Talaera Talks - Business English Communication

62. What Americans Really Mean With "How Are You?" And Other Expressions - Talaera Bits

August 30, 2022 Talaera Business English Communications Training Episode 62
Talaera Talks - Business English Communication
62. What Americans Really Mean With "How Are You?" And Other Expressions - Talaera Bits
Show Notes Transcript Chapter Markers

Effective communication goes beyond vocabulary and grammar. Oftentimes, the meaning of certain expressions will change based on the context, tone, and culture. Cross-cultural communication struggles are a source of frustration, hindered productivity, and poor team work.

The first step is to increase your Cultural Intelligence (CQ) and learn about other cultures. This episode will help you decipher what Americans really mean during casual conversation.

If you work with people from the United States, make sure you check out our podcast 7 Tips On How To Communicate Better With US Americans.

Learn more about Talaera's business English training here.

Business English training for career success.

.📩 hello@talaera.com

Paola Pascual  0:03  
Welcome to Talaera talks, the business English communication podcast for non-native professionals. My name is Paola and I am co-hosting the show with Simon.

Simon Kennell  0:11  
In this podcast, we're going to be covering communication advice and tips to help express yourself with confidence in English in professional settings. So we hope you enjoy the show. 

Simon Kennell  0:24  
Hello again, and welcome back to another episode of Talaera Talks. As always, wherever you are, I hope you are having an awesome day. And yeah, when I say awesome, why, why am I saying that? Well, I'm an American, and as you may know, a few Americans, many things are awesome, or insane, or absolutely amazing. And we're going to talk about that today. What do Americans mean, when they say, awesome, for example? Or how are you or when they say that sounds fun, I'll let you know, or all of these different kinds of small expressions that Americans use. To be honest, unfortunately, some of them have different meanings. And it's very difficult to to know that without someone just telling you, hey, when I say this, this is what we really mean. And that's what we're going to talk about what Americans really mean. I'm an insider, I should know, as an American. 

Simon Kennell  1:40  
So if you're an American and listening to this, and you disagree, then come and let me know. I would love to hear your thoughts. But we're gonna go over a few today, starting with Yeah, awesome, or Absolutely. Americans very often use what are called upgraders. In their speech, that means that instead of kind of pushing something down a little bit, what would be called a downgrade, or like, sort of, or kind of Americans very often use upgraders, that something is extremely awesome, or absolutely amazing, right? We're saying these things are just incredible, or horrible or awful, right? It's always very high or very low. And these are called upgraders, where we're really adding the extra emphasis. So if you said to me, okay, your appointment is booked for Tuesday at 3pm. We'll see you then. I might say, awesome. Thanks so much. That doesn't mean I'm actually that excited. It just means Okay, thank you, or great, you know, it's it's not extremely impressive or anything. So that's there. You'll often hear that with Americans that there are these upgraders.

Simon Kennell  3:08  
When Americans say How are you, you will see this very often, you'll sometimes see an American go, Hey, how's it going? Or hey, how are you doing? This is basically a part of the phrase, hello, it's the same thing. Now you have to reply with, I'm doing well, how are you? Or I'm good. How are you doing? It doesn't matter if you're having a horrible day, or you're having an amazing day. It's basically that introduction, that, that opening to each other, Hey, how are you doing? I'm doing well. How are you doing? I'm doing well. Great. And then you go into a little bit of small talk, right? Very often I've seen this with Germans in particular, where someone will ask them how they're doing. And then they'll actually tell them oh, well, I'm actually not doing so well. Because this this and this. And American unfortunately, doesn't want to hear that. I'm sorry to tell you, but we just want to know, you're doing well and then asking me how I'm doing. It's literally just part of the introduction. 

Simon Kennell  4:27  
Now, if you're discussing with someone an American, you're discussing maybe a plan or yeah, you want to meet up for something. And they say that sounds fun. I'll let you know or sounds good. Yeah, no, I'll let you know. This is yeah, maybe an indication that they're not fully invested in that plan or that they're not really interested. I'll let you know is what Basically saying that they're still thinking about it, or they have maybe have something else and they don't just want to tell you no.

