After a long time studying, you take the plunge and decide to treat yourself to a little trip abroad with your friends. You arrive with a seriously impressive level of English, buuuuut then it happens. All your English seems to come from another planet, you talk to people and they shorten words a lot, and there are others that make no sense to you at all.

S.O.S. What on earth is going on?

KEEP CALM. We have good news and even better news. The good news is that there is nothing wrong with your English; the better news is that those phrases, expressions or words you had never heard in your life are idioms and colloquialisms. In other words, it is slang.

In England there are as many accents as there are kinds of slang, which means it is impossible to “learn it before you leave home”. That is why we are often horrified the moment we land. At that point it does not matter how much we have studied or how good our English is, because this is something harder to learn unless you are there. In today’s post we want to give you some examples of slang and some tips for picking it up without dying in the attempt:

Examples of slang:

Fag: Some people take it to mean a drag on a cigarette; in England, however, fag refers to the cigarette itself.

All mouth and no trousers: the classic Spanish expression “mucho ruido y pocas nueces” (much noise, few nuts), in other words all talk and no action. Translated word for word, nobody would understand us; in English, though, they already have their own expression for it, so take note! 😉

Mate: This word is not so unfamiliar; you probably recognise it from a song or a film. It is still slang, which is why we wanted to include it here. For the uninitiated, “mate” means friend, but the word can also be used to address people you do not know (as long as the situation is informal).

Naff or cheesy: The complete opposite of something cool. Instead of saying it is not cool, they say it is naff or cheesy. Easy peasy.

Dodgy: When something is suspicious or bad, it is said to be dodgy. As you can see, it is nothing out of this world. The important thing is to know that in everyday language, just as we do in Spain, the same happens in every other country. After all, a language is a living thing that moves forward and evolves.

So if you are planning to go abroad, whether on holiday or to live for a while, do not forget to look into which area you are going to in case they have more specific slang, so you can understand a little more from the start. And if not, be patient: the best part of this adventure is learning something new every day. Get in touch with us for more information about language courses in Valencia, as well as intensive courses without leaving the city. Follow us on social media and keep up with all our news. You will find us on facebook, instagram and Linkedin.