Good Manners: What to Do and Say in English?

wanna speak real English from your first lesson sign up for your free lifetime account at English class 101.com let's get started even though there's a dude I'm about Guinea hi everybody welcome back to ask Alicia the weekly series where you ask me questions and I answer them maybe first question first question this week comes from I'm on hi again I'm on I'm on says what is the use of definite article the we use the with a singular noun to refer to a specific instance of that noun so when you're telling a story we'll often introduce the first instance of a noun with a and then after that we'll use the to refer to the specific instance of that thing so for example a simple story I was walking down the street and I saw a dog the dog was really cute I pet the dog so in that situation when I introduce a dog in the story the first time I talk about the dog in the story I use a to introduce it then after that I use the to refer to that specific dog that I introduced earlier in the story every other time that I want to talk about that same dog I use the before it so use the word the when you need to refer to a specific noun or when you have to refer to a specific group so for example the teachers in the school district went on strike so specifically we're talking about teachers in a specific school district the teachers went on strike the mothers at the PTA meeting organized a bake sale it's a specific group that is defined by something else so in this case the mothers at the PTA meeting only the mothers that were at that meeting not the mothers from a different group for example so we use the two to talk about a specific instance of something next question next question comes from Johnny hi Johnny you wrote a very long message thank you very much for watching there's a slang expression that I've heard several times and don't understand well I know right using I know right it's like an invitation then for the other person to agree again really I know right so think of I know right as like an even stronger like even more emphasis on the agreement and an invitation for the other person to agree again I know right it's like yes and you agree too don't you next question comes from Zafar Ahmad Zafar amok hi the far asks about two sentences okay one have you ever cried in a film - have you ever cried at a film my question is about the preposition in or at which sentence is correct and explained the reason of course that would explain the reason let's take a look at the first one have you ever cried in a film this is actually a point where the differences between British English and American English might come into play a little bit have you ever cried in a film could have a few different meanings depending on the situation if for example you were speaking to an actor and you say have you ever cried in a film meaning when you were in a film when you were acting in a film did you cry at any point in time so have you ever cried in a film it could also mean have you gone to watch a movie in a movie theatre and cried at the movie theatre or in the movie theatre your second sentence have you ever cried at a film so using act shows like the direction of an emotion like we use it with other emotions as well like my mom is mad at me or my dad is angry at me so it's showing the direction of emotion so in this case have you ever cried at a film meaning did a film cause you to cry have you ever cried because of a film in my case though if I wanted to ask my friend if a movie had ever caused them to cry I would say have you ever cried at a movie next question next question comes from Eagle or hi Igor why are groups like berry hurry study tidy and try in the irregular verbs list their past simple and past participle forms have edie endings like other regular verbs the course books used have listed these verbs in the irregular verb list alright tough question because I did not create the textbooks and I don't know the logic that was used for the textbooks but if I had to guess why those verbs are included as irregular verbs I would imagine it's because these verbs all end in Y and yes although the verbs do end in E D there is an irregular change that happens with verbs that end in Y so that's to drop the Y and add ie D instead of just an IDI so we maintain that Isan like tidy Barry however the spelling of the word changes next question news from poll ria pouria asks what's the difference between these words interior and internal exterior and external alright well there are grammatical differences interior and exterior are nouns internal and external are adjectives we use interior and exterior to talk about the inside and the outside of something but internal and external are used those are adjectives we use them to talk about the qualities of something next question from stanislav hi Stanislaw stanislav asks how do you politely address unfamiliar women and men lady miss mrs. mister and sir ah nice question all right if you're in a formal situation it's better to use mr. with men sir tends to be used more in like a service relationship so the same thing with ma'am for women mrs. is used for married women if I don't know if someone is married or not a woman is married or not I'll use miss next question expression is from Leon hi Leon what are the differences between test exam quiz and questionnaire and when should I use each of them nice question all right let's start with test and exam we use these two words quite similarly when we're talking about tests of knowledge or like examinations at school we can use either of those like I have a test this week or I have an exam this week I think in American English test is probably used more commonly than exam or the long form examination however when we want to check the status of our bodies will often use the word exam so for example a physical exam that's an expression we use to mean like a full check of the body which is commonly done maybe once a year or so so an exam like a dental exam or an eye exam is a check of the condition of your body as well a quiz is essentially a mini test a questionnaire however is quite different from the three that we've talked about thus far a questionnaire is something that's given usually to customers that is for feedback we use questionnaires for feedback so those are all the questions that I want to answer this week thank you so much for sending your questions remember if you have not sent the question yet or if you just want to send more questions you can send them to me at English class 101.com slash ask - Alicia if you liked the video please make sure to give it a thumbs up subscribe to the channel if you haven't already and check us out in English class 101.com for some other good resources thanks very much for watching this episode of ask Alicia and I will see you again next week bye bye the English class 101 coms English in three minutes the fastest easiest and most fun way to learn English hi how's it going I'm Alicia nice to meet you in this series we're going to learn some easy ways to ask and answer common questions in English