„I'm afraid...“ – Die geheimen Codes britischer Sprache

00:00:03: So what did you think of the dinner?

00:00:06: It was interesting.

00:00:08: Interesting, yes very interesting.

00:00:12: so... You liked it!

00:00:14: Well I wouldn't go that far.

00:00:18: and the wine not bad Not bad

00:00:23: for

00:00:23: a Tuesday.

00:00:25: Oh right exactly Dear Klaus.

00:00:34: Yes?

00:00:34: What

00:00:34: just happened?

00:00:36: I think

00:00:37: we just experienced a very normal English evening.

00:00:40: So that means... No one

00:00:41: has said what he really meant.

00:00:43: Ah!

00:00:44: And

00:00:44: what does your A mean now?

00:00:46: It

00:00:46: depends on it Klaus, today you have to talk about something that as an outsider in Great Britain will probably never be understood

00:00:56: The British cuisine?

00:00:57: No

00:00:58: The weather?

00:00:59: No

00:00:59: Monarchy?

00:01:00: Also no Yes,

00:01:01: what then?

00:01:02: British.

00:01:03: British?

00:01:04: Exactly the secret language of the Brits.

00:01:07: Free according to English motto... Sorry!

00:01:10: But what do you really mean?

00:01:14: England

00:01:15: at its best

00:01:16: The big

00:01:18: Brit pod

00:01:19: With Alexander Klaus Stecher and Klaus

00:01:21: Spelling.

00:01:22: So Klaus let's start with a sentence that probably has led countless non-Britens into hell The

00:01:32: food was

00:01:38: not bad.

00:01:39: Then we can't

00:01:42: go home

00:01:45: disappointed.

00:01:46: On the contrary, you might have just received the highest culinary praise that this person wanted to give.

00:01:56: at this evening There

00:01:59: is this wonderful British ability to dim your

00:02:05: enthusiasm down.

00:02:06: Not absolutely fantastic but it works.

00:02:11: Or

00:02:12: quite nice.

00:02:13: Yes

00:02:14: what sounds like in German?

00:02:17: well

00:02:18: And then the dangerous

00:02:24: word comes.

00:02:25: Interesting.

00:02:26: But it can also mean that there is complete nonsense, but I'm too well drawn to say what you have to say and therefore one does not

00:02:35: only have to listen to the British what they are saying One has to hear how she says.

00:02:42: And if we talk about British understatement, then of course one person is not over.

00:02:48: Queen Elizabeth the Second.

00:02:51: God bless you!

00:02:52: In nineteen ninety-two, let's go back to your so called Anus Horribilis

00:02:57: A year in which the royal family really went through a lot.

00:03:02: Windsor-Castlebrande, the wife of Charles and Diana was practically broken.

00:03:06: Even with other children from Queen there were marriage crises and separations And at the same time the monarchy stood under enormous public

00:03:16: pressure.

00:03:16: Then this woman says...

00:03:18: In nineteen ninety two is not a year on which I shall look back With undiluted pleasure.

00:03:27: In the words of one my more sympathetic correspondence, it has turned out to be an annus horribilis.

00:03:38: I will not look back with ungrateful pleasure in nineteen hundred and

00:03:43: ninety-two.

00:03:44: That is great, that's British understatement on world class level!

00:03:47: Because

00:03:47: if you know what happened this year one could also formulate the

00:03:52: matter differently.

00:03:53: For example, nineteen hundred twenty-two was a catastrophe or ninety two ninety was hell?

00:03:59: Or

00:04:00: something royal Anno Sorribilis

00:04:03: Only two Latin words That was the queen.

00:04:06: And that's

00:04:06: exactly where something fundamental is.

00:04:08: The emotion is there, it just isn't filtered out to the outside.

00:04:13: Maybe

00:04:14: this is precisely what the key is?

00:04:16: The British don't necessarily try to feel less, they try to show fewer of them...

00:04:22: Another wonderful British construction is I'm Afraid!

00:04:26: Am I afraid?

00:04:27: No Of course

00:04:28: not.

00:04:29: When a Brit says I am afraid thats not possible then doesn´t mean I'm afraid we can't realize that, unfortunately.

00:04:40: It means

00:04:40: NO.

00:04:41: Finally no!

00:04:42: Only with a... well, a small, language-like wet cloud around

00:04:44: it.

00:04:45: And this goes on.

00:04:46: I wonder if

00:04:48: Can mean?

