Business Skills 360, the podcast that looks at the other side of business English.
Hello, and welcome back to the Skills 360 podcast.
I'm your host, Tim Simmons, and today I want to talk about the different levels of formality in spoken English.
Think about how you speak in your first language.
Do you talk the same way to your colleagues as your wife?
Or the same to your friends as your boss?
Of course not.
Different people and different situations mean different levels of formality.
We can think about four different levels of formality in spoken English.
First is formal English.
This is what you might use when you're giving a public presentation or speech.
Next is what we call consultative, which is basically professional conversation, like talking to your colleagues in a meeting.
Then there is casual, which is the style you use when talking with your friends.
And finally, there's intimate language, which is used with your spouse or family members.
Now, some language is what we call neutral, which means it works at all levels of formality.
But if you listened to our previous lesson, you know that there are many expressions or ways of speaking that go clearly with one level or another.
I mean expressions that are either formal or consultative or casual or intimate.
Okay, now here's an easy question for you.
At which of these four levels do people interrupt each other the most?
Of course, it's intimate.
Just think of the last family meal you enjoyed.
Did everyone listen carefully while everyone took turns speaking?
I'd be willing to bet they didn't.
Family discussions tend to be more chaotic, with people constantly talking over each other and interrupting.
That's okay with family, but as you move up the scale of formality, interruption becomes less and less frequent.
With friends, there's still lots of interruption.
In meetings…
There's some well-timed interruption, but in a presentation, it's not good form to interrupt.
People tend to listen and wait for the speaker to invite questions.
Or, if you do interrupt, you have to make sure you do it very politely.
There are a couple of other conversation strategies that change along this scale of formality.
One of them is directness.
Think about a statement like, you must be crazy.
In which situation would you hear that?
Yes, that belongs in casual or intimate situations, when a friend or family member makes a suggestion you think is ridiculous.
In meetings and other professional settings, we tend to be more indirect.
So if you think your colleague has a crazy idea, you might say are you sure that's the best way to go?
Humor is another thing that depends a lot on circumstances and audience.
When it comes to jokes the more formal the situation the higher the risk.
You'll know this if you've ever started a presentation with a joke that bombed.
But with your family and friends you probably don't worry about that.
And there's one particular form of humor that you should be especially careful with, and that's sarcasm.
Sarcasm is when we say one thing but mean the opposite.
And the way we know it is sarcasm is with exaggerated intonation.
For example, if I say to my friend, Oh, that's an amazing idea.
What I really mean is that it's a terrible idea.
This can be extremely confusing, which is why it's best to save it for friends and family or don't use it at all.
By now it should be pretty clear that we don't use the same forms of language with all people in all situations.
What this means is that you're not just learning one form of English, but several.
So if you're picking up new expressions from TV or from the world around you, pay attention to the situation.
Is it formal, consultative, casual?
These things matter because mistakes with formality can be offensive or offensive. embarrassing.
But what if you're not sure about whether the situation requires formal or more casual language?
Well, in that case, stick to language that you know is neutral.
And remember, neutral language is acceptable at all levels.
Also, note that there are individual differences in formality.
Different people have different conversational styles.
Some tend to be more formal while others are more casual.
Still, whatever your personal style, you should be able to understand and adapt to the four different levels of formality.
That means knowing how much interruption is acceptable.
It also means understanding how direct or indirect you can be in conversation.
And finally, you should be able to use humor wisely, which sometimes means not at all.
That's all for today.
If you'd like to test yourself on what we've just covered, have a look at the businessenglishpodcom website.
There, you'll find a quiz about today's show as well as a complete transcript.
So long and see you again soon.