it's really useful and it only takes three minutes in this lesson you're going to learn new more common ways to ask and answer the question how are you in English you've probably learned how are you and I'm fine in textbooks before but in the United States people will usually ask this question and sir in a different way first let's review if someone says how are you you can say I'm fine I'm fine here are some other ways to answer pretty good this means about the same thing as I'm fine pretty good we also have not bad you can use this if you are feeling just okay or so-so not bad let's look at our question again how are you this is the most well known way of asking how someone is you could use it when you want to be polite but now let's look at some different ways to ask how someone is these ways are more casual and much more common first hey how's it going hey how's it going you can answer this in many ways if you're feeling good you can say good good pretty good pretty good not bad not bad once more good pretty good not bad here's a tip even though these answers mean the same thing as I'm fine you can't answer how's it going with I'm fine it will sound a bit strange if you're not feeling good you can say not so good not so good not great not great or not so well not so well be careful if you say one of these the other person will usually ask why what's wrong to be polite then you will have to explain another casual but very common version of how are you is what's up what's up to reply use a cheerful voice as you say much not much or nothing much nothing much this means you're free and able to chat since what's up is just another way of saying hello you can also reply with hey or hi now it's time for Alicia's advice a lot of the time when we ask questions that mean how are you in English we're not actually asking about the other person's health we're only asking to be polite you should think of these questions as another way of saying hello a way for the conversation to get started instead of actual literal questions in fact when someone asks you what's up you don't even have to answer just say what's up in reply do you know the difference between what do you do and what are you doing it's a little tricky but we'll explain it simply in the next English in three minutes lesson see you next time ten lines you need for introducing yourself so let's go hello it's nice to meet you hello it's nice to meet you you can only use this the first time that you meet someone if you say this to somebody after you have met them already you're going to see them either a like you've completely forgotten meeting them or be like you are a very strange person for saying it's nice to meet you again so when you use this the first time you can shake hands with someone and say hello it's nice to meet you my name is the next phrase is my name is blah blah in my case my name is Alicia you can use this again when you're introducing yourself or if you need to reintroduce yourself you can use this pattern when you meet somebody at a party for example you can say my name is blah blah blah my name is Barbara my name is Stevens you can shorten this you can say my names my name is blah blah blah I'm from after you've said your name after you've shaken hands you can say I'm from the US I'm from Japan I'm from Turkey I am from your mom's house I'm free I'm from a cave in southern Europe I'm from your country or I'm from your city I'm from the future I live in I live in blah blah blah you can use your city you can use your country you can use even maybe if you live near a certain station you can use the name of the station where you live so for example I live in America it's fine I live in Los Angeles it's fine I live in New York it's fine so your neighborhood is fine if someone says where do you live and you say I live in an apartment it's like what so please use your the region or the location where you live not the type of place where you live i'ma if you hear the question what do you do it it's asking about your job in English people don't say what is your job that's not the question that we ask instead the question is what do you do and the correct response to that is I'm a or I'm n bla bla bla followed by your job title so if someone says what do you do you can say I'm a teacher what do you do I'm an engineer what do you do I'm donut shop tester I'm years old when someone asks how old are you you can say I'm bla bla bla years old don't forget the S at the end of this if you like you can shorten this phrase to just I'm plus your age so I'm 65 I'm 13 whatever I'm this many sometimes children will say that how old are you they'll say I'm this many it's kind of cute first time you meet someone you might not ask how old are you if it's in a friendly case like a party after you've spoken to the person a little bit it's okay but just try to be sensitive to the context try to be sensitive to the people around you and if you sense that maybe there's a very large age gap between you it might be better just not to ask the question at all I enjoy many of my students say what is your hobby but that's not something that native speakers will say no native speakers say what is your hobby instead we ask what do you like to do or what do you do in your free time this is a much more natural question than what's your hobby the answer to this then is I enjoy or I like plus a noun phrase so for example what do you like to do I like listening to music or I enjoy listening to music what do you do in your free time I like watching movies what are you do in your free time I like baking cakes what do you do in your free time I enjoy tap-dancing what do you do in your free time I enjoy making new friends oh one of my hobbies is one of my hobbies is blah blah blah with this one it's probably better to use a short easily or easy to understand hobby if you're explaining a hobby people are gonna expect that it's gonna be something that they know about like photography or cooking or dancing or swimming or whatever so try to pick something that will allow you to to continue the conversation that's why movies are cooking or books or you know sports are a good thing to share one of my hobbies is snowboarding I've been learning English for if you are learning English if you're studying English you can use this expression if someone asks you how long have you been studying English you can say I've been studying English for amount of time or I've been learning English or I've been practicing English or I've been speaking English for a certain amount of time I've been studying English since elementary school is also okay to use I've been studying English since I was in college just be careful for is used for a length of time and since is used for a specific point in time at which you started something so you can try and mix it up and use a few different expressions there so I've been learning English for a long time I'm still learning English yeah you shouldn't do that okay I'm learning English at English class 101.com this probably could be used in response to where did you learn English or where