Pratique du Shadowing: 15 Things British People Secretly Judge You For 🇬🇧 - Apprendre l'anglais à l'oral avec la vidéo
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188 phrases
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Someone once made me the most disgusting cup of tea.
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But I drank the whole thing and then thanked them for it.
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It wasn't just me being polite, it was because I couldn't face the alternative.
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Telling them, to their face, something critical about the cup of tea they made.
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That same silence is the one that British people use for everything.
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And it means that if you have spent any time in this country at all, There was somebody who was perfectly lovely to your face,
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but who was thinking something else entirely.
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Today, I am going to share with you 15 potential circumstances in which this might have happened.
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There is one thing on this list that I do myself all the time.
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I think you might judge me.
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Right, before I give you any of the 15, you need the tell.
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Because the judgment is the easy part, spotting it is the skill.
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The first tell.
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What you'll get is a small sound made behind the front teeth with the tongue.
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Like that.
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Sometimes with a sigh.
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That's a tut.
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You can use it as a verb.
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So you might say, he tutted at me.
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And honestly, if someone British tuts at you, you've done something fairly serious by our standards.
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The other tell is the look, which you will be familiar with if you have ever been on the London Underground.
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It is the, you're doing something to annoy me, but I would rather die than tell you, look.
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Keep an eye out for both the look and the tut, because that is the only warning you will ever get.
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Right, let's get through these.
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The first one, and I'm starting with this because it's the one that nobody warns you about, sitting too close to someone when there are other seats free.
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If a train carriage is mostly empty and you sit directly next to a stranger, you have broken something.
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The rule, unwritten obviously, is that you take a seat furthest from them, even if they look nice.
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And then the next person does the same, and the person after that,
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until you're all like magnets repelling each other from other sides of the train carriage.
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The strange bit though, and the bit that I love, is that when the train is packed, all of that goes out of the window.
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We will sit cramped next to a stranger for 40 minutes completely happily because now there's a reason for it.
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The thing that's strange is when there is no reason for it.
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If you ever do need someone to shift along and make room a bit, a good informal phrase for this is to budge up.
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My friend is on a bench and I want them to move.
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Could you budge up a bit?
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Number two, cue jumping.
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Jumping the cue.
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Everyone knows about this one.
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It's notorious, so I'm not going to labor it.
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I have mentioned it a number of times on this channel before.
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But the part worth seeing is what happens after the cue jump.
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Because nobody says anything, they all just look.
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Every single person, all at once, at the back of this person's head the person who jumped the queue.
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Occasionally someone does speak up and say something like, there's a queue here, you know,
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and that person for about 20 seconds becomes everyone else's hero.
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But more often than not, nobody says anything, just a lot of very cross people being extremely polite.
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Three, being late and not apologizing for it.
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Now, being late is fine.
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Being late is survivable.
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What isn't survivable is being very late and then saying nothing at all about it, acting as though nothing has happened.
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Because the apologising is part of the transaction.
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And it doesn't even need to be sincere.
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We're not looking for sincerity.
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We're just looking for acknowledgement.
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Acknowledgement that you inconvenienced us by being late.
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I, unfortunately, am late to many things, and I survive it by apologizing profusely when I arrive.
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Four, volume.
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Speaking too loudly on a train, public transport, in a cafe, restaurant, anywhere really.
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And I know that's a generalization, and I know other countries have a different normal volume, and there's nothing wrong with that.
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But the British instinct is to take up slightly less space than you are entitled to in public, and that includes acoustically.
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There's a lovely expression for the whole attitude, which is to keep yourself to yourself.
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Oh, she kept herself to herself.
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It's often meant as a compliment, and that tells you so much about us.
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Number five, answering how are you honestly.
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This one catches so many people out and I do feel for them
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because it looks like a question but it isn't a question.
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It is a greeting wearing a question's clothing
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and the correct response is always something like oh good thanks you
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or not too bad thanks you at
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which point the other person also replies yeah good thanks and the ritual is complete and everybody now proceed with their day.
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If you actually tell a British person how you are and you answer honestly, especially if you tell them something difficult,
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you'll watch panic flicker across their face while they try to figure out what on earth to do with that.
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Which leads quite nicely into six, oversharing with a stranger.
