Shadowing Practice: How Do British People Really Complain - Learn English Speaking with Video
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269 משפטים
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British people don't always complain loudly.
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Sometimes we prefer something a little more subtle.
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Micro -complaining.
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In this episode of the English Right Now podcast, we're exploring the British art of micro -complaining.
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I'm British English teacher Roy.
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Joining me is my dear friend Rob, and we're going to teach you at least 10 pieces of related moaning vocabulary.
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Hello, Rob.
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You all right?
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How you doing?
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can't complain i suppose yeah i can't do that very easily
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but yeah hey how are you yeah well mustn't grumble you know it's okay brilliant
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so i i i'm naturally quite a positive person uh
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so in general i wouldn't answer something like oh yeah you know i wouldn't necessarily do
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that but we're talking about micro complaining this idea of small
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complaints
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which is actually a key point of of british bonding i
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find what what do you normally moan about moan about oh
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well i'm only about the weather of course it's a very
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british thing to do moan about the weather um bad customer
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service in a shop you know uh they're the main things i think oh
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and traffic traffic oh the traffic was terrible you know oh
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these all sort of um uh oh that's annoying that's annoying
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the phone's ringing there you go we can have a complaint
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about this why is the phone ringing at this time i was going to record the phone ring that's
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so typical law
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we'll let it go to answer phone there you go yeah
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i'm sure i'm sure i'd be i'm sure it'd just be a sales call yeah
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or one of your family members asking for money these that's
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a british complaint it's like sort of sugarcoating a bit of humor about something
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that is genuinely annoying so So say that you, imagine you didn't know me and you meet me at a bus stop.
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British people tend to make a little, they tend to have a little bit, have a tiny moan.
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So moaning is kind of exaggerated, long complaining.
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But we also say, I'm just going to have a moan, complain about something, usually informally, often without being seriously upset.
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What would you complain about when you first met me at a bus stop?
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At a bus stop, probably we'll moan about the bus being late, I would have thought, rather than going, isn't it great, the bus is on time again.
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We typically go, look at you, what, tut, you'd like to tut a lot.
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It's late again.
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Oh, it's late, isn't it?
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You know, that sort of thing.
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Looking for something we can bond together about yeah
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so i i would say that
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so this idea of micro complaining is this small minor complaints
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i've touched about this on my main channel as well
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and we it helps british people to bond over something bond over something means develop a connection with someone
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because of a shared experience or opinion
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and we do don't we we bond over bad
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and i think the key thing it's relatable yes like you moan about oh the buses they never come
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and then there's two at once and all these kind of cliche
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but it works yeah of course these are as you say
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minor things we're not talking about yeah you know oh world
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war three's broken out again it's kind of it's um it's minor things really just something to grumble about
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or grumble don't we grumble's a good word
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so grumble is is kind of complaining quietly
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or repeatedly about something annoying like oh
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and it's got this idea muttering isn't it bloody things honestly
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like not quit quite clearly getting your words out um yeah i i agree you know
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and you said that about you know this micro complaining
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if i complain to you go oh the bloody buses honestly
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you can't you can't you know you can't rely on them
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these days what's going on what is the correct etiquette for
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you it's usually to agree isn't it yeah you don't You don't have a big standoff, you know, a big argument about it, going, I think you'll find, actually, the buses are on time.
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You know, you just tend to go, yeah, I know what you mean, you know.
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Yeah, we either disagree.
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We either, sorry, we either completely agree and support the opinion, or we don't get involved if we don't agree.
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Yes.
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It's weird, isn't it?
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We kind of go, yeah, yeah.
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No, no, I see what you mean.
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Tell me about it.
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These kind of throwaway expressions.
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But we wouldn't necessarily, yeah, disagree.
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Oh, the weather's crazy today.
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No, it's not. Because that's confrontational.
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Yeah, yeah.
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Same old thing, isn't it?
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We want to avoid a confrontation, avoid a scene.
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We don't want a big argument or a big bust -up or particularly don't want to fight about it.
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Because we're only talking about minor things here, aren't we?
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So what if the bus is late or not late?
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It doesn't really matter.
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It's not the end of the world.
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That's a great expression.
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Not the end of the world.
