Hello! This week on Ask a Teacher, we answer a question from Emmanuel in France about how
to know if an expression is still popular in English.
Dear Teacher, Sometimes when I am reading or watching the
older films, I find some interesting expressions. But I do not know if the people are speaking
them nowadays. How can I figure this out? Thank you, Emmanuel.
I am happy to answer this question, Emmanuel. It can sometimes be very difficult for learners
of English to know if a word or expression sounds like it belongs to an earlier time.
For example, if you watch an older American film from the 1930s, you might hear the expression,
Gee, that's swell. The expression, that's swell, means that
something is good and that the speaker is pleased. But nowadays people do not commonly
say that. And if they do say it, they are probably saying it in a joking way because
they know the expression is rare and not currently used.
Here are some ways to help you find out if an expression belongs to an earlier time.
Find a native English language partner. Then you can ask him or her if expressions are
no longer used very much. Our VOA Learning English article, Five Tips
for Great Language Exchanges, gives advice on how you can do a language exchange.
Note however that native English speakers can have different opinions about what expressions
are still popular. That is because people in different age groups use different expressions.
For example, a 20-year-old person might not even know a few of the expressions that older
people still use. And some older people do not know expressions
that young people, such as teenagers, use. Also, some older people might not even know
that expressions they use are becoming less popular over time.
You can also use technology to get more information about expressions.
Language researchers have collected over one billion words in the Corpus of Contemporary
American English, or COCA. The examples come from American printed writing,
video and sound recordings. You can use COCA to get information about
how often an expression is used. It will not tell you if an expression sounds
out of date, but an expression might rarely be used because it sounds old.
This VOA Learning English Education Tips article gives information on how to use COCA.
Lastly, dictionaries will show if a word belongs to an earlier time by putting the word archaic
before its definition. Remember that it is more important to understand
idiomatic expressions than to be able to use them. That's because you can always express
your ideas without using idioms in simple language.
For our readers and listeners, what are your questions about American English?
We want to hear from you. Send us an email at learningenglishatvoanews.com.
And please let us know where you are from, too.
And that's Ask a Teacher. I'm Andrew Smith.