00:04:50: Do so Would

00:04:50: you mind?

00:04:51: Can mean Please do it right away.

00:04:54: Perhaps

00:04:55: You could.

00:04:56: Can it mean why you haven't done that to the devil?

00:05:00: And the interesting thing is, the British understand all these shorts.

00:05:07: Let's really play this one time.

00:05:08: Okay!

00:05:08: Let us assume we are in London and your car parked like this so I just

00:05:14: can't get out of there.

00:05:14: All right...

00:05:14: I'll come over here and say excuse me Klaus Would you mind moving your car?

00:05:21: Oh, is it in your way?

00:05:22: Well I wonder if you might possibly move a little.

00:05:27: Of

00:05:27: course!

00:05:27: That

00:05:28: would be lovely.

00:05:29: No

00:05:29: problem at all.

00:05:30: And

00:05:30: now let's translate this.

00:05:31: Fall

00:05:31: the car away And immediately.

00:05:33: I'm

00:05:33: not coming out otherwise.

00:05:35: And what

00:05:36: did the other one hear?

00:05:37: That

00:05:38: he will give him a chance to warm his face.

00:05:40: This is important

00:05:41: now, because British hospitality isn't just friendship it's also social technology.

00:05:49: And now we need someone who doesn't just speak the language, but loves the expert Stephen Fry.

00:05:56: The man can make a little philosophical arrangement out of one sentence.

00:06:00: Fry describes himself as very well-versed in context, convention and situation.

00:06:06: If you go to

00:06:07: an American bookshop by far the biggest section is self help and improvement.

00:06:11: You know...the idea that life is refinable and improvable and that you can learn a technique for anything, whether it's love-making being... ...a businessman or marriage cooking losing weight.

00:06:25: Whatever is there's an NLP way of doing this.

00:06:29: Anthony Robbins' way of do things they didn't teach at Harvard.

00:06:33: Way of Doing It.

00:06:33: There was unbelievable sense That life is improvable.

00:06:37: You could be lectured at Or indeed given a sermon At the Protestant base in America.

00:06:43: Things are done by text works as opposed to by submission and by, you know a doctrine in the way that The Higher Church European Rump we still believe.

00:06:56: And there is this sense of original scene in Europe.

00:06:59: I mean it's bizarre theory but when it comes to comedy satisfactorily i think

00:07:06: obvious

00:07:07: That American comic hero is wisecracker who was above his material And the British comic, put it this way.

00:07:17: The American comic here like John Belushi or someone like that is... You know that scene in Animal House where there's a fellow playing folk music on guitar and John Belusi picks up the guitar and destroys it because he just smashes it then waggles his eyebrows at camera?

00:07:38: Everyone says God, he's so great!

00:07:40: Well the British comedian would want to play the folk singer.

00:07:46: We want to play the failure.

00:07:47: How much power do I have right now?

00:07:53: By the way, this

00:07:55: is something that people who have a lot of business to do in Great Britain should really understand.

00:08:05: If someone

00:08:09: says it in one meeting... It can even mean the opposite!

00:08:18: I understood what you are saying And i think its for wrongs.

00:08:21: Only you don't say it.

00:08:23: There's a sentence

00:08:26: before.

00:08:26: we should

00:08:28: be especially proud as foreigners in Great Britannia.

00:08:39: With all due respect.

00:08:41: Oh, yes!

00:08:41: Because

00:08:41: rarely

00:08:42: something that sounds particularly respectful comes

00:08:45: up.

00:08:46: With all to your respect I don't think it's quite right.

00:08:48: Translation?

00:08:49: You

00:08:49: have no idea... But just

00:08:52: in a package from….

00:08:53: Yes, silk!

00:08:54: And maybe this is one of the great British culture technicians.

00:08:59: you can correct someone without publicizing him.

00:09:02: You cannot say NO without making a confrontation.

00:09:05: You can criticize without the other one immediately in a defense posture to bring.

00:09:11: That's by

00:09:11: the way not stupid at all!

00:09:12: No, of course not.

00:09:13: maybe

00:09:13: we Germans could sometimes cut off a small window there too But only a little?

00:09:16: Of course We don't want

00:09:17: to suddenly become

00:09:19: British.

00:09:20: So and now let us jump into year two thousand twenty-six King Charles III Washington

00:09:32: D.C.,

00:09:33: U.S.

00:09:33: Congress, historical speech and Charles does something that a British monarch can do particularly well.

