#Ep. 11 Explore Formal and Informal English with Natalie

Unlock the secrets of mastering formal and informal language styles that fit every situation you encounter. Journey with me, Natalie, as I navigate the structured intricacies of formal language, perfect for professional and academic interactions, alongside the relaxed, conversational nature of informal language, ideal for social connections. Through vivid examples, discover how greetings, apologies, and requests transform when shifting between these styles. I'll guide you on selecting the right tone for your context, audience, and purpose, making sure you're equipped to navigate both boardrooms and coffee shops with ease.

But that's not all—your pathway to fluency doesn't have to end here! Join the vibrant community of "Learn English with Natalie" on TikTok, YouTube, and Patreon, where language learning becomes a part of your daily routine. Explore exclusive offerings like our book club, where you can dive into four extra episodes monthly, complete with engaging PDF activities. Whether you're fine-tuning your grammar for that big presentation or just looking to chat effortlessly with friends, my goal is to provide you with concise, practical skills that seamlessly integrate into your daily conversations. Keep an ear out for the next episode because English mastery is just a listen away.

Chapters

• 0:00 Formal vs Informal Language
• 9:04 English Language Learning Resources

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hello and welcome to Learn English with Natalie. I'm Natalie, your host and your teacher for today's English lesson. If you are a very busy person who wants to improve their English, but you want to do it on the go because you have a very busy schedule, then you are definitely in the right place. Each week, I will be uploading a new free episode for you where you can learn English in under 10 minutes. So don't forget to subscribe if you enjoy the content, you find it useful and you don't want to miss out on an episode. So let's get into today's lesson. Today, we're going to be learning about formal and informal language. So why are we learning this? Well, have you ever been unsure whether you should say hello, hey, how's it going, or how do you do? You might have heard those terms before, but you're not really sure when it's appropriate to use them. We're going to be talking about when it is appropriate to use these terms in what settings, because this can be very tricky, especially if English is not your first language. We're going to discuss the differences between formal and informal language, when to use each of these, and we're going to go through some practical examples. So let's go.

Speaker 1: 1:16

Formal language. Formal language is structured, polite, and it's used in professional or serious settings. It often follows grammar rules more strictly. It avoids contractions like don't or won't instead of do not or will not, and it uses sophisticated vocabulary. This type of language is often used in business settings, academic writing or polite conversation with somebody that you don't really know that well. Some characteristics of formal language are full sentences, so you would speak in clear, complete sentences with correct pronunciation and punctuation. If you're writing it, you will not use contractions like don't or can't. You would say do not or cannot. You would use advanced vocabulary when you're speaking formally, so you would use words like purchase instead of buy. I wish to purchase this shirt instead of I want to buy this shirt. You might say assist instead of help. I assisted her with the project, I helped her with the project. And when you're speaking formally, you will speak with a very respectful tone, so you will avoid slang or overly casual expressions. So here's some examples. If you were greeting somebody say you were greeting a colleague or your boss you might say good morning, mr Smith. How are you today? If you were apologizing to somebody, you might say I apologize for the inconvenience I may have caused. That phrase I apologize instead of I'm sorry, and if you were requesting something, you might say could you please provide further details regarding the proposal Instead of can you please give me further information? Can you hear the difference? Good, let's talk a little bit about informal language now.

Speaker 1: 3:30

Informal language is more relaxed and conversational. It's perfect for casual interactions. So, for example, if you were speaking with your friends, your family or people that you know very, very well. It's used on social media a lot and in text messaging. And one thing I want to talk about with social media, some brands that you shop from may present themselves very formally. Others may use informal language, depending on the type of audience they're trying to target. So please don't assume that anybody on social media or any company is going to speak formally. It really depends on what they're trying to achieve. But if you were using social media with your friends or uploading your own content, you would use informal language. It is also used in everyday interactions, where a relaxed tone is appropriate if you're just hanging out with your friends. Relaxed tone is appropriate if you're just hanging out with your friends.

