🌍English around the world

Every country speaks English differently.

Because it’s spoken in so many countries, English can vary a lot from place to place.

While English speakers can (almost) always understand each other no matter which dialect they speak, there are some big variations in language and cultural norms.

Today we’ll talk about some differences in everyday English in different countries.

Alright? - UK 🇬🇧

In the UK, a common informal greeting you might hear is ‘alright?’, or ‘you alright?’.

Normally, if you ask someone ‘are you alright?’, it means that you asking if they are okay because you might be concerned.

However, just saying ‘alright?’ in the UK means the same as ‘how are you?’.

The response to ‘alright?’ is usually something like ‘yeah, alright, you?’ or ‘not bad’.

This is something that Americans often find hard to understand when they meet British people.

Y’all - USA 🇺🇸

Unlike many other languages, English does not have a plural version of ‘you’.

Whether you’re speaking to 1 person or 100 people, you just use the word ‘you’.

This can be annoying, so people sometimes say ‘you all’ when talking to a group of people.

In some parts of the USA, this then gets shortened to ‘y’all’ (pronounced like yuh-all).

It’s a very common thing to hear in the Southern parts of the USA.

How are y’all?

Internet slang - international 🌐

The rise in use of the internet around the world has meant that regional differences in languages has decreased.

One way this has impacted English is that slang created on the internet often spreads to many countries and gets used in real life around the world.

Recent examples include the words rizz, GOAT/goated, and mid.

Rizz means that someone has good style, charm, and attractiveness, so has the ability to attract romantic partners. It comes from the word charisma, which has a somewhat similar meaning.

He used his rizz to get a girlfriend.

Goat means greatest of all time. Goated is used to say that something is the GOAT or the very good.

Lionel Messi is the GOAT

Mid is used to describe something is just okay. If something is not bad, but not good, you could say it’s mid.

This sandwich is mid

Hope you enjoyed this brief introduction to how English can vary around the world.

See you next time!