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There is a warmth in a lot of cultures where you
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might tell the stranger you're sitting next to you on a bus about the divorce you're going through and really struggling with.
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And as I said, there's a real warmth about that, about trusting someone with that.
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But in the UK, that same conversation would be not unwelcome, just alarming.
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It's not the sort of thing we do.
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We don't overshare with strangers, unless we've had too much to drink.
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Again, that's a topic for another video.
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But yes, generally, we don't overshare about our personal life with strangers.
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Seven, wearing your shoes inside somebody else's house.
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Now, we don't have a firm national rule about this, which is precisely what makes it so difficult, because you have to read the room.
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Some people are fine with others wearing shoes in their house, others aren't.
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The safest thing to always do when you enter someone's house is to start taking your shoes off.
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Because if they are fine with it, they will, within a few seconds, jump in and say something like, oh no, don't bother taking your shoes off,
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it's fine, or don't worry about your shoes, we have a dog.
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But if they don't stop you then congratulations because you've just avoided something quite awkward,
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which would mean them either asking you to take your shoes off or being secretly annoyed that you didn't.
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Right, let's go faster for a moment because there are two here
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that you might break without ever knowing that you've broken them.
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8, especially in London, standing on the wrong side of the escalator.
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In this case, on the left side of the escalator.
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You stand on the right, you walk on the left.
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There are signs every meter or so telling you to do this, which is why it makes it so frustrating.
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Again, I mentioned that in this video.
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In London especially, avoid that.
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And number nine, not saying thank you to the bus driver.
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As you get off, just say a quick cheers or thanks to the driver.
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You don't have to shout it, but many people do.
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They'll acknowledge it.
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and then if a whole group do it and one person doesn't, then that gets noticed.
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That also applies to any scenario where many people are thanking one person.
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Are you still with me?
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The next ones are less about behavior and more about language and they're the harder ones.
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Let me know in the comments which, if any of these, you have been judged for and be honest because I am about to be, embarrassingly.
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Number 10, not offering tea.
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Generally, if someone comes into your house, you offer them a hot drink and you do it more or less before they've got their coat off.
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Not because you automatically think they want one, that's not the point at all.
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The point is the offering.
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There is something about someone coming into your home and being a gracious host or hostess that includes making them feel comfortable,
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offering them a cup of tea.
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For example, my grandmother would offer tea to the man who came to read the electricity meter.
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He'd be in the house 90 seconds.
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It didn't matter.
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She would still offer.
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Eleven is the same rule pointed the other way, and it catches people out often.
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When you're being the one offered something, the first refusal doesn't really count.
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Generally, if a British person offers you the last biscuit and you say something like, oh no, I shouldn't, you have it.
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They will offer again.
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The second offer is the real one, and that's the one you should say yes to.
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They'll say, oh no, go on, go on, don't be silly, something like that.
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If you take it on the first one, you haven't done anything terrible, obviously they've offered you the biscuit.
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It's just sometimes you've almost skipped a step, a silly step, but a step.
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Now, I said at the start there's one of these I've been guilty of recently, and I've been putting it off but I'm going to tell you now.
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This is so embarrassing.
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I sit here explaining this as though I am an objective observer watching British culture
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and noticing how we behave but I'm just as guilty of these as anyone.
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It's not really one of the 15, it's about the tell.
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Last month I tutted in a shop over something
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so minor I don't even remember what it was and I just did it automatically.
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I think their trolley was blocking where I was trying to get to
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and I was in a hurry and probably a bit grumpy.
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Anyway, I tutted and they turned around and looked at me and so I turned that tut into a cough.
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Yes, I committed to a full coughing fit right there in
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the supermarket rather than have an awkward conversation with this person about moving their trolley.
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I'm not above any of this.
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Twelve, and this one's quick, is taking the last of something before offering it around and seeing if someone else wants it first,
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which is the biscuit rule with the manners taken out.
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So just taking the last biscuit, not asking if anyone else wants it first.
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Thirteen, being overly enthusiastic about your own achievements.
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This one is genuinely a problem, I think.
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And I don't fully defend it,
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because I have students from plenty of cultures where speaking enthusiastically about your own achievements is celebrated and encouraged.
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In their own culture they are expected to state explicitly what they are good at
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but they come here to the UK and then they get judged for that and that's not really fair.
