No wonder I've heard that when you want someone to hand over the salt to you at table, you should say something like 'is that salt?' instead of 'could you hand me the salt please'.
The question put as example is rude in any country, though 😅 if you need to "get rid" of your guests, according to the Italian etiquette, you might suggest some chamomile tea, especially after dinner. Easy and polite!
It is said that Chinese people are indirect and they usually hide their real minds. But now I know English people also have the same 'problem', which actually is a common way to be nice and polite to others. Maybe it's nothing special about having different cultures, but wether there is culture.
as similar as every other cultures. in my country, people usually say exactly what the people said. but if the relationship amongst them is closed they tend to ask directly instead of going around like this ;))
oh, I didn't notice until I watch this video that there are "Disguised requests" in Western culture. I thought only Asian countries have that kind of culture which could be regarded polite but sometimes cause misunderstandings. Thanks for letting me know. :)
At the beginning i was confused if these discussed requests are acceptable or forbidden in England, frankly. I've never thought that this manner or the way of expression might be learned outwardly. To be polite is natural in human nature. It seems strange like learning a skill in program. I know that I must understand that this opinion can also be culture shock as well to anybody.
Hi Husam. In order to access the quiz, you must go to our homepage. Almost all of our content has a quiz, but we are unable to put them on TH-cam, so it's always better to visit our website for any programme. The quiz for this episode is here: www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/course/experiment/unit-1/session-35 Thanks!
No wonder I've heard that when you want someone to hand over the salt to you at table, you should say something like 'is that salt?' instead of 'could you hand me the salt please'.
The question put as example is rude in any country, though 😅 if you need to "get rid" of your guests, according to the Italian etiquette, you might suggest some chamomile tea, especially after dinner. Easy and polite!
It is said that Chinese people are indirect and they usually hide their real minds. But now I know English people also have the same 'problem', which actually is a common way to be nice and polite to others. Maybe it's nothing special about having different cultures, but wether there is culture.
Thank you for your comment. You make a very interesting point.
as similar as every other cultures. in my country, people usually say exactly what the people said. but if the relationship amongst them is closed they tend to ask directly instead of going around like this ;))
I am curious what German would say in her case.
Friendzone overloaded
oh, I didn't notice until I watch this video that there are "Disguised requests" in Western culture. I thought only Asian countries have that kind of culture which could be regarded polite but sometimes cause misunderstandings. Thanks for letting me know. :)
At the beginning i was confused if these discussed requests are acceptable or forbidden in England, frankly. I've never thought that this manner or the way of expression might be learned outwardly. To be polite is natural in human nature. It seems strange like learning a skill in program.
I know that I must understand that this opinion can also be culture shock as well to anybody.
Wow ..👌👌 great representation..!!
I'm not smart enough to identify a disguised request...
It's clear, thank you very much.
This is gonna be so useful!!!!
I love this one😃
can you make a video to recap all the "what they really mean" videos?
Hi Thanh Phương. Thank you for your suggestion. You can find all the videos here: www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/course/experiment
Useful!!
Thank you!
Is it 10 O'clock already?
That depends on what time we read your post!
Aren't we supposed to take a quiz after watching the episode of 'WHAT THEY REALLY MEAN' series?!🤗
Hi Husam.
In order to access the quiz, you must go to our homepage. Almost all of our content has a quiz, but we are unable to put them on TH-cam, so it's always better to visit our website for any programme.
The quiz for this episode is here: www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/course/experiment/unit-1/session-35
Thanks!
Thank you,it's very useful to me
nice tips haha
My 5£on this, this so called polite way of saying “can you please go?” is less polite and more harmul to your payer than just saying “go”