00:09:42: he says something rather freaky and makes out a charming joke.

00:09:45: Our destinies as nations have been interlinked.

00:09:49: As Oscar Wilde said we really everything in common with America nowadays except of course language.

00:09:58: That is Oscar Wilde and Charles says this sentence in the year of twenty-six, before the American congressman has to think about it.

00:10:06: This is actually a small diplomatic masterpiece.

00:10:09: Charles

00:10:15: says

00:10:16: we have everything

00:10:21: together

00:10:22: but

00:10:29: at the same time he says except for his language!

00:10:34: So you are pretty much like us...but Are you excited to see anybody win?

00:10:45: Do you have your hopes up for anyone?

00:10:50: That's wonderful!

00:10:51: The American tried to get

00:10:54: a positive statement from him.

00:10:56: According to the motto, you have fun and Hugh Grant only says almost.

00:11:01: Almost?

00:11:01: She doesn't get it anymore!

00:11:03: And what's fascinating is that he didn't even have to say no... I

00:11:09: didn't think this

00:11:11: was great at all.

00:11:13: He just said almost!

00:11:16: And everyone in Brite understands.

00:11:19: Maybe there also a form of self-protection.

00:11:21: How

00:11:22: do you mean by that?

00:11:23: Well if i don't say everything as much as possible then I can't be disappointed when I say That would've

00:11:31: been the best thing ever.

00:11:33: Then I got very

00:11:36: far away

00:11:38: from the window.

00:11:43: If i say it was rather nice, then there is still air up

00:11:51: here.".

00:11:52: Yes

00:11:53: that's interesting!

00:11:54: Maybe British understatement isn't just a

00:12:02: social rule

00:12:05: maybe its

00:12:06: also a form of emotional

00:12:10: self-control.

00:12:13: Such a stupid conversation, really.

00:12:17: Yeah you?

00:12:18: Welcome to the Easy English Podcast.

00:12:20: I said that already...

00:12:21: By the way i always walk on when people ask me that and say yeah!

00:12:25: And then just go make it so long they don't have to asking you because in my German manners nobody wants to give me anyway.

00:12:35: So I'm like oh yeah thankyou Make a chewing gum and I'm already around the corner.

00:12:44: Really?

00:12:45: I did it yesterday in that hallway, was one of the builders...

00:12:49: Oh yeah he said hey you're alright!

00:12:50: Yeah i was just like oh yeah thankyou

00:12:52: yeah yeah yeah

00:12:54: And I just went

00:12:54: on You don't even need to respond..

00:12:57: Yeah you should say how are you?

00:13:00: but then nothing comes back.

00:13:02: That is for me weird end of conversation right?

00:13:05: Yeah, I find it weird.

00:13:06: It happened to me when we were in the park and two schoolgirls got jumped on by Nola in a loving way...

00:13:12: Well they provoked her to jump!

00:13:14: They were running at him like why are you running at them?

00:13:18: Is she

00:13:18: friendly?!

00:13:22: So basically they jumped on her

00:13:25: And then i said oh because i was actually asking Are they all right?

00:13:30: I'm saying Oh You're Right.

00:13:31: and she went yeah you.

00:13:31: And Then I realized She thinks Im Asking Are you alright?

00:13:36: But how are

00:13:36: you?".

00:13:37: And now we come to something that I personally find particularly interesting,

00:13:44: the question... Is everything okay for us next

00:13:48: time?

00:13:48: And the answer is Yeah!

00:13:49: I am

00:13:50: fine.

00:13:51: Can it be called

00:13:53: Yes or No?

00:13:53: Or I don't want to talk about this anymore.

00:13:56: Please ask again.

00:13:57: That's

00:13:58: actually a nice example of The communication not only consists of words, but also sounds, looks, breaks, situations and relationships.

00:14:08: And that's exactly why a German sentence like what is going on with you for a Brit sometimes works brutally directly?

00:14:15: While

00:14:16: a Brit says you are right.

00:14:18: I see that something is not right.

00:14:22: But, I would like to give you the opportunity to decide for yourself whether or not

00:14:28: you want to talk about

00:14:29: it.".

00:14:29: That's actually pretty elegant!

00:14:30: But

00:14:30: of course this also has a side effect.

00:14:32: if one only says an enemy then at some point no one knows how it really works anymore.

