Hello, English learners. Welcome back to another lesson here with us at EnglishPod.
My name is Marco. And I'm Erica. And today we are going to have a very casual, normal conversation.
That's right. We're going to listen in on some small talk between a taxi driver and the passenger.
Small talk. So that's basically... Small, short conversations you have with someone that you don't know very well.
Okay, so typical questions like how old are you, where you're from, etc.
That's right. And this can be really hard for English learners because they often don't know what the right thing to say the right thing to talk about.
So we're going to give you a lot of phrases in this lesson that you can use in small talk.
Okay, so we don't have anything to preview today, so let's listen to the dialogue for the first time, and then we'll come back.
Where to, miss? Hi. Crenshaw and Hawthorne at the Holiday Inn that is on that corner.
Sure thing. So? where you flying from from China really you don't look very Chinese to me if you don't mind me saying so It's fine.
I am actually from Mexico. I was in China on a business trip visiting some local companies that manufacture bathroom products.
Wow, sounds interesting. Excuse me if I'm being a bit nosy, but how old are you?
Don't you know it's rude to ask a lady her age?
Don't get me wrong. It's just that you seem so young and already doing business overseas.
Well, thank you. In that case, I am 26 years old, and what about yourself?
I'm 40 years old and was born and raised here in the good old U.S. of A.
Although I have some Colombian heritage.
Really? That's great. Do you speak Spanish?
Yeah, of course. ¡Qué bien! Entonces podemos hablar en español.
All right, so I don't think this guy spoke much Spanish, do you?
No, even though he has Colombian heritage, I think he doesn't speak much.
But maybe he's just a little bit rusty. Maybe.
But what he does speak is English. And since this is EnglishPod, why don't we look at some of the phrases that they used for Small Talk and Fluency Builder?
Fluency Builder Alright, so today on Fluency Builder, we're going to take a look at phrases that both the passenger and the taxi driver use to make small talk.
So why don't we start with the first one?
Alright, so the taxi driver tells the passenger that she doesn't look very Chinese, if you don't mind me saying so.
Right, so he said, you don't look very Chinese to me if you don't mind me saying so.
If you don't mind me saying so. So what does he mean by this last part of his sentence?
Well, this is a phrase that we use to soften a sort of... that might be a little bit rude.
She could be Chinese, right? So it may be a little bit rude to say that, but he kind of apologizes.
That's right. Right, by saying, if you don't mind me saying so.
OK, so for example, I could say, hey, Marco, you look a little tired today if you don't mind me saying so.
OK. Does it always go at the end? You could use it at the beginning.
If you don't mind me saying so, I just don't think this is a good idea.
Okay, very good. So you can use this phrase in the beginning or at the end of a sentence.
Right. And it makes your statement a little bit less rude.
If you don't mind me saying so. Now again, he also apologizes a little bit when he says, Excuse me if I am being a bit nosy, but...
Excuse me if I'm being a bit nosy, but... Excuse me if I'm being a bit nosy, but... Okay, so let's take a look at this.
Nosy. What's this? Okay, when somebody is nosy, it means they are very curious.
They are asking too many questions. Yeah, asking more questions than they should ask.
Right. So he apologizes and says, well, excuse me if I'm asking too many questions.
And then he asks her another question. He asks her how old she is.
Right. So again, it's a polite way of maybe asking a question that might be a little bit sensitive.
Yeah, or a little bit impolite. Okay, so of course asking a woman her age maybe is a little bit in plight, right?
Yes, typically women don't like that too much but our next phrase we heard
Don't get me wrong. Okay, so don't get me wrong.
He says, well, don't misunderstand what I'm saying.
That's right. This phrase is used so commonly in English that I think it would help us to hear some examples.
Example 1 Don't get me wrong. It's not that I think you stole my computer.
It's just that you were the only one who could get into my room.
Example 2 I do have a few problems with the plan, but don't get me wrong, I still think it's a good idea.
Don't get me wrong. I think John's a nice guy.
He's just a bit disorganized. All right, very good example.
So don't get me wrong, right? That's right.
And now for the final phrase on putting it together today.
Well, the passenger, the woman, says her age.
She says, I'm 26 years old. And what about yourself?
What about yourself? What about yourself?
All right, now, this sentence isn't very correct, actually, right?
Yeah, technically, in grammar, but it is used so commonly every day by American English speakers that we thought we'd show it to you.
Okay, so you would say, I am 26 years old and what about you?
That's right. Okay, but commonly you will hear people say, what about yourself?
And if you use this, you'll sound really fluent and really native-like.
Okay, very good. So what about yourself?
So again, it's just like, what about you?
So I could say, hey, Marco, I'm going away on holiday this weekend.
And what about yourself? Okay, what about yourself?
So we've taken a look at these four phrases on putting it together.
Why don't we listen to the dialogue for the second time?
We're going to slow it down a little bit.
And then we'll come back and take a look at some vocabulary words on Language Takeaway.
Where to, miss? Hi, Crenshaw and Hawthorne at the Holiday Inn that is on that corner.
