Essential English phrases to blend in like a local on your holiday

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Summer has arrived and you might be gearing up for a holiday soon. Knowing some of the local language is always helpful, but to genuinely speak like a native English speaker, you must grasp and use common phrases and idioms that locals employ in daily conversations. Native English speakers have a natural command of these phrases, whereas non-fluent speakers often need to study and practice them to achieve fluency.

In this blog post, we’ll delve into essential English phrases that will help you sound more like a local and less like a tourist.

Phrases to help you speak English like a local
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Common English idioms and phrases you should know

Depending on where you go, the language will be vastly different, but quite often, certain English phrases overlap, so you might hear some common phrases being used in more than one country.

"It's all gone pear-shaped" (UK)

This quirky phrase means that something has gone wrong or not as planned. For example, if your holiday plans fall apart due to bad weather, you could say, “Our trip to the coast has gone all pear-shaped.” In other words, it’s bad news for our vacation.

"No worries, mate!" (Australia/UK)

In Australia, you’ll often hear the phrase “No worries, mate!” used to convey that everything is fine or that there’s no problem. It’s a versatile expression of reassurance and friendliness. For instance, if you apologize for bumping into someone on a busy street, you might receive a cheerful “No worries, mate!” in response.

"Fill your boots" (Canada)

This phrase is an invitation to help yourself to as much of something as you want. For example, if you’re at a buffet and someone says, “Fill your boots,” they’re encouraging you to enjoy as much food as you like. It’s a welcoming expression that showcases generosity and hospitality.

"Fair dinkum" (Australia)

This expression is used to affirm the truth or genuineness of something. It can be equated to saying “really” or “honestly” in other English dialects. For example, if someone tells you a surprising fact about the local wildlife, you might respond with “Fair dinkum?” to confirm that it is indeed true.

"Chock-a-block" (UK)

This phrase means that something is full to capacity. For instance, if a pub or restaurant is very crowded, you might hear someone say, “The pub is chock-a-block tonight.” It’s an evocative way to describe a situation where space is limited or an area is very busy.

"Double-double" (Canada)

In Canada, especially when discussing coffee, a “double-double” refers to a coffee with two creams and two sugars. For example, if you’re at a cafe and want a coffee with two creams and two sugars, you would say, “I’ll have a double-double, please.” This phrase will make you sound like a fluent English speaker.

"I'm knackered" (UK)

Feeling extremely tired? Then you’re “knackered.” This phrase is commonly used in the UK to express exhaustion. After a long day of sightseeing, you might say, “I’m completely knackered!” If you only feel this tired once in a blue moon, you’re lucky! This is a common way to express tiredness in everyday conversation in the UK.

"It's not my cup of tea" (UK)

If something isn’t to your liking, you might say, “It’s not my cup of tea.” This phrase is a polite way of expressing disinterest or dislike. For example, you might say, “Horror films are not my cup of tea.” Even if English is not your native language, using phrases like “It’s not my cup of tea” can help you sound more natural.

"A bit miffed" (UK)

If you find yourself slightly annoyed or irritated, you might use the phrase “a bit miffed.” It’s a mild way to express discontent. For example, if you’ve been waiting a long time in a queue and someone cuts in front of you, you might say, “I was a bit miffed when they pushed in.” If you think cutting in line will get you served faster, you’re . Fluent English speakers often use “a bit miffed” to express mild irritation politely.

"What's up?" (US)

A common greeting in the United States, “What’s up?” is a casual way to ask someone how they are or what they are doing. It’s extremely common and often used among friends and acquaintances. For instance, when meeting a friend, you might say, “Hey, what’s up?” to start a conversation.

Another casual greeting you might hear is “How’s life?” which is used to check in on someone’s well-being.

"In a jiffy" (UK)

If you hear someone use this phrase, “in a jiffy,” it means they will do it very quickly. It’s a phrase used to indicate promptness or immediacy. For example, if you’re waiting for your meal at a restaurant and the server says, “It’ll be ready in a jiffy,” you can expect it to arrive shortly.

