It’s Not That Easy
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CHAPTER 7: It’s Not That Easy
Have you tried talking to some locals? How was it? Did you find the conversation easy since you are
so fluent in English? Did you struggle with finding the right words and even had to use the
dictionary? I bet it wasn’t so simple either way.
Being fluent in English doesn’t necessarily mean that you automatically know the language. There is
a big gap between the knowledge you gain by studying and the skills you acquire by getting out
there and talking to people, since people in Britain talk differently as you go further in any
direction. Therefore, testing your experience in a real life situation will always be somewhat
challenging.
This Chapter will help you in getting around and communicating with people. Assuming that your
English language skills are fluent enough to read and understand this Guide, you are not going to
learn any grammar, new vocabulary or whatsoever. You will be given a few examples of what you
can expect from a local man or woman to say, should the two of you engage a conversation.
You alright? - Yet another way to say „ Hello” in Britain. Most commonly answered with „ Yeah, you?“. Expect this combination a lot if you are going to talk to people often.
Cheers – A universal word. Can be used eiher as „ Thanks“ or „ Goodbye“, depending on the context.
Innit – A short form for „ Isn‘t it“, yet used way more frequently than that. People tend to replace it with „ Right“ or „ Exactly“.
Mint – Not tea, just a synonym for a word „ Perfect“.
Mental – „ Insane“.
Fag – „Cigarette“. Don‘t get confused there.
Queue – A synonym for „ Wait“ ,mostly used when talking about „waiting“ in a line.
For now, that should be enough for you to understand what‘s going on. Bear in mind that many
British people talk very, very VERY fast, therefore you have to listen closely in order to catch
(literally) what they are saying.
The other important key thing that I want to adress that it‘s not all about the language that makes
one understand the other. There is a very important detail that many seem to ignore and find out
the hard way. Every different country has a different history, culture, traditions and goals,
ultimately leading to different people that may create a phenomenon, popularly known as the
Cultural Gap – when two people from different countries sometimes find it hard to understand
each other even though they know one another‘s language well enough not to. This phenomenon is
very common with British people as they have specific aspirations, opinions, thought flows, values
and ideas.
They are generally very friendly and tolerant. They will listen carefully to what do you have to say.
They like to debate. They will ask about your culture. They are usually the ones that will approach
you first. They do have a quite good sense of humour, but the line between them joking around and
being serious is very thin, make sure you don’t cross it. More or less, very kind and interesting
people if you manage to develop a decent conversation. All you have to do is be confident and
modest. Anything else you don’t have to worry about.
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