Speak With Me - British English Conversation Practice

Oh, hello. My name's Chris. I don't think we've met before. We definitely haven't had a conversation, so we should probably fix that. I know it can be so difficult to know what to say in English in certain situations, which is why I'm inviting you, yes you, to join me on a little trip into town. We'll go clothes shopping. You will hear a conversation between a shopping assistant and a shopper. The first time you're going to hear the conversation, I just want you to listen and think about how the words or phrases are pronounced. The second time, you are going to be the customer, so you will see the text on the screen, and what you have to do is read it aloud to practice your pronunciation. The third time will be the final time that the conversation is played, but this time you're going to be the shopping assistant. So again, just read the text aloud and practice your pronunciation. And one final thing, if you want to learn what these phrases or words mean, make sure you watch until the end of the video. I'm going to explain what they mean so you can feel confident using them in conversations in the future. Talking about vocabulary, before we head into the shops, I want to share a tool with you that can help you with your English, as well as your work or your studies. It's called AI PPT. It's an AI-powered slide generation tool that creates professional PowerPoint presentations in minutes. Here's why it's great for English learners. You can use it to turn your notes, vocabulary lists, or even whole documents into lovely slides or flashcards. That means if you're practicing new words, you can quickly make a set of flashcards to test yourself. Or if you need to give a presentation in English for school or work, AI PPT will help you organise your ideas and make everything look professional without needing any design skills. I know a lot of you are living in the UK, which means you may have to present ideas in English to your clients. Well, all you have to do is insert the key information into AI PPT and they will do the rest of the work, leaving you more time to practice the speech side of things. If you want to give it a try, I'll leave a link in the description below. Just give it a click. But for now, let's get to our shopping conversation. Are you ready? Let's go. Afternoon. Can I help you with anything today? Or are you just browsing? Hi there. Yeah, I'm mostly just window shopping at the moment, but that jacket over there really caught my eye. Ah, good choice. The one you've picked out is really trendy right now. Actually, it's been reduced this week, down from £120 to £75. Really? That's a bargain. Could I try it on? Of course. What size do you normally wear? Usually I'm a size medium. Right, here you go. You can try it on the change rooms over there. Hmm, it doesn't quite fit me. It feels a bit tight across the shoulders. No worries. Would you like the next size up? Yeah, that might be better. No worries. Give me a sec. Oh, that's much better. Much more comfortable. What do you reckon? Honestly, it suits you. That colour really goes with your skin tone. Thanks. Do you have this in another colour as well? Maybe something darker? Yes, we've got it in navy and in the charcoal grey. Brilliant. Could I try on the navy one, please? Absolutely. Here you are. Oh, I actually prefer this one. It feels much smarter than the lighter colour. Fair enough. Navy's more versatile. It goes well with both casual and slightly more formal looks. Yeah, I can see that. By the way, do you also have anything similar but without the hood? Yes, we've got a similar jacket over there. It's more tailored, but it's also on offer. Oh, that's tempting. How much is it? That one's £95, but it was originally £150. Hmm, that's not bad at all. I'll stick with the navy jacket for now, but I might come back for this one later. No problem. Would you like me to put the navy one aside for you at the till while you have a little look around? Yes, please. That would be great. Perfect. Take your time and let me know if you need anything else. Thanks a lot. You've been really helpful. You're very welcome. Afternoon. Can I help you with anything today, or are you just browsing? Ah, good choice. The one you've picked out is really trendy right now. Actually, it's been reduced this week, down from £120 to £75. Of course. What size do you normally wear? Right, here you go. You can try on the change rooms over there. No worries. Would you like the next size up? No worries. Give me a sec. Honestly, it suits you. That colour really goes with your skin tone. Yes, we've got it in navy and in a charcoal grey. Absolutely. Here you are. Fair enough. Navy's more versatile. It goes well with both casual and slightly more formal looks. Yes, we've got a similar jacket over there. It's more tailored, but it's also on offer. That one's £95, but it was originally £150. No problem. Would you like me to put the navy one aside for you at