Woman: The Underground
Man: This is what British people call a railway system under the ground.
Woman: How do you get to work in the morning?
Man: I take the underground.
Woman: Is it fast?
Man: It’s faster than driving. It takes me about 45 minutes on the northern line.
Woman: And you can read your newspaper while you’re on the underground.
Man: Precisely.

Woman: If you wish you can hear this lesson again. In the meantime we hope we have helped you to be more confident with your English. Watch out for the next topic. Thank you for using the EnglishBlog

Scarica il file mp3 per ascoltare offline la lezione: Metropolitana - Inglese Britannico e Americano

Scarica gratuitamente iTunes e iscriviti al podcast di EnglishBlog.it.

In the UK, the underground rail system is called the Underground.
The Underground system in London is called the Tube, because of the shape of trains and tunnels.

In the USA, the underground rail system is called the subway, but in Washington D.C. it is called The Metro.

The British also use the word Metro to refer to the underground system in other cities in Europe.
In British English, a subway (or underpass) is a passage under a road that pedestrians use to go from one side to the other.

The same thing in America is called underground pedestrian passageway.

Woman: Do you want to study in the UK? What to think about before you fill in your application form.
First of all, do not get confused when you use the word college and university.
In Britain, college is used to refer to a number of educational institutions such as public schools for children (e.g. Eton), sixth form schools which are attended by students aged between 16 and 18, and universities such as Oxford and Cambridge, which consist of a federation of colleges.
Be careful that in the United States, college is used to refer to smaller institutions which only grant bachelor’s or associate’s degree. Institutions of higher education which consist of different faculties and offer several higher degree courses are called universities.

Woman: If you wish you can hear this lesson again, in the meantime we hope we have helped you to be more confident about this topic. Watch out for the next topic. Thank you for using The EnglishBlog.

Scarica il file mp3 per ascoltare offline la lezione: Università - Inglese Britannico e Americano

In Britain, the word college is used to refer to a number of educational institutions: public schools for children (e.g. Eton), sixth form schools which are attended by students aged between 16 and 18, and universities such as Oxford and Cambridge, which consist of a federation of colleges.

In the United States, the word college is used to refer to smaller institutions which only grant bachelor’s or associate’s degrees (diplomi universitari, lauree di primo livello).
Institutions of higher education which consist of different faculties and offer several higher degree courses are called universities.
However, in everyday language, Americans say “go to college” or “go to school” even if they are referring to university.

This is why confusion may arise between British and American English.

Woman: Post
Man: This is used in British English, both as a noun and a verb. It means the letters and parcels you receive, and also those you send at the post office.
Woman: Hello, I’d like to post these letters please
Man: Would you like to post them 1st class or 2nd class.
Woman: 1st class please.

Woman: If you wish you can hear this lesson again. In the meantime we hope we have helped you to be more confident about this topic. Watch out for the next topic. Thank you for using the EnglishBlog

Scarica il file mp3 per ascoltare offline la lezione: Ufficio postale - Inglese Britannico e Americano

Scarica gratuitamente iTunes e iscriviti al podcast di EnglishBlog.it.

In British English, the word post refers both to the letters, parcels and postcards that a person receives and to the system of sending/delivering them.
In American English, the word mail is used instead.

To post a letter (USA: to mail a letter) means to send it.

A postman (USA: mailman) is a person who delivers letters; a postbox/pillar box (USA: mailbox) is a place in the street where you put the letters you want to send.

E-mail is used in both British and American English to refer to electronic messages. It is also used as a verb (to e-mail: to send a message via the Internet).

Snail mail is the phrase used to describe the messages sent by the traditional postal service.

Woman: First you’ll be listening to different ways to talk about football…or should that be soccer.
Man: Football or soccer?
Woman: Football is the name of the sport in British English that is played by 2 teams of 11 players who try to kick a round ball into the other team’s goal, thereby scoring a goal. The team which has scored the most goals at the end of the game is the winner; if an equal number of goals are scored then the game is a draw. Americans call this game soccer:
Man: Heh, there’s football on the TV tonight, Juventus versus Real Madrid. Do you want to watch it?
Woman: That’s not football.
Man: What do you mean? They’re good teams.
Woman: I know, but, in America we call this sport soccer.

Woman: If you wish you can hear this lesson again. In the meantime we hope we have helped you to be more confident with your English. Watch out for the next topic. Thank you for using the EnglishBlog.

Scarica il file mp3 per ascoltare offline la lezione: Calcio - Inglese Britannico e Americano

Soccer or football?

The sport we know as football is called soccer in American English. Why?

It seems that the American word “soccer” is a slang corruption of the word “assoc”, which is the abbreviation of “association football” (the official name of the sport).

In America, football is the name used to refer to a ball game where players can use both their hands and feet (American football).
The word soccer is not only used in the USA.
Of the 45 FIFA affiliates in which English is an official or primary language, Canada, New Zealand and Samoa also use the word “soccer”, while the rest use football.

In Australia, the governing body’s renaming and increased usage of “football” rather than “soccer” (the name used by most Australians) has causd controversy as the word football has traditionally been used to refer to Australian Rules football or rugby league.
In the UK, the sport is known as football (or footie, in informal British English).

In English-speaking countries other than the UK, the word “football” may refer to American football, Australian Rules football, Canadian football, Gaelic football, or rugby.