Full video

0:00

initial Vibe on the US as from a British

0:04

perspective loud life's all about the

0:07

dollar yeah I lived there oh really yeah

0:10

wow I hated it you hated it hated it I

0:13

think generally speaking it it's just

0:15

culturally just too too too different is

0:20

this what they call the American dream

0:21

the American dream yeah it's a nightmare

0:23

they go there don't live there she shut

0:25

all his tires off of his car and all the

0:27

kids were out there were like Jing her

0:30

on and clapping and like excited

0:32

everything is bigger louder Bolder I

0:36

think is a very divided Society it seems

0:39

Seems they've tried to uncomplicate the

0:42

language cuz English is difficult you

0:44

could always hear sirens going or

0:46

there's always people that walking

0:48

around on the street no matter what time

0:49

it was and know just a lot louder in

0:51

general to be honest uh would you ever

0:53

consider moving or living hell

0:58

no hi welcome to a new episode of easy

1:02

English this week we thought we'd get

1:04

the thoughts and opinions of British

1:07

people on the US in 2024 now before we

1:10

get started we'd really appreciate if

1:12

you'd quickly consider subscribing below

1:15

and if you'd like to learn with us or

1:16

just help support easy English then you

1:19

can with the link up here let's go

1:23

what's the first thing you think of when

1:24

you hear the word America um i' say

1:27

they're a lot more patriotic if I say

1:29

the the word America what is like the

1:31

first thing that comes to your head

1:33

Stars and Stripes wow patriotism

1:37

yeah I think it's pretty negative okay I

1:41

would say politically okay politically

1:43

speaking yeah um social justice it's

1:47

pretty negative over there okay problem

1:49

with guns yeah okay so yeah I wouldn't

1:52

move there what's your first thought

1:54

that comes to your mind at the moment

1:56

hopefully Donald Trump doesn't win the

1:58

election

2:00

what would be the main difference you

2:01

think between us and uh US

2:05

citizens the US citizens do not

2:07

understand irony okay and what would you

2:10

say is irony if you have to Define it

2:12

what do you think the definition

2:15

is we're taking the

2:18

piss I'd say the the average American

2:21

yeah they would always go on about how

2:22

much they lost their country and things

2:23

like that and how proud they are how

2:25

proud they are yeah but here I wouldn't

2:26

say so as much why is that do it have

2:28

bad connotations um not necessarily I

2:32

say sometimes Americans can take it too

2:34

far

2:35

with how much they love their country

2:38

how do you mean like it's annoying yeah

2:41

definitely that's great could you give

2:43

us an example of the last time you were

2:44

ironic about

2:47

something no I'm British I never notice

2:50

when I'm being ironic it just comes

2:52

naturally doesn't it yeah it's just what

2:54

we do and sarcasm it seems Seems they've

2:58

tried to uncomp edate the language cuz

3:01

English is difficult and so their

3:04

spelling is different right but I always

3:07

find that annoying and also

3:09

pronunciations I often find that um we

3:12

are kind

3:13

of like when you especially like younger

3:16

people you you hear that they're really

3:18

influenced by American pronunciation

3:20

they realize the word lever rather than

3:22

lever and those sorts of things and

3:25

that's another thing that really annoys

3:26

me perfect cuz I say we're English we

3:30

don't say that so humor is a big

3:33

difference you think between other

3:35

and

3:37

yeah they import a lot of British

3:39

sitcoms we don't import I mean they

3:42

import British sitcoms and make them

3:43

American and we don't import American

3:46

sitcoms and make them British they're

3:48

not good enough but that shows how far

3:50

apart we are from them that they even

3:51

have to sort of translate yeah English

3:53

into American in a way yeah especially I

3:56

think it's their education system just

3:58

loud in general so the people I think

4:00

they speak quite loud uh it's not in a

4:03

negative way just as an observation and

4:05

I think as the country in the world they

4:10

have quite a loud voice they're quite

4:12

powerful in that work so loud as imp

4:14

powerful and Loud this video is

4:17

sponsored by italki the site that allows

4:19

you to find online language teachers for

4:22

one-on-one

4:23

tutoring as a new user you'll get $10 in

4:26

I talkie credits after your first lesson

4:29

if you registered using the link go.

