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Messages in greetings cards can help us answer Lanny's question

This week Li and William answer a question from our listener Lanny. Lanny asks for some useful phrases for blessing people on happy occasions like weddings and ‘bearings’ (we think Lanny means childbirth here).

William answers Lanny’s question by looking at some of the special greetings cards he has received over the years.

Here are some of the useful phrases William and Li practise:

Birthdays

I hope you have a lovely day.

Many happy returns!

Weddings

Wishing you many happy years together.

To the happy couple on your wedding day.

Childbirth

Congratulations on the new addition to the family.

Listen to the programme to hear some more useful sentences as well as answers to these cultural points:

卡片上的寄語是否應該使用很正式的語言？

歐洲人是否習慣在賀卡上祝愿對方生財和富有？

在你無法出席婚禮時應該如何表示？

Don’t forget, if you have a question about English, email it to questions.chinaelt@bbc.co.uk. We might answer it on this programme.

Glossary 詞匯

childbirth 生孩子

cultural points 文化語言要點