Textbook English vs Real English | Native Speakers Reveal the Difference

When you speak English, do you sound like a textbook or do you sound like a native English speaker? You may have learned sentences from a book or from an English class which are perfectly correct, but they're just not the way most people would say it in real life. So today, let's look at 10 textbook phrases and replace them with real-life phrases that are more common. Make sure to download today's free lesson guide by clicking on the link in the video description. Enter your email address and you'll receive that PDF to save and review anytime. Alright, now let's look at our first example. Textbook English. Do you want to get something to eat? Real English. Wanna grab a bite to eat? Instead of do you want to, we simply say wanna, and grab a bite to eat is an informal way to say get something to eat. Textbook English. What are you doing? Real English. Whatcha up to? Again, the words what are you get shortened to whatcha. We see this in other questions like whatcha thinking? Or we can combine it like this, whatcha wanna do, meaning what do you want to do? And this little expression up to means currently doing or currently involved in. So, what are you doing becomes whatcha up to. Textbook English. Could you help me? Real English. Can you give me a hand? Give me a hand is give me a hand, and this means to help someone with a physical task, like carrying bags or moving boxes or fixing something. When making a request, we can say either could you or can you, but when speaking fast, these often sound more like couldja or canya. Textbook English. Please wait for a moment. Real English. Hang on a sec. Hang on and hold on both mean to wait. We are asking or telling the person to wait, and sec is short for second. Textbook English. I am going to leave now. Real English. I'm gonna head out. I'm gonna get going. Or, I've gotta run. I've gotta jet. Head out and get going are informal ways to say leave, and you could add a little more urgency to it by saying I've gotta run or I've gotta jet. These usually imply you need to leave because you're running out of time to get to your next activity. Textbook English. Tell me if you are available this weekend. Real English. Let me know if you're free this weekend. In everyday English, it's far more common to say let me know or lemme know instead of tell me. And we can also make it more casual by saying if you're free this weekend. That's simply a way of asking if the person is available and has free time to meet with you or do something together. Textbook English. Please repeat or can you repeat. Real English. Pardon? Sorry? Could you say that again? I didn't catch that. Please repeat and can you repeat are phrases I often hear English learners say, but no native English speaker would say it like that. If we didn't hear something, we'd simply say pardon or sorry? And if you want to be more specific, simply ask could you say that again? And maybe follow up with I didn't catch that. Catch in this case means hear or understand. Textbook English. I will call you when I arrive. Real English. I'll give you a call when I get there. Give you a call is just a more casual way to say call you on the phone. And get there is very common instead of arrive. You can also say get home instead of arrive at home. And get to work instead of arrive at work. Textbook English. I have not seen you for a long time. Real English. Long time no see. It's been ages. This first phrase, long time no see, is funny to me because it's not a proper grammatical sentence at all. But it's a really common expression we say when encountering someone after a long time. Hey, long time no see. And another phrase that means the same thing is it's been ages. Ages here simply refers to a very long time. Our last example of textbook English is goodbye. In real English we say see ya, see ya later, take care or have a good one. We almost never say goodbye in everyday English. Although we might say the shortened form bye. But it's also very common to say see ya or see ya later. If we have plans to meet the other person in the future. Take care is kind of like you're telling the other person to be safe. But we don't really use it literally. It's just another way to end a conversation or end an interaction. Have a good one is wishing the other person a good day. And the typical response is thanks, you too. And this functions as goodbye as the two people are parting ways. There, we've transformed ten textbook phrases into real English phrases that sound a lot more natural. If you want to speak naturally, you need to learn real English like this. And that's what you can do inside my Everyday English Speaking courses. Level 1 teaches you real practical phrases for day-to-day life. To help you speak confidently in any situation. And level 2 teaches you more advanced phrases and expressions that native speakers use. So you can improve your fluency even further. Learn more about these courses by clicking on the link in the video description. Hope to see you inside.