Survival English for your Next Island Vacation



Lindsay: This is an All Ears English Podcast, Episode 38: Meeting Monday, “Survival English for Your Next Island Vacation.” [Instrumental]

Gabby: Welcome to the All Ears English Podcast, where you’ll finally get real, native English conversation. Now here are your hosts, Lindsay McMahon, the ‘English Adventurer’ and Gabby Wallace, the ‘Language Angel,’ coming to you from Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

On today’s show we have a very special guest who is going to give you survival English tips and phrases for your next visit to an island nation.

[Instrumental]

Gabby:

Hey Lindsay. How’s it going?

Lindsay:

Hey Gabby. How are you today?

Gabby:

Doing good. (Uh), I’m actually here in England with my friend Matthew Clark.

Lindsay:

Awesome. Yeah and I’m, I’m here in Boston, in Cambridge, just hanging out in the snow.

Gabby:

I think Matt wanted to say hello.

Matt:

Hello? How are you two doing?

Gabby:

We’re good. We’re good. Yeah, you said Boston’s getting a lot of snow (huh)?

Lindsay:

Yeah, absolutely. So we’re getting, we’ve got about a foot and a half of snow here. It’s crazy.

Gabby:

Oh, my goodness. I’m so happy I’m not there. Everything is a bit cold and rainy here in England, but (uh) no snow.

Lindsay:

Absolutely.

Gabby:

So actually (um) my friend Matt is (uh) is from Trinidad and I wanted to (um) bring him on the show for some island flavor this week (uh) to kind of (uh) yeah, to, to get rid of (uh) all that, that snow and all that (uh) I don’t know, that awful weather in Boston, and (um)… so, ‘cause (because) last week we had Ron on the show, right? from the English Funcast. And he (uh), he was talking about the Rastamouse program. You remember that Lindsay?

Lindsay:

Yeah, that was a lot of fun.

Gabby:

That was hilarious.

Lindsay:

Yeah, it was great.

Gabby:

He did (um), he did talk about some kind of (like) Jamaican island English and (uh), yeah I thought it would be cool to share with, with you guys, with, with our listeners some phrases (um) so you could learn a little bit more about island English, kind of a variation (um) of, yeah, of English.

Lindsay:

That sounds great. So what kind of phrases are you going to teach us today Matt? What are we talking about here?

Matt:

Well these are some very generic phrases. (Uh) you have to understand that (uh) the colloquial English that is spoken in Trinidad is a derivative of English, French, Spanish and maybe a few odds and sods of some other languages that have been mishmashed together and has evolved over time.

Lindsay:

Oh, wow. Okay.

Matt:

So it is just like regular English. It is constantly evolving and changing, but some generic forms that have remained, I will use today. For example, “Allyuh.” Gabby:

Allyuh.

Lindsay:

Wait. What was that? Can you say that again?

Matt:

All-yuh. Allyuh.

Gabby:

Oh wow.

Matt:

Which actually means “all of you.” Gabby:

Ah, that’s great.

Lindsay:

Oh that’s really cool.

Matt:

It’s “all of you” but we say “Allyuh.” Right? So it’s, it’s (uh), it’s almost like we just took those four words and just compressed them really tightly because we just felt like it would be much easier to say.

Lindsay:

So, so can I try saying it?

Matt:

Sure, sure.

Lindsay:

So, “Olyo.”

Matt:

No, no, no, no, no. All, almost like oil, but all-yuh.

Lindsay:

Okay. Allyuh.

Matt:

Yeah, go a bit faster. Allyuh.

Lindsay:

Allyuh.

Matt:

There you go. There you go. Yeah, so it’s like Allyuh. But it’s kind of singsongy (right)? So it’s like – I would say something of the nature, let’s say if I was (were) saying “You two are recording a very fabulous show.” I would say “Allyuh recording a real good show there boy?” (You know)?

Gabby:

Whoa.

Matt:

Something like that, right? And I would say “there boy” even though your female, (right), to show that it’s (like) a big deal, (right), or if I wanted to say (like) “Wow.” Instead of saying “Wow, that’s excellent,” (uh) something else we would say is like “Aye-yah-yie. That’s a real serious show going on there.” So “aye-yah-yie”… Gabby:

Nice.

