welcome back to love English I'm Leila and today I want to help you sound more
polite in English now we know that in English saying please and thank you is
so important you probably also know that as well as thank you thanks Cheers
top more formally I'm very grateful I really appreciate that all these
expressions can express thanks now the thing is sometimes you can get it wrong
and using certain phrases and expressions that you think might be
perfectly acceptable and indeed are in many of your languages can actually
sound a little bit rude in English so I'm going to explain eight of those
expressions and the more polite alternative that you can use I'm not
going to focus on too much grammar but instead I'm just going to give you some
fixed expressions to make you sound more polite and to encourage good
conversation in English now remember we always say please and thank you in
British English again sometimes in other languages it's the intonation of your
voice of the pitch and tone that can express politeness in English you really
need both as well as some of these expressions that I'm going to explain
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English and sound more polite so I just want to
say thank you to some of you guys in your language for taking the time to
subscribe and watch this lesson so gracias
gasps yep merci arigato danke spasiba F Paulista okay I did my best
with the pronunciation there if I did get it wrong but try correcting me tell
me in the comments box below and of course if I didn't say thank you in your
language then write it below tell me how to say it and I will say thank you to
you in the next lesson I may even mention your name so let's
get started eight expressions that you should never say to make you sound more
polite and avoid being rude in British English okay number one and I'll tell
you a story to go with this number one is want
do not say I want don't go to Starbucks or Costa and say I want a coffee
I want a latte I want a mocha I want is far too direct and it really does sound
rude I was once with a student in Harrods and he was ordering very sweetly
some chocolates for me he said I want that chocolate I want that chocolate I
want that chocolate ah I told him no don't say I want say I'd like I would
like contract it I'd like I'd like to buy I'd like to have I'd like that
chocolate I'd like to help you whatever it might be say I'd like I would like
there we go put the noun or the verb on the end with preposition 2 and the
infinitive verb I'd like to eat some chocolate I'd like to buy a coffee I'd
like a mocha took a look a look a lot a Starbucks have so many crazy coffees I
always joke with my students about the names or you can say I'll have use will
here for spontaneous decisions I'll have a coffee please
I'll have sugar and no milk thank you even with these expressions you still
needs to keep using please and thank you we are so polite in
the UK and America of course so make sure as well as using these expressions
you keep using please and thank you okay now if you are working with some English
people if you are a manager in an international company and you need to
give some orders which you might very well do try not to use imperatives send
me the report by tomorrow do your homework call your mother
whatever it might be these imperatives sound far too direct and therefore a
little bit rude try instead using an indirect question could you do your
homework could you send me the report by tomorrow could you help me
could you plus the infinitive verb here sounds much more polite of course that
you can use can can you do your homework can you send me the report this really
expresses a little bit more ability and is a little less formal it's perfectly
polite so you can also use it could you send me could you help me could you do
and can can you that's not too difficult now if you are a little bit busy and
someone's that trying to get your attention your help
then don't say leave me alone go away doesn't sound good
ask them could you give me a minute please could you give me five minutes
and I'll be right with you oh I'm sorry I'm a little busy at the moment I can't
help you I'm sorry I'm a little busy at the moment whatever it might be
don't say go away or leave me alone it's really too rude okay if you're
organizing to meet up with someone if you're trying to arrange a meeting and
you want to know when somebody is available again
don't say tell me tell me when you're free tell me when you're available use
instead let me know let me know when you're available let me know what time
suits you best this sounds a much more polite
and again in more formal business situations perfect let me know when
you're free now in any language you are going to disagree with people Sabra and
I often disagree on things and we know how to create a conversation and
environment where we can talk to each other and discuss our disagreements most
of the time so instead of saying you're wrong or I don't agree
try saying I think you might be mistaken I think you might be mistaken I think
you might be mistaken the film is a 10 o'clock not 9 o'clock I think you might
be mistaken the report needs to be submitted by 2:00 p.m.
sounds much better I think you might be mistaken not too sure of yourself and
not too forceful and direct but it gives somebody an opportunity to just think oh
yes maybe I was wrong you could also use a very popular phrase
in English which is I'm afraid now in this case I'm not scared but I'm sorry
I'm afraid you've made an error I'm afraid I disagree I'm afraid if you say
I'm sorry but you're kind of maybe apologizing but you're not really it's
just a softer way to disagree with someone you can even say I'm afraid I
disagree I'm sorry but I disagree it sounds much more gentle much more polite
and again you're going to encourage someone to talk back and to discuss this
with you what you don't want is to say you're wrong and somebody becomes very
defensive now similarly you might also find that you don't like somebody's idea
if you're working in a group like many of our university students need to or in
a company then there's going to be people whose ideas you really don't like
and again saying that's a bad idea is a bad idea so rather than saying that's a
bad idea or indeed using the word bad at all it is better to say I'm not sure
that's a good idea again don't be too certain I'm not sure shows that you
not completely against what they're saying so there's room for compromise
and using a positive adjective is much better than using a negative one it just
sounds a lot more gentle and a lot more polite so negative statement with a
positive adjectives you could also say in a business situation hmm I have a few
concerns what about try and make suggestions to
get somebody to think about other possible ideas so never use that's a bad
idea now as a teacher I would never tell
somebody that their work is bad or that their work isn't good I would always try
and start with the positive and then suggest ways to improve other aspects
one you don't want to ruin somebody's confidence and someone may have put in a
lot of efforts so being polite and being gentle in this situation is a really
good idea you could try saying I'm not quite
satisfied with this I'm not quite satisfied with this make suggestions how
about why don't we what about remember using negative language is not a good
idea and making sure that if you aren't happy with something you make some
suggestions if you are going to be critical
make it constructive criticism so suggestions to improve something is much
better than just saying your work is bad you can also say hmm I think this needs
some improvement I think this could do with some improvement I think this needs
some improvement not just that it's bad now sometimes there's going to be things
that you do not like and saying I don't like this is really quite rude
especially if you say I hate don't say that if you say I don't like it really
is negative it's much better to say what you actually do like so instead of
saying I don't like this soup you could say hmm I prefer
mushroom soup or I prefer a hamburger it shows actually what you do like
rather than just expressing what you don't like so don't be too rude you
could also use phrases like I'd prefer I'd rather so I don't like
going to the cinema I'd rather go shopping right a more advanced
expression is I'm fond of I'm fond of fond simply means I like very much it's
a much more formal polite way of expressing your satisfaction your liking
of something so to say I'm not fond of I'm not fond of again there's that
negative structure with a positive adjective which sounds much better so
I'm not fond of football I'd rather watch tennis much better than saying I
don't like okay guys I hope that lesson is going to help you sound a little bit
more polite in English remember number-one rule is to avoid saying what
I want I'd like I'll have make sure that you
try that next time you're ordering a coffee or indeed comment in the box
below and why not request a some lessons maybe you didn't like this lesson tell
me if you didn't but make sure that you do it in a polite way
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