R.S.V.P ASAP?!

A podcast for English learners!  Improve your listening skills, practice your pronunciation, learn new vocabulary!     
  
This episode, I'm chatting with Anton!   We chatted about growing up with two languages, living by the sea, abbreviations, and always counting numbers and spelling words in one language...

Vocabulary tip = Abbreviations and acronyms!  We look at the difference between them, and practice 3 very common ones...

Presenter = Sam @_emaileng (Twitter, IG), @emaileng (TikTok)     

Music = "Baby Bloodheart" by Mara Carlyle   @MaraCarlyle    www.maracarlyle.bandcamp.com       

Artwork = Penny Rossano  @pennyrossanomusicart (IG)     www.pennyrossanoillustrations.com    

Transcript

EPISODE 33 = R.S.V.P ASAP?!

Hello!  And welcome to Chat ENG – a podcast where people chat about how they learn and use English.  My name is Sam, I’m a CELTA teacher and a performer, and I have a particular interest in pronunciation and expression.   

In each episode, non-native and native speakers will chat about their experiences with English, share their advice and, at the end, I’ll give some pronunciation tips for you to take away and practice.  

So – ready?  Let’s get Chat ENG!

This episode, I’m chatting with Anton!  Anton is from Finland, he has lived in different places in Scandinavia, and he works for a trade media company.  We were online for our chat, which was mostly ok but there were one or two spots where our sound went a little bit robotic! 

We chatted about growing up with two languages, living by the sea, abbreviations, and always counting numbers and spelling words in one language, but I started by asking Anton to tell me a little bit about himself…

 
INTERVIEW

A:  Alrighty, well - hello! I am Anton and I come from Helsinki. I have lived in Scandinavia, Sweden, especially as a young child, and I have to moved back and forth, and I have been in Finland for half of my life, so almost 15 years and so this is this is definitely home.

S:  Fantastic!  Tell me about when you started learning English - how old were you when you first started?

A:  Definitely since I was very little because I have English as a second mother tongue, so since I was very small. We spoke Swedish and English at home, so there was always those two. 

S: How amazing that you started really from very young with two languages!  Do you ever remember one language being stronger than the other at any point, or were they always quite equal as you were growing up? 

A: Up till now, I think that even on a daily basis, it varies who I speak the most in that language. So, when I speak for example - today, I have spoken mainly Swedish at work, (Okay) but when I get home I speak in English...but yes, I think that when... I think when I was younger, watching, for example, films when they speak very quickly sometimes that's where I say ‘I can’t understand’ or ‘I don’t feel confident enough’, but then when I start watching more and more, there’s no problem.

S:  Did you ever feel that one language was easier than the other? 

A: Yes, English of course!

S: Oh, really? Why “of course”?  Why “of course”?

A: I think that... when I compare other languages to English, English is definitely grammatically much simpler than other languages. So, in that sense, it's very much... it was much easier.

S:  Do you remember English classes at school?  If you already spoke English, did you find it very easy being in school or was it then very different because it was more academic, I suppose... maybe that's not the right word when you're little....

A: No, actually yes, it suits well.  Naturally, when, you know, when you start learning the language, you probably start with ‘greetings’ - then you move on to a small conversation, perhaps objects and so on. But when you already speak it, you do move into more like an academic - I do remember certain books where we were meant to read a book. So let's say - not a big book, but let's say if a book has 100 pages, but you have one a week and at the end I remember you will get points where you will do a test. So, it will be 10 questions, always random questions, about the book, and it wasn't more about your grammar or anything like that but whether you understood the concept of it, and it's one of those tricky ones that: four questions - two of them are simply off, but two of them are very close, and that's where you have to mainly understand the concept of it.

S:  And how much English did you have at school? 

A: When you are later, you start to have it usually a few times per week. But of course those who, like - let's say you are a beginner so if you start to learn phrases, use numbers and so on, those who are able to speak, let's say on a fluent level, you move on to texts, you move on to more conversations, and it will be typically a few times a week.

S: And what about going on then after school - did you go to university?

A:  Yes, I actually did in the Åland islands.

S:  Tell me about the Åland Islands!