are you studying English or how are you studying English you can respond with I'm learning English at English class 101.com or I'm learning English at my school I'm learning English at my private teachers house for example so a little bit of grammar in this sentence why do we use the progressive tense I'm learning English if you say I'm learning it sounds like you're still continuing your studies if you say I learned English at English class 101.com it sounds like you're finished like you you're finished studying there's nothing else for you to study so you're done so it's it's much much more natural to actually use the progressive I'm learning or I'm studying when you're talking about your studies when you're talking about your hobbies than it is to say I learned or I studied hi everybody welcome back to ask Alisha the weekly series where you ask me questions and I answer them maybe first question comes from Vanessa Rodriguez hi Vanessa Vanessa says hi Alicia I'd like to know the difference between kind of sort of and somewhat greetings from Brazil let's begin with kind of and sort of so kind of and sort of can be used before verbs and adjectives to mean a little and when we're speaking quickly we say keine and sorta you'll also see this spelling used in casual messages like text messages or maybe less formal emails so some examples I kind of want to eat Korean for lunch this dessert is kind of sweet don't you think I sort of like that new movie our neighbors are being sort of noisy tonight we also use kind of and sort of as softeners especially for bad news some examples I sort of forgot to send you the details I kind of broke your computer also keep in mind that kind of and sort of can come before a noun but when they're used in this way kind of and sort of mean type they don't mean a little for example what kind of ice cream do you like what sort of car are you thinking of buying so let's move on to some what some what means a little or slightly also but it sounds more formal than kind of or sort of we can use somewhat before adjectives we can also use somewhat with verbs but you'll find somewhat used after the verb so it's an adverb there some examples our answer depends somewhat on today's meeting the lesson content may vary somewhat in accordance with students questions like I said we can use it before adjectives but it feels more formal than kind of or sort of I'm somewhat surprised you replied to my email this decision seems somewhat odd okay so I hope that that helps answer your question thanks very much for sending it along let's move on to your next question next question comes from David Hosono hi David David says hi Alicia I am Japanese and not religious is it acceptable for me to use religious words like oh my god or bless you if not acceptable is there an alternate way of saying it hmm this is kind of a tough question because it depends on your listener so let's start with the phrase bless you here I've never heard of a situation where someone has gotten in trouble for saying bless you if you're not familiar with this phrase bless you is a common expression English speakers use after someone sneezes it has kind of an interesting history I've read two things actually about where this expression comes from one people used to believe that when you sneeze that part of your soul or part of your spirit leaves your body so they said bless you the other thing is that I heard that the phrase originated around the time of the Black Plague and so sneezing was like the first sign that someone might die so people said bless you when they heard a sneeze interesting I don't know which is true but it's an interesting it's an interesting expression for sure but regardless when people say bless you it typically isn't a problem if you're not sure or if you're not feeling comfortable just say nothing that's totally natural as well some other people like to use the German word gesundheit I don't know if my pronunciation is correct there but it means roughly health to my understanding so some people like to use that I personally don't you might hear it from time to time but if you're ever worried my recommendation would be to say nothing I personally don't use the expression bless you regarding the question about oh my god this one is perhaps more sensitive depending on the person you're talking to there are some people especially people who have strong religious beliefs who believe that using the word God outside of a religious situation is bad it's not a good thing to do so in those cases those people might feel offended if you use the word God in the expression oh my god for many people it's not a problem if you're worried if you're not sure if you're not comfortable you can use the expression oh my gosh this is a very common and very acceptable and natural substitute so oh my gosh in place if you listen to the people you're around and you hear them saying oh my god oh my god you can probably safely use oh my god as well but if you're worried you can just say oh my gosh that's fine too so I hope that this helps you thanks very much for this question okay let's move on to your next question next question comes from cannot I cannot cannot says hi Alicia could you please explain the difference between what do I have to do and what am I supposed to do yeah the difference between 1/2 2 and supposed to is subtle so let's start with 1/2 - when we use the expression half - we're talking about like an obligation or a responsibility when we use supposed to it's like there's some kind of outside expectation like a societal expectation or like a relationship expectation something you are supposed to do like a specific way you are supposed to behave so regarding your question then let's imagine two people are having an argument if someone says what do I have to do it's like they're asking about their obligations they're asking about their responsibilities what must they do if someone asks the question what am I supposed to do it's often like they're asking for the other person's expectations of them so maybe it's not even necessarily like a responsibility but you're asking for someone else's expectations with that question so the situations where you would hear these two are maybe a little bit different like what do I have to do would be used more when we're looking to achieve a goal like what do I have to do to get a good score on this test or what do I have to do to get this job if you're asking the question what am I supposed to do it's often in a situation that's like trouble so maybe you're in trouble with like the person you're in a relationship with or maybe you're in like trouble with like a landlord for example like what am I supposed to do if I don't have this house I'll be in trouble so it's like what are your expectations of me versus what are the things I must do so it's a very subtle difference supposed to is kind of more like societies and relationships and those kinds of like people related like connections and have to can feel more like obligations responsibilities so I would suggest to just pay attention when you see these two