Sure thing. So where are you flying in from?
From China. Really? You don't look very Chinese to me, if you don't mind me saying so.
It's fine. I am actually from Mexico. I was in China on a business trip visiting some local companies that manufacture bathroom products.
Wow, sounds interesting. Excuse me if I'm being a bit nosy, but how old are you?
Don't you know it's rude to ask a lady her age?
Don't get me wrong. It's just that you seem so young and already doing business overseas.
Well, thank you. In that case, I am 26 years old.
And what about yourself? I am 40 years old and was born and raised here in the good old U.S. of A., although I have some Colombian heritage.
Really? That's great. Do you speak some Spanish?
Yeah, of course. ¡Qué bien! Entonces podemos hablar en español. and phrases here in Language Takeaway.
And the first one. Well, after she gets in the taxi and tells him where she wants to go, he answers by saying, Sure thing.
So if I say, yeah, sure thing, what does that mean?
Well, let's listen to some examples to help us understand.
Example one. Do you mind lending me a hundred bucks?
Sure thing. Example two. Could you please send me the email by the end of the day?
Sure thing. Example 3 Do you mind lending me $100?
Sure thing. Could you please send me the email by the end of the day?
Sure thing. Example 4 Can you get some milk on the way home?
Sure thing, I'm on my way now. Okay, so sure thing, basically, yeah, no problem, or okay.
Or I'll do it. I'll do it. It's fine. Yep.
So it's a very common way. You will hear this a lot when somebody agrees or says, yes, no problem.
Yeah, and again, it will help you sound really native-like to use this phrase.
Well, the next one, the taxi driver says, I was born and raised here.
I was born and raised here. Born and raised.
Okay. This is a way of saying I was born in this country and I haven't left this country.
That's right. So I'm from this country. Okay.
Born and raised here in the good old US of A. Good old US of A. The good old US of A. a pretty interesting way of saying America.
Right. It's actually more of a phrase, right?
The good old US of A. Yep. Okay, so it means the good United States of America.
Yeah, it's kind of a fond way or a friendly way of describing America.
All right. And we have one more word for language takeaway.
Well, the taxi driver was talking about his Colombian heritage.
Colombian heritage heritage alright so if I have Colombian heritage what does that mean your grandmother or you know grandfather great-grandmother or someone in your family is from Columbia okay and what about the word heritage by itself Yeah, so your heritage is basically your culture, your... Customs.
Yeah, your customs, your history. Okay, so heritage.
A country rich in heritage. Lots of good old historical culture in that country.
Okay, very good. So now it's time for us to listen to the dialogue for the last time.
Now we can understand all these phrases and these great words that we've just looked at.
And then we'll come back and talk a little bit more.
Where to, miss? Hi. Crenshaw and Hawthorne at the Holiday Inn that is on that corner.
Sure thing. So? Where are you flying in from?
From China. Really? You don't look very Chinese to me if you don't mind me saying so.
It's fine. I am actually from Mexico. I was in China on a business trip, visiting some local companies that manufacture bathroom products.
Wow, sounds interesting. Excuse me if I'm being a bit nosy, but how old are you?
Don't you know it's rude to ask a lady her age?
Don't get me wrong. It's just that you seem so young and already doing business overseas.
Well, thank you. In that case, I am 26 years old, and what about yourself?
I'm 40 years old and was born and raised here in the good old U.S. of A.
Although I have some Colombian heritage.
Really? That's great. Do you speak Spanish?
Yeah, of course. ¡Qué bien! Entonces podemos hablar en español.
So Marco, this taxi driver makes a bit of a mistake when he asks the woman how old she is.
Yes. Yeah, exactly. There are a couple of questions that in some cultures are considered to be normal and okay, but in other cultures, they're not really well accepted.
Okay, so in Anglo culture, for example, it's really impolite to ask a woman how old she is.
Right. Women are a little bit more sensitive about their age.
Others aren't so much, but it's usually better to just not ask. and what else should we avoid talking about in small talk well for example when you ask a person their occupation yet you can ask what they do for a living but That's right.
Anglo people are really sensitive about talking about money.
We hate talking about money. Right, so don't ask somebody their salary or how much money they make.
It's just not considered to be polite. And another good one to be careful of is asking if someone is married or not.
Right, sometimes you're just being friendly and you want to know if that person has family or something, but you have to be careful when and where you ask this question.
Right. mentioned their family if they talked about their kids or something else to do with their family then it's okay Right, you can say, well, oh, how long have you been married?
But if a guy asks a girl, oh, are you married?
It kind of sounds like maybe he's interested in her or that he's trying to come on to her and to be maybe more than friendly, right?
That's right. Okay. So some great small talk tips and phrases here at EnglishPod.
Now, if you have any questions about this lesson or any other lessons related be sure to visit our website at EnglishPod.com.
And if you also have any doubts about which questions you think are appropriate of asking somebody, yeah, come into the website and let us know.
So thanks for downloading, you guys. And until next time, goodbye.
