Differences between oral and written English

- Hi there, I'm your English coach Christina,

and welcome to Speak English with Christina,

where you'll learn American culture and business know how

to become confident in English.

I have a couple of questions for you.

Have you ever written to put it in a nutshell,

to sum up your conclusions in a report?

Or maybe you've said something like, nevertheless,

further assistance was required during a quick chat

at the water cooler.

It sounds a bit odd, doesn't it?

If either of these situations reminds you of something

that you've done, you may have gotten a few strange looks

from your customers and colleagues.

And that's because you've used spoken English

in your writing or written English in your speech.

Your English was correct, but it wasn't right

for the situation that you were using it in.

And you'd be surprised how many people

make mistakes like these.

In your first language, using the right type of language

for the situation speaking or writing

comes naturally to you.

But it's something that you have to learn

when you're using English.

And that's what you'll learn today.

Let's go.

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After all, regular practice is the key,

and when you sign up, you'll get a new episode each week.

Now, let's get into spoken and written English.

We'll look at three examples of mistakes that students make

with their written English.

The reason for all three mistakes is thinking

that you can write just like you speak.

And unfortunately, you can't.

Then we'll look at how you can avoid making these mistakes.

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An idiom is an expression which means something different

than the normal meaning of the words in it.

Maybe you know, idioms like in a nutshell,

it cost an arm and a leg, or they're a dime a dozen.

Idioms can be useful in conversation because they make

your language more colorful and interesting to listen to.

But it's unprofessional to use them

in formal work documents,

including most formal style emails.

How can you not make this mistake?

Don't use idioms in texts at work.

Write exactly what you mean instead

and use more formal words.

So, to put it in a nutshell becomes to sum up to summarize

or in brief.

That cost an arm and a leg becomes

that was a significant cost.

And they're a dime a dozen becomes, there's a plentiful

supply of them.

And an added advantage of this is that your writing

will be much clearer, especially if you work with other

non native speakers of English.

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And the same goes for slang.

You probably already know that slang is very informal words

and expressions that people use when they're speaking.

So you may hear the characters in your favorite

American TV shows say something like,

that the kids are all right or telling people

that their new coffee shop is way better than the old one,

or that they can't be bothered to go out tonight.

But it doesn't mean that you should write stuff like that

on your company's website.

And there's another one for you stuff.

Don't write that on your corporate website, either.

How can you not make this mistake?

Remember that the words that you hear on your favorite

American TV shows or that you see in English,

social media posts aren't necessarily suitable

for written English at work.

Try to be more specific and use more formal words.

And these usually have at least two or three

or more syllables, because they tend to come

from Latin or Greek.

So, for example, kids becomes children

or young people or youth.

Way better than becomes far better than

or considerably superior to.

And stuff could become many different

but more specific things, depending on the context.

But you could simply list the specific things

that you're referring to.

For example, instead of writing, we do stuff

that helps your website perform better you could write,

we do site audits, SEO optimization and technical updates

to help your site perform better.

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In English, some grammatical structures

are also considered very informal, and using them

in written English would sound strange to many advanced

and native speakers.

And a good example of this is the passive voice

with get structure like to get things done.

It's fine to use it when you're speaking,

like, let's imagine that you're giving a tour

of your production site and you might say,

well, this is where the engines get put together.

But if you're writing up a report

on that factory tour later, you need to use

the regular passive, instead because it's more formal.

And therefore more appropriate for that context.

Instead of writing, this is where the engines

get put together, as you heard, you would write

this is where the engines are put together.

But in this example, we also have a second example

of informal vocabulary, the expression to put together.

In order to really get the right style for written English

you need to replace put together with assemble.

Again, this is more formal words.

So while you may hear or say, this is where the engines

are put together, you would, write, this is where

the engines are assembled.

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Now, what about you tell me which of these three mistakes

have you made in your written English?

Don't be ashamed.

It's perfectly normal to make mistakes when you're learning.

And we can use our mistakes as learning opportunities.

So share them with us and help other members

of the community, learn from your mistakes.

And you can then reply to someone else's comment

and tell them how they could have gotten

the right style instead.

And it's a great way to practice and share with the world.

Thank you so much for learning with Speak English

with Christina and I'll see you next time.