Think and Speak Like a British Person! 🇬🇧 What we SAY vs what we MEAN!

Hello lovely students and welcome back to English with Lucy.

Today's video is about how to think and speak like a British person.

This is all about what British people say and what they really mean.

Have you ever heard someone say, I love that outfit.

When in reality you know they mean, I hate that outfit.

Sometimes, not always, but sometimes Brits can be very indirect.

I'm not calling us two-faced.

In general, we don't like confrontation or delivering difficult news, so we simply avoid

it.

This can be so confusing for learners of English because you might think

you're having a genuine interaction when actually there's a hidden meaning.

Now before I get loads of comments saying, but British people do say

these things genuinely!

You're right, they might.

But fairly often, they mean something else!

And I think it's important that you know

the potential meaning.

If you're really worried about misunderstanding Brits, I have created

a free PDF to go with this lesson.

It's basically like a British cheat sheet!

It contains everything we say and what we really mean.

I've included everything from today's lesson and a lot more examples in there,

including some for professional or corporate situations where you would

use business English.

If you'd like to download that, it's so easy.

Just click on the link in the description box,

you enter your name and your email address.

You sign up to my mailing list and then the PDF will arrive directly in your inbox

and after that, you will automatically receive my free weekly lesson PDFs alongside my news,

course updates and offers.

It's a free service and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Okay, let's get started.

So we're quite indirect and if you're from a country where it's normal to speak very

directly,

this can be really confusing when you meet someone from the UK

and they just don't say what they mean.

If you really want to learn the nuances of English

and understand the culture behind the speech,

I think it's essential that you learn with someone who truly understands the culture

of that country as well as the language.

There are loads of other reasons to do this too.

You can improve your pronunciation so it's clearer and easier to understand

for people all over the world.

You can learn local slang, which aside from helping you fit in is really fun.

You can have spontaneous conversations.

You can pick up a specific dialect.

I'm learning Italian and my husband Will is learning Spanish

with our own personal one-on-one tutors, all online.

We meet every week from the comfort of our own home.

It's amazing.

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They only accept around 10% of applicants.

The prices are really competitive for such high quality.

So I can give you $10 in lesson credit if you sign up after watching this video.

So as well as being able to book a 30-minute trial session, you can claim $10

towards lessons by messaging their support team with the code BRITISH10.

Now this is valid for anyone signing up from today onwards.

Okay, let's get started.

We're going to read some text messages from a British person and a person who speaks

English as a second language to their mutual friend, Jill.

Are you ready?

Okay, let's look at the first two messages sent to Jill.

Firstly, Anna writes, I bumped into Bea earlier and she noticed I'd caught the sun.

I have got a bit of a tan.

Then we see a message from Bea.

She says I saw Anna in town today.

She looked like a lobster,

poor thing.

Can you see how they both interpreted that differently?

So if someone tells you that you've caught the sun, it's often not a compliment.

It often means that you look sunburned or sunburnt.

We say both endings in British English.

I tend to favour burnt.

Same with earned, earnt.

Learned, learnt.

So be careful with that one.

If a British person ever tells you that

you've caught the sun, they might not be saying you look tanned.

Next one, Anna sends a message saying, Bea looked a bit unwell, but she must be

alright because she just said, oh, I’ve felt better.

And then she said, can't complain.

Bea then writes, I felt like death warmed up when I saw her.

I wanted to complain so much.

This is the classic British stiff upper lip.

We rarely say how we really feel!

Thankfully, we're modernising.

This is changing, but we are much

less likely to say how we really feel than other cultures in the world.

So if someone says, I’ve felt better, it means they don't feel good.

They really don't feel good.

Another alternative is, been better, short for I've been better.

The other phrase we saw, can't complain, short for I can't complain, usually means

that you would like to complain, but you won't.

Sometimes, can't complain is used as what we call a humblebrag.

A humblebrag.

And this is when you seem that you are being self-deprecating or very humble or modest,

but actually, you are showing off in an indirect way.

So if I said to somebody, congratulations on winning the lottery!

And they said, can't complain.

It's sort of a humblebrag.

They're being a bit modest.

Next messages from Anna.

She said the renovations were, not bad, getting there.”

So they must be almost finished.

She did mention knocking down the wall in the kitchen hadn't quite gone as planned,

but she said, no harm done, so I guess it's all gone well.

Okay, let's see the message from Bea.

As you know, the renovations are in chaos.

We've barely started and knocking that wall

down almost brought the entire ceiling down.

There was a lot of damage.

Okay, let's talk about the phrase, not bad.

Not bad in British English slang means either bad or excellent.

How confusing is that?

Maybe I'm exaggerating with excellent, but it means good.

But if someone asks me, how are you?

And I say, not bad, thanks.