words used in text and you can kind of get a feel for the times when we would use these I hope that this helps answer your question thanks very much for sending it along okay let's move on to your next question next question comes from Ty hi ty ty says hello Alicia can you tell me about the word record and the way to read it when it's a verb and when it's a noun yeah so as a verb the word is pronounced record record so for example we're recording a video or let's record a song next year when used as a noun to talk about like the discs that you can use to play music or to talk about like a written note where you keep a lot of information the pronunciation is record record so he bought a lot of records last week or do you keep a record of your tasks so as a verb record as a noun record I hope that this helps you thanks very much for the question let's move on to your next question next question comes from Victoria hi Victoria Victoria says I would be grateful if you could explain the difference between want to and wanted to also when can we use wanted to okay the short answer here is that want to is present tense and wanted to is past tense examples I want to eat lunch you want to get a coffee he wanted to go jogging she wanted to cook dinner so something that might confuse people here is when we're trying to be soft and polite we might use wanted in past tense to make like a soft request or to ask for information in a soft way so examples I wanted to know where the restroom was I wanted to ask you about the new software I wanted to talk to you about the presentation so yes we're using the past tense here like I wanted to talk to you about the presentation it just makes the question sound softer using past tense in that way so we don't do this for all verbs we do this for like questioning verbs like I was wondering is another good example or I was hoping so we're trying to like make an inquiry you might hear this past tense structure used so we use this in situations where there's a little bit of distance between us and the listener maybe with like a work colleague we're not so close to or maybe with like staff at a department store so we use it typically with strangers but we're trying to be a little bit more polite of course you don't have to do this some people are very direct and they use present tense they say I want to know where the restroom is or I want to talk to you about the presentation I personally prefer to be a little softer and a little more polite so I also tend to use the past tense form so you can choose which you prefer but if you hear past tense in situations like these it's to make a softer question I hope that this helps you thanks very much for the question want to speak real English from your first lesson sign up for your free lifetime account at English class 101 calm imagine you're on a plane there's someone next to you what do you say hi Alicia here introducing yourself in English is easy in this lesson you're going to learn how with Gustavo and Henry who meet on a plane Gustavo is moving to New York his family is going to join him later in the month Henry is in the seat when Gustavo gets on the plane let's watch excuse me sorry about that hi how do you do I'm Gustavo nice to meet you Gustavo I'm Henry Eddins I'm sorry can you say that again please a bit slowly Henry Eddins Henry Eddins that's it but please call me Hank Hank nice to meet you now with subtitles excuse me sorry about that hi how do you do I'm Gustavo nice to meet you Gustavo I'm Henry Eddins I'm sorry can you say that again please a bit slowly Henry Eddins Henry Eddins that's it but please call me Hank Hank nice to meet you here are the key words from the scene hi-hi-hi hi but but but excuse me excuse me excuse me excuse me two two two - nice to meet you nice to meet you nice to meet you nice to meet you how do you do how do you do how do you do how do you do here are the key phrases from the scene how did Henry apologize when he realized he was in Gustavo's way sorry about that sorry about that in general this expression when used to respond to excuse me shows a friendly willingness to help the other person in this case Henry wanted to show he was happy to move out of Gustavo's way you can also use it to apologize for a small mistake like bumping into someone on the street or blocking someone's way in the aisle of a supermarket now you try say Henry's line after Gustavo speaks excuse me sorry about that later Gustavo also used the word sorry to apologize when he didn't understand Henry's name which phrase did he use I'm sorry I am sorry this is a very common phrase in English from many situations but here Gustavo uses it to indicate he didn't understand something now you try say the line after Henry speaks I'm Henry Eddins I'm sorry because Gustavo did not understand something he asked Henry to repeat what he said to do this what polite question did he use can you say that again please can you say that again please in response English speakers will usually repeat what they have said and will use the same words now you try ask the question after Gustavo says I'm sorry I'm sorry can you say that again please Gustavo also wanted Henry to speak more slowly to do this what does he ask a bit slowly bit slowly this is not a complete sentence but has a clear meaning when used after can you say that again please in response English speakers will slow their speech down now you try say the phrase after Gustavo says can you say that again please can you say that again please a bit slowly after Gustavo said Henry's name and reconfirmed he said it correctly how did he do that that's it that's it this is like saying that's correct but since the situation was friendly that's it sounded more natural now you try say the phrase after Gustavo says Henry's name correctly Henry Eddins that's it now the lesson focus here's how to introduce yourself ready do you remember how Gustavo introduced himself hi how do you do I'm Gustavo when Gustavo introduced himself he started with hi and then used a set phrase how do you do how do you do this is a polite expression people often use with an introduction it sounds like a question but it has no particular meaning and there's no expectation the other person will try to answer it next he says I'm Gustavo the first part of this sentence is a contraction of two words I and am the am here functions like an equal sign in math I'm I'm the next word in the sentence is a name gustavo together its Gustavo the structure of the pattern is hi how do you do I'm plus your name now you try imagine your name is John say hi how do you do I'm John hi how do you do I'm John now imagine your name is Aiko say hi how do you do I'm Aiko hi how do you do I'm Michael now use your name okay there are two additional things you need to know first there's a shortcut for giving your name just drop the I'm from the final sentence of the self introduction for example if Gustavo just said hi how do you do Gustavo Henry would have understood it was his name this would be especially clear if Gustavo extended his hand for a handshake while saying this in very