Nail down the vocabulary. Though it is English, it is very different from American, Australian, South African, or any other dialect of English. There are some nice British/American slang dictionaries online to begin familiarizing yourself with the differences.
Get the syntax and grammar. There are very slight differences that you'll notice in speech that aren't huge, but really put the icing on the cake. Do your research online, but here are a few examples to get you started:
- Use "jelly" instead of jello. "Jam" is what goes on toast; you eat "sweets" instead of candy and a French fry is a "chip" unless very thin (e.g. McDonalds can be called either), and a potato chip is a "crisp." "Cookies" are "biscuits." Don't say "restroom"; use "toilet" or "loo." You hooked up with a girl? No, you "pulled" a "bird."
- Watch out for words such as "fanny" that have different and offensive meanings. What's more, "Asian" correlates to Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan or Bangladeshi, etc. Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, and so on and so forth are "Oriental" or "Far Eastern."
- In response to a question with an auxiliary and main verb, Brits respond with both: "Could you do the washing up for me?" "Could do" or "will do" (as opposed to the American, "I could.")
- "Do you have...?" in American correlates to, "Have you got...?"
- Watch out for things like "at/in hospital," instead of "at the hospital."
- Brits use the past perfect ("I have eaten") much more often than Americans, who automatically go for the past simple ("I ate").
Nail down - leszögez
vocabulary - szókincs
slang - szleng
to familiarize - megismerkedik
syntax - szintaxis
grammar - nyelvtan
slight - enyhe
In response - válaszul
auxiliary - kisegítő
respond - válaszol
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