Do People Still Say That? - December 23, 2024

معنی واژه با لمس

1. 0:00Hello. This week on Ask a Teacher,
2. 0:05we answer a question from Emmanuel in France about how to know
3. 0:12if an expression is still popular in English.
4. 0:17Dear Teacher, Sometimes when I am reading or watching the older films,
5. 0:24I find some interesting expressions.
6. 0:28But I do not know if the people are speaking them nowadays.
7. 0:34How can I figure this out?
8. 0:36Thank you, Emmanuel.
9. 0:39I'm happy to answer this question, Emmanuel.
10. 0:44It can sometimes be very difficult for learners of English to know if a word
11. 0:51or expression sounds like it belongs to an earlier time.
12. 0:58For example, if you watch an older American film from the 1930s,
13. 1:05you might hear the expression,
14. 1:09Gee, that's swell.
15. 1:12The expression, that's swell,
16. 1:15means that something is good and And that the speaker is pleased.
17. 1:23But nowadays, people do not commonly say that.
18. 1:28And if they do say it, they are probably saying it in a joking way because
19. 1:35they know the expression is rare and not currently used.
20. 1:41Here are some ways to help you find out if an expression belongs to an earlier time.
21. 1:51Find a native English language partner.
22. 1:54Then you can ask him or her if expressions are no longer used very much.
23. 2:02Our VOA Learning English article, Five Tips for Great Language Exchanges,
24. 2:11gives advice on how you can do a language exchange.
25. 2:17Note, however, that native English speakers can have different opinions
26. 2:23about what expressions are still popular.
27. 2:27That is because people in different age groups use different expressions.
28. 2:36For example, a 20 -year-old person might not even know a few of the expressions
29. 2:43that older people still use.
30. 2:49And some older people do not know expressions that young people, such as teenagers,
31. 2:57Also, some older people might not even know that expressions
32. 3:04they use are becoming less popular over time.
33. 3:10You can also use technology to get more information about expressions.
34. 3:16Language researchers have collected over one billion words in the Corpus
35. 3:24of Contemporary American English,
36. 3:28or COCA. The examples come from American printed writing, video, and sound recordings.
37. 3:38You can use COCA to get information about how often an expression is used.
38. 3:46It will not tell you if an expression sounds out of date,
39. 3:52but an expression might rarely be used because it sounds old.
40. 4:00This VOA Learning English Education Tips article gives information on how to use COCA.
41. 4:08Lastly,
42. 4:10dictionaries will show if a word belongs to an earlier time by putting the word archaic
43. 4:19before its definition.
44. 4:22Remember that it is more important to understand idiomatic expressions than to be able
45. 4:30to use them.
46. 4:32That's because you can always express your ideas without using idioms in simple language.
47. 4:42For our readers and listeners,
48. 4:45what are your questions about American English?
49. 4:50We want to hear from you.
50. 4:52Send us an email at learningenglishatvoanews .com
51. 4:59and please let us know where you are from too.
52. 5:05And that's Ask a Teacher.
53. 5:08I'm Andrew Smith.