casual situations you can even drop the hi and the how do you do all that is left would be your name the second thing you need to know is you can use I'm with just the first name or your first name and the last name together I'm Henry Eddins Eddins is Henry's family name using both your first name and your last name is a little more formal it also gives you less privacy for example if people know both your first and last name they can find you on the internet more easily so it may be more common for strange to say just their first name than people meeting in a more friendly environment next you'll learn how to tell people to call you by a nickname just like Henry did in the scene but please call me Hank but please call me Hank the first word in the sentence is butt this word is not necessary but it makes the transition to the rest of the sentence smoother Henry uses this to introduce a new piece of information and this information changes something about what he said before but makes this clear the next word introduces a polite request please PLEASE next is a request to use a certain name call call after this is the word me me last is a common nickname for men named Henry Hank Hank please call me Hank the sentence structure is please call me plus your nickname now you try imagine your nickname is Matt say please call me Matt please call me Matt now imagine your nickname is Lulu say please call me Lulu please call me Lulu now use your own nickname say please call me and then use your nickname finally when you meet someone for the first time it's polite to say a set phrase at the end nice to meet you nice to meet you usually both people will say this or something similar to it now you try nice to meet you now it's time to practice your new ability let's practice this is your chance to introduce yourself try to remember what you learned and practice by speaking aloud it's your first day in the US and you're meeting your new neighbor ready here we go what's the first thing you say to someone you've just met hi how do you do how do you tell someone your name I'm named I'm Henry Eddins how do you tell someone your nickname please call me your nickname please call me Hank what's the last thing you say to someone you've just met nice to meet you great job you've just introduced yourself you'll follow this same pattern many times so be sure to practice it well done now watch the scene one more time after that go and practice with all your American friends or with us in the comments bye excuse me sorry about that hi how do you do I'm Gustavo nice to meet you Gustavo I'm Henry Eddins I'm sorry can you say that again please a bit slowly Henry Eddins Henry Eddins that's it but please call me Hank Hank nice to meet you welcome to English class 101 coms English in three minutes the fastest easiest and most fun way to learn English hey everyone I'm Alisha in this series we're going to learn some easy ways to ask and answer common questions in English it's really useful and it only takes three minutes in this lesson you're going to learn how to ask what someone's job is in natural English of course you can just say what is your job this is correct English but it sounds too direct and awkward native English speakers almost never say this in a social situation instead they use a different question but before we master that we need to compare it to a very similar question what are you doing I'm presenting a video about English what do you do I'm an English teacher do you see the difference these two questions what are you doing and what do you do sound similar but mean different things the first one is asking what you are doing right now this minute you answer it using an ING verb what are you doing I'm reading I'm watching TV while the second is actually a shortened version of what do you do for a living this is how we ask what is your job in natural English let's practice this question what do you do what do you do when native speakers of English ask this question it can come out very fast and sound more like what do you do in order to tell it apart from what are you doing just listen for the sound on the end of the question if it's not there then you're being asked what your job is so how would you answer this question just think of it as if the other person is asking you what is your job you could answer with I am plus your job I'm a teacher I'm a teacher or I'm an engineer if you want to learn more job names go to English class 101.com and check out the core word lists these cover job vocabulary and more and include a picture and audio to help you perfect your pronunciation you can also mention the place that you work at starting with I work at I work at a hospital I work at a hospital I work at a law firm I work at a law firm if you work for a big company that is well known you can say I work for and then the name I work for Microsoft I work for Microsoft I work for the New York Times I work for the New York Times now it's time for Alicia's advice when you ask the question what do you do and the other person tells you their job it's polite to make some kind of positive comment about his or her job for example how interesting or that must be exciting or even oh really remember to sound sincere do you know how native English speakers ask each other what their hobbies are hint we don't use the word hobbies find out next time in the third English in three minutes lesson see you next step welcome to English class 101.com English in three minutes the fastest easiest and most fun way to learn English hey everyone I'm Alicia this series will teach you some easy ways to ask and answer common questions in English it's really useful and it only takes three minutes in this lesson you're going to learn some new ways to ask someone what's your name including one that you can use when you have forgotten someone's name now what is your name was probably one of the first questions you learned when you started studying English I have to tell you though that most native speakers of English would never say this in English just like in other languages it is often more polite to be a little indirect of course the easiest way to avoid asking the question directly is to not ask at all just introduce yourself and most people will respond by doing the same when introducing yourself simple is nearly always best just say hi I'm Alicia to show that you want to know the other person's name just add and you at the end hi I'm Alicia and you hi I'm Alicia and you just like before take out my name Alicia and put your name in its place after you say this the other person will tell you his or her name okay now let's talk about an embarrassing situation that happens to everybody you have already met this person once before but you have forgotten their name the most polite thing to do in this situation is to apologize and ask again there's a simple way to do this that's also polite I'm sorry what was your name again I'm sorry what was your name again this sentence is very similar to what's your name but it has three important differences first we say I'm sorry a small apology can go