🔹 At school, we mostly learn academic English (which may be useful for studying, but not at all for real communication).
🔹 In my American high school, I also take Spanish 🇪🇸. The way our teacher explains things is sooo different from what I was used to 😏. Hard to describe, but in just half a year I’ve built a solid base 🙃.
🔹 Sometimes, when we learn new Spanish words and translate them into English, I realize that I don’t even know those words in English (or they’re not in my “quick set”) 🤷🏼♀️. And these are actually super useful words 😕.
🔹 I won’t go into what I knew and what I didn’t…
🔹 Instead, I’ll share a list of the most common phrases among American students 🇺🇸 (based on my observations).
🔹 Now, if you don’t know what to say when talking to a foreigner 🗣, you’ll have a ready-made “quick set.” Save it 💾!
It makes sense – I hear this literally every second! It means “that makes sense” and is often used instead of saying “I understand” or “Logical.” When someone tells you a story and you don’t know how to reply: just say makes sense 👌🏼.
Hold on – can mean “hold tight” (like in a bus) or “wait a second / hang on” 🐴.
Get out / Shut up – classic TV-show phrases 🎞, still super popular: “Get out of here” and “Shut up.”
I’m just kidding / wondering / curious – Americans love explaining every joke, question, or sarcastic comment. 💁🏼♀️ I personally don’t like doing that (it ruins the joke!), but otherwise people might take things the wrong way.
Stuff – the magic word for EVERYTHING: “thing / stuff.” Don’t know a word? Just say stuff:
I ate some stuff 🍳 this morning, then packed my stuff 🎒, went to school where we studied some boring stuff 📝 and later had some pretty good stuff 🍕 at lunch 🤗.
🔹 DONE! Now you’re basically an English master 👌🏼
Try this yourself — make your own list of “quick set” phrases and see how easy it gets to chat like an American high schooler!