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  • - Hello, everybody.

  • This is Jack from tofluency.com,

  • along with my wife Kate.

  • And if you have seen one of our lessons before,

  • then you'll know that we have natural conversations

  • about a variety of different topics.

  • And that's what this video is about.

  • So if you are new, then welcome to you.

  • Please like this video and also subscribe.

  • And check out the description,

  • because I'm going to leave key vocabulary there

  • so you can learn some new words and phrases.

  • Okay, that was a long introduction.

  • What are we going to talk about?

  • - (laughs) Okay.

  • So today, I'd like to talk about the experience

  • of living in a foreign country.

  • - Yeah, the experience of living in a foreign country,

  • which is what I am doing right now,

  • what we both did when we lived in Spain.

  • - And if you're learning English,

  • you're probably wondering, you know, what it would be like

  • to live in America or the UK.

  • Maybe you've had an experience living or visiting

  • one of these countries, so.

  • - Yeah.

  • And I know a lot of people who follow us here live in the UK

  • and live in America.

  • We get a lot of emails from people,

  • so it's kind of interesting to think about it in that way.

  • So we moved to Spain in 2008.

  • - Wow.

  • - 10 years ago.

  • - Oh my goodness, I can't believe it's been 10 years.

  • - It's been 10 years.

  • - Okay.

  • - And we first, we lived in Bilbao for a year

  • and then we lived in Valencia, in Spain.

  • How can we start this?

  • What do you think is a good place to start?

  • - Yeah.

  • So I was thinking we could talk a little bit

  • about what it's like to be in a foreign country

  • and some of the things that we missed.

  • - While living there.

  • - Yes.

  • - Right, yeah.

  • And some of the things that we miss

  • about not being in Spain now.

  • - Yeah, yeah.

  • Like some of the things that were the hardest at the time,

  • and some of the best things that we took away

  • from that experience.

  • - Okay, perfect.

  • So one of the biggest challenges we faced when we got there

  • was finding somewhere to live.

  • And I do know that some people didn't want us

  • because we were foreign.

  • They heard the accent, you know.

  • Shockingly, they didn't think I was Spanish

  • when I was speaking to them over the phone (laughs).

  • So it was quite difficult to find a place

  • but not just because of that

  • but because also we didn't know the regulations,

  • we didn't know how things worked.

  • - Yeah, I think that's a really big part

  • of living in a foreign country

  • that people can find challenging

  • is like there's so much that you just don't know exactly

  • how to do things.

  • - Exactly.

  • - And little things.

  • Like big things, like finding an apartment,

  • but also little things like getting food at the supermarket.

  • - Yeah.

  • Or one thing about Bilbao was when you are at a bar

  • or a restaurant, you just throw napkins,

  • you throw the little toothpicks, the pinchos.

  • - Oh, pinchos.

  • I miss pinchos, and the food in Spain.

  • - Yes.

  • So pinchos are like these little snacks, usually bread

  • and then something on top.

  • - Yes.

  • - But when you are finished with whatever you're using,

  • you throw it on the floor.

  • - In Bilbao.

  • - In Bilbao.

  • Yeah.

  • The other thing about Bilbao, people drove really well

  • compared to Valencia.

  • - (laughs) We love Valencia though too, so yeah.

  • - Oh yeah, I'm just saying in Valencia,

  • people were crazy on the roads.

  • - True.

  • - True.

  • And you had to, when the green man came on

  • to cross the road, you had to be very quick.

  • - Yeah, you had to run.

  • - (laughs) Yeah.

  • Because it gave you like five seconds

  • to cross six lanes of traffic.

  • - True.

  • - But going back to Bilbao, it took us a long time

  • to find a place.

  • And one of the things I remember was having to pay

  • the realtor a month's rent

  • because they helped us find this apartment.

  • - This apartment.

  • - We didn't know that.

  • - Nope.

  • - That was something new to us.

  • - It was a surprise.

  • - It was a surprise.

  • So it took us a long time to find a place.

  • We also found it difficult to know

  • when there was a holiday

  • and the fact that everything is closed.

  • Everything is closed. - Everything is closed.

  • Which is amazing, because people take that time

  • to go back to their villages,

  • to really close up stores and businesses

  • and take that break.

  • But when you're foreign and you don't know

  • how those kind of cultural things work,

  • it can be difficult.