Matt:

…can be an expression of (uh) extreme pleasure or pain, but… Lindsay:

Aye-yah-yie.

Matt:

Aye-yah-yie. Yeah. So…

Lindsay:

Okay.

Matt:

…it’s (uh), it’s, it’s almost like an extreme pleasure, (right.) I say “Allyuh recording a real nice show there boy.” And even though you’re female, I said “there boy,” meaning (like) not so almost, in a sense, but like “look at you.” Gabby:

Right.

Matt:

Right.

Lindsay:

Interesting.

Matt:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Lindsay:

I’ve heard “aye-yah-yie” being used here in the US sometimes. I’ve heard that… I think that – I don’t know. Have you heard that before Gabby, here?

Gabby:

(Um) I’ve heard it from Spanish speakers and (um) we were talking about this before how – didn’t it come from...

Matt:

Yeah.

Gabby:

…Spanish…

Matt:

Yeah, yeah.

Gabby:

Spanish background.

Matt:

Yeah, it is more of a Spanish background, that one. I didn’t really understand what you were saying.

Gabby:

Is there, is there any (like) one other phrase that people say all the time, that is, I guess, (uh) very, very common.

Matt:

(Uh) actually, there is (are) two. At the end of a Canadian sentence, they always say “Ey?” (Uh) in Trinidad, we say “ent?” (right)?

Lindsay:

Ent?

Matt:

Which means, yeah. Which means (like) “not so”. Ent, e-n-t, and… Lindsay:

Can you, can you use that in a phrase, give us an example?

Matt:

It be like (uh) – so let me see. This is a very informative show, ent?

Lindsay:

Oh wow, like…

Gabby:

Oh like “isn’t it.”

Matt:

Yeah. Exactly. And so (uh)…

Gabby:

So it’s like tag question, isn’t it?

Matt:

In a sense. In a sense. And, and interchangeably, you can also use “fuh true?” Gabby:

Fuh true.

Matt:

Fuh true, meaning truthfully.

Gabby:

Like “is it true?”

Matt:

“Is it true?” or “truthfully?” “Not so?” Gabby:

Ah, really, fuh true.

Matt:

Yeah. Yeah. Exactly.

Gabby:

Cool.

Lindsay:

Okay. How interesting. Wow, these phrases are so different.

Gabby:

Yeah. Thanks for sharing those. That’s really cool.

Matt:

No worries, no worries. Yeah, anytime.

Lindsay:

Well that’s fantastic. Well thanks so much for coming on the show today Matt. We really appreciate it. It’s really cool to be able to share this with our audience.

Matt:

Anytime. Anytime.

Gabby:

Yeah. Thanks so much.

Lindsay:

All right. We’ll see you soon.

Matt:

All right. Take care and best of luck in your endeavors, both of you. Very good show.

Lindsay:

Thanks so much.

Gabby:

Thanks.

[Instrumental]

Gabby:

Hey Lindsay. So I’ve heard some of your students have been using the premium transcripts for this podcast. Tell me about that.

Lindsay:

Yeah. (You know) this podcast is just, is fantastic if you wanna (want to) have some fun and you wanna (want to) learn a little bit, you wanna (want to) get a little bit of motivation for your English. But (you know) my students are actually really, really serious about improving and I’m, I’m excited about that. That’s why I’m working with them. And so, so for them, the way for them to actually really improve is to use the premium transcripts. So we’ve been using those in class together (um) and they’ve been able to learn a ton.

Gabby:

Yeah. Actually my students, too, (uh) they read the transcripts. You can read them out loud. You can do (um) some shadowing with the transcripts as well. You can look up vocabulary. You can do a lot of things. I don’t want to go on and on, but the premium transcripts are super helpful and we want to encourage those of you who are serious about improving your English this New Year to try them out. You can find them at allearsenglish.com/conversations.

Lindsay:

All right. So please check it out. Thanks guys.

Gabby:

Thank you.

Lindsay:

Thanks for listening to the All Ears English Podcast. We’re here to help you learn English and you can help us by leaving a five star review on iTunes. See you next time.