Better Speaking Podcast 🗨️🗣️ How to use vague language

Let's start at the beginning — ABBA, in fact,

is the first letter of the Christian names

of Anni-Frid, Benny, Björn and Agnetha. That makes ABBA.

Yeah, right.

But it started all, Benny, with the Hep Stars, right?

For me it did, yes.

For you.

Well, it started much earlier than that,

because my grandfather gave me an accordion when I was six years old.

That's how I came into music. He played himself and so did my father.

Swedish superstars, ABBA, who took their name from the first letters

of the names of the four members of the group:

Agnetha, Benny, Björn and Anni-Frid.

In today's Better Speaking, we hear more from ABBA

and, as usual, English teacher Richard Hallows will be with me to explain

what makes the four members of ABBA

such effective users of English as an international language.

Richard will also be giving us some more advice

on becoming better speakers of English.

I think it's very useful to employ some of this vague language when you're speaking,

words like 'ish' or 'sort of' or 'kind of'.

It's very useful and it can make you sound a more interesting,

more natural kind of speaker.

If you find it difficult to speak English

and would like some help and advice on how to become more fluent,

and maybe one day use English as confidently as ABBA,

then Better Speaking is for you.

ABBA were one of the most popular groups in many countries around the world

throughout the '70s and early 1980s.

We hear today an interview with the four members of ABBA

Agnetha, Björn, Benny and Anni-Frida,

or Frida as she was also called, at the height of their fame.

The interviewer wanted to know why they spoke such good English.

Does English have that much effect on your life?

We have so many English television programmes, and American,

and we don't dub them, we subtitle them,

so we read the Swedish words and listen to the English language all the time.

Same thing with films, you know.

And they play records on the radio, most of them are

English and American.

In Sweden, people learn English at school

and Swedes also watch a lot of English language television and films.

The Swedish translation is not dubbed, not spoken over the English,

but appears as subtitles or writing at the bottom of the TV or cinema screen,

so the audience can hear the English words

as well as reading the Swedish translation.

And there's lots of pop music too, in English, of course,

so young people growing up in Sweden get to hear a lot of English.

We have so many English television programmes and American

and we don't dub them, we subtitle them,

so we read the Swedish words and listen to the English language all the time.

Same thing with films, you know.

And they play records on the radio, most of them are

English and American.

ABBA weren't always called ABBA. The group's original name was the Hep Stars.

They were very successful in their home country of Sweden,

selling more records than The Beatles at that time.

The Hep Stars though became ABBA, but where does that name come from?

Let's start at the beginning.

ABBA, in fact, is the first letter of the Christian names

of Anna-Frid, Benny, Björn and Agnetha.

— That makes ABBA. — Yeah, right.

But it started all, Benny, with the Hep Stars, right?

— For me it did, yes. — For you?

Well, it started much earlier than that,

because my grandfather gave me an accordion when I was six years old.

That's how I came into music. He played himself and so did my father.

Tell us about the Hep Stars. This was, what, 1962, the Hep Stars?

Yes, that's when we started and that was about the same time

when The Beatles became so popular all over the world

and we were very well-off.

We sold, like, eight or nine golden records in Sweden.

I think we outsold The Beatles by numbers, not by music.

Benny, then, how did you meet Björn?

Well, we met on the road, actually.

I was in the Hep Stars and he was playing in a folk group.

— The Hootenanny Singers? — The Hootenanny Singers, yes.

BBC Learning English dot com.

Richard, ABBA, very successful international singing stars,

but are they international speaking stars?

Very much so.

I think ABBA speak very fluently with great range of vocabulary,

amazing speakers really.

What I'd particularly like to talk about today is the way they use vague language.

And what do you mean by 'vague language'?

Well, when you don't want to say something exactly.

We use it also just for adding colour to your conversation,

make yourself sound more interesting.

Some examples I'd like to point out are when Benny says,

"It was about the same time,"

or, "We sold, like, eight or nine golden records."

That was about the same time

when The Beatles became so popular all over the world and we were very well-off.

We sold, like, eight or nine golden records in Sweden.

I think we outsold The Beatles by numbers, not by music.

So it's not being exact, it's not being specific,

it's sort of being vague.

Exactly, 'sort of' is another way of being vague.

So we've got the examples there, it was 'about' the same time,

we sold, 'like', eight or nine, so 'like' and 'about'.

What other expressions can we use to add this vagueness colour into our language?

OK, well, Callum, why don't you tell people what colour my shirt is today?

Ah, OK.

Well, it's, it's kind of, it's sort of red.

— Mm. — It's not exactly red.

I suppose it's, um

— Could you say? — 'reddish', 'reddish'.

'Reddish': it's kind of red and it's brown, isn't it?

Maybe we could say so. It's a 'reddish-brown'.

Reddish-brown, OK.

And also, I think I said it's 'sort of'.

It's 'sort of' or 'kind of' you also said, yeah.