  • - Yes.

  • And just a note on that, it helps protect family businesses,

  • doesn't it, because they can take that time off

  • knowing that everything else is closed.

  • One thing as well, when we had to get furniture,

  • where did we go?

  • - We went to Ikea.

  • - What happened at Ikea?

  • - We didn't know that the subway had closed

  • and we bought an entire apartment worth of furniture.

  • - Yeah.

  • - We had a bed and a table and some chairs already,

  • but we got everything else.

  • And so we just rolled out of Ikea

  • with our shopping carts full,

  • (laughs) no idea how to get it home.

  • - Yeah, so I remember standing there

  • after going through the checkout

  • and just looking at the delivery service as well,

  • which was closed.

  • Subway had closed.

  • And people were starting to look at us and talk.

  • - And talk about us.

  • - They thought that we were from...

  • - I don't remember.

  • - Finland.

  • - From Finland.

  • That's amazing.

  • That's really cool.

  • - So what happened?

  • - Well, I think that all of these little experiences

  • are really what was hardest for me

  • about living in a foreign country,

  • which is just trying to be, you know, just trying to live

  • and have people see me as a person.

  • - Right.

  • - Who, you know.

  • And so many little things,

  • like it's hard to have a sense of humor

  • when you don't speak the language,

  • and probably you're finding this if you're learning English,

  • that your sense of humor may not translate.

  • - Exactly.

  • - So jokes and things like that.

  • And then just trying to have a, you know, conversation

  • and take care of business is challenging.

  • - Take care of business.

  • - Yeah.

  • - And just to finish the story, okay,

  • in case people are wondering.

  • - Yes.

  • It has a happy ending.

  • - Yeah, at Ikea there was a guy who worked there

  • and he saw that we were having problems

  • and he took us with all our stuff back to our apartment.

  • - Yes.

  • - Which was very nice.

  • - It was amazing.

  • We're very thankful still.

  • - Still, definitely.

  • - 10 years later.

  • - So yeah.

  • What are two or three, you've got a question?

  • - Yeah, I was just gonna say.

  • So we talked about some things that were challenging

  • at first.

  • But I almost forgot those now, it's been so long.

  • What are some of the amazing things about living in Spain

  • that have really stuck with you?

  • - That's the question I was gonna ask.

  • - Oh.

  • - Yeah, so we had the same idea.

  • Well, I think a big part of it for me was

  • it was the first time that I was working

  • and living on my own.

  • So I went to university and I was living on my own then,

  • but when I was working in my hometown,

  • I was living with my parents.

  • So it was the first time that I was living and working

  • on my own.

  • And I remember getting to Bilbao and just being so excited.

  • And we were really open to trying new things

  • and really experiencing Spain.

  • But some of the things I really enjoyed,

  • part of it is the bar hopping and going out with people

  • and the culture of having a little bit of alcohol

  • and a little bit of food, going to the next place.

  • And the friends that we made there was part

  • of that experience too.

  • The people were great.

  • - So amazing.

  • - Really good fun.

  • And when we talk about a sense of humor,

  • where we could laugh and joke about things

  • if, if they spoke English.

  • - (laughs) Yes.

  • And by the end of the experience too,

  • we could understand more about the sense of humor and...

  • - Yeah, and have the context for that too.

  • Because a lot of the time you're learning

  • about the current political situation,

  • you have to learn about the local football team

  • and the history of it and why that's important.

  • You have to learn all these different things.

  • The audio's still going.

  • To like really get that context

  • and to understand what is going on there.

  • - Yeah, absolutely.

  • - We worked as English teachers, didn't we?

  • - We did, uh huh, both of us.

  • - I also just enjoyed being in a big city

  • with lots of public transport.

  • - Yes.

  • You know, some countries are a little bit harder

  • to kind of live a casual young life in

  • and I think that the United States in places

  • can be challenging if you don't have a car,

  • if you don't have, you know, I guess savings

  • for health insurance and things like that.

  • Yes, so there were so many good things too.

  • And now you've started this whole other chapter of your life

  • where you're living in a foreign country

  • and I forget that sometimes.

  • - Yeah, you do forget that.

  • - Yeah, do you forget it too?

  • - Yeah.

  • I see where I live now as home.

  • And one of the things here is that people don't talk

  • about the fact I'm English all the time.

