Tourist Vocabulary for London! With Tom from Eat Sleep Dream English

- You're coming to London, awesome,

but you're not really sure about your level of English.

Well, don't worry, bro, I've got your back.

Today's lesson we're looking at all the phrases and words

that you'll need to handle London like a pro.

(gentle music)

You've come to a coffee shop 'cause you want

a coffee or a tea or bit of cake or whatever,

what can you say here?

First of all, I'm going to pay for me and my friend,

so I can say these things.

What do you want, I'll get them,

let me get them, my treat.

So what do you want?

- Can you get me a mocha, a small mocha?

- He could also say.

- Can I have a small mocha?

- So when I go to order I might say,

can I have blah blah blah?

Or I might say, can I get blah blah blah?

That one sounds a little more American.

It's fine, you can say it, doesn't matter.

- You can say, could I get,

which is a little bit more formal, could and can.

We normally think of could being slightly more formal,

a bit more polite, but basically the same.

- Great point, Tom.

- Mm. - Mm.

Also, I've noticed that my American friends,

like when they order they often say just,

hi, I want blah blah blah.

- Right. - Like to us--

- Super direct. - That sounds so rude.

But that's what they say,

so. - Yeah, I think you can,

I think it's perfectly fine though,

I think you can say that here.

- I mean, you could, but like if I was a barista,

I'd be like, you want?

- Yeah. - At least say please.

- Yes, oh yeah, well, that's definitely a rule,

say please and thank you.

- Oh definitely. - All the time.

- Can I have a small mocha please?

- [Barista] For here or take away?

- It's to go, yeah, yeah.

- [Barista] Would you like cream on top?

- No, thank you.

And can I get an ice Americano, please?

- Size? - Medium.

Can I have it with soya milk, please?

- Sure. - Thank you.

Oh, and also, can I have a thing of carrot cake?

- Sure. - Please.

- Carrot cake? - Do you have any carrot cake?

- No, we don't. - Oh no.

Okay, in that case can I have a slice of lemon loaf?

- Sure. - Thanks.

- Certainly. - Thanks.

And I've got the app, can I pay on the app thing?

- Sure. - Thanks.

- Thank you. - Thanks so much, cheers.

- Ah, dude, what just happened?

- So they will assume that you want dairy milk, cow's milk.

But if you want something different, make sure that you say,

can I have it with blah blah blah milk,

like soya milk, oat milk.

- I'm a massive fan of oat milk.

- Yes, you know what's really good, coconut milk.

Have you ever tried that? - Haven't tried it, no.

- Really, really good. - Okay.

So then you ordered cake. - I did, yeah, I ordered cake.

So I said, can I have a thing of carrot cake.

Now, with a piece of cake or whatever,

you can say, can I have a piece of or a slice of cake.

However I said a thing of.

- Right. - So--

- But-- - Yeah, go on.

- Sorry, no, go on. - No, you go on.

- But then I noticed that, what, and then I noticed

that she said they were out of carrot cake,

which of course means they don't have any.

You said, well, in that case--

- In that case can I have a slice of lemon cake.

- Ah, okay, okay. - Mm, you want some?

- Yeah, feed me.

Oh my God.

And then I noticed you paid in a way

that I had not seen before, I hadn't done that before.

- Yeah, so I have, maybe you have it too,

some coffee shops have an app to pay with

or a card, like a loyalty card for that coffee shop.

So I said, can I pay by my app, or can I pay with an app?

Have you noticed, you know in like textbooks,

they'll always say like,

oh, how would you like to pay, cash or card?

- Yeah. - No one says that

in real life. - No one says that.

- No one says that. - No.

- Only in your textbooks. - Yeah.

- So if you wanna pay cash or card,

you just show it and everyone understands.

But if you do wanna pay with your app, it's best to say,

can I pay with my app, or can I pay with my card?

- Dude, cheers for the mocha. - Yeah, cheers.

Can you already feel the Italians in the comments

being like, that's not coffee, that's dirty water.

- Dirty water. - The rule here is

walk on the left.

- Yeah. - Ooh, there's a guy.

- You know what else I noticed,

she said, when I ordered my coffee,

she said, is that for here or to take away?

I said, it's to go.

So you can say to go or to take away,

they both mean the exact same thing.

- Yeah, I also say like, to have in or to take out.

- Yeah, I want it in the nice cups.

- Yeah, exactly, not the paper ones, the China ones.

- Yeah.

(gentle music)

- We are outside Selfridges, one of London's biggest shops,

because we know that you guys love shopping.

And any visitor that's coming to London

will want to visit Selfridges,

will want to come to Oxford Street.

Now, we're trying to think of some useful language

for you guys to use inside the store.

- Yes. - What have you got?

- Well, shopping's an activity, right,

sometimes you're not looking for anything specific.

