Submitted by Jake Cohen on the 2023 summer session program in London, England…
As I prepared to travel to London for my 5-week summer program studying Visual Communications, I worried about many things – navigating the city, proper attire, and academic requirements – but language was not one of them. Certainly I knew the difference in accents between American and British English would be distinctive, however, I never thought about the differences in language itself, like terminology, intonations, pronunciations, and more.
When I arrived in the country on June 4, this became extremely apparent to me. I have been casually noting these differences over the course of the past week, which are usually in the form of different words and phrases that we use for the same things. Below is a list of several of my observations, listed in no particular order of importance.
- “Way out”
As my friend and I took public transportation from the airport to our flats (see #2), I noticed that their term for exits in train stations was different from that of the United States. After a quick google search, I found out that way out is the terminology that the London Underground specifically standardized this word to be used in all their stations. Additionally, the word way out carries a different meaning than exit – way out is not necessarily a direct point to an exit out of the station, but rather to the route that takes you out of the station. This means that if you see a way out sign, it can still be a very long journey of walking and escalators until you are actually leaving the building, whereas an exit sign in the states usually refers to a door nearby that directly takes you outside.
- “Flats”
This might be a more commonly known term, but flats is the terminology generally used to refer to what in the United States as an apartment. My classmates and I are currently living in flats in London, and this term definitely took me a few days to get used to. Out of curiosity, I recently googled the definition of flats in the UK, and to my surprise, there is a distinction between flats and apartments here: “the word flat refers to an abode made up of several rooms on a single floor within a building that contains other, similar residences. Apartments, on the other hand, are generally considered to be the flat’s more well-to-do cousin. While they are still formed from a number of rooms, they can be set across more than one floor and are also thought to be better appointed and more luxurious than a simple flat.” (via https://www.pettyson.co.uk/about-us/our-blog/578-types-of-property#:~:text=As%20mentioned%20above%2C%20the%20word,well%2Dto%2Ddo%20cousin).
- “Hey, are you ok/alright?”
The use of this phrase in the United States implies that the person being asked this question is not okay, or there is uncertainty about this individual’s well being. However, in the UK, friends and strangers alike ask this question as a form of asking “how are you?” or “what’s up?”. There is no implication of someone being unwell or something being wrong, but instead this seems to be a type of formality or greeting here. A stranger asked me this question on one of my first days here, and while I answered it saying “yes, and you?,” in my head I was like “yes of course I am, why wouldn’t I be?”. This, therefore, is another example of differences in language between the US and UK, as the same phrase carries two entirely different meanings across these two different countries.
- Takeaway
When ordering food or beverages for out-of-store consumption, the common phrase in the United States is to ask for said things to go. In the UK, however, the phrase for this is for takeaway. The most similar phrase to this that we have in the US is takeout, so it is not entirely unexpected to hear takeaway in the UK given our familiarity with the language. Regardless, it is another learning curve that threw me and my peers off when we would order coffees in to-go cups.
These are only a few examples of different language I have been adapting to over the last week. Admittedly, upon being exposed to these differences, my instinct was to make fun of or judge them and assume that the American terminology was either “better” or more “normal.” However, it is important to observe these differences objectively and not pit them against each other. A major learning curve in culture shock is understanding that, just because something is different, that does not mean it is “worse” or of any less quality. Rather, these differences simply exist and belong to incomparable contexts. I look forward to continuing to understand this for myself as I become exposed to more cultural differences in the coming weeks! (Submitted during Week 1)
