Name: 【如何理解英國人說話表達的真正意思】
Uploaded: 2022-04-12T11:34:22.000Z
Duration: 6 min 58 s
Description: 許多學生跟我說，英國人說話常常說話不是很直接，喜歡拐彎抹角，加上最近發現一篇「The News Lens 關鍵評論網」的文章提到英國人的文化，但我不是那麼同意他們所說的內容，所以今天我想來解釋一下對於這篇文章的看法。Learn the English Usage:

when British people say "that's interesting",

do they actually mean they think it’s boring

They heard that the way British people speak isn’t very direct,

It hasn’t been just one student who has asked me this,

So I thought I’d make a video to explain

whether we mean it’s interesting or not.

They have an article about British culture,

So if you go somewhere like maybe to see a movie

or a theatre production or you eat some food

and a British person says “yeah, it's not bad”.

They mean usually pretty much what they've said,

It would be quite rude if you’d made some food for them

That means they didn't really like it that much.

Saying "It's not bad" means it's not bad.

But most of all it depends on the person's tone, right?

That means they don’t really like it. Right?

What do British people mean when they say "It's interesting"?

So one of my students is actually doing her PHD

And so she felt like, oh no, they don't like it.

I was like, no, that's not what they mean.

I think it's terrible that many students think that

when I’m saying that what they said is interesting,

it's because I really find it interesting.

Now of course, sometimes you do get people saying

because they're not really sure what to say,

Maybe you say something that's just kind of outside of

their realm of what they know how to respond to,

like they just have nothing to say back to that.

Like if you say something completely random like,

then they might say, oh okay, that's interesting.

It's like, I don't really know what to say to you

But other times it actually is because it's interesting.

Yeah so I don't want people to be walking around in England

or thinks that what I'm saying is not interesting

It's either they really think what you're saying is interesting,

so they're just kind of trying to encourage you.

this means that it's definitely your fault.

If someone says it's my fault, it means it's your fault.

If I say to someone "it's probably my fault",

then either it genuinely is my fault and I'm apologising,

or I'm trying to find a reason why it partly is my fault,

such as, oh I should have explained more clearly

So I'm just sort of taking responsibility for my side

but I really don't think British people would really admit fault

That would be quite strange to do I think.

Like why would you take on some responsibility

Subtitles ListPlay Video

【如何理解英國人說話表達的真正意思】

sort

pretend

genuinely

aspect