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you know the worst case scenario but we wouldn't say that to a british person who was complaining
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no we might we might then you know back down from our own opinion
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but i do buses over i suppose it's not the end
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of the world i suppose i could always get a taxi you know we might use it ourselves
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but i wouldn't say rob if
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that is your name met you at a bus stop obviously
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uh it's not the end of the world mate cheer up
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god yeah honestly i think that's this is strange as we're talking about yeah
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if you knew somebody or a family member or a friend
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or something you can be probably a little more honest can't
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you yeah stop moaning oh yeah get over it yeah yeah yeah
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but even then we might go we might empathize a little bit yeah mate it's annoying
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but come on what can we do it's trying to shut it down
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but even then i think friends we bond over moaning we
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so earlier on you said
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and it made me feel uncomfortable something you said made me feel uncomfortable oh oh look at
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that you said oh isn't the transport amazing it's brilliant it's
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always on time it literally made me feel ill i was
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like oh okay what's wrong with this why is he over
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enthusiastic why is he too excited about life why do i feel
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that way um uh you're a comfort zone i suppose i
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mean you mentioned earlier about you're quite a positive person
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so you wouldn't say yeah i'm all right you know you're always very positive
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and that can be really annoying as well it's it's
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because it's not it's not normal you think oh what's wrong with this guy he's
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so positive but i wouldn't say i'm positive to the point where it becomes abnormal um
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but i would say in the sense of like you're right yeah yeah
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it's more like i'm not enthusiastic about my positivity i'm not
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like way i'm having the best day of my life you
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know i'm not i'm just more like you know there's no point in moaning
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so i might as well just carry on you're more glass
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half full rather than half empty yes i think you're more
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glass half smashed on the floor smashed on the floor too
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many half glasses that's what it is yes all digging in your feet ow um
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but you the thing is just to conclude you you sort
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of you edge to the towards the positive whereas i might edge towards the negative yeah yeah
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but even then we're not exaggerated in either way
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and that's key i'm not like oh no what are you
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talking about the sun's out fun's out all this um
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and you're not like oh my life is over it's raining
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again you know we're not too we're very central in our in our emotional expressions
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and even it complaining i think if it got to a point where it became annoying and persistent we'd call it whinging,
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whinges to complain in an annoying or persistent way and it's very common to say this, oh mate, stop whinging you know,
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it's only five minutes that's when it becomes too much yeah so, you know, at what point do you think,
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what would you think is an acceptable level of complaining?
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an acceptable level of complaining is well, the things I would say,
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you mean would be well i say it's it's it's kind of um
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my mind on the spot you have i mean i wouldn't
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go oh this is awful this is terrible yeah unless you
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know there are certain circumstances where you do lose your rag
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and get really oh good expression but um
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but generally yeah it's not great is probably one of my
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strongest complaints it's not great you know it's not amazing oh brilliant yeah
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if you complain at a restaurant we've mentioned this before we
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always start by going sorry for a start sorry you know
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but the service isn't great not really you know yeah not
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fantastic we wouldn't say sorry the service is terrible yeah straight direct like
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that we often yeah we often sort of like
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when we're meeting people
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and we don't know people very well we kind of have
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this bonding moment as we said over a minor complain about
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something like the weather the transport maybe the cost of living um
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but it's general things that people can relate to yeah things
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that we're not going to cause a control a controversial moment
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and we often say this expression i don't want to make a fuss make a fuss means react strongly
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or draw attention to a problem
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um you know the food was cold
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but i i didn't want to make a fuss yes
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but we do don't we in a weird way in a
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roundabout way yes an indirect way yeah yes we we make
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a fuss by not making a fuss yeah i mean we don't we don't sing
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and dance about it though as you say we don't get on the table
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and go my food is cold and i'm gonna vomit it Well, we go on about it again and again, don't we?
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Oh, it's cold.
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I don't want to make a fight.
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It's cold, but no, it's all right.
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Oh, it's not great.
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We're grumbling again, aren't we?
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Grumbling.
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We play it down.
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And I find that we grumble, we moan, but we don't necessarily go overboard aggression.
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And we don't go too far either way.
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That's the key.
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We micro -complain.
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And I think there is a strength in micro -complaining.
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If you compare us to a culture which is a lot more naturally positive, they bond more over camaraderie
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and the strength of like oh yeah you know this is
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a great day i'm having a great day whereas i think for british
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if you said i'm having the best day of my life i'd expect you to be being sarcastic
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or ironic yeah yeah yeah ironic would be a better word
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but yeah i i would find it really weird as to
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why you were telling me you were having such a good day
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i i've got a feeling that the reason i feel
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that like oh rob's rob's too much he's over the top
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i feel it's like making a british people feel like what am i not getting from this experience
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yeah what am i missing yeah am i missing out on something here yeah fomo yeah fomo
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and like that i we often complain about things that are a bit of a faff
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So a faff is something that requires more effort organization
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or it's just an inconvenience and it's more effort than it needs to do.
