we wanna figure out whether or not someone speak English in daily life, it is native and well known as good manners to use ‘do you speak English’ rather than ‘can you speak English’. The latter tend to offend by comprehended that you question his capability of speaking English.

Another funny story can be found in New Concept ⅡLesson14.

Do you speak English?

I had an amusing experience last year. After I had left a small village in the south of France, I drove on to the next town. On the way, a young man waved to me. I stopped and he asked me for a lift. As soon as he had got into the car, I said good morning to him in French and he replied in the same language. Apart from a few word I do not know any French at all. Neither of us spoke during the journey. I had nearly reached the town, when the young man suddenly said, very slowly, "Do you speak English?"As I soon learnt, he was English himself!

有次我在法兰克福机场问路，blablabla，，问完后那人一脸茫然地看着我。莫非是个不会说英语的德国人？我暗自纳闷，但我不想就此放弃，得抓住每根救命稻草哇，于是我问道：“你会说英语么？”
“当然会！”，他似乎有点愠怒。
“哦对不起，我无意冒犯，，，，好吧，，，你可以说英语么？”，我有点孤注一掷了。
“不好意思了，我可是法国人耶！”
那一刻我敢说，连不会大战僵尸的植物也能感觉到，他脸上一丝不易被察觉的微笑里，全都是骄傲与自负呀。
我晕，，汗，，我服了你。在德国机场里遇到一个会说英语但又不愿说的法国家伙。

当我们遇到这种情况时，用哪个词更合适呢？希望我的故事能给你些启示。
一般说来，当我们不能确定对方是否在日常生活中使用英语时，比较地道和有礼貌的方式是用‘do you speak English’ 而不是 ‘can you speak English’，后者容易被对方理解成质疑其会否说英语的能力。

无独有偶，新概念里也有个关于说英语的有趣故事。
第二册14课：
去年我有过一次有趣的经历。在离开法国南部的一个小村庄后，我继续驶往下一个城镇。途中，一个青年人向我招手。我把车停下，他向我提出要求搭车。他一上车，我就用法语向他问早上好，他也同样用法语回答我。除了个别几个单词外，我根本不会法语。旅途中我们谁也没讲话。就要到达那个镇时，那青年突然开了口，慢慢地说道：“你会讲英语吗？”
我很快了解到，他自己就是个英国人！

虽然问题很小很简单，但却是最常用到的。你注意到这细节了吗？能给没注意到的童鞋提个醒，我就心满意足啦，大家表嫌我啰嗦，表拍我掉书袋哦，欢迎探讨指正