"Hit the sack" (US)

If you’re ready to go to bed or sleep, you can use the phrase “hit the sack.” It’s a casual way of saying that you are going to sleep. After a long day of activities, you might tell your friends, “I’m exhausted, I think I’ll hit the sack.” When speaking English, using phrases like “hit the sack” can make your conversations sound more natural.

"Raining cats and dogs" (UK)

Brits love talking about the weather, so it's no surprise this idiom is weather-related. The idiom is a colorful way to describe heavy rain. Using this idiom not only conveys the severity of the rain but also adds a touch of humor to your conversation. If you visit during its rainy seasons (which is more often than you think), you'll have plenty of opportunities to use this phrase.

Conclusion

Incorporating these common English phrases into your conversations will not only help you blend in better but also make your interactions more engaging and authentic. Remember, language learning is an ongoing process, so don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Expanding your spoken English vocabulary will also help you feel more confident in your interactions.

The more you practice, the more confident you’ll become. The more you practice, the more you will sound like a fluent English speaker. If you can, consulting a native speaker can help you understand such idioms and use them correctly. Native speakers often talk quickly and use complex vocabulary, so don’t hesitate to ask them to speak slower or provide examples to improve your understanding.

Read our blog post 'English words and slang terms you should know'

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    Can computers really mark exams? Benefits of ELT automated assessments

    By app Languages

    Automated assessment, including the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), is one of the latest education tech solutions. It speeds up exam marking times, removes human biases, and is as accurate and at least as reliable as human examiners. As innovations go, this one is a real game-changer for teachers and students. 

    However, it has understandably been met with many questions and sometimes skepticism in the ELT community – can computers really mark speaking and writing exams accurately? 

    The answer is a resounding yes. Students from all parts of the world already take AI-graded tests.  aԻ Versanttests – for example – provide unbiased, fair and fast automated scoring for speaking and writing exams – irrespective of where the test takers live, or what their accent or gender is. 

    This article will explain the main processes involved in AI automated scoring and make the point that AI technologies are built on the foundations of consistent expert human judgments. So, let’s clear up the confusion around automated scoring and AI and look into how it can help teachers and students alike. 

    AI versus traditional automated scoring

    First of all, let’s distinguish between traditional automated scoring and AI. When we talk about automated scoring, generally, we mean scoring items that are either multiple-choice or cloze items. You may have to reorder sentences, choose from a drop-down list, insert a missing word- that sort of thing. These question types are designed to test particular skills and automated scoring ensures that they can be marked quickly and accurately every time.

    While automatically scored items like these can be used to assess receptive skills such as listening and reading comprehension, they cannot mark the productive skills of writing and speaking. Every student's response in writing and speaking items will be different, so how can computers mark them?

    This is where AI comes in. 

    We hear a lot about how AI is increasingly being used in areas where there is a need to deal with large amounts of unstructured data, effectively and 100% accurately – like in medical diagnostics, for example. In language testing, AI uses specialized computer software to grade written and oral tests. 

    How AI is used to score speaking exams

    The first step is to build an acoustic model for each language that can recognize speech and convert it into waveforms and text. While this technology used to be very unusual, most of our smartphones can do this now. 

    These acoustic models are then trained to score every single prompt or item on a test. We do this by using human expert raters to score the items first, using double marking. They score hundreds of oral responses for each item, and these ‘Standards’ are then used to train the engine. 

    Next, we validate the trained engine by feeding in many more human-marked items, and check that the machine scores are very highly correlated to the human scores. If this doesn’t happen for any item, we remove it, as it must match the standard set by human markers. We expect a correlation of between .95-.99. That means that tests will be marked between 95-99% exactly the same as human-marked samples. 

    This is incredibly high compared to the reliability of human-marked speaking tests. In essence, we use a group of highly expert human raters to train the AI engine, and then their standard is replicated time after time.  

    How AI is used to score writing exams

    Our AI writing scoring uses a technology called . LSA is a natural language processing technique that can analyze and score writing, based on the meaning behind words – and not just their superficial characteristics. 

