HieveryoneandwelcomebacktoBritainUndertheMicroscope. 欢迎回来【闲话英伦】. Hi, 安澜.

Hi, Lulu. Hi, everyone.

Letmeproposeatopictoday.

Okay.

Youknow, allmytimedealingwithyou.

Thankyou.

AndotherBritishpeopleingeneral.

Yeah.

Again, I’mnottryingtostereotype. Andwithallduerespect.

Okay.

IdofeellikeBritishpeoplehavethistendencytobequitesarcasticintheirspeech. Emm, wouldyouagree?

Iwouldsayyes, toacertainextent.

对。就是，英国人说话的时候很喜欢反讽,就很喜欢说一些反话。安澜，你知道中文里管这个叫什么吗？

不是阴阳吗？

对，就是，你还知道阴阳啊，这个不错。我们有时候开玩笑就说：“老阴阳人了”。

Really.

See， therewego.

Okay.

Youcan'tevencontrolit. So, Ithoughtintoday'sepisode, letusdoafewphrasesthatBritishpeoplewouldusuallysay, buttheydon'tmeanwhattheyseemtomean.

Okay.

Ithinkwedidsomethingquitesimilarinoneofourlivestreamingepisodes.

Yeah. Weactuallydidanentirelifestreaminglikeapopquizthingofyouquizzingmeonallthesereadbetweenthelines, thehiddenmeaningofBritishsarcasm.

Ok.

So, todaywegivethisquiztoyou.

So, seeifyoucanunderstandthehiddenmeaningbehindthesarcasm.

So, let'sbegin.

Okay.

Well. Let'sstart, firstofall, withrequests. NowweallknowthatBritishpeopletheytendtomakerequestsveryveryoverlypolite. So, …

Likethis“couldyou…Iwaswonderingifyoucould…”

Wouldyoumostawfullybeable, youknow, thattypeofthing, reallyreallyexaggerated. So, ifyourbosssaystoyou“couldyoudothisformewhenyouhaveaminute?”

Whatdoesthatmean？

Couldyoudothisformewhenyouhaveaminute？Althoughitsoundspolite, whatdoyouthinkitmeans？Three, two, one? Ithinkitactuallymeans“Doitnow.”

Yes.

WhensomeonesaystoyouinEnglish, whenyouhaveaminute, theimplicationisthatit'sonlygonnatakeyouaminuteyouneedtodoitnow.

Emm, Isee. Therequestisabitofatrickyone. Becausesometimespeoplemightactuallybeverypoliteinthissituationorthey'rebeingpolite. Butitcouldalsobetheyarejusttryingtohidewhattheytrulymeanbehindthepoliteness.

Exactly.

Wewouldalsouseitifwetrytomakeapointthatthispersonisprobablynotthebestattimemanagement.

Mhm. Irememberthere'salsoalotofsarcasmaround, notsarcasm, buthiddenmeaningaboutgoodorbadwhenyousayisgoodorquitegood, it'snotgoodorwhatwasthatabout？

Forexample, whatdoesitmeanifIsay“ it'squitegood”?

It'squitegood. Ithinkwhenyousayit'squitegood, thatmeansit'snotreallythatgood?

Actually, meansverygood.

Thenwhycan'tyoujustsayit'sverygood？

Well. Wejustdon'tliketosaysomethingisvery, wedon'tliketousethewordvery. Becauseit's, it'sabittoostrong.

Okay. So, ifyouhearveryfromaBritishperson, chancesaretheyarebeingsarcastic.

Yeah.

Yeah. Okay. Youalsosay“notbad”, right？

Yeah, thatfilm’snotbad, that'sgenerallymeansalsogood.

嗯，跟中文的“不错”差不多

Yeah, alittlebit, but“不错” normallymeansit'sverygood, whileinEnglishisnormallymeansit'sgood. It'snottooexaggerated.

Ikeephearingyousaythingslikenottoobadactually.

So, ifIask“howwasyourday, 安澜, andyousay"nottoobadactually". Whatdoesthatmean？

Normallymeansverygood.

Nottoobadactuallymeansverygood.

Yeah.

Whatdoyoumeanwhenyousay“It'sokay”?

It'sokaygenerallymeansnotgood.

Okay.

