Podcast Transcript
大家好，欢迎回来MaoMi Chinese！很高兴又能和大家聊天了。我是一个生活在英国的中国老师，我在英国生活了四年了。今天，我特别想和大家聊一聊，我作为一个中国人，在英国发现的十个很有意思的事。
第一个，英国人真的非常爱喝酒！朋友聚会去哪儿呢？去酒吧！周末做什么呢？去酒吧喝酒！我经常在周末看到很多英国人在排队。排队为了什么呢？为了进酒吧喝酒。我不太爱喝酒，我的家人和朋友也一样，所以刚开始来到英国,我非常震惊。
第二个，英国的火车经常晚点。英国的火车真的很慢。比如说，我从伦敦坐火车去康沃尔度假。康沃尔在英国西南，是一个美丽的地方。路程大概两百公里，坐火车需要四个小时以上。一样的距离，我在中国只需要一个小时左右，因为中国的高铁很快。而且呢，英国火车常常因为各种原因晚点，比如说，司机去了洗手间很久不回来。这是我觉得很好笑的事情。
第三个，很多中餐外卖很难吃，不是正宗的中国菜。但是呢，在大城市，比如伦敦，也有很多正宗的中餐馆，这也是我喜欢伦敦的一个原因。
第四个，最有名的英国菜居然是炸鱼薯条。我在中国的时候，我常常吃米饭和面条。刚开始来到英国，我不知道为什么英国人这么喜欢吃薯条，但是现在发现薯条也挺好吃的。
第五个，英国学生太闹了。我在中国读了小学和中学，中国的学生一般比较安静，也很爱学习。第一年在英国当老师的时候，我特别震惊，因为英国学生真的太闹了，特别爱说话，有些学生一点儿也不尊重老师。我的一些朋友已经不当老师了，因为他们觉得在英国当老师太累了。但是我觉得还好，英国学生挺可爱的，我们上课也会很有活力。
第六个，英国人居然不加班。在中国，日本和韩国，加班特别常见。但是在英国的公司，很多人一点儿都不喜欢加班，也不会加班。我觉得这样非常好，工作是工作，生活是生活。
第七个，去看医生居然要预约。在中国看病，我们一般直接去医院。在英国看病，我们常常要打电话预约。
第八个，在英国读大学非常贵。我在中国读大学的时候，我的学费加上住宿费，不到八千人民币，大概900英镑。这不是一个学期，是一年的钱，真的非常便宜。但是在英国，一年的学费就要9000英镑，是中国的十倍以上，太贵了。
第九个，英国人看不起美国英语？有时候我跟我的学生聊天，他们会说，美国的英语，不是英语。我们美国的朋友，你们对英国的英语怎么看呢？
第十个，英国乡村其实很富有。这跟中国很不一样，中国的乡村比较穷，很多人都到搬到城市去了，因为在城市才能找到工作。在英国的乡村，我们经常能看到很大很漂亮的房子，很多人也喜欢去乡村度假。
不管生活在哪里，都会有不一样的东西，这也是我喜欢旅行的原因。你现在在哪儿生活呢？有什么有意思的事情吗？欢迎在网站上给我们留言。
Hello everyone. Welcome back to MaoMi Chinese! Very happy to talk to you again. I am a Chinese teacher living in the UK and I have been living here for 4 years. Today, I really want to talk to you about 10 interesting things that I found in the UK as a Chinese.
No.1 British people really like drinking alcohol so much! Where do they go when they need to meet their friends? Pubs/clubs! What do they do at weekends? Drinking alcohol in pubs/clubs! I often see many British people queuing at weekends. What do they queue for? Pubs/clubs and to drink alcohol. I am not a fan of alcohol. Same as my family and friends. Therefore, when I first came to the UK I felt shocked.