A:  I don't know what it is, but I have always lived my entire life by the sea! Always!  I've always liked small islands and, you know - but not in the tropical way, like most people do! I like more cold places. And that also was like that. There are also many students who are doing their exchange semester, for example, or just a curriculum. So, there's a lot of obviously English used, and there are many courses that are implemented in Swedish; however, all the content is in English and, in this case, it's more about understanding the concept of it but also, of course, learning new words, new terms that you would not normally use on a daily basis.

S:  Absolutely. What did you study? 

A:  Economics - the theory part so, in that sense, you had to do a lot of reading and sometimes it's not that easy - when you think you got it and it's not always that easy, you know…

S: Yes, and also in a second language as well, even though you're sort of bilingual, I mean, that must have been quite tricky?

A: It is still!  At work, currently, I work in a trade media company where sometimes you pick up, for example, media that focuses on something very specific that I don't understand the words in many languages, so you do have to do more like a research:  ‘What do they mean?’ and ‘Where does it apply?’ so, there’s a lot of always… many differences in that sense.

S:  Okay, interesting. So, you live and work in Helsinki, but your work is... is it predominantly in English or do you have many different languages in which you work?

A:  The work itself, I would say it’s in English - correct; however, material is in different languages. For example, if you are given a media that you'd like to contact, or perhaps you need to do a bit more research into them, it varies - for example, you can do Swedish... Finnish, Swedish, and whatever mother tongue you have, or it's always an advantage, but when it comes to the, you could say, internal communication – it will be in English, yes.

S:  Okay. Do you find that if you have international people working at your company, that your ‘internal English’ is very specific to your company or is it specific to your industry?

A:  Specific to the industry, absolutely. I think that you get used to as well, you know, what you deal with… and also the terms sometimes...I mean, in different companies - I hear it all the time, in fact, this sometimes - you know, they do abbreviations that…what does that even mean? So, you get used to your own language, especially working language. 

S: Certainly, yeah!  Are there any good abbreviations that you have in your industry?

A:  No, I would say… actually no, I cannot say that to be honest. And even - I don't know, maybe it's just a personal thing, but you know when people say that “can you please do it right away” and, you know, or “sending me this”, I never, ever, ever say ‘ASAP’ or ‘Best Regards = BR”  never, (See! That’s funny!) really, I think it’s just abbreviations to save time, maybe written, but – no! I never, ever do it spoken. Maybe it’s just me…

S: Oh, well it would be strange if you said, you know, ‘BR’ when you left someone!

A: “JK”… but I do hear it a lot!

S:  I think I would say “ASAP”. But I don't know if I would... I wouldn't say ‘BR’!   Do you yourself work in other languages other than English, Swedish and Finnish?

A:  Well, French, but mainly I would say in those three, yes...

S:  I mean, it’s enough, isn't it?!

A:  Well, sometimes I feel like I can’t even cope (Really? No!), but sometimes it happens that you can't find the words, you know, (sure) I don’t if it happens sometimes you do have a specific word in one language, but you can't say it in the other one and then later on it comes…

S:  Do you find that sometimes that you find the word in one language quicker than another language?

A:  Yes. For example, when it comes to counting, I always count in Swedish. That is, I don’t  know… or if you write a number or when you dial a number, it automatically goes in Swedish. Or, also when you... how do you say  when you say: “my name is Anton - A-N-T-O-N” ?

S:  When you spell it. 

A:  Spell it.  Ah, see? I have the Swedish word (SWEDISH PHRASE!). That as well, I cannot do it – I do it in Swedish. It just automatically goes in that way.

S:  Yeah, I mean, I don't know much about Swedish - are there very, very different sounds when it comes to the alphabet?

A:  Not that many, but I would say the way the sound is pronounced, because it’s all the way at the back of the throat.  And, of course, Swedish is very melodic languages, so it goes up and down - so the melody, that I will say that is very different.  But other than that, I guess like every language is, as you learn more, it gets harder.

S:  Is that true with Swedish as well? Because certainly as the further you go with English, perhaps it gets harder because there's so much vocabulary...