So, forexample, ifacouplehusbandandwifeforexample, theyhaveanargumentandthehusbandaskedthewife“areyouokay?” andshewent“yeah, I’mokay.”

Yeah, Idon'tthinkthat'saBritishthing. That'sjustamanwomanthing.

Yeah. But, alsojustanysituation. Ifyousay“I’mokay” thatgenerallymeans“I’mnotokay.”

Emm, okayisneverokayandfineisneverfine.

Prettymuch.

Yeah. Youguysalsousealot“quite” and“rather”.

Yeah

Whatdoesthatmean? Inevercouldfigureouthowtouse“quite” and“rather” inBritishcontexts.

Ratherisalittlebitoldfashioned, butyoudohearitmainlyaroundwhenolderpeoplearetalking.

Orposhpeople.

Orposhpeople. “Quite” “rather” normallymeanvery.

Theyactuallymeanvery, soit'sratherwettoday.

Meansit'srainingconstantly, incrediblywet.

That'swhy“it'squitegood” meansit'sreallygood.

Yeah.

So, ifaBritishpersonsaysquiteorrathergenerallyitmeansvery.

They'rejusttryingtocontainthelevelofexcitement.

Exactly, exactly.

Isee.

It'snotjustwords, it'salsopronunciation.

So, forexample, “that'sperfect.” Whatdoesthatmean？

Somehow, Idoubtyouthinkit'sperfect. BecauseifIsay“it’sperfect”, ifIactuallymeanit, Iwouldbelike“that'sperfect!”

Yeah. Exactly.

You'llnoticeyourvoiceisgoingupslightly. Sothat'sperfectmeans“it'sperfect, it'sgreat.” “That'sperfect.” Slightchangeofpronunciation, completelydifferentmeaning. WhatdoesthatmeanifIsay“That'sperfect.”?

Thatisterrible.

Yes.

Yeah, Ithinkyouguysarereallygoodatbeingpassiveaggressive.

Weare.

对,英文里有一个词叫passiveaggressive。其实我不知道怎么样去很好的翻译,我相信大家有更好的翻译，怎么样把它翻成我们更能接受的那个版本。Passiveaggressive基本上就有点阴阳的这种感觉。I’mnothappy, butI’mnotgonnaopenlytellyouI’mnothappy. So, I’mgonnausethispassiveaggression.

Yes. That'swhywesayinourcourse, forexample, B1 B2 course, wefocusalotonpronunciation. BecauselotsofChinesestudentstheydon'tgetthepronunciationjustrightandsometimeswhentheyfocusedonthepronunciationoftheword, themeaningofthesentence.

It'snotpronunciationisactuallyintonationyou'retalkingabout.

Oh, yeah. Butstillpartofpronunciationis, it'snotthepronunciationofindividualwords. It'sapronunciationoftheentiresentencethatchangesthemeaning.

就是语调.

Onetypicalexampleisaverysimpleexpression“Excuseme”.

Yeah.

So, ifyousay“excuseme, couldyou?” That'sarequest.

Yeah, that'sarequest.

Butifyousay“excuseme.”

That'sasignofanger.

Yeah.

So, forexample, Ibegyourpardon. "Sorry, Ibegyourpardon?" thatmeans"I'msorryIdon'tunderstand." “IBegyourpardon?!”

你再说一遍试试！

Exactly.

Thatiswhyyouhavetobekindofcarefulwithpardon. IknowalotofpeopleliketosaypardonorIbegyourpardonwhentheycouldn'tunderstand, butyouhavetobealittlebitcarefulasinhowyouuseit.

Yes. So, aswediscussed, Britishpeopledon'treallyliketosayhowtheyfeel. Whathappensifwedisagreeaboutsomething?

Youwouldneverjustcomeoutandsay“Idisagree”.

No. Notunlessyouareveryangryoryou'reveryclosetothatperson.

So. Whatwouldyousayinstead？

Well. Let'stakealookatifwe'retalkinginthebusinesscontextforexample.

Okay.

So, ifsomeonesaystoyou“weshoulddothisinthefuture.” Wemightsay“that'sagoodpoint, I’llbearitinmind.”

That'sagoodpoint, Iwillbearitinmind. Whenyousay“I’llbearitinmind” basicallymeansI’mnotgonnadoitrightnow.