No.2 Trains in the UK are usually late. British trains are really slow. For example, if I am taking a train from London to Cornwall, (which is a beautiful place in the southwest) the distance is about 200 kilometres and it takes over 4 hours by train. With the same distance, it will only take me roughly 1 hour if I am in China, and that’s because bullet trains in China are very fast. Additionally, British trains are often late for different reasons, for example, drivers have been to the toilet too long and haven’t back. This is something I found funny.
No.3 Lots of Chinese takeaways are not tasty, and they are not authentic Chinese cuisines. However, in a big city like London, there are many authentic Chinese restaurants and this is one of the reasons why I like London.
No.4 The most famous English food is fish and chips. When I was in China I often had rice and noodles. When I first came to the UK I didn’t know why English like chips so much, but now I realize that chips are quite tasty too.
No. 5 English students are too restless. I went to primary school and secondary in China. Chinese students are generally pretty quiet and engaged in studying. In my first year working in the UK as a teacher, I was really shocked because English students were just too restless and really chatty, and some students didn’t respect teachers at all. But I feel it’s okay. They can be pretty cute and our lessons are lively.
No. 6 British people actually don’t work overtime at all. In China, Japan and Korea, it is really common to work overtime. However, in English companies, people don’t like it at all and won’t do it. I think this is very good. Work is work and life is life.
No. 7 We actually need to book an appointment to see doctors. In China, we generally go to hospitals directly to see doctors. In the UK, we often need to call to book an appointment.
No. 8 It is super expensive to study at a university in the UK. When I was studying in university in China, my tuition fee plus accommodation fee are less than 8000 RMB, which was about 900 pounds. That was not for a term. It was for a year. It was super cheap. But in the UK, the tuition fee costs 9000 pounds a year, which is 10 times more than in China. Too expensive.
No. 9 British people look down on American English? Sometimes when I chatted with my students they said that American English is not real English. Our audience in the US, what do you think about British English?
No. 10 In fact, the English countryside is very rich. This is different from China. In China, the countryside is relatively poor and lots of people have moved to cities, as they can only get a job in cities. In the English countryside, we can often see some beautiful big houses and there are lots of people who like having a holiday in the countryside.
No matter where we live, there will always be something different, and that’s why I like travelling. Where do you live now? Are there any interesting facts? Welcome to leave your comments on our website!
Excellent podcasts. Thank you for all your efforts in producing them. They are improving my listening ability.
I want to add something about No. 9: British people saying American English is not real English. I have a unique perspective on this since I was born and grew up in London, England and in my late 20’s emigrated to California. I have actually lived here longer than I did in London. This is a topic which is difficult to fully discuss in a comment. However, I heard many years ago that some thought that Americans were “murdering” the English language. I disagree. Is the standard for English set by the BBC of the 1950’s and the old films starring Sir Laurence Olivier, for example! Does anybody speak that way any more? I doubt it. English has multiple accents and dialects. It is spoken in several countries both as a first language and an alternate language. Think Canada, the USA, Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa, The Philippines, etc. You don’t even have to leave the UK for variety. The English as spoken in Kensington sounds nothing like the Cockney accent of the East End many years ago. The Scots and the Cornish people sound completely different from the Liverpudlians, and so on. It seems like there are changes in accent every generation or so. America is a huge country and a Texan and a New Yorker and a Californian all sound different and in many cases use different words to reflect the local culture. If you ask a person anywhere in America what language they are speaking, if it sounds like English they will NOT say they are speaking American! Americans speaks English. Some may consciously or unconsciously understand that their accent is not like the supposed standard English of old. Most don’t even think about it. Over the years my accent has turned into a hybrid Californian/London accent but it is still very noticeably NOT American, so I get comments from time to time about how lovely my accent sounds. As a student of mandarin Chinese, I have learned that there are different accents and dialects in Chinese. Not everyone speaks Putonghua and when they do, they have regional differences. So who today is to say what real English is. May I humbly say real English is the English that can be understood by two or more people coming from a primarily English speaking country or by someone who is proficient in English. Anyway, thank you for the opportunity to comment and again I really thank you so much for these podcasts. They are above my level somewhat but I will persist in listening.