101- How to Make Friends Using 3 English Phrases
Lindsay: This is an All Ears English Podcast, Episode 101: “How to Make Friends Using 3 English Phrases.”
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Gabby: Welcome to the All Ears English Podcast, where you'll finally get real, native English conversation with your hosts, Lindsay McMahon, the ‘English Adventurer' and Gabby Wallace, the ‘Language Angel,' from Boston, USA.
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Gabby: Hey listeners. In this episode, you're going to learn three specific phrases that you can plug in to your conversations to make American friends.
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Gabby: Hey, Lindsay.
Lindsay: Hey, Gab-…
Gabby: How's it going?
Lindsay: All right. And you?
Gabby: Doing great. Thanks for asking.
Lindsay: Doing great?
Gabby: Yeah.
Lindsay: Glad to hear it. Very happy.
Gabby: So (uh) we picked out three of the most awesome phrases from…
Lindsay: They're so awesome.
Gabby: …from yesterday's most common, 100 most common phrases. (Uh), today being a ‘Teaching Tuesday' we wanted to go deeper with three specific phrases because these phrases are going to do what you all have been asking us to do, which is to make friends…
Lindsay: And that's what…
Gabby: …pretty much.
Lindsay: …everyone wants to do. We all want friends.
Gabby: Right.
Lindsay: But if you're in a new country like the US and you don't have any friends, you need to know how to do it.
Gabby: Yeah.
So these three phrases will help you do that, to build those relationships
Lindsay: Definitely.
Gabby: The first phrase is, “to get a hand.” “Can I get a hand with my suitcase?” “Can I get a hand with this box?”
Lindsay: (Mm-hm).
Gabby: “Can I get a hand with my work?”
Lindsay: Right.
Gabby: What else might you get a hand with?
Lindsay: Well, I was just gonna (going to) say those are great examples and…
Gabby: Yeah.
Lindsay: …I was also gonna (going to) say how to actually offer a hand, right.
Gabby: Oh.
Lindsay: You could say, “Would you like a hand with that?”
Gabby: I like that.
Lindsay: (Mmm).
Gabby: So what's behind this? Why is this going to help you make friends? When you ask for help people will respond. You're soliciting interaction. You're asking for someone to interact with you and most of the time, unless someone is in a big hurry or they just don't have time, (you know), they will help you.
Lindsay: Definitely.
Definitely.
And it opens up that opportunity for interaction. I think that's great.
Gabby: Yeah.
Lindsay: (Mm-hm).
Gabby: So ask for help. Okay. The next phrase (uh), “Would you be interested in…?”
Lindsay: Wait. So this is when you wanna (want to) invite someone somewhere. For example…
Gabby: Yeah.
Lindsay: …yesterday, we talked about (uh) we were inviting someone to Yoyogi Park…
Gabby: Yeah.
Lindsay: …to, to go to the cherry blossom viewing. That's so cool. Have you been there before?
Gabby: I have, yeah.
Lindsay: Yeah, that's so cool for cherry blossoms. Anyway, side point. So, “Would you be interested in going to a cherry blossom viewing party this weekend?”
Gabby: “Would you be interested in getting coffee with me?”
Lindsay: Yeah. “Would you be interested in grabbing a beer?”
Gabby: “Would you be interested in studying together?”
Lindsay: Yeah. “Would you be interested in going to the movies?”
Gabby: Right.
Lindsay: Any of those would work.
Gabby: Right.
So once you meet someone (uh), (you know), then you could extend an invitation. So you, you want to have some, some, some interaction. (I mean), how can I say this another way? Just extend your time, extend your, your invitation to someone. (Um)…
Lindsay: And one other thing about that…
Gabby: Yeah.
Lindsay: …before we move on is, “would,” right?
Gabby: Yeah.
Lindsay: We've talked about this other episodes. Why do we use “would” instead of – why do we say, “Would you be interested in…?” instead of “Are you interested in…?” That would be….
Gabby: Well, it's a softener.
Lindsay: Exactly.
Gabby: Yeah.
Lindsay: It's a softener.
Gabby: Yeah.
Lindsay: (Uh-hm).
Gabby: So this is the best phrase to use. I've heard a lot of different versions and I won't say them because I don't wanna (want to) be confusing but they're not correct. This is the best way to give an invitation or one of the best ways. “Would you be interested in joining me for coffee?” or “…getting coffee?” So notice the -ing, gett-ing…
Lindsay: (Mm.)
Gabby: …coffee.
Lindsay: Important.
Gabby: Great. And the last phrase.
Lindsay: Yeah. So, “What do you think?” Right. So asking someone for their opinion.
Gabby: Yeah.
Lindsay: It's always a great way to build a relationship, (um), to actually ask someone else to chime in and tell you what they think.
Gabby: Show you care about what they think.
Lindsay: (Mm-hm).
Gabby: Yeah.
Excellent. So, just to quickly recap. The three phrases were: “to get a hand” or “to give a hand.”
Lindsay: “Would you be interested in ‘doing something'?”
Gabby: (Mm-hm). And, “What do you think?” Okay. So this is to ask for help or give help, to invite, and to ask, (uh), for opinion.
Lindsay: All right. And that's how you make friends.
Gabby: That's right.
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Gabby: We made a special quiz for you for today's episode to test your understanding. You can find it on our website at allearsenglish.com on today's episode. See you there.
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Lindsay: If you want to put your ears into English more often, be sure to subscribe to our podcast in iTunes on your computer or on your smartphone. Thanks so much for listening and see you next time.