Sometimes you're just like... - Yeah.

- That's what I'm like most of the time.

- Yeah, me too.

- Right, so if an assistant comes to you

and is like, oh, can I help you with something,

you might want to say, no-- - I'm just browsing.

To browse, to just look at things,

randomly, nothing specific.

- So other than browse, what else could you say?

- I'm just looking, thanks, that's quite a nice phrase.

- Commonly we often say, I'm just having a look round,

I'm just having a look round. - Yeah.

London has loads of department stores, right,

Selfridges, Harrods, et cetera, so these are huge shops

that you're gonna want to find different sections.

- Have you been to Harrods, can you afford to go to Harrods?

- No, I, no. - No one can.

- I can't even afford to enter Harrods,

let alone buy anything.

- They kick me out.

- Yeah, well, they've got a dress code, right,

no sandals, no flip-flops, no shorts.

- No pajamas, this is why I get kicked out.

- This is the one.

So when you're in one of these stores

you wanna find something, so you ask someone,

sorry, could you tell me where the food hall is?

Or, could you tell me where the men's section is?

Whatever you want to find.

And always start your sentence with, sorry.

- Sorry. - Remember, we're British,

we're weird, we always apologize for everything.

Sorry, can you help me?

Sorry, can you tell me where the blank is?

Sorry, where can I find the blah blah blah please?

Okay, also, let's imagine that you find

the T-shirt, the jacket, the shoes that you want,

but in a different size,

how can you ask for that thing in a different size?

No, really, how can you say it?

- You can say, sorry, do you have this in a different size?

Or, do you have this in a different color?

- Do you have this in a large?

Do you have this in a 12?

- Do you have this in blue?

- So also, when you want to pay, if you pay by card

they don't ask if it's credit or debit.

In the USA they do, but not here in London.

- Not here, no.

You might wanna ask for receipts,

You say, could I have a receipt, please?

- So pronunciation, yes, there's a P,

but don't pronounce it, receipt.

- Receipt. - Not receipt.

- Let's jump inside and practice some of this language.

- Let's make magic happen.

(gentle music)

- Can I help you there, sir?

- I'm just having a look round, thanks.

- [Assistant] Yeah, sure, no worries.

If you need anything let me know.

- Thanks, actually, sorry, where can I find the shoes?

- Sir, we have some shoes over there, we've also got shoes

straight down the end as well, down there.

- Dude, thank you so much, cheers.

- No worries, you're welcome.

- Okay dude, one thing I find when I'm walking around London

is that sometimes I will need the loo,

and there isn't like a loo available, so--

- But actually for men, sometimes there are.

Have you seen like the street urinals?

- Yeah, I'm not sure I'm comfortable with using those.

- No, they're gross, but in an emergency

what are you gonna do? - Yeah, right.

But for everyone that can't use those, what do we do?

How do we find the toilet, like what's the thing?

- Right, so of course some shops, some cafes,

will let you use theirs,

but you need to ask first. - Absolutely.

- So how do we ask that question?

- Excuse me, would you mind if I used the toilet,

or, would you mind if I used the loo, could be an example.

- Yep, the loo's a bit more of a posh way to say the toilet.

- I like it, that's what I would use, because--

- Do you say loo? - Yeah, I do.

We use these euphemisms to avoid saying the word toilet.

It seems more polite to me.

- Yeah, but you're still saying toilet, I don't say it.

- What would you say then, the facilities?

- No, the toilet.

- You say the, okay, well, fine, whatever you wanna say.

- Also, you could even say,

sorry, is it all right if I use your toilet?

- Aha, there's that word again, sorry,

starting a request with sorry. - With an apology.

- Super polite. - Amazing.

- Try and act normal.

Okay, so then we wanna find other things,

not just the toilet but the Tube, for example.

- Maybe you're lost.

- Yeah, so again, what do we use, what do we say?

- Sorry--

- Could you tell me where the nearest Tube is?

- Yeah, or more directly, sorry, where's the Tube from here?

- Yeah, if you're looking for anything, you can just say,

how do I get to, and then the thing.

So, how do I get to-- - Blah blah blah.

- Big Ben, or whatever. - Exactly.

But maybe you need a bus.

Now, you want to check that your bus

is going in the right direction,

so how can you ask the driver?

You ask, sorry, do you stop at blah blah blah?

Or, does this bus go to blah blah blah?

- Yeah, I use that all the time, 'cause I worry

that the bus is gonna go in a totally different direction.

So, sorry, does this bus go to Hyde Park?

- Piccadilly? - Ooh.

- Ooh. - Where do you wanna go?

- No, Hyde Park sounds better.

- That's cool, it's cool. - Yeah.

- If you've enjoyed that

then please go watch our next video,

which is all about traveling on the London Underground.

- Otherwise known as the Tube, or the Tube.

(gentle music)