So 'sort of', 'kind of' red, 'reddish'.

This 'ish' is very interesting, actually.

We can use it in loads of different ways.

— Such as? — Well, ask me what time it is.

OK. What time is it, Richard?

Well, I'm not wearing my watch, but I think it's 'ten-ish'.

'Ten-ish'. So you can add this on to any words?

Yeah, like I could say 'oldish' or 'early-ish'

or, in fact, we can use 'ish' on its own, just as a word in its own right.

How would we use it on our own?

Well, for example, you went to a party last night.

— Mm-hm. — And did you have a good time?

Ah, hmm, 'ish'.

So you're using the word 'ish' to say, "Mm, it wasn't good, it wasn't bad."

Right, OK, so 'ish' by itself

and 'ish' added on to other adjectives, mainly, I suppose.

Mm. So we looked at 'about', 'sort of', 'kind of', we looked at 'ish'.

Now, I want you to try and use these different kind of vague words

to describe someone.

Um...

Who?

Oh, how about you've got a new girlfriend, haven't you? Tell us about, about her.

Well, let's see, she's... I'd say she's 'tallish',

she's, she's tallish, she's about one metre 75,

— so... — More or less?

— More or less. — There's another one.

OK, so she's tallish, she's got dark, well, darkish hair,

darkish, little bit of red in there, so reddish hair,

and she's sort of, she's sort of shy.

Do you know how old she is?

Ooh, I, I, well, I haven't asked, I'm too much of a gentleman.

Um, I think she's about, she's about 30.

OK.

So, moving away from my private life and back to ABBA's speaking life,

what else would you like to pick out for us?

Well, I'd like to talk about what ABBA actually said

about the way people learn English in Sweden.

They've talked about improving your English by watching films in English,

watching TV in English, listening to music in English.

So I think all these things go to prove the point that we've talked about before —

how important it is to get as much exposure to English as possible.

We have so many English television programmes, and American,

and we don't dub them, we subtitle them,

so we read the Swedish words and listen to the English language all the time.

Same thing with films, you know.

And they play records on the radio, most of them are

English and American.

So listening to and hearing natural, real English through movies, television,

is a good way of improving your English.

It's a wonderful way and enjoyable too.

So, Richard, I wonder if, briefly, you could sum up those points for us?

Well, I think it's very useful to employ some of this vague language

when you're speaking, words like 'ish' or 'sort of' or 'kind of'.

It's very useful and it can make you sound a more interesting,

more natural kind of speaker.

And also try to watch as much TV in English or listen to music in English

and get as much exposure as possible.

Maybe, if you do that, you're going to get a wide range of vocabulary,

you're gonna be fluent, you're gonna have good comprehension skills

and good pronunciation and sound as good as ABBA.

Richard, for today, thank you very much for those better speaking tips.

Thank you.

BBC Learning English dot com.

Richard talked there about using vague language,

describing something that's not exact.

Remember Benny from ABBA used the words 'like' and 'about'.

It was 'about' the same time when The Beatles became so popular.

We sold 'like' eight or nine golden records in Sweden.

And Richard gave us a simple way

to describe a colour that is not clearly one thing or another.

We can say it's 'sort of' brown or 'brownish'.

We asked a learner of English who's been studying in Britain

if she'd heard, or uses, such language.

I'm not sure whether I've heard 'tallish' or 'brownish',

but I'm sure I've heard 'eight-ish' and 'five-ish'

when a colleague's meant around eight o'clock and five o'clock.

I think this kind of language sounds very natural.

Now, before we go today,

if you didn't quite catch all of Richard's Better Speaking tips, don't worry.

Here's a chance to hear them again.

To sound more natural when you speak English,

remember you can use vague language:

words and phrases which show that you're not sure.

For example, if you're describing a film,

you can say, it's a 'sort of' adventure film.

Or you could say, it's a 'kind of' adventure film.

I think it's very useful to employ some of this vague language when you're speaking,

words like 'ish' or 'sort of' or 'kind of'.

It's very useful and it can make you sound a more interesting,

more natural kind of speaker.

Another very useful and natural-sounding way

to show that you're not able to be exact is to use the ending 'ish'.

For example,

My father's hair is 'greyish'. It's partly black and partly grey.

It's 'greyish'.

If you're not sure of an exact time, you can say,

The party starts at eight-ish.

It's the same as saying that the party starts at about eight o'clock.

At eight-ish.

Take a tip from ABBA and their fellow Swedes.

Watch English language TV and films or listen to the radio or music in English.

These will all help you

to improve your spoken as well as general English language skills.

Try to watch as much TV in English or listen to music in English

and get as much exposure as possible.

Maybe, if you do that, you're gonna get a wide range of vocabulary,

you're gonna be fluent, you're gonna have good comprehension skills

and good pronunciation and sound as good as ABBA.

That was Talk About English from BBC Learning English dot com.