16 Sep The language barrier (and I’m from England)

The language barrier (and I’m from England)

Coming to America, the last thing I thought I’d have a problem with is the language. Admittedly, it is like a breath of fresh air in comparison to trying to get through Paris with your book of phrases, but there are plenty more differences than expected in phrases, words and pronunciation between our two countries.

My initial problem was “Hello, are you alright?” – A phrase that practically everyone under 30 uses to greet one another in the UK, meaning “How are you doing? Using it over here, I get a baffled look and a “Yeah, why?”
I’ve found out that to ask if someone is alright, sounds like you are asking because they don’t look alright.
And it works the other way round too. I have heard the greeting “What’s up?” countless times. To which my natural response once was “Nothings up. Why?”

I spoke about someone walking on the “pavement” and my American friends laughed and told me it’s a sidewalk.

I asked for Lemonade and got a drink made from actual Lemons. Apparently what I was looking for was Sprite.

Even my name is said differently, Twice I’ve introduced myself as Darren and been told “Nice to meet you Darwin”!

On the whole, although it may be slightly confusing at times, it is actually entertaining and extremely fun (especially as an English Major) to see these differences in dialect and language between two countries that are so born of one another.

What’s better is, these differences are a great conversation starter when making American friends. One of my favorite American friendships so far began simply as a discussion along the lines of “You say TomaYto, we say tomaRto”.