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But if you tell a room full of British people that you are exceptional at your job, that you're really good, you're the best at what you do,
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it just won't land that well.
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The way we do it instead is to bury it.
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Oh, I sort of fell into it, really.
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I've been quite lucky, actually.
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The achievement is still there.
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It's just wrapped in modesty, because as I've said, we value modesty.
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And so the same goes for number 14, which is compliments, how we receive compliments.
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If someone tells you, you look nice today, you don't say something like, I know.
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Sometimes you might not even say, thank you.
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Normally, you respond with something quite self-deprecating.
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For example, oh, you look nice today.
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Oh, thanks.
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Probably because I finally managed to get seven hours sleep or something like that.
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Sometimes accepting a compliment too eagerly, too enthusiastically, seems to us slightly boastful.
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And yes, I do know how mad that sounds.
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This is quite a difference between Americans and British people, because British people tend to be much more self-deprecating, whereas if you tell an American they look nice,
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they will just say, oh, great, thanks.
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And that's fine, but that's just not the way we do it.
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And 15, asking someone what they earn or how much their house cost.
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Talking about money here is a real taboo, far more than any other things that people might assume.
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And so if you ask bluntly how much someone earns or how much they paid for their house, you will find them changing the subject quite quickly.
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They will change the subject with a slightly brighter voice than they were using before and that slightly fake,
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brighter voice is another tell along with the tut and the look.
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The thing that ties all 15 of them together, if there is something, is that none of them will be said to your face.
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What you'll get instead is the tut or the look or that pause that goes on for slightly too long.
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And there's one phrase I want to leave you with
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because it explains more about British people than anything else on this list.
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And that is, I don't want to make a fuss.
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I don't want to make a fuss.
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To make a fuss is to draw attention to a problem.
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And most of us would genuinely rather sit next to an open window too cold,
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or eat a meal that we didn't order or drink that dreadful cup of tea rather than make a fuss.
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The good news is, and I do mean this, that you're not expected to get all of it right.
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Often nobody thinks you should have known.
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Tourists get quite a lot of leeway here, more than Brits give each other.
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So the worst that will happen is a small silent moment that you'll never find out about.
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but now you've been warned and now you know.
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I hope you've got a nice afternoon ahead of you or a nice morning or evening wherever you are.
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There's a free pdf below with the phrases from today if you would like them written down.
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Have a lovely day and I'll see you in the next one.
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Bye!
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Vocabulaire et conseils d’expression pour cette leçon
Cette leçon d’expression orale de niveau B2 s’appuie sur la vidéo « 15 Things British People Secretly Judge You For 🇬🇧 ». Cette vidéo contient 188 phrases et 2396 mots à répéter en shadowing. La partie parlée dure 14:31. Le locuteur parle à un rythme naturel d’environ 165 mots par minute, proche d’une conversation courante. 86 % des mots font partie des 3 000 mots les plus courants en anglais ; le reste mérite d’être vu avant de commencer.
Vocabulaire clé de cette vidéo
Les 15 mots les plus avancés de la vidéo, avec leur prononciation et leur sens :
| Mot | Prononciation | Sens |
|---|---|---|
| biscuit nom | /ˈbɪs.kɪt/ | biscuit |
| fuss nom | /fʌs/ | agitation |
| compliment nom | /ˈkɑmpləmənt/ | compliment |
| acknowledgment nom | /əkˈnɑ.lɪd͡ʒ.mənt/ | aveu, confession |
| annoy verbe | /əˈnoɪ̯/ | gêner, ennuyer |
| budge verbe | /bʌd͡ʒ/ | bouger |
| deprecate verbe | /ˈdɛp.rɪˌkeɪt/ | désapprouver de |
| enthusiastically adverbe | avec enthousiasme | |
| escalator nom | /ˈɛs.kə.leɪ.tɚ/ | escalator, escalier mécanique |
| modesty nom | /ˈmɒd.ə.sti/ | modestie |
| trolley nom | trolley, perche | |
| metre nom | /ˈmiːtəɹ/ | mètre |
| queue nom | /kju/ | file, queue |
| warmth nom | /wɔɹmθ/ | chaleur |
| carriage nom | /ˈkæɹɪd͡ʒ/ | carrosse |
Les verbes à particule que vous entendrez
| Mot | Prononciation | Sens |
|---|---|---|
| figure out verbe | cerner | |
| get off verbe | descendre, faire descendre | |
| get through verbe | /ɡɛt ˈθɹu/ | franchir |
| go through verbe | traverser | |
| take out verbe | supprimer, sortir | |
| turn around verbe | retourner | |
| write down verbe | noter, écrire |
Des phrases à répéter
Des phrases courtes et complètes de la vidéo, à réutiliser dans la conversation de tous les jours :
- Right, let's get through these.
