If I said to you “You must come over for dinner sometime,” what would you think I meant?
You’d probably think, “That’s nice, he’s inviting me to dinner.” Unless you’re British, that is. And then you’d know that I was just being polite and have no intention of inviting you to dinner. Ever.
This is a good example of the type of expression the British use to politely say something that is often not what the words being spoken actually mean. I’m a Brit, by the way, just to establish my credentials up front.
This can a minefield for anyone else, and illustrates the complexities of different languages and cultures in enabling different people to understand clear meanings.
I was reading a great article on Expatica.nl (the Dutch part of the collective websites portal aimed primarily at British and American expatriates in various European countries) which discusses the complexities of doing business with the British from a Dutch point of view, as well as dealing with expat Brits in The Netherlands.
As someone who has lived in The Netherlands for nearly six years now, I had a big chuckle in reading some of the descriptions, especially of Dutch business and social mentalities and the differences between those of the British.
What is interesting from a broader point of view, though, is the Anglo-Dutch translation guide included in the article.
This is spot-on in illustrating by example some of the common phrases many British people use to camouflage what they really mean. It’s the polite way to express criticism or disagreement. It was reading this that made me stop and think – I use such phrases myself from time to time!
Not only that, the interpretations of what a Brit means don’t only apply to how the Dutch would understand them – in my experience, many other nationalities and cultures would think the same.
Would you agree?
Take a look at the guide:
The full story on Expatica is not bad 😉
Expatica.nl | Doing business with the Brits: The art of politeness
Love it. And so true.
Now you’ll have to dig out Britspeak Amerispeak. It’s a book. But, because I couldn’t find it, try this for size:
http://seattlewritergrrls.org/archive/2002i3_britspeak.html
Very useful when working with Americans.
Isn’t it?
I have this useful book called simply “American English / English American” which is described as a two-way glossary of words in daily use on both sides of the Atlantic.
Amazing how many different words and phrases there actually are in a language that non-native-speakers often see as the same.
I hear there’s an Australian-English dictionary somewhere. Now there’s a need… 😉
I bought my Dutch wife Kate Fox’s book “Watching the English” for Sint Klaas this year and then proceeded to read bits of it. I was very disappointed to realise that I wasn’t at all the unique international individual that I thought I was but a stereotypical Brit, right down to my beliefs, behaviours and, probably, frequent use of ‘I was a bit disappointed that…’ and ‘typical’.
Kate suggests a few others (used in business) “Well, I expect we’ll manage somehow” = “Yes, certainly, no trouble” and “That would be quite helpful,” = “For Christ’s sake, that should have been done yesterday” and “We seem to have a bit of a problem” = It’s a complete and utter disaster.
She also points out that we fail to exhibit the required degree of enthusiasm for our work, using remarks such as “Well, it’s not bad considering’ or ‘You could do a lot worse’.
Now, to send that article to my mother-in-law 😉