"お手伝いできますか？" used to ask for help

Question

Is this a natural combination of phrases when asking for help when you are lost somewhere?

道に迷ってるんですけど、お手伝いできますか？

My gut feeling is the "お手伝いできますか" part is awkward and sounds like a literal translation from "Can you help?" in English.

Would it be more natural to replace this with "手伝ってもらえませんか？"

Also, I feel the "お手伝い" form is typically used when you are helping someone else, as in ”お手伝いしましょうか”. How natural is it to use this form when requesting someone's help?

Update: corrected typo in the original phrase that Chocolate pointed out.

Answer 1

お手伝いできますか sounds more like "Can I help you?"

手伝ってもらえませんか？ would be fine for asking for help, but in your particular situation I'd go for:

道に迷ってるんですけど、ちょっと教えてもらえますか？
道に迷ったんですけど、ちょっと教えてもらえませんか？
道に迷ってしまって・・・ちょっと教えてもらってもいいですか？ etc...

Answer 2

手伝う means doing something to help somebody do something.
In Japanese, 教える means not only teach but also tell.

So, likewise, when you need a help doing your homework, asking to 手伝う turns out to be cheating, and so you usually ask someone to 教える something you have a problem with: 教えてください, 教えてもらえますか, 教えていただけますか, etc.

So, at work or at home doing house chores, when you ask co-workers or family members for help, the word is 手伝ってください, 手伝ってくれませんか, or casually 手伝ってね, or in a little commanding tone with still casual air, suitable to talk to your kids, 手伝ってちょうだい.