Tips for speaking English abroad

.....and normal voice, softer voice even.

I have heard too many Americans (language I understand) speak louder and louder to be understood in Europe. It doesn't help, and very embarrassing to us who understand.

Beatrix, The content of the article was along the same lines as Rick's usual recommendations, as seen in This Video. If the people I'm speaking with appear to handle English well, I find that I sometimes have a tendency to speak the same way and at the same speed I would at home. I have to constantly remind myself to "slow down and keep it simple". Cheers!

Re: talking louder to be understood I was in Spain a week or so ago, on a tour of the patios of Cordoba. The tour was in Spanish (I was traveling with Spaniards who translated what I didn't understand), and there was a woman on the tour who was French (and apparently didn't fully understand Spanish either). The tour guide kept speaking louder and louder to her, and my Spanish friend laughed and said, "He thinks if he just talks louder and slower she will understand." So it's not just English speakers who have that tendency.

Besides talking louder some people will talk slower in English and add an accent... Watch Rick in some of the videos, he does it...hysterical! As if speaking English with an accent will help non-English speaking people understand...

Thanks Beatrix. It's a nice article with some good suggestions. Pam

Terry kathryn, I've noticed Rick does that too. Always thought it was obnoxious.

I don't get the point of speaking louder to make yourself understood if you can already be heard. Instead: - break contractions - simplify phrases "I want one bottle of water" us much easier for a beginner/low-skilled speaker than "I'd like to have bottled water" - avoid contractions like the plague - for the sake of numeric confusion: 1.200 is one thousand and two hundreds, and not twelve hundreds :)

I speak American English in a slow, agrarian or cowboy, way. Luckily I married a Canadian who speaks perfect, easy to understand English. If she has trouble being understood she finds a kid. Kids know English.

I didn't watch the video, so maybe it's in there, but one tip missing from the article that I've found very useful is that if there's a different British word for the same thing in American English, try to the British word. For example: No one around me in France knows what a cell phone is. But they know a mobile or portable phone.

I think as people try to slow their speach down, and become more aware of it, they naturally tend to speak louder or add an accent. I'm not sure its all that intentional; just a bi-product of altering their normal speach patterns. I personally tend to add some accent when I speak slower, it's the latent accent coming out not anything intentional.

Rick makes a point about using "international" vocabulary. I had to get my friend to stop asking for the "restroom" and use the word "toilet" instead. As I recall even in Turkish the word is "tuvalet."

very good point Will! I remember seeing a sign for a "restroom" for the very first time while travelling in East Africa. "Wow, that sounds interesting" I thought, and then proceeded searching the place for it and couldn't find it ... as I was standing already in the middle of the toilet area ;-)

These are all good suggestions. Another thing people speaking english need to watch out for is that letters are pronounced differently in different languages. For example, my last name ends in a "Y". The sound we use for that letter when spelling it out is deeply confusing to even Germans who speak English fluently - I had to learn very quickly that I needed to say "Ypsilon" to be understood. Likewise, while WC is pretty much standard in Europe if you need to find a toilet/bathroom, if you want to ask for it, you better be sure you're saying it correctly. Another reason why "toilet" is easier. One of the worst things tourists do is assume the people around them can't understand them. There's high levels of English fluency in many places in Europe. And as the link points out, most people's comprehension of a second language is better than their speaking ability. My spoken German sucks, but my listening comprehension is at about 50%. So I'll know if someone is talking about me. I'd assume the same as an English speaker in Europe, so don't talk about "them" (i.e. the locals) loudly in a rude manner assuming they can't understand you. This happens a lot. In general I do think any visitor to any country should be able to say "Hello" "Goodbye" "Excuse me/Sorry" "Please" "Thank You" and mostly importantly - "CHECK PLEASE!". Just having that basic knowledge will make things a lot smoother if you're interacting with someone who does not know English.

For years my name never made sense to the majority of non-English speakers around the world. Even in the US, my Mexican friends' parents called me "Bread" while my black friends' families called me "Brat" or "Bratley". Now, thanks to Hollywood, I can say "like Brad Pitt" and everyone gets it! I do think you can use European vowel sounds and be a lot more understandable. Sometimes people say the right local word, but with American vowel sounds, and it's completely unintelligible. Many words come from common roots so saying even an English word with their vowel sounds can sometimes click.

My best tip is to simply slow down just a little bit and drop the slang. Speak clearly but naturally, you don't want to sound weird.

My last name starts with "Z" and I learned quickly to instead say "Zed" in UK and its commonwealth countries. I was getting a lot of confused looks when hoteliers would ask for my name. I also don't really understand the idea of speaking louder for better understanding. My father does this as well and it is really embarrassing. I do tell him about it, but he always insists that he wasn't yelling. People realize they are doing it?
Slowing down and not using colloquial language is key. Even in Farsi the word for bathroom is toilet (tuvalet).