  • Whereas in other parts of the US, that can be quite novel

  • and people only want to talk about that.

  • But here, people are more...

  • I guess, you know, we've been friends with people

  • for a long time.

  • I probably modified the way I speak a little bit

  • so people can understand.

  • And (laughs) like I say soccer.

  • - He says soccer.

  • - I say soccer all the time.

  • Because there's no point in saying football,

  • because then that creates confusion.

  • - So much confusion.

  • - Yeah, I'm saying that to justify

  • in case a friend from home is watching,

  • because they don't like it.

  • (laughs)

  • But yeah.

  • - You're American.

  • - I see it as home.

  • - Practically.

  • - Well, not legally.

  • - Yet.

  • - Yet.

  • What about you?

  • Do you notice anything about me living in a foreign country

  • that, you know, is there anything that you pick up on still?

  • Or do you feel like I'm just here?

  • - Yeah, that's a really hard question to answer

  • because we are together so much

  • and a lot of what we're doing, you know, parenting,

  • just running our lives, where we don't really get a time

  • to step back and to think about it.

  • I think when I really thought about it

  • was when you mentioned that you were a little bit homesick

  • before our trip.

  • And so when you were feeling homesick,

  • what occurred to you?

  • What were you thinking about and missing?

  • - Yeah, I think it's just being in an environment

  • that you grew up in.

  • More than anything.

  • - And so, what about that environment?

  • - The way people speak.

  • The food.

  • Television.

  • The sense of humor, in certain ways.

  • And just to experience it again,

  • that's what I was missing.

  • And it wasn't a really strong feeling.

  • I wasn't like "Oh, I need to go home, I miss it so much."

  • But it was more a feeling of wanting to go back,

  • just to experience it again.

  • And it's a good problem to have

  • because we talked about America and the UK.

  • It's a good problem to have.

  • - Yeah, we're very lucky that we get

  • to kind of experience both cultures and you know,

  • to make our lives in this town or city that we chose,

  • which is really neat.

  • But your children are American.

  • - Yeah.

  • - Is that strange?

  • - Well, the other day we were watching videos of Thomas

  • and he is now 4 1/2, and there was a video

  • of when he was about two.

  • And I feel like his accent when he was two

  • was more British.

  • Not more British than American,

  • but it sounded a little bit more British.

  • - More British than it is?

  • - And then now it's American.

  • But I think what happens is I don't hear an American accent

  • when you speak, I just hear you because I'm used to it.

  • And it's the same with my children.

  • I just hear them speak and I don't really think

  • "Oh, you sound American."

  • - Sound American.

  • - Because I'm so used to the American accent now.

  • It's just normal.

  • It doesn't sound strange.

  • - So recently when we went back to the UK,

  • what were some things that really stood out to you?

  • Either when we were in the UK or when we came back here?

  • - It's hard to say.

  • I was gonna say the traffic.

  • I know that's not like a real big thing,

  • but the traffic was crazy.

  • - Yeah.

  • In the UK.

  • - In the UK.

  • But then again, we live in a smaller city.

  • And we spent hours, probably took us three hours

  • instead of an hour and half to get to the airport

  • in New York, so we just had New York traffic.

  • And there was nothing really that I can think of

  • that stood out.

  • What about you?

  • - Okay, so we were in the north of England in December.

  • We knew the weather was not gonna be great

  • and we were happy with that,

  • we just wanted to see family and friends.

  • But was the weather better than you remember,

  • worse than you remember, or about the same?

  • - When I was growing up, it was just what it was like.

  • But after having this experience here, living here,

  • it was really bad.

  • (laughs)

  • - There you have it, yes.

  • - And maybe bad isn't the right word, but it was gray.

  • It rained every day.

  • And it never got super cold,

  • because we had just been in Connecticut

  • where it was minus 20 degrees celsius.

  • - So cold.

  • - And we went back to Connecticut and it was minus 30,

  • it was crazy.

  • - So cold.

  • (laughs) So cold.

  • - And I used to think that there wasn't a big difference

  • between minus four and minus 10, minus 15, but there is.

  • - Yes, your skin just hurts.

  • And probably if there's anybody from Russia listening,

  • they're laughing at us.

  • But it does.

  • - Yeah.

  • But it never got that cold,

  • but it was just the gray atmosphere.

