Foreigners can find English hard to understand

 

Foreigners can find English hard to understand

Good luck trying to translate this without a good slang dictionary. English is

enriched by slang, and I say enriched deliberately since it’s colorful and fun,

although not perhaps everyone’s cup of tea, and certainly one would

endeavor not to use it in the presence of the Queen.

I was down the pub having some nosh when
 I noticed this nutter going in and out the loo.
I said to my mate: “Bet you a tenner there’s
something well dodgy going on there.” “I
should mind your beeswax” he replied, “I’m
off to Bedfordshire.” Just as the nutter was
going back into the loo, Bob’s your uncle,
the Fuzz arrived. 

Gobsmacked, my mate fell off his stool (actually I think he was plastered).
“Keep your hair on,” I said. “The coppers are here for him, not you.” As a
classroom activity, work on different paragraphs like the one above, in
small groups, and provide a translation in proper English!

Less radical than slang for the English language classroom are metaphors
and similes. The English are champions for quirky metaphors. While the
French say it’s raining ropes, the Spanish say it’s raining jugs, the Italians
say it’s raining like a shower, all of which give a good visual of very heavy
rain, the English say it’s raining cats and dogs. Where did they come from?
Call my bluff definitions is a fun language game to work with metaphors
and help expand a student’s knowledge of English. Check the resource
box below the blog for a link to language learning activities.