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American Phrase Book

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Re: American Phrase Book

#71

Post by quadrifoliate »

shifto wrote: post #43
sn41 wrote: post #6

This is great. I think we need phrasebooks for all cultures. I'm Indian, and a Chinese friend was pissed that Indians say "yes" and never do it. I think it's a cultural no-no in India to say "no" to someone's face. I finally realised that a short "yes" most probably means "yes", and a long-drawn out "yes" probably means "no".

This is not helpful for a Dutch person like me (who are usually very direct) when the IT has been outsourced to India. You ask them to do something, they say yes and when time comes it hasn't been done. This got me so annoyed.

> This is not helpful for a Dutch person like me (who are usually very direct)

While we are at this, I think Dutch people should work on being less "direct", and also try to improve their sentence construction when writing English.

Plenty of my (former) Dutch coworkers' emails in English just came across as rude, in both senses of that word.

Re: American Phrase Book

#72

Post by tigroferoce »

I remember when a native American told me that saying "it's OK" doesn't actually mean that something is good, but just average. I must have told "it's OK" a million of times to partner about their work; they must have assumed that I had huge standards.

Re: American Phrase Book

#73

Post by denzil_correa »

shifto wrote: post #43
sn41 wrote: post #6

This is great. I think we need phrasebooks for all cultures. I'm Indian, and a Chinese friend was pissed that Indians say "yes" and never do it. I think it's a cultural no-no in India to say "no" to someone's face. I finally realised that a short "yes" most probably means "yes", and a long-drawn out "yes" probably means "no".

This is not helpful for a Dutch person like me (who are usually very direct) when the IT has been outsourced to India. You ask them to do something, they say yes and when time comes it hasn't been done. This got me so annoyed.

Once you’re dealing with different cultures, it makes sense to adjust your communication accordingly.

Re: American Phrase Book

#75

Post by phillc73 »

toomanybeersies wrote: post #23

I'd love to see one of these for Australian English, although I don't think it would be possible. Aussies have a love of metaphor a simile that's unmatched in any other dialect of English, especially if you hang out with bogans (basically Australian Rednecks, for lack of a better description). It's basically the opposite of America, where instead of trying to be excessively polite, we try to be excessively offensive.…

> "Old mate" => Someone who's not your friend

Yeah, I dunno about that. I reckon "old mate" refers to someone you don't know particularly well, rather than someone who specifically isn't your friend. Synonym with "bloke".

Re: American Phrase Book

#76

Post by benj111 »

quadrifoliate wrote: post #71
shifto wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is not helpful for a Dutch person like me (who are usually very direct) when the IT has been outsourced to India. You ask them to do something, they say yes and when time comes it hasn't been done. This got me so annoyed.

> This is not helpful for a Dutch person like me (who are usually very direct) While we are at this, I think Dutch people should work on being less "direct", and also try to improve their sentence construction when writing English. Plenty of my (former) Dutch coworkers' emails in English just came across as rude, in both senses of that word.

Hows your Dutch sentence construction?

Re: American Phrase Book

#77

Post by mcbain »

Thorentis wrote: post #44
toomanybeersies wrote: post #23

I'd love to see one of these for Australian English, although I don't think it would be possible. Aussies have a love of metaphor a simile that's unmatched in any other dialect of English, especially if you hang out with bogans (basically Australian Rednecks, for lack of a better description). It's basically the opposite of America, where instead of trying to be excessively polite, we try to be excessively offensive.…

To clarify the "yeah, nah". It often depends on the order, e.g: "Want to go out tonight?" "Yeah nah let's stay home." ('nah' last = no) "Should we leave now?" "Nah yeah let's go." ('yeah' last = yes). Sometimes "yeah nah" by itself said strongly can be synonymous with "no way". Sometimes "nah yeah" said strongly can be synonymous with "hell yeah". Australian is the best dialect of English.

And for extra points explain the addition of “but” as a sentence final. Maybe it reverses the meaning of what proceeded it, maybe it is just a full stop.

“Nah yeah but.”

Re: American Phrase Book

#79

Post by mcbain »

phillc73 wrote: post #75
toomanybeersies wrote: post #23

I'd love to see one of these for Australian English, although I don't think it would be possible. Aussies have a love of metaphor a simile that's unmatched in any other dialect of English, especially if you hang out with bogans (basically Australian Rednecks, for lack of a better description). It's basically the opposite of America, where instead of trying to be excessively polite, we try to be excessively offensive.…

> "Old mate" => Someone who's not your friend Yeah, I dunno about that. I reckon "old mate" refers to someone you don't know particularly well, rather than someone who specifically isn't your friend. Synonym with "bloke".

Often used as a slight pejorative, especially if you can’t immediately recall old mate’s name.

Re: American Phrase Book

#80

Post by redact207 »

phillc73 wrote: post #75
toomanybeersies wrote: post #23

I'd love to see one of these for Australian English, although I don't think it would be possible. Aussies have a love of metaphor a simile that's unmatched in any other dialect of English, especially if you hang out with bogans (basically Australian Rednecks, for lack of a better description). It's basically the opposite of America, where instead of trying to be excessively polite, we try to be excessively offensive.…

> "Old mate" => Someone who's not your friend Yeah, I dunno about that. I reckon "old mate" refers to someone you don't know particularly well, rather than someone who specifically isn't your friend. Synonym with "bloke".

This is correct. "Old mate at the servo blew a plugga" - some guy at the gas station broke his flip flops
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