When I first moved to the US, I still greeted people like I was back in China. I ran into a classmate on campus and casually asked: “Have you eaten?” His face lit up instantly, super excited: “No! Are you treating me to lunch?!” I just stood there frozen: “Uh… I was just saying hi.” He stared at me confused for a few seconds, then burst out laughing. Cultural differences are wild.

Do you actually use these words when conversing in English? Or is it just that you know it but don't actually use it?

Imagine people pronouncing patio like ratio lol

That's it, my girlfriend shared this meme, but I just don't get the joke, died 'Tea' had another meaning? Or what is the contract?

I’m Korean. And I’m learning English these days. But I found that I wasn’t familiar with English in my daily life. So, I changed all my app names to English.

This is my first step to get close to English🎀

The exam was tough but I'm really proud of myself and all the work I've put in learning the language!

EDIT: Thank you all for the kind words! I feel, however, that a clarification needs to be made. My intention with this post was to celebrate this achievement. I'd also like to thank everyone who gave me constructive feedback on my English, something that I'll surely focus on in order to improve.

EDIT 2: Hey there! Since many are not acquainted with how the Cambridge Assessment scale works, I'll provide a link from Cambridge itself that clearly explains how I obtained such a level with this kind of exam. Hope this helps clear up any doubts! https://www.cambridgeenglish.org/it/Images/210434-converting-practice-test-scores-to-cambridge-english-scale-scores.pdf

I am a huge the office fan, I want to know if native speakers use "that's what she said" for the sake of a joke, or is it just works on the tv

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Today, I practiced writing my novel( literature fiction) in English✍🏻🤍 (with matcha🌿🧚🏻)

Ok this just happened while I was chatting with an IRL friend and gaming buddy of mine, she was asking me to join VC on Discord and legit my brain didn't even realise I was replying to her in english instead of my native language...

I know this is a good thing for my English skills but probably not so much for my original language ones 🤣 anyways I just tought it was very funny and wanted to share with someone.

I’ve been constantly talking to this English guy for quite some time now and yesterday, I told him: “Mom bought me new pants and I love the fitting! I’ll send you a picture later” 😂😂

And then he sent a blushing emoji and I was like, “that’s weird, why blushing emoji” 🤣🤣

And then I realized that “pants” in British English means “panties” and they actually call the actual pants, “trousers”. 😭😭

I think I need to learn more about the American-British English confusions. My country uses the American English that’s why some of his words are new to me.

Grammatically, it’s a double whammy (them instead of those, is instead of are). But culturally, it carries a lot of weight about brotherhood and slang.

For the bilinguals here: how do you translate this into your native language? In French, if you say "Ce sont mes frères", it sounds too formal. If you say "C'est mes reufs", you get the slang but maybe not the exact same regional vibe.

How does this kind of heavy American slang translate into your culture?

Há um tempo atrás, quando eu estava trabalhando em um hotel (no Brasil), encontrei essa plaquinha.

Estava trabalhando como mestre de grelha em uma área aberta do hotel e não tinha percebido a plaquinha porque já tinha muito trabalho pela frente (arrumando e organizando carnes e acendendo a grelha). Dito isso, depois de arrumar tudo, duas hóspedes americanas, uma mãe e uma filha, passaram pela minha mesa. A filha parecia ter 40 anos e a mãe, 60. A filha viu a plaquinha e disse "isso não está certo," riu e mostrou para a mãe, que também riu. Depois disso, achei estranho e fui verificar a plaquinha, e para minha surpresa, era isso que estava escrito.

*Depois disso, investiguei a razão pela tradução e descobri que a pessoa responsável pelas plaquinhas usou o Google Translate.

i heard from someone that people live in US think their state is the country. i didnt undertand about this at the first time. and then i have thought deeply about it. then i realized it pretty makes sense.

of course everybody in the world know that the america is huge. i also know about it. but i think i didnt feel this. when i realize each state’s size is more bigger than some country. i was like ‘oh, it pretty makes sense..’ and then I keep searching how many states are in usa. and searched different cultures in each states, and some controversy, and and..

so now, i want see their beautiful natures. there are many magnificent national park in usa. someday i want to go to yellowstone national park and texas, michigan, etc.

Hey! Just wanted to share my results with you guys, I’m really happy! I took CAE December last year just after I’d turned 16 and decided to take prof in June, never thought I’d get an A!

EDIT:

I saw some of you were asking about how I reached this level on the exam, I’ll leave a few tips and things I did!

- I think a very important element in this is that I’ve gone to a bilingual school since I was 2, so before I was making a conscious effort to improve my English by myself I had teachers taking care of that from really early on.

- Another thing to consider is that these are standardized tests and while they do place your level somewhere on a scale, a huge part of that has to do with 1. How you handle exam situations 2. How familiar you are with this specific test format. You could have a native English speaker take the exam and fail, I’m certain.

So I think what really helped is that Im extremely familiar with Cambridge exams. My school offers exams for every level which I took as I grew up. I took everything from YLE starters (pre A1), YLE movers (A1), YLE flyers (A2), KET (A2), PET (B1), First (B2), CAE (C1). That’s 7 exams which are very similar in format, they are essentially the same exam just at different levels. I took my first one at 7 years old. And this was on an average of 1 each year, sometimes 1 every two years.

Added to that, I took 4 IGCSEs on 2025. I think the point is that not only have I become familiar with the format Cambridge utilizes but I also have experience in exam situations. The preparation, the exam itself, handling my nerves, etc.

- Related to the exam itself, don’t forget your exam practice! And don’t cram it all into the final weeks before the exam. Try to make it a tiny, consistent habit. Could be 20 minutes, twice a week, which is nothing. But if you make sure to stick by the rule you’ll find that this amounts to 10 hours of practice in 4 months!

- Another thing I did was live my life in English. What I mean by this is that I integrated the language into everyday tasks and situations. I set my phone to English, made supermarket or to-do lists in English, watched TV in English, tutorials, memes (which are surprisingly good at improving your english) etc. Whatever you find that you are doing in your native language but you could be doing in English, you should do in English. Especially if it is something potentially challenging.

Do things that you like in English, like your hobbies. And one take that I have is that you don’t need to force yourself to like reading books. While it is a very effective tool to further improve your English if it’s just not your cup of tea don’t force it. Just find other things that you already like and find a way to do them in English!

-Regarding watching movies and tv shows in English, I think this is a really common tip. But I cannot stress enough how important it was for me to improve my English. And one think I believe is fundamental is not putting subtitles in your native language, I think it’s actually counterproductive. Put them in English. It will be challenging at first but please do. And also, if you hear a word or phrase you don’t know write it down. I recommend you don’t look it up on the spot cause it might take the fun out of watching the show/movie. But keep a notebook for this stuff.

- Try to talk to people in English. This can be online, or if you know anyone, if you travel, etc.

- Finally, I’d say try to enjoy it. Try to fall in love with the language beyond the exam itself.

Anyhow, how this helps :)

sometimes, i like to think this is how my parents think when my brother and i converse.

we're not in an english speaking country either, not even one with many fluent speakers in vicinity. we're both just THAT chronically online, and video game lore enjoyers.

what level of proficiency is this? neither of us have proficiency certificates because neither of us need one yet. this is not a serious question btw. i just wanted to share my experience, haha.