  • - It's dreary.

  • - Yeah, and it never gets really light.

  • Especially in the north.

  • It's not too much better in the south,

  • it's such a small island.

  • So that is definitely one thing that stood out.

  • - Would you want to ever go back and live in the UK?

  • - Yeah.

  • - And what motivates that?

  • - That's a good question.

  • I think just to be closer to family

  • and friends, old friends.

  • - Yes, Jack has this amazing group of friends

  • that he's had almost his entire life,

  • since they were in primary school together.

  • Is that right?

  • - Yeah, that is right, primary.

  • What's it called here?

  • - Elementary school.

  • - Yeah.

  • So yeah, friends, family.

  • And just to experience the culture again

  • after a pause, a break, moving somewhere else.

  • - And you mentioned food and there was something else.

  • But while we're on food, what food were you thinking of--

  • - Sauces.

  • - Sauces.

  • - Always sauces.

  • Salad cream.

  • - Salad cream, which is basically like sweet mayonnaise,

  • if you're familiar with that.

  • - Brown sauce.

  • - Brown sauce, like steak sauce sort of.

  • - Yeah, brown sauce.

  • - Brown sauce.

  • - And you can get those here but...

  • - Yeah, not in every grocery store.

  • - No, you have to find it.

  • - You have to really look for them.

  • - They're more expensive.

  • But I also like to experience those sauces in the UK.

  • Yeah.

  • Oh, another thing I miss.

  • Another thing is football.

  • Football, soccer football.

  • - You can just say soccer.

  • - Soccer.

  • (laughs)

  • That's another thing I miss.

  • And it's growing here,

  • but I went to a football game, soccer game, it's hard.

  • This is the problem I have.

  • I'm gonna call it football for the rest of this video.

  • - What?

  • - It gives me a license.

  • - Okay, that's fine.

  • - I went to my local football team and watched them play

  • and it was an incredible experience.

  • - And you got to bring your son.

  • - Yeah.

  • My son went for the first time.

  • It was great.

  • But it was cold and it was wet.

  • (laughs) It was great.

  • - Did you get a little choked up?

  • - Choked up, a little bit, yeah.

  • Which means emotional.

  • When we scored, I did a little bit, yeah.

  • So that was a lot of fun.

  • - Did you tell everybody what your hometown team is?

  • - I mentioned it many times.

  • If you're new here though or if you need a reminder,

  • it's Preston North End.

  • I'll leave a link to that Wikipedia page in the description.

  • - Great.

  • - So you can all check that out.

  • Yeah?

  • - Yeah.

  • It's funny the things that you miss, like sauces.

  • Like I missed strange little things

  • when we were living in Spain.

  • I missed peanut butter.

  • - Can you not get that in Spain?

  • - I think you can, but it's not as common.

  • So I missed like Reese's Pieces.

  • - Which you never eat.

  • - Which I never eat.

  • And Thin Mints.

  • Like, the things that you crave are small.

  • But the experience of living in a foreign country,

  • do you think that it changes just the way that you think

  • about the world?

  • - Yeah.

  • Well, it takes you out of your environment

  • and your comfort zone.

  • And it kind of resets certain things,

  • the way you think about the world,

  • which is always based on your environment

  • and your upbringing and your experiences.

  • So when you're thrown into a different country.

  • Thrown in, you know.

  • When you go to a different country.

  • And one thing I will say as well is as English teachers

  • living in Spain, people wanted to make friends with us.

  • Because they wanted to practice their English.

  • And we knew that, but it was a really good relationship.

  • - And I think in general when you are, you know,

  • somebody foreign living in a different country,

  • if you're open to making friends people are excited

  • to have that cultural exchange and to kind of talk to you

  • and learn more about your country and where you're from.

  • And I know people still do it with you.

  • Not as often, but they're excited.

  • - I think people don't want to ask me where I'm from

  • because they might be worried about...

  • This is just my theory.

  • About me saying "Well, I'm in America.

  • "What do you mean where am I from?"

  • - (laughs) Or that you're really Australian.

  • - That's it.

  • - Or South African or something that they don't really know.

  • - Yeah, half of people who guess, they guess Australian.

  • - Yeah.

  • - And, yeah.

  • So I feel like people are worried about making

  • that wrong assumption.

  • Like if I say "Oh, where in America are you from?"