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What do you think is a typical faff?
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It's filling in forms, for example.
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Oh, yeah.
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If you're online and you want to buy something, you have to set up an account, first of all, don't you?
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Oh, that's a faff.
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Why can't I just buy it?
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You know, but now I have to add my email in, create a password, maybe add all my personal details it's a faff you know
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it's a bit of a pain actually a bit of a pain it is it is an absolute
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interestingly when we are we're talking about
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because he's not you know it's a faff
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which means it requires more effort than we need
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but it's not a major problem it's a minor inconvenience
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and a small problem which causes irritation but it's not serious you know filling in a form or putting your details in.
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I mean, it's not end of the world territory, is it?
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I say, no, it's what we might call a first world problem.
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You know, it's not about life and death, is it?
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It really is a small inconvenience.
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It's something I would say a bit of a pain, which is an informal way of saying something is inconvenient or annoying.
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Often when something is a minor inconvenience, a bit of a faff, we exaggerate.
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So we go beyond micro complaining.
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we we then exaggerate it
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because it becomes funny like oh goodness me i've got to
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fill out this i've got to put my details in again
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honestly this is a nightmare yeah yes a nightmare that's quite strong actually roy a nightmare yeah it is strong
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but we don't use
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that for weak for minor inconveniences something really problematic i'd probably
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say not ideal yeah classic understated way of saying something is a real problem yeah slightly annoying yeah
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but we're talking in general
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so we've got this kind of performative element haven't we to complaining
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so we start off when we meet somebody
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or we're getting to know them with kind of micro complaining finding things we can bond over
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that are negative and then we move to step two
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when we become friends or we know
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that person we exaggerate beyond all sort of limits something minor
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and we downplay things that are major
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and then step three of the friendship is you being able
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to say oh come on cheer up for god's sake you know these kind of things get a grip
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but you'd never say that to an acquaintance
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or somebody you just met would you no you wouldn't
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or a business colleague anything like
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that no no i think uh it's best to agree with them
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but yeah yeah best friends partners then you can be a
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little bit more honest um yeah sometimes sometimes we say the
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truth as well within it we've got to do a whole lesson on british humor
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but the way we hide truth within a joke i always
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say within an hour we say something like somebody goes oh i'm just an awful person
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and we say yeah
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but i still love you you know it's something you know it sounds like a joke
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but at the same time we are reinforcing that we think your behavior is a bit bad
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it's true yeah yeah i used an expression before we uh before we wrap up i used an expression
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earlier and i said sod's law which is the idea that
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if something can inconveniently go wrong it probably will sod's law we just start recording
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and the phone starts ringing yeah a couple of other ones i might use is oh just my luck
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which is that's a good one isn't it Let's do it.
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Oh, the train's been cancelled again.
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Oh, the train's cancelled again.
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Oh, just my bloody luck.
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Just my luck.
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You could imply that it's happening.
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It's personal.
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It's personal.
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The fact the train is cancelled, they've cancelled it because of you.
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We do make these minor inconveniences personally, don't we?
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We make them personally.
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You're right.
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My bad luck, you know.
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It's typical.
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Oh, just my luck it starts raining and I haven't brought the coat out.
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Just my luck.
