BritCast

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Transcript: 
Hi and welcome to Britcast. I’m Katie and I’m from the UK. In this series of podcasts I am going to introduce you to all things British. British accent, British words and phrases and British culture. This is the intermediate podcast. In this podcast I will speak a little slower and clearer than normal and explain some of the words and phrases I use as I talk.

As today is the first in the series we’re going to talk about greetings – how to say hello in real British  English. In the UK we can say hello in lots of ways. Most of the time we say “hi” or “hey” when we are talking to our friends and family. We can also say “Good morning,” “good afternoon” and “good evening” but we can’t say “good night” because this actually means “goodbye” – we can only use it at the end of the conversation.

When we say “good morning” “good afternoon” or “good evening” sometimes we miss out the word “good” (especially when we say “good morning”). So most of the time when I see people in the morning I just say “morning.” Try it with me. “Morning.” I can also say “afternoon” or “evening” but this is less common. When I say it like this it is informal or friendly. If I want to talk in a more formal way, for example if I am talking to my manager or someone I don’t know I will say the word “good” – “good morning, good afternoon, good evening.”

In very informal English we sometimes say “what’s up” or “alright” – this is like saying ”hello” and “how are you” at the same time. When someone says this to you, you normally just say the same thing to them. Or you can say “hey” or “hi” or “how are you.”

After saying “hi” we nearly always say “how are you.” Now there are several ways of doing this. “How are you?” is the neutral or formal way of asking, but when I see my friends I normally say “how’s it going?” “howsit going” (notice I joined the “how’s” and “it” into one word – “howsit”) I can also say “how are you doing?” but I say it like this “howya doin” – Did you notice I dropped or deleted the “are?” Listen again “how are you doing” becomes “howya doin.” The answer to all of these questions is “fine thanks” or “good thanks” – we can then say “and you?“ or just “you?” 
Now I’m going to give you a couple of examples using these real life phrases:
1: Hey, what’s up?
2: Hi, howya doing?
1: Good thanks, u?
2: Fine 
So next time you greet someone in English, try to use some of these phrases to instantly sound more fluent.

If you liked this podcast please share it with your friends and if you want to know more about how to practice your English check out English Café Alex on Facebook.
www.facebook.com/englishcafealex

BritCast Ep1: Greetings (Intermediate)

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Transcript:
Hello. Welcome to Britcast. My name is Katie and I’m from the UK. These podcasts are about British things. British accent, British vocabulary and British culture. This is the beginner podcast. In the beginner podcasts I will try to speak slowly and use simple phrases to help you understand.

Today we will talk about saying hello. In the UK we can say hello in lots of ways. Most of the time we say “hi” or “hey” when we are talking to our friends and family. We can also say “Good morning,” “good afternoon” and “good evening” but we cannot say “good night” because this means “goodbye” – we say it at the end of the conversation.

When we say “good morning” “good afternoon” or “good evening” sometimes we do not say the word “good” (especially when we say “good morning”). So most of the time when I see people in the morning I just say “morning.” Try it with me. “Morning.” – I can also say “afternoon” or “evening.” When I say it like this it is informal or friendly. If I want to talk in a more formal way, for example if I am talking to my manager or someone I don’t know I will say the word “good” – “good morning, good afternoon, good evening.” In very informal English (which means the way we speak with our friends) we sometimes say “what’s up” or “alright” – this is like saying ”hello” and “how are you” at the same time. When someone says this to you, you normally just say the same thing to them. Or you can say “hey” or “hi” or “how are you.”

So next time you say “hello” – try to say “hey” or “morning” and you will sound more like a British person.

If you liked this podcast please share it with your friends, and if you want to know more about how to practice your English visit English Café Alex on Facebook.
www.facebook.com/englishcafealex

BritCast Ep1: Greetings (Beginner)

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Transcript
Hello and welcome to Britcast. I’m Katie and I’m from the UK. In this series of podcasts I’m going to introduce you to all things British. British accent, British words and phrases and British culture. This is the advanced podcast – this means that I’ll be speaking at a fairly normal pace and using words and phrases that I actually use in my everyday English. If you find this a little bit tricky, you can always go and download the transcript and read as you listen. 

As today is the first in the series we’re going to talk about greetings. In the UK we can say hello in lots of ways. Most of the time we say “hi” or “hey” when we are talking to our friends and family. We can also say “good morning,” “good afternoon” and “good evening.” We can’t say “good night” because this actually means “goodbye” – and we can only use it at the end of the conversation.

When we say “good morning” “good afternoon” or “good evening” sometimes we miss out the word “good” (especially when we say “good morning”). So most of the time when I see people in the morning I just say “morning.” Try it with me. “Morning.” I can also say “afternoon” or “evening” but this is less common. When I say it like this it’s informal or friendly. If I want to talk in a more formal way, for example if I am talking to my manager or somebody I don’t know I will say the word “good”– “good morning, good afternoon, good evening.”