Speaker 1: 4:27

Some characteristics of informal language include contractions. Now, when I say contractions I mentioned this earlier it's where you shorten two words and put them together to create a new word and you use an apostrophe to create that word. So an example is I won't go there, won't W-O-N. Apostrophe T I won't go there. If you were speaking formally, you would say I will not go there, or informally, you might say I can't do it. If you were speaking formally, you would say I cannot do it. When you're speaking informally, you will use simpler vocabulary like get oh, I'll get it, I want to get it. If you were speaking formally, you would say receive I want to receive it. You might say kids instead of children oh, are you minding the kids today? Are you looking after the children today? You would use slang and colloquialism so they're expressions like cool, awesome. And you can use flexible grammar so your sentences can be shorter and less structured.

Speaker 1: 5:36

Examples of informal language are if you were greeting somebody, you might say hey, how's it going? If you were apologizing, you might say sorry about that. And if you were requesting something, can you send me that info on that? Can you send me the info on that? So let's talk about when to use formal and informal language. Now. Choosing between formal and informal language depends on the context where you are the audience and the purpose. So I'm going to give you a quick guide on how I can help you with this.

Speaker 1: 6:10

Number one formal language. In business and professional settings. Always, especially if you're speaking to people that are your managers or your bosses, you use formal language in emails to clients, presentations or speaking, like I said, with the higher-ups. For example, you might say thank you for the opportunity instead of thanks for giving me this chance. Number two academic writing and reports. Stick to formal language in essays. This is so important Essays, research papers, academic reports so you might write things like the findings indicate rather than it shows that.

Speaker 1: 6:50

Number three social gatherings and friendships. Here you can be laid back. You would use your informal language. So when you're chatting with your friends, you might say let's hang out this weekend, rather than I would like to arrange to meet you this weekend, because that doesn't sound natural For customer service and public announcements again, formal language, so this should sound formal and professional. You would say call us if you need any help. You would say please do not hesitate to contact us if assistance is needed, instead of call me if you need anything. Finally, emails and texts with friends and family. So emails that are used socially, you would use your informal language hey, what's up? Instead of hello, how are you today? I hope the day is treating you well.

Speaker 1: 7:39

So let's have a little bit of a practice. I'm going to read an informal sentence to you and I want you to turn it into a formal sentence. Here we go, my informal sentence I can't make it to the meeting Now. Can you turn that into a formal sentence? So you might have said I cannot make it to the meeting today? Or let's take it up a notch and say I regret that I am unable to attend the meeting. I'm going to give you another informal sentence hey, thanks for helping out. Can you turn that into a formal sentence? You might have said thank you for your assistance. Well done. Finally, my last informal sentence let me know if you need anything. How would you turn that into a formal sentence? Off you go. Wonderful. You might have said something like please do not hesitate to reach out if you require further assistance.

Speaker 1: 8:45

So for your activity today, I would love it if you could pretend to write an email to your boss apologizing that you were late. But you must use formal language because you're talking to your boss. It doesn't need to be very long. This is just a quick practice for you. I'd love to see what you come up with, so please don't hesitate to send that to me.

Speaker 1: 9:04

You can reach me on TikTok and YouTube at Learn English with Natalie, and I'm also available on Patreon as well, at Learn English with Natalie. So thank you so much for joining me today. I hope this episode really really helped you with your English language learning, and if you are interested in learning English at a faster pace and you are a book nerd like me if you've listened to some of my episodes before, you will know that I am a book enthusiast then you might want to consider joining my book club. It's available on Patreon. You'll get an extra four episodes every month and some extra PDF activities, as well as joining my online community. So that was very short and sweet. I hope you enjoyed the episode. I'm trying to make them as short as possible so that you can really practice a smaller amount of skills every week, so that you have the opportunity to embed those in your everyday conversations and come back next week for my next lot of English language tips. Have a great day.