00:14:37: maybe exactly what our listeners and listeners are interested in because especially regarding these forms of communication sometimes wonderful and

00:14:51: sometimes terrible.

00:14:52: Because the others should understand

00:14:54: between tones?

00:14:55: Exactly!

00:14:55: Well, it's fine.

00:14:56: Oh oh... And everyone knows at least now that it is not fine.

00:15:01: Not at all.

00:15:01: But what's interesting is he even has a cultural vocabulary for this.

00:15:06: He doesn't have to say I'm just injured but can also say I am a little disappointed.

00:15:12: What

00:15:12: does that mean?

00:15:13: That means I smell sour Or...?

00:15:16: That's unfortunate.

00:15:20: Or I'm not entirely convinced.

00:15:29: Klaus, let us make a little British dictionary, okay?

00:15:35: Okay!

00:15:36: So... I say the British word and you translate

00:15:42: it according to English

00:15:43: meaning, ok?

00:15:44: Yes And

00:15:45: here we go.

00:15:45: Not bad, quite

00:15:46: good.

00:15:47: Interesting!

00:15:49: That's

00:15:49: brave I'm afraid... ...I hear what you are saying.

00:15:56: With

00:15:57: all your respect You might want to think about that.

00:16:04: That is one way of looking at it.

00:16:06: And

00:16:06: now my favorite sentence.

00:16:09: when you

00:16:10: invite someone I will let you know.

00:16:16: Perfect!

00:16:17: about distance, self-explanation and the desire of others

00:16:28: not only to show off

00:16:35: but also history, class or social codes.

00:16:47: The British understatement is definitely no coincidence – it belongs long ago to British communication culture.

00:16:53: And what's interesting here are that this culture can be incredibly charming But they may still be complicated Because if you

00:17:00: don't know these codes then sometimes the Brits understand completely wrong.

00:17:05: Klaus, do you think that this kind of hidden language will disappear at some point?

00:17:09: No.

00:17:09: It changes.

00:17:10: Of course younger British people communicate differently than Queen Elizabeth II's generation.

00:17:17: Social media is more direct.

00:17:20: American influence is enormous!

00:17:22: But irony on the statement, and the game with the undisputed are amazingly robust.

00:17:29: Maybe even because it's fun?

00:17:30: Yes!

00:17:30: Because

00:17:32: language can be a game

00:17:33: And British English is sometimes a game for both players who know rules.

00:17:39: Only the foreigner often stands next to you thinking what exactly happened

00:17:44: here And then someone says not

00:17:46: bad You still don't know if that was good or bad Or very well.

00:17:50: Then do you notice?

00:17:51: That's the point.

00:17:53: Maybe the actual secret of British language isn't that they say something different than what you

00:18:06: think, maybe it is

00:18:06: a completely different thing.

00:18:07: Namely?

00:18:08: Yes!

00:18:08: They remind us to not only let out our communication but also allow other people

00:18:14: in their own space.

00:18:16: Exactly

00:18:18: for interpretation as an example.

00:18:19: For words.

00:18:20: For

00:18:20: humor

00:18:21: And sometimes you just don't have to say everything about it.

00:18:25: That can be very elegant!

00:18:26: And sometimes incredibly exhausting.

00:18:29: Especially for us Germans.

00:18:31: I didn´t want to say anything right now,

00:18:33: but there is something

00:18:35: in your mind...

00:18:38: So what did you think of the dinner?

00:18:41: It was interesting.

00:18:43: Interesting?!

00:18:44: Yes, very interesting.

00:18:46: so you liked it.

00:18:49: well I wouldn't go that far.

00:18:53: And the wine?

00:18:55: Not bad, not bad for a Tuesday!

00:19:00: Right exactly.

00:19:03: Close

00:19:04: Yes

00:19:05: Was das heute gut?

00:19:06: Not Bad

00:19:07: Close...I'm

00:19:08: afraid it's the highest praise you are going to get.

00:19:11: I see Exactly.

00:19:12: Thank you very much for

00:19:14: listening and if you liked it, please give us a nice rating star or write a review to our Britpod.

00:19:21: And when you have suggestions of ideas or any topics, also feel free to write us a whatsapp under the number.

00:19:31: You can also read our podcast again in the follow-up text.

00:19:36: At best you save this number like a new contact, for example under the name Britpod and already you can communicate with us.

00:19:45: Thank you very much!

00:19:46: And until next time, from England.

00:19:47: Edits Fest, the big BritPod.