S: So as a linguist, then Anton - tell me, what do you like about English as a language?

A:  I will say the main and for mostly, the fact that it's quite universal. It's used pretty much everywhere. Not only they say it’s the ‘business language’, but it's also… wherever you go, it’s most likely that someone will speak English at a good level, rather than someone else's mother tongue. So, maybe there's also convenience that I do like.  Of course, the simplicity… and that's something that I think that when it comes to writing, that's one of the things that I do sense a lot – it’s much easier to write. 

S:  And what about the opposite then? Is there anything about the English language that you think “I never get that right” or “I find this really difficult”?

A:  Oh, I'm sure there's many, but... let’s see... there are many English-speaking countries and there are also many accents. Some of them are very difficult to understand - a challenge of course, I mean, the way, for example, you and I we speak now we can say, I mean, this is your accent, this is my accent that was a standard English, right?

S:  I think it's probably fair to say.

A: But some of them can be very challenging to understand.

S:  So what do you do then to maintain your English? Do you read a lot in English? Do you watch a lot of TV, listen to podcasts... what do you do? 

A:  I read a lot actually. Sometimes at work not much by choice, but by… when you have to have an understanding of, for example, a magazine… like, very specific, for example, some technical issues - you do have to read. I think that's one of the things I do. I like to read a lot of history. (Ah!) Yeah! I do!  Particularly War history - World War I and World War II.

S: Great, so reading - so if you were to give advice to a learner, a language learner, what advice would you give?  Mainly just reading or would you give other advice?

A:  Well, I think that every learner is different. I think it's - first of all, you have to be comfortable with, you know, where you are first, but it is very important to read and also to practice - because, as you know… as the saying says “practice makes perfect”. It is really important to use it, even though you might not know at first... it’s the lack of confidence or sometimes the fear that one might say it wrong, but it is very important to practice. Always practice, I think. 

S: Absolutely! I think so!

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

“Practice makes Perfect”, so practice, practice, practice!  I love how Anton always counts and spells in Swedish – if you are bilingual, or multilingual, do you notice if you automatically count or spell in one language?  Maybe, a good tip for English practice might be to make sure you always count then numbers and spell all words in English - maybe in your head, maybe out loud, then you’re always using English! 

So - this episode’s pronunciation tip is an abbreviations tip!  As Anton and I discussed, some people say ‘ASAP’ and some people say ‘As Soon As Possible’.  ‘ASAP’ is an abbreviation - some abbreviations are just the letters of the words - like ‘Dr’ for ‘doctor’ or ‘FAQs’ for ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ - or abbreviations are a shortened version of a word - like ‘approx.’ instead of ‘approximately’ or ‘inc.’ instead of ‘including’.   

Other abbreviations actually make another word with the letters, and these are called ‘acronyms’.  A good example of an acronym is ‘NASA’ - the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.  ‘ASAP’ can also be seen, or heard, as an acronym, as some people say ‘ASAP!’ – so be quick if you hear that!  Here are 3 more very common abbreviations we say and write in English for you to practice: 

 
First: The abbreviation RSVP – which we use in English to mean “please respond”, usually to an invitation - but it’s actually French for ‘Répondez s’il vous plaît’! 

Try this sentence:  We need everyone to RSVP by Friday.

 Next:  The abbreviation FYI – which stands for For your information.

 Try this sentence:  I’ll see you on Monday – FYI, the meeting starts at 9am, not 10am. 

 Finally:  The abbreviation ETA – which stands for Estimated Time of Arrival

 Try this sentence: We’re driving to your house now – our ETA is 7pm. 

 So, to recap:  Abbreviations and acronyms are the letters or shortened versions of a word or phrase, the main difference is that acronyms sound like a word.   They may not always be the best thing to use when speaking or writing, so make sure you think about who is listening and who is reading your work!   Over to you to practice!

So, there we are!  The transcript of this episode is available to read on the podcast’s webpage, so take a look!    Join me next time for more pronunciation and grammar tips, more advice and, most importantly, more chatting!   My thanks again to Anton and, for her music, a huge thanks to the wonderful Mara Carlyle.   Bye for now!