TRANSCRIPT TOF THE ABOVE VIDEO: Australian English Lesson: How To Speak More Like An Aussie - Improve Your English Speaking Skills

Hi everyone, it's Nicole here and I'm back answering another one of your questions.

This question was ‘How can I learn the Australian accent? How can I sound more like an Australian?’ Well, good question. Obviously, that is something that takes a lot of time, you know, it's like pronunciation, learning pronunciation or learning an accent takes time, and we need to be surrounded by that language everyday and be copying those sounds every day so that they become natural and normal to us. Yeah, it's like learning grammar, as well, I suppose, it's something that takes time and daily practice and commitment.

So, if you want to learn the Aussie accent, the Australian accent, that's fine, but just be aware that you need some time to do that. But, what I can do for you is I can accelerate that and instead of you sounding Aussie or sounding like an Australian and using the Australian accent, instead what you could do is use some Australian English expressions. If you use those expressions, you're already halfway there, you know, you don't have to sound Aussie or have the Aussie accent, you can just use our language, our slang, if you want to call it that, and you’re Aussie, congratulations!

So, I've chosen a few great ones for you. For those of you who are not interested in learning Australian English, that's fine, but listen anyway, because some of these expressions are really quite funny.

So, the first one is G'day mate, G'day mate. and the word G’day is the Australian English word for hello, or how are you, you know, it's just a greeting there, so hi - G’day, how are you - G’day, hello - g'day. The mate there simply means friend. So, g'day mate means hello my friend, mate is really something more that men say instead of women, so we might say g'day, but we might not say the mate part as a woman. So yeah, there's G’day mate, but you know what, just because we're Australian doesn't mean that we use that expression every day. I hardly ever use it, at all. You can hear G’day mate probably more in the country where people are more Aussie and more relaxed. In the city, like here in Sydney, you don't hear it as often. But anyway, that's a great expression - G’day mate.

Another expression which we use quite often here in Australia is fair enough, fair enough, and when someone's talking to you, and they’re maybe explaining something, or why maybe they couldn't do something, you say fair enough, and it just means I'm listening, I understand, it's ok. So someone might say look, I'm really sorry, I can't come for dinner tonight, my parents have decided to visit, and you say fair enough, it simply means I understand, it's ok.

Next, if someone says I'm flat-out, I'm flat out. If you're flat out, it simply means that you are busy. You are really really really busy. You have no time. You've got so much to do. So, I'm flat-out. Can you hear there it's like ‘flad-dowd’. We're not saying flat out. I'm flat out. Yeah, so, it just means I'm busy.

Or if you say I'm in my element, I’m in my element, if you're in your element it means you are doing what you love, you know, you might love painting and if someone says, how are you, and you say oh, I'm in my element, it means I am doing what I love. I'm here painting and I love it.

If someone says take it easy, take it easy, it simply means relax, rest, don't stress, take it easy.

If someone says I'm off colour, I’m off colour, it means I'm sick, you know, I might be white, I'm not looking so healthy, I'm sick.

If I say I feel crook, I feel crook, it means I'm feeling really sick. I'm not feeling well at all today. I feel crook.

Or I'm fit as a fiddle, I'm fit as a fiddle, and this simply means I'm super healthy. I'm so healthy. I've got so much energy.

If someone says, I'm broke, broke. It means I have no money. I've spent all my money. There's no money in my bank account. I'm broke.

And another real Aussie thing to do is to put ‘eeee’ or ‘eeese’ on the end of every word. You know, my name is Nicole, all of my Aussie friends call me Nicky because that's just what you do. So look, making a word ‘y’ or ‘ese’ at the end just makes it more Australian, more friendly, more informal. So, for vegetables, we say veggies, for underpants, we call them undies, a tradesperson like an electrician or a plumber we call them a tradie, or if you take a day off work, you don't go to work, whether you're sick or not, doesn't matter what the reason is, but if you take a day off work, you have a sickie.

So, there you go. There's just a few things that are Aussie. They will make you sound more Australian, more natural, you don't need to have our accent, our pronunciation, all of these will be understood anyway. But yeah, I hope that answered the question and that that's been a little bit of fun for you all. So, not only G’day mate, but at the end, I'll say see you later. Thanks. Bye.