Translating British Talk
While the source of this is unknown (we found it posted somewhere on Facebook), we believe it’s quite true to form! Is there anything you can add to this list?
If you’d like some more culture tips for the UK, click here to read our previous post on the matter.
Mark
RW3 CultureWizard
Mark – I’ve seen this same document several places over the last few years. Does anyone know the origin?
There was an article in the Economist last May with a similar list, though it too, acknowledges that it is not the original version. You can check it out here: http://www.economist.com/blogs/johnson/2011/05/euphemistically_speaking.
Great! This is very helpful for non-native speakers like me.
As a Brit, I found that when working with Asian colleagues my use of the phrase ‘As Soon As Possible’ was misinterpreted. When I used the term ‘ASAP’ I actually meant ‘Do it now or give me a good reason why you can’t', my Asian colleagues used to understand ASAP to mean ‘Please do this when you have enough time’. It took me a while before I had to change my approach to actually say ‘Now’ when I meant ‘Now’
Looks like whoever has a wife can understand the British quite well, since both never say what they really want.
Disagree either in full or part to most of “what the British mean” translations.
When you say “British” are you sure you don’t mean “English”?
It is a common English trait to forget that “British” included non-English members of the UK.
I totally agree with this. I worked with both Americans and British/English and their big difference is that Americans are blunt, they say it in your face while the English will try to be polite in anyway and so they fake it.
Delightfully revealing and informative….how true that we Americans and the Brits/English are two countries divided by speaking the same language. Amazing that we can communicate at all sometimes!
This is exaggerated. I have worked with English people in England and British People in China. My concern about this article is that it could be misleading to people that have no cross cultural exposure and they may only consider the content and not the context. So “I hear what you say” may not necessarily mean that they don’t want to discuss it further, “with the greatest respect” may not mean they think you are an idiot and “I’ll bear it mind” may not always mean I’ve forgotten already.