# よく仕事をしますか



## José_A

Hello, everyone:
I need to know what this means:
よく仕事をしますか
I think it means something like:
Are there a lot of jobs to take? or maybe Are there a lot of works to do?
Can anyone give me a hand here, please?
Thanks a lot!!


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## akimura

José_A said:


> I need to know what this means:
> よく仕事をしますか



Would you please give us the context?  Standalone, the sentence means "Do [you] often work?".  I can't imagine this sentence is used to start your conversation.  I'm not saying it's totally impossible, but it is more likely that some conversation has already taken place, and then the sentence you are referring to should come.  Then, depending on the context, the translation varies...


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## José_A

Well, there is no context per se.
It's a homework where we are shown a picture and we have to respond some questions, and one of those questions is  よく仕事をしますか. The picture is the picture of a beach.
What do you think it could mean?


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## akimura

José_A said:


> Well, there is no context per se.
> It's a homework where we are shown a picture and we have to respond some questions, and one of those questions is  よく仕事をしますか. The picture is the picture of a beach.
> What do you think it could mean?



Okay, I guess the sentence in question is designed for language learners, where only limited words and sentence structures already taught were allowed in the design.  That's probably why the original sentence sounds a little unusual, but it's grammatically perfect, and it means what it means.

So, I believe we can say the sentence still means _Do you often work_.  It's a language practice, so I don't think you need to take the question too carefully (like me).  I think you have only to answer, "Yes, I work every weekday.  I'm a car designer."  Or something like that.

Seriously, though, from the original question, particularly asked on the beach, the only situation I can imagine is millionaires' talking:_(On the beach)
_Millionaire A: よく仕事をしますか。 
    (Do you often work?)
Millionaire B: よく、ではありません。一年に３週間です。
    (Not often.  Three weeks a year.)​Or José, if you are a millionaire, Millionaire B's answer is the perfect example you need!


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## Wishfull

José_A said:


> Well, there is no context per se.
> It's a homework where we are shown a picture and we have to respond some questions, and one of those questions is  よく仕事をしますか. The picture is the picture of a beach.
> What do you think it could mean?



Hi.

I think this means "Do you work 24-7?" "Are you workaholic?"

If the picture were a scene of busy business meeting, the answer would be affirmative.
But in this scenario, the picture is not a busy business scene, so you would be expected to answer a negative one.

Let's imagine a textbook for a 5-6 years old children.
The textbook adopted such a way.
It is very absurd thing for adult-learners in a sense, which might cause much confusion, ironically.


I think the answer is "No, I don't. I go to the beach when I'm off. or I often quit working and go to the beach.　I enjoy my off-time."
よく仕事をしますか
いいえ。よく休みをとります。

Basically, I totally agree with akimura.


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## akimura

Wishfull said:


> I think this means "Do you work 24-7?" "Are you workaholic?"



I thought of this possibility, too.  よく働きますか could mean _Do you work a lot_.  よく could mean _often_, _a lot_, or another depending on the context.  Here is the link to 大辞林.  When I see the phrase_ よく働く_ alone, the phrase_ a lot_ basically comes up on my mind.  In addition, because of the combination of よく and 働く, it further morphs into _hard_.  _Do you work hard_ was the first possibility I thought of specifically for the original question in post #1. 

However, when I see the question よく働きますか on the whole but without any context given, personal debating starts to happen:Does this person really mean _Do you work hard_?  It's very unusual to ask this type of question to start the conversation.  When we decide to use the よく ...　しますか construction to start the conversation, we usually say 海にはよく行きますか, 釣りにはよく行きますか, あなたはお子さんとはよく遊びますか, etc, where all of these よく mean _often_.  Doesn't the original question mean _Do you often work?_ ​Then, _Do you work hard_ echoed in a more unusual way than _Do you often work_ given no context, which is why I came up with posts #2 and #4.

Because of such unusualness, Wishfull and I decided to land on different interpretations first.  And Wishfull reached an unusual example conversation which ordinary people could have:A: Do you often work?
B: No, I often take off.​And I reached an ordinary conversation which unusual people (millionaires) could have:A: Do you often work?
B: Not often.  Three weeks a year.​In principle, we seem to be in agreement on what よく働きますか could mean given no other context than the situation where it's on the beach.


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## José_A

Thanks a lot, guys!! it's all clear now.
And yeah, sometimes I feel like I'm reading a book written by Tarzan, or something.
Thanks again to both of you!! =D


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## Wishfull

Hi, Jose A, I would like ask you one thing.
*Is there any other picture of a busy-business-scene in your textbook?*
/////////////////////////////////////////////

I imagine that your textbook is the textbook of these kinds.
*
Is this a pen? *
And the picture you see is a picture of a *train*. 
So, the answer is
_*No, it isn't. It's a train.*_

In our real life, no one dare to ask such a silly question.