    Similarly to our speech recognition acoustic models, we first establish a language-specific text recognition model. We feed a large amount of text into the system, and LSA uses artificial intelligence to learn the patterns of how words relate to each other and are used in, for example, the English language. 

    Once the language model has been established, we train the engine to score every written item on a test. As in speaking items, we do this by using human expert raters to score the items first, using double marking. They score many hundreds of written responses for each item, and these ‘Standards’ are then used to train the engine. We then validate the trained engine by feeding in many more human-marked items, and check that the machine scores are very highly correlated to the human scores. 

    The benchmark is always the expert human scores. If our AI system doesn’t closely match the scores given by human markers, we remove the item, as it is essential to match the standard set by human markers.

    AI’s ability to mark multiple traits 

    One of the challenges human markers face in scoring speaking and written items is assessing many traits on a single item. For example, when assessing and scoring speaking, they may need to give separate scores for content, fluency and pronunciation. 

    In written responses, markers may need to score a piece of writing for vocabulary, style and grammar. Effectively, they may need to mark every single item at least three times, maybe more. However, once we have trained the AI systems on every trait score in speaking and writing, they can then mark items on any number of traits instantaneously – and without error. 

    AI’s lack of bias

    A fundamental premise for any test is that no advantage or disadvantage should be given to any candidate. In other words, there should be no positive or negative bias. This can be very difficult to achieve in human-marked speaking and written assessments. In fact, candidates often feel they may have received a different score if someone else had heard them or read their work.

    Our AI systems eradicate the issue of bias. This is done by ensuring our speaking and writing AI systems are trained on an extensive range of human accents and writing types. 

    We don’t want perfect native-speaking accents or writing styles to train our engines. We use representative non-native samples from across the world. When we initially set up our AI systems for speaking and writing scoring, we trialed our items and trained our engines using millions of student responses. We continue to do this now as new items are developed.

    The benefits of AI automated assessment

    There is nothing wrong with hand-marking homework tests and exams. In fact, it is essential for teachers to get to know their students and provide personal feedback and advice. However, manually correcting hundreds of tests, daily or weekly, can be repetitive, time-consuming, not always reliable and takes time away from working alongside students in the classroom. The use of AI in formative and summative assessments can increase assessed practice time for students and reduce the marking load for teachers.

    Language learning takes time, lots of time to progress to high levels of proficiency. The blended use of AI can:

    • address the increasing importance of formative assessmentto drive personalized learning and diagnostic assessment feedback 

    • allow students to practice and get instant feedback inside and outside of allocated teaching time

    • address the issue of teacher workload

    • create a virtuous combination between humans and machines, taking advantage of what humans do best and what machines do best. 

    • provide fair, fast and unbiased summative assessment scores in high-stakes testing.

    We hope this article has answered a few burning questions about how AI is used to assess speaking and writing in our language tests. An interesting quote from Fei-Fei Li, Chief scientist at Google and Stanford Professor describes AI like this:

    “I often tell my students not to be misled by the name ‘artificial intelligence’ — there is nothing artificial about it; A.I. is made by humans, intended to behave [like] humans and, ultimately, to impact human lives and human society.”

    AI in formative and summative assessments will never replace the role of teachers. AI will support teachers, provide endless opportunities for students to improve, and provide a solution to slow, unreliable and often unfair high-stakes assessments.

    Examples of AI assessments in ELT

    At app, we have developed a range of assessments using AI technology.

    Versant

    The Versant tests are a great tool to help establish language proficiency benchmarks in any school, organization or business. They are specifically designed for placement tests to determine the appropriate level for the learner.

    PTE Academic

    The  is aimed at those who need to prove their level of English for a university place, a job or a visa. It uses AI to score tests and results are available within five days. 

    app English International Certificate (PEIC)

    app English International Certificate (PEIC) also uses automated assessment technology. With a two-hour test available on-demand to take at home or at school (or at a secure test center). Using a combination of advanced speech recognition and exam grading technology and the expertise of professional ELT exam markers worldwide, our patented software can measure English language ability.