the till while you have a little look around? Perfect. Take your time and let me know if you need anything else. You're very welcome. Hi there. Yeah, I'm mostly just window shopping at the moment, but that jacket over there really caught my eye. Really? That's a bargain. Could I try it on? Usually I'm a size medium. Hmm, it doesn't quite fit me. It feels a bit tight across the shoulders. Yeah, that might be better. Oh, that's much better. Much more comfortable. What do you reckon? Thanks. Do you have this in another colour as well? Maybe something darker? Brilliant. Could I try on the navy one, please? Oh, I actually prefer this one. It feels much smarter than the lighter colour. Yeah, I can see that. By the way, do you also have anything similar but without the hood? Oh, that's tempting. How much is it? Hmm, that's not bad at all. I'll stick with the navy jacket for now, but I might come back for this one later. Yes, please. That would be great. Thanks a lot. You've been really helpful. All right. Well done. Smashing pronunciation. But like I said, I did promise you that I'll explain some of the key words so you can feel a bit more confident using them in the future. The first word we have in the conversation is caught my eye or to catch someone's eye. This basically means something attracted your attention. It can be an object or sometimes it can even be a person. That blue bag really caught my eye. So it means that you were drawn to it. You saw it and you thought, oh, that looks great. And the same with a person, right? Oh, she really caught my eye, meaning she was attractive. I saw her and I thought, wow, I like her. The same with an object. That blue bag really caught my eye. Next up we have window shopping. And I kind of explained it in the dialogue by putting a word that's very similar before it. It basically means browsing, looking at things without the intention of buying anything. So hopefully you saw that in the sentence above window shopping in the dialogue. I'm just doing a bit of window shopping. I'm not planning to buy anything. This is a great one to use when you go into a shop and the shopping assistant comes over, but you don't want to say, I'm OK, leave me alone. Something like this. You can say I'm window shopping. And it tells the person working in the shop that they don't need to bother trying to help you because you're not going to buy anything. So it's a great phrase you can use in a shop when somebody says, can I help you? You can say, no, I'm OK. I'm just window shopping. Number three, be careful with the pronunciation for this one. Bargain. Bargain. Do not say bargain. I know it looks like gain at the end, but it's bargain. Bargain. This means something sold at a cheaper price than it normally is. That jacket was a bargain. It was only £15. Word number four, trendy, trendy. So trendy basically means something is fashionable. It's very popular at the moment. Those shoes are very trendy this season. You can also use it for people as well. You can say he or she is trendy. They look fashionable. They look cool. He or she is trendy or something is trendy. After that, we have a phrasal verb, pick out. This means that you choose something from a variety or several options. I picked out a blue dress for the party. I chose a blue dress for the party. Number six, try something on. This means to put on clothes to see if they fit, to see if they are the right size for you. I want to try this jacket on before buying it. This is a phrasal verb that you're very likely to use when you're going clothes shopping. And you're probably going to say, I want to try something on. Can I go to the changing room? Can I go to the place where you try things on? You put them on. To fit or to fit someone. This basically means the clothes or whatever you're trying on is your size. These jeans really fit me well. They are my size. They are the perfect size for me. They look great on me. They fit me well. If you want to say something's too big, it's not your size. All you have to say is it doesn't fit me. It doesn't fit me. It doesn't fit you, etc. To feel tight, which means clothes are too small or it's uncomfortable. These shoes feel tight on my feet. It's basically an informal way to say, give me a second. Wait a moment. Give me a sec. Give me a second. Give me a sec. I need to find my wallet. Put aside. We have another phrasal verb. Phrasal verbs are everywhere in casual conversations in the UK. So, it basically means that you reserve something for later. Can you put aside those shoes? I'll come back tomorrow and buy them. And the last one, till. Till, which means the place where you pay. The cash register. I'm going to go to the till to pay. Okay, so that's everything for this video. I hope you had a great time improving your fluency as well as your pronunciation. Leave me a comment below and let me know which situation you would like to practice next. If you enjoyed this video, smash the like button and I'll see you next time.