- Could you budge up a bit?
- It's notorious, so I'm not going to labor it.
- We're not looking for sincerity.
- Are you still with me?
La grammaire de cette vidéo
Les structures que le locuteur utilise le plus, avec les mots exacts de la vidéo :
| Structure | Dans la vidéo |
|---|---|
| Phrases conditionnelles if + proposition, will/would + verbe — une condition et son résultat | if they are fine with it, they will |
| Present perfect have/has + participe passé — une action passée qui compte encore maintenant | have spent · you've done · have ever been |
| Voix passive be + participe passé — l’accent est mis sur ce qui arrive, pas sur qui le fait | are entitled · have been judged · is celebrated |
| Propositions relatives who / which + proposition — une précision sur une personne ou une chose | somebody who was · person who jumped · attitude, which is |
Prononciation à surveiller
Le locuteur utilise 64 contractions et formes réduites, comme don't, you're, you've. Prononcez-les sous leur forme courte, telles que vous les entendez.
- Les sons « th »: warmth /wɔɹmθ/, furthest /ˈfɜː(ɹ)ðɪst/, enthusiastic /ɪnˌθjuːzɪˈæstɪk/, thirteen /ˌθɝtˈtin/, grandmother /ˈɡɹæn(d)ˌmʌðɚ/
- Les sons « sh » et « zh »: gracious /ˈɡɹeɪʃəs/, exceptional /ɪkˈsɛpʃənəl/, shout /ʃaʊt/
- Mots longs — placez bien l’accent: acknowledgment /əkˈnɑ.lɪd͡ʒ.mənt/, escalator /ˈɛs.kə.leɪ.tɚ/, genuinely /ˈd͡ʒɛn.ju.ɪn.li/, apologize /əˈpɑləˌd͡ʒaɪz/, embarrassingly /əmˈbɛɹəsɪŋli/
Les sons difficiles pour les francophones :
- /h/ — il se souffle, il n’est pas muet: hostess /ˈhoʊstɪs/, behave /bɪˈheɪv/, happily /ˈhæp.ə.li/, hurry /ˈhʌ.ɹi/
- /tʃ/ et /dʒ/ — à ne pas adoucir en « ch » et « j »: acknowledgment /əkˈnɑ.lɪd͡ʒ.mənt/, budge /bʌd͡ʒ/, carriage /ˈkæɹɪd͡ʒ/, genuinely /ˈd͡ʒɛn.ju.ɪn.li/, apologize /əˈpɑləˌd͡ʒaɪz/
- /r/ anglais — langue recourbée, sans frotter la gorge: deprecate /ˈdɛp.rɪˌkeɪt/, metre /ˈmiːtəɹ/, warmth /wɔɹmθ/, carriage /ˈkæɹɪd͡ʒ/, warn /woɹn/
Comment s’entraîner avec cette vidéo
- Écoutez la vidéo en entier une fois sans parler et notez les mots que vous ne connaissez pas.
- Commencez à la vitesse 0,75×, répétez phrase par phrase, puis revenez à la vitesse normale quand cela devient facile.
- Enregistrez-vous et comparez avec l’original, en faisant attention à des mots comme biscuit, fuss, compliment.
Qu'est-ce que la technique du Shadowing ?
Le Shadowing est une technique d'apprentissage des langues fondée sur la science, développée à l'origine pour la formation des interprètes professionnels. Le principe est simple mais puissant : vous écoutez de l'anglais natif et le répétez immédiatement à voix haute — comme une ombre suivant le locuteur avec un décalage de 1 à 2 secondes. Les recherches montrent une amélioration significative de la précision de la prononciation, de l'intonation, du rythme, des liaisons, de la compréhension orale et de la fluidité.