  • And the person says "I'm from Canada."

  • - Oh yeah.

  • - You know?

  • That has happened before.

  • - That has happened before.

  • - Especially traveling, because you meet a lot of people

  • from English speaking countries

  • and you can make that mistake.

  • So I feel like people are worried about that

  • and it's difficult for them to ask the question

  • in a way that might be...

  • In a way that isn't impolite in their own head.

  • - Yes, yeah.

  • And I think that, to be honest,

  • that's something that comes up again and again

  • when you have these experiences in foreign countries.

  • I think that people are more worried

  • about other people judging them than they need to be.

  • You know, you go to a foreign country,

  • you put yourself out there, you know, and people see that

  • and they recognize that and they like that,

  • they want to help you.

  • - Yeah.

  • But then there are also the people

  • who immediately do a British accent.

  • - Oh, yes.

  • - And usually a bad one.

  • And I don't mind it in general.

  • - And now that we've spent some time in the UK,

  • (laughs) I can say that people also do

  • a terrible American accent.

  • - Yeah.

  • They do.

  • And it's just one of those things.

  • - Yeah.

  • It sounds like a cowboy crossed with a gangster.

  • - Can you do?

  • - No, no.

  • - (laughs) Can you give an example

  • of what that would sound like?

  • - No.

  • But you can imagine it.

  • Maybe.

  • - That's funny.

  • And if you could move to a foreign country that isn't Spain,

  • that isn't the UK--

  • - Isn't the UK?

  • - Yeah.

  • - No!

  • - Well, to experience another foreign culture,

  • which one would it be?

  • - How about if you could move

  • to any English speaking country for a while...

  • - No, any country.

  • - Okay.

  • - The question is any country.

  • That isn't Spain or the UK or America.

  • - Or America, okay.

  • - Where would you like?

  • - Oh, me.

  • - Yeah, I'm asking you a question.

  • - Oh, I thought that we were asking them

  • and I was like...

  • - No, no, no, no, I'm saying for you.

  • Like where would you like to experience?

  • - This is a really tricky question.

  • I think that I would be excited to experience

  • some of the European countries

  • where people have really good chocolate

  • and ride the bicycles a lot.

  • (laughs)

  • And...

  • - So, cause I've got something in my head

  • that I would choose.

  • - Okay, what would you choose?

  • - Germany.

  • - Okay.

  • Maybe Germany, maybe Denmark.

  • Just to be somewhere.

  • And also somewhere where people don't speak English

  • so I could have that experience

  • of being somebody who doesn't speak the language.

  • Because it's so uncomfortable at times

  • to not be able to express yourself,

  • but you learn so much.

  • And that's just amazing.

  • - And that's the lesson, isn't it?

  • - Yeah.

  • - Yeah, and if people are going

  • to an English speaking country,

  • it's so easy to find that expat community

  • and just stay there.

  • And we fell into that trap where we did too much of that

  • maybe in Spain.

  • - Maybe.

  • - It was difficult because we were English teachers,

  • so our job was to only speak in English.

  • - True.

  • - But yeah, and I think that's a great question.

  • Great question for them.

  • - Now that I tried to talk over your question from you

  • with one.

  • - It's always Kate's question.

  • - Okay, Kate's question!

  • If you could move to any English speaking country,

  • so we've got Canada, the United States, Australia,

  • I feel like we left out a lot.

  • - New Zealand, Ireland, the UK.

  • - New Zealand, Ireland, the UK.

  • Which country would you choose and why,

  • and how long would you want to live there?

  • - Wow, great question.

  • - Yeah.

  • - Fantastic.

  • Well, I hope you have enjoyed this episode

  • of our conversational lessons.

  • And again, if you are new,

  • like, subscribe to this channel.

  • We have many more conversations coming up this year.

  • - Yes, it's very exciting.

  • - And also like I said before, check the description

  • for lists of the key phrases and the vocabulary

  • that we used.

  • And thank you so much for watching and for being here.

  • Bye for now.

  • (upbeat music)

- Hello, everybody.

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A2 初級 英國腔

高級英語會話課#9:海外生活(學習真正的英語,有字幕)。 (Advanced English Conversation Lesson #9: Living Abroad (learn real English w/ subtitles))

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    洪子雯 發佈於 2021 年 01 月 14 日
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