Navigating Directions in English in America #english

Hey guys!

This video is going to be a little different

because I'm not going to be talking about learning English

but rather about my experience living in the United States.

Obviously, when you move or just travel to another country,

you discover many new and unusual things.

So, there's a lot of differences between the US and Europe.

And some of them might be a little strange, confusing or surprising to Europeans.

So, let me tell you about the ones that are connected to education

in one way or another that I knew about

but knowing something in theory is not the same as experiencing it in real life.

Americans and Europeans give directions differently.

In Europe, people would normally say "turn left" or "turn right", "go straight"

and they almost never use cardinal directions

such as North, East, South, West.

And here it's the exact opposite thing.

When you come to the US and start using a navigator

or ask for directions,

you will hear something like "head North" or "head East"

or "it's the Northeast wing"

and I'm always like North, Northeast - what? Where the hell do I go?

Speak a human language.

Americans pretty much always use these words

to talk about where something is located

and they get very surprised

when you tell them that you don't understand what they are saying.

I have to admit that I wish that I learned this in school

because they can navigate their way much better than we can.

And I'm trying to get the hang of this

but I just need somebody to explain this to me properly.

Let's get into our next difference.

So obviously, in America, people speak American English

but in Europe, people mostly use and learn British English

and a lot of Americans are surprised to hear this.

Some Americans told me that

they would have thought that people used American English more

since the Hollywood and Hollywood movies and American pop culture

are so popular around the world.

But no.

When I was in school, I learned British English

and my American way of speaking would always annoy my teachers,

but I still did my own thing.

Americans are open and friendly.

In a lot of European countries,

people keep to themselves and are very restrained.

You could even say that they aren't friendly.

Not everywhere and everyone but a large percentage of them are.

Italians, for example, are very lovely and friendly and talkative people.

I love Italy.

However, let's take Ukraine as an example.

People there will never ask a stranger how are they

or God forbid give a compliment.

They wouldn't even start a conversation with a stranger to begin with

and even when you ask them something,

they will give you a very fast and direct answer

and that's it.

And as for smiles, they are also a rare treat.

Americans, on the other hand, are truly open and friendly.

Everywhere you go, people say hi to you, wish you a great day,

give you compliments and ask you questions and smile.

So many people say that all this is fake and I would argue with that.

Yes, some of this is fake and yes, strangers don't care about you,

but I feel so much better being around such friendly, open and positive people

than around completely indifferent and sometimes even rude ones.

This difference is going to be specifically something that is unusual for me.

There's a lot of diversity here in different nationalities

and this is something that you won't see in most cities in Ukraine.

But here, you can meet people from all over the world and I love it.

You get to know and talk to people from everywhere and all walks of life

and learn about their cultures and a lot of new things in general.

Okay, that's it for this video.

Thank you for watching you guys

and let me know what you think about this format of a video in general

and what you think about these differences.

And I'll see you in the next one. Bye!