AEE 2578: Don’t Fall Into These Conversation Traps

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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?

0:00

This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 2578. Don't fall into these conversation traps. Welcome to the All Ears English Podcast, downloaded more than 200 million times. Are you feeling stuck with your English?

What are the conversation traps to avoid in American culture?

0:19

We'll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing on connection, not perfection with your American host, Aubrey Carter, the IELTS whiz, and Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer. coming to you from Arizona and Colorado, USA. And to get your transcripts delivered by email every week, go to allearsenglish.com forward slash subscribe. Today is a what not to say episode. Find out what comments you should avoid, especially about someone's appearance that may be okay in your own culture, but will get you into trouble in the U.S.

1:11

English is part of how you're evaluated, whether you like it or not, in meetings, in interviews, in negotiations. The question isn't whether your English is okay or good enough. It's whether it's working for you. Is it getting you the promotions and the salary raises that you deserve? If not, this is the year to do something about it. Our free two-minute fluency quiz shows you your true English level, B1, B2, or C1, and where you can level up for real-world success for your career or your global life in English. Take the quiz now for free at allearsenglish.com slash fluency score. That's allearsenglish.com slash f-l-u-e-n-c-y-s-c-o-r-e.

2:06

Hello, Lindsay. How are you today? I'm feeling energetic today, Aubrey. How about you? Yeah, you don't look tired. Does anyone ever tell you you look tired? Yeah, I just got that like two nights ago. I know this came up in a recent episode, right? Where we sort of mentioned that like, oh, don't tell people they look tired. And we promised this follow up with sort of phrases we should avoid when referring to someone's appearance. So I'm excited to get into this. I'm excited because this episode, this concept is so culturally important. The person that told me I look tired two nights ago, I was at a dinner with a community meditation group. It was at an Indian restaurant. And the guy was actually, he's from India, but he lives in the U.S.

2:47

and works in the U.S. And he just, he said it out of care, right? Of like, oh, you look so tired now. You're feeling tired in the evenings. And he was a conversation starter. He wanted to know about my life. So I think it's really cultural, this episode. Absolutely. Very cultural. So a lot of what we're sharing is about American culture, what this is like in the United States. This could be very different in your culture. And that's sort of what causes the problem. You might be a lot more comfortable commenting on someone's physical appearance than you should in the United States. Yeah, it's really interesting. Yeah, really good stuff. So I'm glad we're covering this today for our listeners. We're going beyond language and into culture and, of course, always sticking with connection.

3:29

We'll show you why these break the connection. But first, guys, hit the follow button right here on the show. If you're on Apple, if you are in Spotify, we want to see you following the show. So we drop into your listening queue every – well, we do publish five days a week, Aubrey, over here, don't we? Yes, I know. It's amazing. Five episodes a week.

Why is commenting on someone's appearance problematic?

3:46

That's got to be a record. Yeah. Oh yeah, it's probably a record. I don't know if everyone else does that. It's probably a record. Plus, if you like to watch us on YouTube, that's another way to learn. You could hit subscribe on YouTube. So you have lots of options, but make sure you are right there with us on a regular basis. Okay? Yes. Watch on YouTube to make it worth me doing my hair. Very nice. So what would be, so here in this episode, we have a number of categories of types of things you want to stay away from, and then we'll say exact things you don't want to say, right? What not to say. Exactly. Yeah. So the first one we're talking about is health or physical condition. So this, first of all, in the United States, these can feel very intrusive or judgmental.