I could either be having the worst day ever, or I could have won the lottery and got engaged.

You never know.

Sometimes you can tell by facial expression.

Sometimes you just have to tell by

body language and tone of voice.

You also saw not bad, getting there.

We usually use this to talk about a project,

and it means that everything is terrible and we're nowhere near finished.

The other phrases in those messages were, it didn't quite go as planned and this means

something went very badly wrong.

And we also had ‘no harm done.

And this usually means that yes, a lot of harm or damage was done.

We also use this phrase to soothe people.

If they've done something really wrong, but you want them to feel better,

you can say, look, no harm done.

We're fine.

No harm done.

How we're using the passive voice to really remove any sort of ownership.

Instead of saying you didn't cause any harm, no harm done.

I'm not even including you in this sentence.

Other similar phrases like no harm done

are a bit of an upset, which again means something's gone very, very wrong.

New texts.

Anna says I invited her to the pub with us tonight.

I think she's coming because she said, I might see you down there.

I'll see how I feel.

And then she said, I could pop round any time.

So I'm going to go over there this week

and surprise her.

Ah, Anna.

Bea then sends a message.

She says she invited me out with you to the pub, but I'm definitely not coming.

And I felt like I had to tell her she could pop around, but honestly,

she’d better give me at least a week's notice if she does want to come over.

Okay.

If you invite a British person somewhere and they say I might see you down there,

or I'll see how I feel.

I would say it's less likely that they will come.

They are probably not coming.

We hate letting people down face-to-face.

Sometimes we're just too polite, although

in the long run, it's impolite, but we're too polite in the moment or scared or

cowardly in the moment to say, I don't want to come.

I just want to drink wine on the sofa with my dog.

We also like to use the informal phrasal verbs, pop round or drop by.

This means come for a short visit, come round for a short visit,

drop by for a short visit.

It sort of implies unannounced.

We don't usually mean it.

And in general, you should not turn up unannounced at people's houses, even if

they've said you can.

It is always better to clear it with them first.

A couple of weeks ago, I had a neighbour tell me they were going to pop around and

I spent the whole day panicking because I didn't know exactly when they were going

to come.

When I was in Spain, I noticed that it was different.

People would turn up unannounced.

I personally loved it.

Okay, last message from poor Anna and I

really feel for her.

She says, and she's so considerate!

She knows I'm busy.

So she just said, I'll let you get on, and off she went.

Now Bea's side of the story, it was a bit

of an awkward conversation, to be honest.

Okay, this is a classic end.

I'll let you get on or I'll let you get back to it means I want this conversation

to end, but I still want to be polite.

I have to say I am a massive culprit of this.

I always meet neighbours on dog walks and I love having a chat with them.

I don't get to see many people in the day, but sometimes we both know that the

conversation has gone on too long.

So I always say, I'll let you get on or sometimes I say it to the dog too.

I'll let you continue with your walk or your dog must be desperate.

Or I'll look at the dog and say, I don't want to keep you waiting any longer.

Depending on the level of Britishness,

if someone doesn't start the end of the conversation, no one will, it could go on

for days.

So that's the end of the conversation between Bea and Jill and Anna and Jill.

But there are a few more examples that I love.

Number one, in general, if you invite someone somewhere and they say,

I'd love to, but…

In general, it means they don't want to.

Also, if someone says, let's put a date in the diary or we must meet up properly

sometime.

Unless they actually get out their diary and put it in, in that

moment, they're not showing real enthusiasm to arrange anything.

If you invite a British person to your house and you offer them something nice

like biscuits or cake, they will often say, oh, I really mustn't.

Meaning they really want some.

They like to say, I shouldn't!

But they want you to say, but you should, you can.

It's almost like they're talking themselves into eating healthily.

If they really don't want something,

they'll say, oh, no, thank you.

If you offer them a tea or coffee, they

will nearly always say, oh, only if you're having one, meaning they would

love one and they want you to have one with them.

Nothing makes us feel more awkward than accepting a cup of tea and being the only

one drinking it.

And finally, if you're on public

transport and a Brit asks you, excuse me, is anyone sitting here?

In a somewhat

passive-aggressive manner, get your bag off the seat or make space for them!

Otherwise, that Brit might do this,

‘tut.’

This is the equivalent of a British person screaming at you.

A tut is serious.

We also like to tut when people don't respect cues.

Right, I hope I haven't put you off

British culture for life.

I will let you get on with your day.

I don't want to keep you any longer.

I hope you've enjoyed learning a little

bit more about how to think and speak like a British person.

And don't forget, if you want to find your dream one-on-one online English

tutor, Languatalk is your friend.

Just message the support team.

All the information and instructions are in the description box.

Also, don't forget to download that PDF.

The link is there as well.

I'll see you soon for another lesson.