But in this case, they provide us 5 or 6 pictures, for example, the pictures of *a bee, a rocket, a train, a pen, a bear.*
The questions are;
*Is this a bee?  Is this a rocket?  Is this a bear?.........
*

There might be 5 or 6 questions.


If the question sentence and the answer picture match, the answer would be "yes".
And they didn't match, the answer should be started with "no", and say the correct statement.
I think it is 暗黙のルール(unspoken rule) not to  say "how-silly-the-practice-is!".


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## José_A

Hi:
I'm sorry for the late reply.
There are two pictures, but the whole exercise is divided into two different set of questions, so there's one picture per set.
The example question is the following:
Q: この人は日本人ですか。
A: ええ、日本人だと思います。
いいえ、日本人じゃないと思います。
The picture to this question is the draw of a person. You can answer yes or no, depending on what you think. We are learning the use of "と思います"
As I said, there's one picture per set, and there are two sets. One picture is the draw of this person, and the picture of a beach.


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## Wishfull

José_A said:


> Hi:
> I'm sorry for the late reply.
> There are two pictures, but the whole exercise is divided into two different set of questions, so there's one picture per set.
> The example question is the following:
> Q: この人は日本人ですか。
> A: ええ、日本人だと思います。
> いいえ、日本人じゃないと思います。
> The picture to this question is the draw of a person. You can answer yes or no, depending on what you think. We are learning the use of "と思います"
> As I said, there's one picture per set, and there are two sets. One picture is the draw of this person, and the picture of a beach.



Hi.
How about the relation of question No.1 この人は日本人ですか　and question No.2 よく働きますか？
Is この人は日本人ですか　a sample question?
Why do you know that this question is for learning the use of "と思います”？

If it is the lesson for the use of "と思います”,
the question and answer might be

よく働きますか　（あなたは、よく働くほうだと思いますか）
はい。そう思います。ごくたまにしか休暇を取りませんから。
いいえ、そうは思いません。よく浜辺で休暇を過ごしますから。

Are the official answer available in your textbook?
I'm curious about it.
I'm curious what the textbook author is thinking.


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## divisortheory

I guess they want you to answer

いいえ、よく仕事をしないと思います。

It sounds to me like they expect you to think "oh, well if a person it at the beach, he must have a lot of free time, therefore he doesn't work a lot".  Just from your explanation, it sounds like a pretty awful book, or at the very least a pretty awful question.


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## Wishfull

divisortheory said:


> I guess they want you to answer
> 
> いいえ、よく仕事をしないと思います。
> 
> It sounds to me like they expect you to think "oh, well if a person it at the beach, he must have a lot of free time, therefore he doesn't work a lot".  Just from your explanation, it sounds like a pretty awful book, or at the very least a pretty awful question.



Thank you, divisortheory, for your suggestion.

BTW, I think your answer might be incorrect.
いいえ、よく*は*仕事をしないと思います。 (I don't work so hard, but I work at ordinary level.)
or
いいえ、あまり仕事をしないと思います。(I work less frequently than ordinary people.)
might be better.

よく海外旅行に行きますか。

はい。よく行きます。　はい。しょっちゅう行ってます。　（quite often）
いいえ。*よくは*行きませんが、時々行きます。　（sometimes, a little)
いいえ。*あまり*行きません。今まで１、２回です。 (a little)
いいえ*。ほとんど*行きません。新婚旅行の1回だけです。(little, seldom)
いいえ。*全く*行ったことがありません。 (never)


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## José_A

Wishfull said:


> Hi.
> How about the relation of question No.1 この人は日本人ですか　and question No.2 よく働きますか？
> Is この人は日本人ですか　a sample question?
> Why do you know that this question is for learning the use of "と思います”？
> 
> If it is the lesson for the use of "と思います”,
> the question and answer might be
> 
> よく働きますか　（あなたは、よく働くほうだと思いますか）
> はい。そう思います。ごくたまにしか休暇を取りませんから。
> いいえ、そうは思いません。よく浜辺で休暇を過ごしますから。
> 
> Are the official answer available in your textbook?
> I'm curious about it.
> I'm curious what the textbook author is thinking.



Yup, the answers are:
ええ、よく仕事をすると思います。/いいえ、あまり仕事をしないと思います。
But guys, seriously, don't worry about it too much.


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## Wishfull

José_A said:


> Yup, the answers are:
> ええ、よく仕事をすると思います。/いいえ、あまり仕事をしないと思います。
> But guys, seriously, don't worry about it too much.



Thank you. 
It makes sense to me now.

So the first picture is a picture of an Asian person, who might be a Japanese or a Korean, or a Chinese, not a  Caucasian, right?
Because if the picture is a Caucasian, the only possible answer would be "no".
(Sorry, if I'm too persistent.)

The textbook writer had to provide a picture which has a room for both yes and no answers.
Though the "*beach*" doesn't seem to be a wise selection.


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