Natural way to ask what project/work someone has been doing lately


What is a natural way or ways to ask about what project(s) or work someone is
doing lately at a job? In English I'd say:

> So what project have you been working on lately?
>
> So what have you been working on lately?

I am not sure if these translate well literally or there is some other
expression I should use.

> 最近、どんなプロジェクトをしていますか？
>
> 最近、何の仕事をしていますか？




> 最近、何の仕事をしていますか

_might_ sound as if you have no idea on his recent job, a shoemaker or a
preacher. Of course that shouldn't cause any confusions in a real world, but
someone like me may find it a good opportunity to crack a joke, "C'mon, did
anybody tell you I was fired? Hell no! I'm still working at XYZ Corp!"

I prefer

> 最近、どんなプロジェクトをしていますか

because it's both natural and the least ambiguous. But wait... プロジェクトをしている
might slightly sound unnatural. Its more casual form

> 最近、どんなプロジェクトをやってるんですか？

is perfectly OK, but for some reason, プロジェクトをしています is not perfect. Perhaps
because, verbs like "する" "やる" are not genuinely polite, so their polite forms
don't perfectly make sense. Well, I guess 90% of native Japanese speakers just
accept either ways :-)




You can just say something like:

> 最近仕事は何をしてる？
>
> 最近仕事の調子はどう？

You can of course modify it to be as polite as you want. Those are the two
most common expressions I hear from my Japanese friends when we talk. Really,
I hear this like all the time.