Americans for some reason don't want to use the word "toilet" which seems to be pretty much understood all over the world. They look for restrooms, bathrooms, and men's and ladies' rooms. I never understood why toilet isn't acceptable (rude? naughty?) In Australia a local said it took him a long time to understand what the Americans wanted when they asked for bathrooms - after all, there aren't any baths in the toilets!

It doesn't have anything to do with not wanting to use "toilet"...Americans simply use what they know, which is bathroom or restroom. I don't know anyone who would think using "toilet" is somehow rude or naughty, but they certainly might think it's rude to announce something like they have to "drop a deuce". Maybe they're lazy, too American-centric, or just don't think ahead enough to ensure they're using terms people understand abroad, such as toilet...who knows? Of course, Canadians will know what is meant by restroom, just as Americans know what is meant by washroom, but everyone else in the world wouldn't have a clue about either. My hope for using English abroad is that Americans tone the volume down when traveling and then keep it that way when they return. I swear, we must have the loudest culture on the planet.

The word for "washroom" seems to vary a bit in each country however the words "bathroom" or "toilet" seem to be commonly used in the local languages. > Bagno in Italy > Toilette in France & Germany The labelling for washrooms seems to be the somewhat universal "WC".

I agree that the word "toilet" is considered less "polite" and not euphemistic enough in modern American usage. We use it to refer to the actual commode as opposed to the room. It seems that "restroom" has even exceeded "bathroom" in terms of "clean" euphemism. Perhaps "washroom" serves the same purpose in other English-speaking countries. It's ironic since "toilet" was once a total euphemism. Toile= French for cloth, toilet= a changing room.

I would also have to agree that the reason Americans are shy with the word "toilet" is because it is considered less polite. Just picture sitting around your office conference room and then stating, "I'll be right back. I'm going to the toilet." No. You are most likely going to inform others that you are going to the bathroom, restroom, etc. It is our culture and no need to poo poo on it. We just need to do our homework when abroad and learn as much as the local terminology as possible, and also to be a bit more in tuned with picking up our unintentional faux pas. Doing it incorrectly the first time is okay, the repetition of the same gaffe is what is problematic.

I was in a restaurant here in Los Angeles one day. The couple at the next table wanted Iced tea. The new buss boy didn't understand "tea" until they made a dipping tea bag gesture to which he replied "Si, Te" (pronounced Tay) in Spanish. He brought hot tea. They then asked for ice which he didn't understand and they went through some gestures like shivering and saying "Brrrr" but couldn't get him to understand so I told them the word was Hielo (pronounced "yalo") to which he replied "Si" and brought them some ice. They than asked for some honey which of course he didn't understand so they starting saying bees, bzzz bzzz and finally looked over at me to which I replied that I didn't know the word for honey. A women sitting nearby said she could make him understand, got his attention and yelled really loud, "THEY WANT HONEY!". I wanted to crawl under the table.

I spent 6 months living in France in an international dormitory and the biggest thing I learned is to cut the slang. I have friends who speak perfect English, but can still be puzzled by certain words and phrases. I remember my parents came to visit me and we took a trip to Venice we were hungry so my dad went to the front desk and asked where he could go to "grab a bite to eat", the man looked confused and said he didn't know. I then asked "what is a good restaurant for dinner" and bingo he can us a great recommendation

Richard: The word for honey is "miel" (pronounced mee-yell) I would have given that woman a verbal thrashing. I did once on the bus when the bus driver and another passenger were yelling at an older disabled Hispanic woman having difficulty understanding their demands to keep her walker folded up.
I seriously lost my temper that day. And I'm not ashamed of it.

Nice tips for speaking English.Everyone here are providing useful tips.I have also started learning English with videos Learning English online for Free I always love to hear tips and suggestions to improve my English.

I don't detect an accent in the RS videos but I do hear a very clipped, enunciated speech. I think it may be that most people in Europe learn English from Brits, so that way of speaking might seem easier to understand.

And, avoid idioms - expressions that don't mean exactly what the individual words would mean. We use so many in English, but people with limited knowledge of the language take them literally. A guy making insolent comments is not a "wise guy". My daughter had Russian gymnastic coaches who knew no English when they came to this country, and were learning at a basic level. I found myself having to constantly think about what I was saying - what does that expression mean literally? Even though many toilets in Germany are labeled "WC", that's not "double-U-sea" in German. They pronounce it "Vay-tsay".

Just take a Southern lady with you to Europe. The European gentlemen will be falling over themselves just to hear their accent.

Like Sarah, my spoken German is seriously deficient but I do understand a good bit of it and have a decent german accent when I do speak. On a previous trip, I was waiting at a bus stop near Berchtesgaden when I overheard two young American men complaining about their experiences that day with the german people that they had encountered. With my best german-accented English, I asked them where they were from (San Diego, CA, USA) and then gently let them know that, if they had some difficulties, they should not be airing their dissatisfaction in public as they did not know who understood them and that in itself could result in even more difficulties. They thanked me for the advice, apologized, promised to be more careful in the future and then asked me where I was from. Their jaws hit the ground when I told them "Florida"! You never know...