a long way after that we say what was your name this is just like what is your name but instead of is we use the past tense was this is really important as it tells the other person that you remember meeting them you haven't forgotten him or her you have just forgotten the name this little word makes all the difference I'm sorry what was your name finally we add again to the end this is another hint that tells the other person that you remember learning his or her name before but you just can't recall it right now I'm sorry what was your name again this phrase is appropriate for both formal and informal situations now it's time for Alicia's advice in the United States it's normal to address people by name in conversation more than once in both formal and informal situations it's a way to show respect or interest in the other person and can help you make friends it is also a great way to practice someone's name so you don't forget it if you are talking to someone named Anne for example instead of just what do you do for fun you could say and what do you do for fun you can also put the name at the end of the sentence what do you do for fun and you don't want to say the person's name too often or it will sound a little strange but if you practice someone's name like this you won't forget it and people love to hear their own name in this lesson we learned what to say when we forget someone's name in the next lesson you'll learn what to say when you want to get in touch with someone whether by telephone email or even newer ways to communicate what's your favorite let us know in the comments and join us next time for the sixth English and three minutes lesson see you next time want to speak real English from your first lesson sign up for your free lifetime account at English class 101.com welcome to English class 101 coms English in three minutes the fastest easiest and most fun way to learn English hey everyone I'm Alicia this series explains some easy ways to ask and answer common questions in English it's really useful and it only takes three minutes in this lesson you're going to learn some different ways people will ask you where are you from first though where are you from can mean many things it can mean what city are you from or what state are you from in fact Americans ask this question to each other all the time to learn what part of America the other person comes from of course though it can also mean what country are you from if you want to answer this question there are two ways to do it you can say I'm plus your nationality as in I'm Japanese or I'm Brazilian or you can say I'm from plus the country you are from as in I'm from Italy or I'm from Thailand if you're from a really famous city or place you can say that too for example I'm from Beijing or I'm from New Delhi many times though Americans won't ask what country are you from or even where are you from in many casual situations they will say it in a simpler way where are you from this is just like where are you from but they take out the are where are you from you can use this to in casual situations of course in the United States as in other parts of the world people may be a little more indirect because they want to be polite to do this they might ask you if you are from the place where they meet you for example if you meet someone in New York they might ask are you from New York or if you are in San Diego they might ask are you from San Diego many parts of the United States are very multicultural so asking the question this way avoids what could be an embarrassing mistake you can answer this the same way you answer where are you from just add a simple no in front for example you can say no plus I'm plus nationality no I'm French or no plus I'm from plus country no I'm from Russia now it's time for Alicia's advice since the United States is very large people you meet may take great pride in the place or region they come from if you ask someone about where they're from they may respond by saying something like west coast or the east coast or California or the south or the Midwest if they answer in this way it usually means they are interested in talking more about their region and how it differs from others in this lesson you are going to learn how to ask what someone's hobbies are without using the word hobbies you've probably seen the question do you have any hobbies or what are your hobbies in an English textbook before however native English speakers almost never use the word hobbies when asking about them a much more natural way to ask the same question is what do you do for fun let's practice this question what do you do for fun what do you do for fun you can also ask what do you do in your free time what do you do in your free time so how would you answer this question let's look at how native speakers would do it the easiest way is to say I like to or just I like followed by what you like to do for example if you like watching movies you could say I like to watch movies or I like watching movies I like to watch movies or I like watching movies and if you like golf you could say I like to play golf or I like playing golf I like to play golf or I like playing golf you can emphasize how much you like your hobby by adding a word like really in front of like for example I really like watching movies on the other hand if you want to play down how much you like something you can say kind of for example I kind of like playing tennis now it's time for Alisha's advice if you don't have any special hobbies or don't want to be specific a good way to reply is I like hanging out with my friends and stuff like that I like hanging out with my friends and stuff like that just use I like and add hanging out with my friends and then add and stuff like that ten different phrases that you can use to respond to the question how are you so let's go I'm great the first phrase is I'm great if someone says how are you you can say I'm great try to say I'm great with a kind of an upbeat voice so something you're like how are you I'm great I'm feeling bad I'm feeling bad if you say I'm feeling bad the other person is probably if they're a friend of yours or a co-worker going to ask you why what happened so if you want to use I'm feeling bad make sure you have an explanation ready anyway somebody says how are you and you go I'm feeling bad maybe I went out for drinks last night with my coworkers oops I'm okay I'm okay I feel like this is one of those intonation practice ones I'm okay with that ah I'm okay it's like sort of upward intonation you're like cool but if someone says how are you and you're like I'm okay they're like oh no what happened so you can use your intonation with I'm okay to make it a good thing or not so good thing but either way it's not like a very sick super-serious just wrong thank you for asking yeah I imagine this would be in a more formal situation like if my friend said to me how are you and I was like thank you for asking they'd be like what I would say I'm fine or I'm doing well I'm doing great plus thank you for asking so if today how are you I'm doing very