Simon Kennell  5:09  
Now, they'll tell you at the beginning, oh, that sounds awesome. Or oh, that sounds fun. Because again, we're Americans, and we want to say something is awesome are fun. And we don't want to be rude. So we don't want to just tell, you know, to your face, we want to tell you Okay, yeah, that sounds awesome. But yeah, I'll let you know. And that can very often mean no. 

Simon Kennell  5:33  
Now if someone says, Okay, we should hang out soon, or we should grab coffee soon. That may mean that, hey, yeah, we should get together at a later time. Now, you need to be careful with this one. Because very often, if a specific time or a date isn't offered, it may mean that we should think about meeting together at some point in the future if it's convenient for both of us. But it's not a top priority for me, right. Now, of course, this can be different. Some people may say, Well, I when I say that, I really mean that. And this is one of those those times where you have to kind of Yeah, you have to read between the lines to see what people are saying, are they really seeing that? Are they really saying that they want to hang out soon? And let's find a time, or are they saying, okay, yeah, yeah, no, we should hang out sooner we should grab a coffee at some point. Just yeah, I'll let you know. Right. So So again, we're saying some different things there. 

Simon Kennell  6:43  
Now, what do you do this is very often you're at a party and someone asks, Hey, what do you do? Or hey, what do you do? So this is really just a very basic introduction to what's your job? It's not asking, Hey, what do you do for fun? Because we would ask that, oh, what do you do in your free time? That's the way to ask that. But oh, what do you do is what do you do for money? What's your profession? What's your job? Many times, I think, often in American culture, that's one of the big parts of American life, right? People always say, oh, Americans live to work, whereas Europeans work to live, right. There's that different kind of context. And many times it can be a status question, what do you do? Oh, if I'm a doctor, okay, well, then wow, that's a you know, that's a different or I'm a physician, right? That's a that's a status question sometimes, right? And oftentimes, it's, it's just, you know, making conversation, we'd love to have small talk. And this isn't considered rude to not ask, right? It's not considered rude to ask someone what they do. It's a safe way of making small talk. 

Simon Kennell  8:09  
Now, again, talking about upgraders and down graders, if someone says, I'm obsessed with this new show, what they're saying there is they're not actually obsessed, or I'm addicted to M&Ms. I'm not actually addicted to m&ms, or I'm not actually obsessed with this show. I just really like it. For example, the other day at dinner, I told my girlfriend's parents, I said, I'm getting slightly addicted to Japanese indiepop. And they looked at me like, I don't even understand what that means. But really, all I'm saying is, I'm really getting interested in it. Or I'm obsessed. Yeah, with peanut M&Ms. I'm obsessed with them. But really, I just like them.

Simon Kennell  9:01  
And then, of course, again, with the with the upgraders. If someone's you're talking and someone says, oh, that's hilarious. That's hilarious. That doesn't actually mean it's that funny. We're just saying, yeah, in general. It's funny. It's not hilarious. If I'm dying, laughing. I'm not actually dying, laughing. It's just funny. And maybe I laughed a little bit. Now if I'm at you can see I'm actually laughing a lot, then maybe it's a little bit different. But again, think about tone of voice and think about these upgraders. Okay, so if you work with Americans very often, you may be nodding your head along to some of these. 

Simon Kennell  9:48  
If you're just going to start working with American soon, you'll hear this a lot. So these are just a few things to watch out for. Again, once you start to use these if you want on how to use these, I think Americans would you'd be speaking Americans. You'd be speaking their language. I guess you'd be speaking American, not English, but you'd be speaking American by saying awesome or Absolutely. And I'm totally guilty of all of these. See, there you go. I said, totally. There's no reason for me to say totally guilty. I could just say I'm guilty, but again, using the upgraders. Okay, so for all of you out there listening, I hope you enjoyed this Talaera Bit. And, as always, keep learning.

Paola Pascual  10:35  
And that's all we have for you today. We hope you enjoyed it. And remember to subscribe to Talaera Talks. We'll be back soon with more.

Simon Kennell  10:43  
And visit our website at talaera.com for more valuable content on business English. You can also request a free consultation on the best ways for you and your team to improve your communication skills. So have a great day and keep learning!

Awesome!
How Are You?
Sounds fun. I'll let you know.
We should hang out soon.
What do you do?
I'm obsessed with... / I'm addicted to...
That's hilarious!