Most of you are more able to read English than to understand it as a spoken language. While this is fine for studying from text-books, you are going to an environment where everyone around you will be speaking English. All your classes will be given in English as well. If you want a little more hel with this go and look at the other articles posted for Thursday's and Friday's classes which will have some vocabulary that we did not discuss but which is important to spoken English.
The first thing learners of any foreign language complain about is how fast it always seems when people are speaking. In class you have always heard it spoken very slowly, with each word pronounced very clearly. Unfortunately that's not how native speakers use a language.
However, with English, as with any other language, there are differences in the spoken language that always apply. We started to look at these, as well as at the difference in vocabulary.
For one thing, words that are usually used together are said together without a pause between so that to the ear they sound like one word.
Thus the common combination "how are you..." when followed by another word or words becomes "howya"...the word are disappears completely. So the sentence "How are you doing?" - a common greeting, becomes "Howya doowen?". This is because the ending ing is rarely pronounced the way it looks, but as en. The g disappears. So, also, going sounds like gowen.
But it is the vocabulary we use in the spoken language that changes a lot too. While the English language contains more words than any other language, the vocabulary used in common speech is surprisingly small and rather than, as in writing, trying to use the precise word which gives our meaning exactly, we use a smaller selection of words repeatedly to mean broadly the same things. We also substitute a lot of words with other words.
reckon...often used instead of think. You reckon he likes it? instead of Do you think he likes it.
chick...literally means a baby chicken. Used in spoken English to mean girl
bird...a creature with feathers. But used, mainly by English and Europeans for girl
guy...literally means a life-sized, home-made sort of doll meant to represent a real person.
But it's used instead of boy/man. The plural guys, represents both genders.
dude...is not even an English word! But guys use it to each other meaning boy/man
cool...means not hot. But is the most common way of stating approval "s/he's cool." The movie
was cool. This song is cool. Carries the meaning of fashionably good
awesome...literally means to inspire an almost religious wonder. But used to mean very good or very nice.
bitch...is actually the correct word for a female dog. Used to mean a nasty woman
bastard...the child of an unmarried mother. Used to refer to a nasty man
bloody...adjective meaning covered in blood. Used simply as an adjective with no other meaning than to express our annoyance: My bloody bike broke down!
seedy...really means worn-out, cheap. Used to describe an unpleasant person
sleazy...the real meaning is to be vulgar, not respectable. Used to describe an unpleasant, uncool person
balls...well we know what a ball is. But used to mean "Oh, that's not true"
bullshit...the excrement (pooh) of a male cow. Used to mean untrue or rubbish e.g. That movie was a load of bullshit or Its bullshit to say she did that!
in...again we all know what the little word means. However, although this meaning is fading in many places, it is still used often in Northern Europe to mean fashionable
out...the opposite of in e.g. unfashionable
tired...unfashionable, common
so yesterday...same as above
not-good...while not correct grammar, using not-good with so in front of it has come to mean really bad e.g. that movie was so not-good! Therefore we often use not -good simply as bad e,g, How was the exam? Not-good
so...putting so in front of something has become more common than using the word very e.g. She is so bitchy!
Finally, we dealt again with the fact that we use a lot of facial and body expressiveness in English which is why we can afford to use so few words in the spoken language. Our faces and bodies make our meaning clear. And we often say the exact opposite to what we mean, because our expression carries the real meaning.
So, if a person asks someone what the exam was like, they might say "Wonderful!". But if they are pulling a face, drooping their shoulders etc. we know they are being sarcastic and meaning the exact opposite. This is one of the reasons foreigners keep eye-contact too: we "read" each others meaning as well as listen to it.
Because of this there are some things we don't actually use words for e.g. "I don't know" which is said as the single word Dunno, is usually said with a shrug of the shoulders. Therefore simply shrugging our shoulders means that we don't know. In the same way simply nodding or shaking our heads signals yes or no in most languages.
Often we simply make the noise like Mmm- hmm for yes or no. Saying it with an upward tone means yes or a downwards tone means no.
And PLEASE: my most hated word "delicious"! Not really used in spoken language. We usually say:
yummy... great; good; really good. Its HOW we say it that counts.
Yucky... is a common way of saying something is NOT delicious, as is Yuck..pronounced as a sort of disgusted noise in the back of our throat: - Yeucchhh!
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