well thank you mmm oh that's how I would use it and you the next one is and you liked the least natural response - how are you is I'm fine thank you and you like just get out of put just take it out of your head nobody says that I always say how about you that's a much more natural thing how are you how are you how are you can be a response again after you have given your answer to the question how are you I'm great how are you how are you I'm good how are you I'm great how are you I'm okay how are you how have you been recently how have you been recently this is only useful if you haven't seen the other person for a while I'm not bad I'm not bad I'm not bad how are you I'm not bad no I'm not bad hmm things could be worse I would probably do this I'm sleepy the next expression is I'm sleepy Hey it's like so specific if someone said how are you I would probably say I'm okay but I'm a little sleepy I don't know that I would just say I'm sleepy unless it's a really good friend of mine it's a person close to you you can say I'm so tired I'm I would say I'm super tired or I'm really tired and I feel like that's a little bit more natural than just I'm sleepy I'm good one that I use a lot if someone says how are you I say I'm good that's just probably my go-to response yeah I'm good I'm good maybe I'll repeat it while smiling I'm good I'm good yeah thanks for asking hi everybody and welcome back to english topics my name is Alicia and I'm joined today by hi I'm Davey thanks for joining us again baby so today our topic for discussion is going to be things that you should not say when meeting someone for the first time so please be careful not to say these things or to ask these questions the first time you meet someone this could be very important it's it could influence your relationship with that person for a long time so let's begin I'll start this one okay here we go what do you have first one I'm not gonna start that one I'm gonna start with yes the classic the classic question how old are you yeah John asked this question it doesn't matter like maybe I could see if you're like a college-age person and you're at a college age people party and everybody is pretty much the same age and you just maybe want to confirm exactly how close an age you are I can see that but in the adult world how old are you is like a classic question not to ask because people some people might be very sensitive about their age whether they feel they're older or younger than the person they're speaking to so don't ask this question it's a it's a good idea just a better idea not to ask this question even if you're curious if you're if you're curious about how old someone is what do you do ah Alicia when did you graduate high school see what I did there I do see what you did there so you asked an indirect question about their age so that you can kind of guess maybe about this age so he doesn't ask me how old I am but he asks when I completed a specific point in my life that usually happens around age 18 or so very tricky so yeah avoid this question but an indirect one like that could be good could be useful okay nice one um what's your first tips my first tip is similar I feel like you might have the better tips this time because you're you're very specific today my first tip is avoid overly personal questions or comments as well so for example asking about age would be an example of that but I think there's there's lots of there are very many different overly personal questions that you could ask for example asking someone if they have a boyfriend or girlfriend the first time you meet that that's not really appropriate if you see someone who looks pregnant and you ask oh when are you due that's always dangerous things like that so but mmm yeah asking overly personal questions is something that you should not do when you're meeting someone for the first time as you get to know one you get to know more about them and it becomes safer to ask more personal questions and also to share more personal information about yourself so you shouldn't for example in addition to asking such questions you shouldn't be volunteering very personal information about yourself just after you've met someone that's true yeah if you share too much personal information the first time you meet someone that can also be a little bit sudden a little bit surprising to the person listening so that's a really good point like don't to share all this information about your life it sounds way too familiar way too fast over sharing hmm over sharing definitely so don't don't do that the first time but yeah when is the baby due boyfriend or girlfriend how old are you depending on where you are to some people might be a little bit sensitive about like jobs it kind of depends on the place I've encountered that a couple times people don't want to explicitly so people don't want to clearly say what they do that's true going off of what you said to add a couple more personal items don't ask about religion or sexuality the first time you meet someone because these are two usually very sensitive topics for people so if people if you want to you know continue a relationship with someone and get to know them better maybe you can ask this sort of thing in the future but in general the first time you meet someone it's not a good idea to say what religion are you or what is your sexual preference that kind of question is far too personal for the first time you meet anyone so that's pretty that's a pretty good one not to ask anybody a similar topic my my next thing to avoid talking about with people that you've just met is money and this can differ culturally that's one reason I wanted to include this is because in some cultures in some parts of the world it's very acceptable to ask and talk about money talk about your financial situation or how much money you have or how much money you make and ask people about that but generally in the english-speaking world that is considered a taboo you shouldn't ask about money because it's rude you shouldn't talk about how much money you have or you make because it sounds like you're bragging and it can sound very rude I actually remember I used to live in China and when I lived in China when I first moved there people would ask I would meet people and they would ask me oh how much money do you make and this was the second or third question reality of meeting a new person and I the first few times it really shocks me I thought it was very strange but then I learned oh that's just uh that's a more typical question in this culture but I still was a bit uncomfortable answering it so I wasn't very definite I wouldn't say exactly how much money but on the other hand with the people who were asking you that question did they tell you how much money they made mm-hmm not always no mm-hmm no I see so maybe it was a curiosity question I think it was a curiosity class interesting huh that's interesting so that's I think that's a really important point because again people are very sensitive about their incomes especially in relation to the other people you're speaking to but on the other