In very informal English we sometimes say “what’s up” or “alright” – this is like saying ”hello” and “how are you” at the same time. When someone says this to you, you normally just say the same thing to them. Or you can say “hey” or “hi” or “how are you.” Personally I find it difficult to answer “what’s up” – some people like me say “nothing much” because I feel like it’s a question – if you want to be funny you can also say “the sky” but it’s an old joke so don’t use it too often…

After saying “hi” we nearly always say “how are you.” Now there are several ways of doing this. “How are you?” is the neutral or formal way of asking, but when I see my friends I normally say “how’s it going?” “howsit goin” (notice I joined the “how’s” and “it” into one word – “howsit”) I can also say “how are you doing?” but I say it like this “howya doin.” Did you notice I dropped the “are?” Listen again “how are you doing” becomes “howya doin.” The answer to all of these questions is normally “fine thanks” or “good thanks” – we can then say “and you?“ or just “you?” So next time you greet someone in English, try to use some of these phrases to instantly sound a little bit more fluent.

If you liked this podcast please share it with your friends and if you want to know more about how to practice your English check out English Café Alex on Facebook.
www.facebook.com/englishcafealex

BritCast Ep1: Greetings (Advanced)

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Transcript:
Hi and welcome to Britcast. I’m Katie and I’m from the UK. In this series of podcasts I am going to introduce you to all things British. British accent, British words and phrases and British culture. This is the intermediate podcast. In this podcast I will speak a little slower and clearer than normal and explain some of the words and phrases I use as I talk. 
Today we will talk about how to address someone. “Address” in this sentence means how you talk to somebody.
First, we are going to talk about how to get someone’s attention when you don’t know their name. This is difficult in English because we don’t have many choices. You can say “sir” for a man or “madam” for a woman, but this is very formal. If you were in an expensive restaurant or a five star hotel the people working there might call you “sir” or “madam,” but in most situations this is not suitable because when we are too formal with people they may feel we are not being friendly.
So what do we do if we are in the street and we want to tell someone that they dropped something, for example? Well, we don’t have a word to call them. We just say “sorry” or “excuse me.” It may sound strange that we say “sorry” even though we didn’t do anything wrong, but as you will learn in this series, British people love the word “sorry.”
Now we will talk about how to talk to someone if you do know their name. In English, when we are being polite we call people “Mr” or “Mrs” or “Miss.” “Mr” is for a man, “Mrs” is for a woman who is married, and “Miss” is for a woman who is not married. If we do not know if the woman is married or not we should call her “Ms.” This is important because some women may get offended or upset if you get their marital status wrong. “Marital status” means if someone is married or not. After Mr, or Miss etc. we then use the person’s family name, not their first name. So for example, my name is Katie Jackson. If you met me for the first time in a formal place, for example in an interview, you should call me Ms Jackson or Miss Jackson, not Miss Katie. 
I might tell you “please call me Katie.” This means you can now use my first name, instead of calling me Miss Jackson. In the UK most people will tell you this from the first time you meet them, but to be on the safe side in my country you should always be polite in the beginning and call them Mr or Miss or Mrs. “To be on the safe side” means to be safe or to not take any risks. 
In general, most people use first names in the UK, even in work. When you use someone’s first name when talking to them it is called “being on first name terms.” So, for example, I could say “My office is very friendly, I’m on first name terms with everyone, even my boss!”

If you liked this podcast please share it with your friends and if you want to know more about how to practice your English check out English Café Alex on Facebook.

www.facebook.com/englishcafealex

BritCast Ep2: Forms Of Address (Intermediate)

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Transcript: 
Hello. Welcome to Britcast. My name is Katie and I’m from the UK. These podcasts are about British things. British accent, British vocabulary and British culture. This is the beginner podcast. In the beginner podcasts I will try to speak slowly and use simple phrases to help you understand.
Today we will talk about how to address someone. “Address” in this sentence means how you talk to somebody.
First, we are going to talk about how to get someone’s attention when you don’t know their name. This is difficult in English because we don’t have many choices. You can say “sir” for a man or “madam” for a woman, but this is very formal. If you were in an expensive restaurant or a five star hotel the people working there might call you “sir” or “madam.” 
So what do we do if we are in the street and we want to tell someone that they dropped something, for example? Well, we don’t have a word to call them. We just say “sorry” or “excuse me.”
Now we will talk about how to talk to someone if you do know their name. In English, when we are being polite we call people “Mr” or “Mrs” or “Miss.” “Mr” is for a man, “Mrs” is for a woman who is married, and “Miss” is for a woman who is not married. If we do not know if the woman is married or not we should call her “Ms.” We then use the person’s family name, not their first name. So for example, my name is Katie Jackson. If you met me for the first time in a formal place, for example in an interview, you should call me Ms Jackson or Miss Jackson, not Miss Katie. 
I might tell you “please call me Katie.” This means you can now use my first name, instead of calling me Miss Jackson. In the UK most people will tell you this from the first time you meet them, but in my country you should always be polite in the beginning and call them Mr or Miss or Mrs. 
If you liked this podcast please share it with your friends, and if you want to know more about how to practice your English visit English Café Alex on Facebook.

www.facebook.com/englishcafealex

BritCast Ep2: Forms Of Address (Beginner)

MiXCast is an online based English podcast, comes to you every Friday night.
We have 3 main programs: BritCast, EgyCast and MiXCast Idioms.

BritCast Ep1: Greetings (Advanced)

MixCast (English Podcast)