Yeah. Onthesurface, itmeansI’llrememberit. Butreallywhenweuseit, itmeansI’mgonnacompletelyforgetaboutit, becauseitnotworthremembering.

Ithinkthat'swhytheyhavethisBritishEnglishtoAmericanEnglishorwhateverothertypesofEnglishtranslation.

BecauseotherEnglishspeakersprobablydon'tevenunderstandthemselves. Anotheroneiswithallduerespect.

ThisisratheruniversalthisisactuallynotjustinBritishEnglishwithallduerespect.听起来好像说是我给你很多respect, butactuallyitisapreludetosomethingthat'sgonnabeveryverynasty.

Yeah. Orit’sgoingtobeIcompletelydisagreewithwhateveryou'resaying.

像中文的那个恕我直言。

Yeah. AnotheroneisIalmostagreewithyou.

Ilikethisone“Ialmostagreewithyou.” Itdoesmakepeoplefeellikeyoukindofagreewithme, right？

Itmakespeoplefeelthatthere'shope.

HonestlythefirsttimeIhear“Ialmostagreewithyou” tome, itjustsoundslikeyouagreewithmeatleasttosomeextent.

Yes.

Butyoualmostagreewithmemeans

Idisagree.

Completely.

Completely.

Ok. Anotheroneinterestingisvery, youhavetowatchoutforthewordinteresting.

Yes. Forexample, ifyousay“that'saveryinterestingidea” thathasaconnotationofmeaning“it'sactuallyaverystupididea.”

So, ifmybosssays“Lulu, thatideaisveryinteresting.”

Itnormallymeans“it'snotgoodorit'sstupid.” It'soneofthosewordslikefunny.

So, forexample, youcandescribesomeoneasfunnyandthatmeansthey'rehilarious. Theymakeyoulaugh, butyoucanalsodescribesomeoneasfunnyanditmeanscrazy.

Orstrange.

Orstrange, sameasinteresting. “Interesting” canalsomeanstrange.

IthinkifIsay“安澜，you'reaninterestingperson” thatisacompliment, butifIsay“安澜，thispointyoujustmadeisinteresting.” ItusuallymeansIdon'twanttodirectlydisagreewithyou, butIalsodon'tappreciateit.

Exactly.

ButwhatifIreallywannasay“这个主意很有意思”, whatifIreallywannasayinacomplementingway？

Wewouldjustsaythat'sreallygood. That'sareallygoodidea

Orabrilliantidea.

Yeah. Wewouldusemuchmoreemphaticlanguagetomakesurethatitdoesn'tcomeacrossasthatwearedisagreeing.

Butwouldyousaytoday'sepisodeaswe'reapproachingtheend？Wouldyousaythattoday'sepisodeisabitofageneralization.

It’sageneralization. Therearesomepeoplewhojustmeanwhattheysay. AndifanEnglishpersonisspeakingtoanon-nativespeaker, they'reprobablygonnabealittlebitmoredirecttoavoidthistypeofmiscommunication. ButifyouwatchBritishTVshowsBritishmoviessoonandsoforth, thenyouprobablywillhearthisalot. ThisisakindoflikehiddenlanguagethatBritishpeopleusewhentalkingamongstthemselves.

So, ifyouaredealingwithBritishpeopleorifyouactuallytraveltoBritainorifyou'regoingthereforstudiesoractuallytrytolivethere, thenforsureyou'regonnaencounterallofthethingswetalkedabouttoday.

Yeah.

Yeah. Butwe'rejustbasicallytalkingaboutlowcontextandhighcontextculture. Andthentobehonest, asChinese, weunderstand, becausewe'rethattypeofhighcontextcultureaswell.

Wellexactly. So, there'salwayslotsoflikehiddenwordsinChinese, whichI'velearnedChinesenowforyears, andsometimesIgetabitconfused.

Yeah.

Exactly. Sothatendstoday'stalkaboutsarcasmaboutwords, havinganotherlayerofmeaninginBrittalk. Ifyou'reinterestedleaveusacommentinthecommentsection, sharewithusthesetypesoflanguageyouknow, eitherinEnglishinChineseorinsomeotherlanguagesorinsomeothercultures.

So, untilnexttime.

We'llseeyounexttime.

Bye.

Bye.