hand too if you want to talk generally about like money or prices of an item like maybe I don't know the price of gasoline or like housing prices have gone up recently in the country where you live in that's fine like the general topic of the economy of money is fine to talk about but don't talk about people's salary don't talk about your bonus or the great new house you've just bought that kind of thing can be really really sensitive for discussion all right so I think you have one more tip thank you and that's it similar to one that you gave you mentioned not talking about religion or sexuality and I have politics or religion and I was actually thinking of a movie quote when I thought of this I remembered a movie quote something along the lines of never talk about politics or religion because you don't know who you're going to offend and now I think that these are very worthwhile and important topics to discuss we should be able to talk about politics and religion with each other with our friends our family and people that we know but it's not a good idea to bring up these topics the first time you meet someone because you don't want to form a judgment of someone else or have some form a judgment of you based on what you think about politics or religion and so once you get to know someone you you want your relationship with someone to be based on an interpersonal connection and once you've made a good connection you have a good relationship with someone then it's a safer time a safer relationship to talk about things like politics religion sexuality and so on without worrying about someone changing their opinion of you or you your opinion being changed of someone else right exactly exactly and that can be a really quick way to to maybe make someone feel defensive if you ask for example well what do you think of this political situation it can be it can be a little bit of a problem because number one that person might not be interested in politics so you might make them feel nervous and two they might be concerned that they're going to offend you or you're not going to agree with them in general it just creates too much tension for a first conversation or maybe even a second conversation I don't know so it's better to avoid I completely agree establish that connection first it's much better okay I'm out of tips I think are you out of tips two tips okay great so those are a few things that you should definitely definitely avoid the first time that you're speaking with someone if there are anything if there's anything that you have tried to use in a conversation and maybe it didn't go well or if you have other tips for something that you feel in your culture it would be inappropriate to ask please leave a comment and let us know about it ten phrases tourists should never use number one that's disgusting disgusting is a very harsh term to describe something that doesn't look good you're it's not attractive and you don't want to get near it it's disgusting it's a very rude thing to say because you might be saying that about something someone else likes number two my country is better to say your country is better is a very rude thing to say when you're a guest in a new place especially because if you're a tourist you probably don't know all that much about this new country so how could you really say one country is better than the other number three I'd rather be back home if you'd rather be back home that means you don't want to be here anymore and if that's the case why are you travelling at all part of the joy of traveling is getting away from home and experiencing new things so to say I'd rather be back home why are you travelling at all number four shut up funny story when I was growing up my mom used to say that shut up is a bad word so we used to get in trouble for saying it shut up is a very rude way to tell someone to be quiet don't use it it's a bad way to say it number five I'm not very interested in your culture to say that you're not interested in someone's culture probably means that you're not looking hard enough because every culture has something interesting about it whether it's the language the history the fashion it doesn't matter what it is there's always going to be something interesting about someone's culture number six I don't like meeting new people to say you don't like meeting new people means that you're going to miss out on a very big part of traveling and that is getting to know people getting to hear their stories what it's actually like to live in that country so to say I don't like meeting new people you're losing out number seven let's just eat at McDonald's this is something that a lot of Americans are probably guilty of when traveling they're gonna see in McDonald's because McDonald's are everywhere in the world these days and they're going to think it's easy my favorite part of traveling is trying new cuisine in different countries and if you're just going to say let's eat at McDonald's that means you're going to be missing out on trying local cuisine and local delicacies and it's just you're not broadening your horizons and you never know your favorite new food might just be waiting undiscovered for you and instead you went to McDonald's to have a chicken sandwich number eight boring boring is a very impolite way to say that something is not interesting and you don't really want to use when you're traveling because it's kind of rude number nine this tastes awful to say something tastes awful is saying that it tastes bad it tastes terrible you don't want to eat it anymore and it's incredibly rude you don't want to say this especially if the person you're talking to is the one who made the food for you in English we have this phrase don't look someone's young and that means don't say yuck to something that someone else might say young or that's delicious so you don't want to insult a food that someone else likes because it's very rude it's insulting especially if the person you're saying that to made the food for you so don't use this phrase number 10 I'm going to spend the day in the hotel to say you're going to spend an entire day at the hotel means you're missing out on exploring the place that you've paid to go and see why don't you get out there and try new food and meet new people take pictures climb skyscrapers climb mountains go hiking do everything you can possibly do to take advantage of being in a new place because I guarantee it'll be one of the best experiences you have [Music]

Channel: Learn English with EnglishClass101.com

Views: 167,677

Keywords: long, listening skills, lessons, beginner, compilation, English podcasts, longplay, English language, native speakers, beginners, yt:cc=on, Englishclass101, how to, teacher, listening practice, Englishpod101, audio, quick, long play, school, podcast, native speaker, fast, practice, English, easy, English practice, daily conversations, good manners, what to say, what to do, how to be polite, politeness in english, comp, compilations

Id: nyAeCz69O-8

Length: 72min 17sec (4337 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 16 2019