Some of the things in your native language, when translated directly into English, make no sense. Other times, different cultures with English speakers pick up different habits and expressions that make no sense to native speakers from the US or UK. Here are 10 things that native English speakers never say that English learners should avoid to sound more natural and fluent. The following is a transcript of the video lesson above.
1. Don’t call people teacher.
There are a lot of great English teachers on YouTube. However, if you want to sound, or comment,
like a native speaker, you should not call them teacher.
I’ve noticed many English learners calling people teacher on YouTube and it’s something that is very odd for native speakers. We do not call people teacher. It sounds childish, at best, in English. Call your English instructor by their name, or if you want to use a term of respect, use Mr. or Miss with their last name, if you know it. And, if you plan to live in an English-speaking country, learn not to use teacher as a term of address. Of course, it may be perfectly appropriate to your culture if people in your country regularly speak English. This tip applies to native English-speaking countries, to people from England, Canada, the United States, etc.
2. Saying infos instead of info
We use the word info as a shortened form of the word information.:”I can give you some info on just about any idiom you can find.” Something I’ve noticed English learners say is ‘infos’ with an S. You cannot pluralize information or info. It’s a non-countable noun. Even when there is more than one piece of
information it’s still just information or info. Never say infos. You can say ‘some info’ to cover almost all
situations. If you want to say it in a plural way, say, ‘pieces of info’ or ‘kinds of info,’ etc. However, there is usually no need. Examples:
“I need a few pieces of info from George before I can answer your question.”
Even better:
“I need to get some information from George.”
3. Use the word GET more.
The word get is one of the most useful words in English. It has something like 289 different uses. This makes it one of the most confusing words in the language, since it’s used so many different ways other than its basic meaning and use.
To sound more like a native speaker, make it a point to learn how to use the word get as it will replace many words that make your English should too formal and unnatural.
Here are some examples of how the word get can and should replace many words in English to sound more natural and less formal, like a native speaker.
“I became sick yesterday.”
Instead say, “I got sick yesterday.”
“I received a call from Mike yesterday.”
Now, this is fine if you want to sound very formal and perhaps authoritarian.
To sound more natural, say, “I got a call from Mike yesterday.”
4. Using ONLY for emphasis
This tip applies to Indian English speakers. Something that English speakers in India say, which makes perfect sense in India, makes no sense in the United States or the UK. They use the word only to emphasize.
Now, sometimes, when the word only could be taken as an exclusion but it’s used as an emphasis term, this could create confusion to native speakers. Other times, it will just sound strange and odd and make little sense to them.
For example, “That’s a big building only.”
Do you mean that’s the only big building there is?
Don’t say “I have a new phone only.”
Just say “I have a new phone.”
And don’t say “I’ll do that tomorrow only.”
Just say, “I’ll do that tomorrow.”
Or, to be more emphatic you can say “I’ll definitely do that tomorrow” or “I promise I’ll do that tomorrow.”
5. Do one thing…
Another habit I’ve noticed from my Indian friends is starting sentences with ‘do one thing’ when they want you to do more than one thing. If we say “If you could do one thing for me” we are normally asking a favor or, we are angry and asking a lazy person to at least do one thing.
So, used too often, this will sound very strange anywhere but India and, to be honest, it sounds a bit rude to us when you say it. So, just don’t say it at all to Americans or British folks and you’ll be better understood and they won’t think you’re being rude.
6. Elder to instead of older than
When we want to say that one person has lived longer than another person, we say they are
older than the other person. We never say they are ‘elder to’ the other person: “I’m older than most of my viewers so I might remember some idioms they’ve never heard.”
7. Use of the word DEAR
In American and UK English, we use the word dear as part of a form of address in two ways. First of all, we use it as a formulaic polite beginning to a letter or other formal message, as do people in other countries, like India: “Dear Whoever, please rescue me from this deserted island.”
Otherwise, the word dear is reserved for very close friends or family, and mostly, it’s something a husband would call a wife, or vice versa, or a mother would call her children. Avoid using the word dear to address a native English speaker whom you don’t know very well. While this may be an attempt to convey affection or admiration to someone, it is way too familiar for UK and American English speakers. It may also sound patronizing.
8. Using the word doubt to replace the word question
I’ve encountered this habit many times. Native English speakers in America, the UK, Australia and Canada never use the word doubt to replace question. Many English learners say to me “Eric, I have a doubt. Can you explain to me…something? This used to be very confusing until I realized that they meant “I have a question.”
Even when we feel uncertain about something, we don’t usually say “I have a doubt.” We say “I have doubt” or “I doubt something.” (Also, “I have some doubts.”)
Doubt is a feeling of uncertainty. See, a question is about information or the facts, whereas doubt is about one’s assessment of the information. So when people said to me “I have a doubt” it sounded like they were uncertain about whether certain ‘facts’ they had been taught were correct when, in reality, they didn’t know the facts at all and wanted me to explain them.
If you want to ask someone to explain something or you need an answer to a question, you can say ‘I have a question.’
9. Saying according to me instead of in my opinion
I’ve heard this one many times and it always sounds so strange, even though it is grammatically correct. We just don’t say it. If you are going to express your opinion or viewpoint, say ‘In my opinion’ or ‘I think that..’ Do not say ‘according to me.’
The word according, when used in the phrase according to someone, means, as stated by someone. For example, “according to the Oxford English Dictionary, ‘according to me’ has actually been used since at least 1875.” But if you don’t want to sound pompous, like you are citing yourself as an authority, never say it!
10. Legends instead of subtitles
I always include subtitles with my videos. I do not include legends. I’m not sure which non-English language this is peculiar to, but I have noticed non-native speakers of English refer to subtitles as
legends.
Now, the two words, subtitle and legend, are somewhat semantically related. While the word legend, in English, primarily refers to a traditional tale about a person or occurrence that has never been proven as
real, an historical myth, if you will, the word legend can also refer to words used underneath or next to a map, also called a map key, a picture, coin, statue, or exhibit that explains something about it, such as what it is. If you visit a museum, you might find printed legends next to or in front of the exhibits.
However, the words flashed on a screen accompanying a video, tv show, or movie are correctly referred to in English as either subtitles or captions. Subtitles are a translation of the spoken
part into another language. Captions are the text version of the spoken part of a recorded program and they exist primarily for the deaf. So, there is a difference between subtitles and captions but most people, in everyday use, don’t care about this difference.
