Category Archives: English Linguistics

Common Etiquette to Know before travelling to Britain

Britain
Visiting another country means that you will see many different things compared to your home country. Besides the language and system applied, you need to know some British etiquette. This is very important to avoid you in difficult situation and misunderstanding. When you meet local people, perhaps they will not so welcome to you. At first, do not think negatively because people can be so warm and friendly if they already know you. They prefer to be introduced to strangers, so that you need a third party to introduce you to someone new. Say “pleased to meet you” while handshaking and you need to shake everyone’s hand before departing.

Waving and eye contact are not commonly acceptable in Britain. But the eye contact may happen if they want to make a point or speak with close friends. Too much eye contact is considered as invasion of privacy. Talking about weather is recommended when you do not have an idea about what to talk or ask. Avoid questions about politics, religion, and sex while talking with someone new. Many of the British like to have understatement in choosing the words. Then, people will talk in minimum facial expression and body language. In public places, waiting in line is their habit. They will go to the back, wait, and stay although the line is so song. When you are going to buy anything, the customer service will not come to you and ask whether you need their help or not. They ignore you until you make eye contact or sign that you need their help or you have decided what to buy. Be aware while shopping in the grocery because touching the vegetables or fruit means that you buy them.

Different things in American and British English

British English
If you plan to have vacation in Britain, surely you have to know the language used there. If you cannot speak English, you will need a guide or you have to bring dictionary to make you understand some directions, rules, words in the bills, menus in the restaurants, and others. But, sometimes people who speak English have a little difficulty in communication with the local people. Simply, it is because of the different accent. In case you do not understand what they say, it is considered polite to ask them to speak not too fast. They understand that you are not native. There are also differences in spelling compared to the American English. For example, people there will write colour, realise, centre, defence, or analyse. In American English, people know these words as color, realize, center, defense, and analyze.
Actually, you should not be confused with the difference in spelling the words because the meaning is the same. Then, you will see that some words are spelled differently by adding and removing some letters. For example, in America people write mustaches, programs, and check. In UK people will write moustaches, programmes, and cheque. However, you can be a bit confused of the different words used to name an item. For example, American English knows elevator and the British know lift. It happens for many words but surely, you will not have big trouble with these because many vocabularies have been used in various places and occasions.

English as an International Language

English Prime

How to communicate in English with people from all over the world? It seems very easy to answer this question, but not that easy if you think carefully. Now let me tell you some important things in this language learning.

I suppose for you foreign learners, it is very difficult to pass the listening threshold. But how could you solve this problem? There is no easy task. First, I think you need to try to listen to English as often as you can. You see, if want to communicate with others, you need to understand others first. In English there are so many words, old and new. So when you listen to English everyday, you can learn such words. But you need to get the right course to learn. Listen to the materials that are very suitable to you. But you are forbidden to leave the material aside when you have just listened to it for once. You need to listen to the material for many times till the day you can really understand nearly everything in it.

Then I think you need to practise your speaking as much as you can regularly. No matter how much you have learned, you need to learn to talk, and you need to try to use what you have learned to express yourself. If you cannot find good partners to talk with you, you need to speak with yourself first. It sounds mad, but not mad at all. Instead it can give you confidence to speak to others. In this way you can also learn how to express yourself in your native tongue. Certainly sometimes you can find foreigners to speak with, for they always speak in a standard way. Thus you can try to learn from them.

The third way for you to communication is through reading. Everyday you need to keep reading for a period of time. But while reading, you need to try to feel the meaning of each sentence. If you meet some problems, try to stop for a while so that you can understand the meaning. At the same time you need to read lots of English books that can tell you lots of things about English culture.

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