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Текст песни "BBC Learning English — Responding to compliments"
William: Hello, and welcome to How to…our guide to the everyday language of life. My name’s William Kremer. I take every opportunity to shock my colleagues
here at BBC Learning English dot com and earlier on I gave several of them a
big shock. I went around the office complimenting them.
Why did I compliment them? Did they look good? Had they made programmes that I’d enjoyed? Well no, not really. I just wanted to see how they would react
- how they would respond - to my compliments.
I started off by approaching Carrie at the photocopier. How did she react when
I gave her a compliment?
William: Hello Carrie. You’re looking lovely today…
Carrie: What are you after?
William: What do you mean, what am I after? I’m just saying you look lovely. I like
your purple T-shirt.
Carrie: It’s just you don’t ever normally give me compliments so you must be after
something…
William: Well, I told you that my colleagues would be shocked by me paying them
compliments. When I told Carrie that I thought she looked lovely she said:
‘What are you after?’
William: Hello Carrie. You’re looking lovely today…
Carrie: What are you after?
William: ‘What are you after?’ means ‘What do you want?’. Carrie thinks that I am
being nice to her because I want to ask her a favour. She said that I didn’t
normally compliment her so ‘I must be after something’. ‘What are you after?’
is a humorous, and quite common response to an unexpected compliment. It is
sometimes said that the British don’t know how to respond to compliments. So
after Carrie’s rather disappointing answer, I thought I’d try someone from
abroad, so I approached my colleague Khalid….
William: Khalid!
Khalid: Hello!
William: Khalid’s busy. But I just wanted to say… erm you’re looking fantastic today.
As always, actually! You’re so smart….
Khalid: Oh thank you! What do you want?
William: You’re the second person that’s said that! No, I don’t want anything, I don’t
need you to translate anything at all… I just thought I…I…I thought you look
very smart.
Khalid: Well thank you so much, that’s very, very kind. I got my shirt from er Dubai
actually – erm, very cheap shop in Dubai… erm – it didn’t cost me a lot of
money but I think it’s nice, and you think it’s nice.
William: Well, either I don’t ever pay people compliments or my colleagues never
receive any! Khalid also asked me if I wanted anything – if I was looking for a
favour. But then he said, ‘Thank you so much, that’s very kind’.
William: … I just thought I…I… I thought you look very smart.
Khalid: Well thank you so much, that’s very, very kind. I got my shirt from er Dubai
actually – erm, very cheap shop in Dubai… erm – it didn’t cost me a lot of
money but I think it’s nice, and you think it’s nice.
William: After Khalid thanked me for the compliment, he went on to tell me about his
shirt – specifically that it hadn’t cost much money. In Britain this is quite a
common way of responding to compliments about clothes – to say that actually
your clothes aren’t so special. We often say ‘Ooh, it was only cheap’ or maybe
‘I’ve had it for ages’. You’re not disagreeing with the compliment, but saying
this kind of thing shows that you’re surprised by it.
Next, I complimented Callum Robertson on his programme Grammar
Challenge, and he replied using a standard phrase.
William: So, I listened to one of your grammar challenges the other day… and erm… I
thought it was fantastic
Callum: Ah well, it’s very nice of you to say so, thanks
William: Callum said ‘It’s very nice of you to say so’
Callum: Ah well, it’s very nice of you to say so, thanks
William: Now, there’s an important strategy that people use in reacting to compliments.
That is to return the compliment – to give a compliment back to the person
who gave it to you! Listen to my conversation with Hina:
William: No, I…I…thought that I’d, I’d come over and compliment you on the way
you’re lo