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Sod's law or typical typical something you might say
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when you're annoying it's an annoying but unsurprising thing happens oh typical rains every day
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and it doesn't does it but we do you're absolutely right you make
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that little micro complaint a little bit personal and i think that helps us relate
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yeah thank you rob for complaining with me today oh no trouble no i know you do it
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so naturally i know how you do it i don't know
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do you do you practice yeah practice are you professional training sods law though
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when i think of a complaint i can't think of one
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um yeah yeah it's the weather it's the uh well done well complained about complaining yeah i think
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if there were an olympics an olympic event of complaining you'd bring home the goal but you
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if you want to support this podcast uh please do consider buying a cup of tea for myself
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or for rob uh it helps keep this podcast going and alive
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but i just want to say rob thank you very much
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for joining me moaning grumbling complaining it was a minor it
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was a minor it's a minor inconvenience i had to miss my lunch to do this
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but yeah minor what a nightmare
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that phone call was as well typical thank you rob for joining me i'll see you in the next one
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and thank you everyone bye
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “How Do British People Really Complain”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: complaining, minor, annoying, british. This video has 269 sentences and 2964 words to shadow. The speech runs for 16:54. The speaker talks at a natural 175 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 82% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| complain verb | /kəmˈpleɪn/ | To express feelings of pain, dissatisfaction, or resentment. |
| microwave noun | /ˈmaɪkɹoʊˌweɪv/ | An electromagnetic wave with wavelength between that of infrared light and radio waves. |
| complaint noun | /kəmˈpleɪnt/ | The act of complaining. |
| inconvenience noun | /ɪnkənˈvinjəns/ | The quality of being inconvenient. |
| fuss noun | /fʌs/ | Excessive activity, worry, bother, or talk about something. |
| nightmare noun | /ˈnaɪt.mɛɚ/ | A very unpleasant or frightening dream. |
| cancel verb | /ˈkæn.sl̩/ | To cross out something with lines etc. |
| naturally adverb | /ˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə.)ɹə.li/ | In a natural manner. |
| necessarily adverb | /ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/ | Inevitably; of necessity. |
| podcast noun | /ˈpɑdˌkæst/ | A program, especially an audio program, produced on a regular basis, delivered over the Internet in a compressed digital format and designed for playback on… |
| awful adjective | /ˈɔːfʊl/ | Very bad. |
| whereas | /(h)wɛɹˈæz/ | In contrast; whilst on the contrary; although. |
| acceptable adjective | /əkˈsɛp.tə.bəl/ | Worthy, decent, sure of being accepted or received with at least moderate pleasure. |
| relate verb | /ɹɪˈleɪt/ | To tell in a descriptive way. |
| uncomfortable adjective | /ʌnˈkʌm.fɚ.tə.bl̩/ | Not comfortable; causing discomfort. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| break out verb | To escape, especially forcefully or defiantly. | |
| cheer up verb | To become happier or less downcast. | |
| fill out verb | /fɪl ˈaʊt/ | To complete a form or questionnaire with requested information. |
| get over verb | To overcome. | |
| set up verb | /ˌsɛt ˈʌp/ | To make ready for use. |
| start off verb | To begin. | |
| wrap up verb | To cover or enclose (something) by folding and securing a covering entirely around it. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- Because we're only talking about minor things here, aren't we?
- We're grumbling again, aren't we?
- What do you think is a typical faff?
- Why can't I just buy it?
- We do make these minor inconveniences personally, don't we?
דקדוק בסרטון הזה
המבנים שהדובר משתמש בהם הכי הרבה, עם המילים המדויקות מהסרטון:
| מבנה | בסרטון |
|---|---|
| הווה מושלם (Present perfect) have/has + past participle — פעולה שקרתה בעבר ועדיין יש לה חשיבות או השפעה עכשיו | i've touched · we've mentioned · train's been cancelled |
| משפטי זיקה (Relative clauses) who / which + clause — מידע נוסף על אדם או דבר | person who was · culture which is · pain, which is |
| סביל (Passive voice) be + past participle — הדגש הוא על מה שקורה, לא על מי שעושה את הפעולה | been cancelled · is cancelled |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 126 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, I'm, we're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: enthusiastic /ɪnˌθjuːzɪˈæstɪk/, empathize /ˈɛmpəˌθaɪz/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: smash /smæʃ/, friendship /ˈfɹɛn(d)ʃɪp/, controversial /ˌkɑn.tɹəˈvɝ.ʃəl/, aggression /əˈɡɹɛʃən/, confrontation /ˌkɑn.fɹənˈteɪ.ʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: inconvenience /ɪnkənˈvinjəns/, naturally /ˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə.)ɹə.li/, necessarily /ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/, acceptable /əkˈsɛp.tə.bəl/, uncomfortable /ʌnˈkʌm.fɚ.tə.bl̩/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like complain, microwave, complaint.
מהי טכניקת השאדואינג?
שאדואינג היא טכניקת למידת שפה מבוססת מדע שפותחה במקור להכשרת מתורגמנים מקצועיים ופופולרית על ידי הפוליגלוט ד"ר אלכסנדר ארגואלס. השיטה פשוטה אך עוצמתית: אתה מקשיב לאודיו באנגלית ילידית וחוזר עליו בקול רם מיד — כמו צל העוקב אחרי הדובר עם עיכוב של 1–2 שניות בלבד. בניגוד להאזנה פסיבית או תרגילי דקדוק, שאדואינג מכריח את המוח והשרירים בפה לעבד ולשחזר דפוסי דיבור אמיתיים בו זמנית. מחקרים מראים שזה משפר משמעותית את דיוק ההגייה, האינטונציה, הקצב, הדיבור המחובר, הבנת השמיעה ושטף הדיבור — מה שהופך אותו לאחת השיטות היעילות ביותר להכנה לIELTS Speaking ולתקשורת באנגלית בעולם האמיתי.