4:31

italki.com

4:33

English if you don't like reading

4:35

complicated language books or listening

4:37

to pre-recorded audio courses then I

4:40

talkie is for you you'll get to practice

4:42

your conversational skills under

4:43

different real world scenarios as

4:46

speaking with humans is the best and

4:47

fastest way to learn a language you can

4:50

customize your lessons to cater for your

4:52

language needs and interests and the

4:54

one-on-one lessons provide you with

4:56

undivided attention with teachers at

4:58

your preferred time where you're at home

5:00

at the airport or at the local park you

5:03

have complete access so head on over to

5:05

it talkie and use the link go.it

5:08

talkie.com

5:09

English to start your first lesson and

5:12

get $10 in it talkie credits what does

5:15

the US have that maybe Britain doesn't

5:16

have that you

5:18

like okay well we we have to look at uh

5:22

the land okay so that's good the US is

5:26

beautiful it has a lot of Natural Parks

5:30

there's a lot of places you can go and

5:31

walk and lose yourself in the wilderness

5:34

okay uh so I would guess

5:36

that's we do have that here yeah as well

5:40

but maybe not the not to the extent that

5:44

that you you get in the US although they

5:46

got big cities they've also got little

5:48

towns and whatever and everybody seems

5:51

to know everyone and all that kind of

5:54

thing which we seem to have lost here

5:57

like a community set Spirit or something

5:59

yeah

6:00

oh really that's that's a nice thing

6:02

that's another positive yeah how long

6:04

did you live there two years just over

6:06

two years wow okay that was a commitment

6:08

and I came back cuz I why why did you

6:10

hate it can you give me a rundown uh

6:13

well I moved there in 1984 and I moved

6:17

to the Deep South Savannah

6:20

Georgia and I'd never come across so

6:23

much um like segregation it was a real

6:26

shock for me uh black and white people

6:29

really didn't mix no and hold on when

6:32

was this 1984 I was there for 1984 to 87

6:36

well I used to live in Northern

6:37

California oh really when I was a child

6:39

so yes uh that's beautiful but not

6:42

anymore I wouldn't leave that anymore I

6:45

think there's a lot of is social issues

6:47

especially in California Northern well

6:49

probably even in Southern California but

6:51

I think social issues is Major okay I

6:53

would never live there would you live in

6:55

the

6:56

US no and why why would that be I

7:00

I don't like the politics it's too

7:02

polarized for me especially now one or

7:06

you're the other there's no middle

7:08

ground at all and how about uh American

7:11

friends or family or loved ones or ah so

7:14

I have American family okay really but

7:16

they're from British stock okay and so

7:19

if you have American family have you

7:20

been over to the US yeah yeah yeah lot

7:22

of times and where have you been in the

7:24

US I've been from New York to California

7:29

and quite a lot of bits in between as in

7:31

you've done the the journey yeah between

7:35

yeah I've trained from Chicago to

7:37

Seattle wow and I've been in all around

7:40

that West Coast great and I've been up

7:42

and down the East Coast oh wow wow

7:44

you're quite well even been

7:46

into Florida don't ever go to

7:50

Florida let's set up a scenario where

7:52

would you go to where do you think you

7:53

could put yourself when you R into

7:56

America the US it would have to be quite

7:58

a

8:00

um what I would consider a progressive

8:02

State okay so maybe like a San Francisco

8:06

or a or if not somewhere Sunny like LA

8:10

or Florida let's say you were to go what

8:14

landscape would attract you the most you

8:15

said mentioned I would really like to go

8:17

to San Francisco New Orleans I would

8:20

really like to check out because of the

8:23

Multicultural setting there and food

8:26

cage and kitchen I think have you uh

8:28

been to the US I have yeah I've been to

8:30

um New York and also Orlando okay and

8:33

what was that like um thinking in

8:35

comparison to the UK um I'd say

8:38

everything was it was nonstop to be

8:40

honest I mean New York especially it was

8:43

you could always hear sirens going or

8:44

there's always people that walking

8:46

around on the street no matter what time

8:48

it was you know just a lot louder in

8:50

general to be honest yeah yeah it was

8:51

good and also the way that they view uh

8:55

poor people yeah you know people who are

8:58

really struggling and you know there's

9:01

there's not really any facilities for

9:04

them to actually achieve and and do

9:07

things right because you know you know

9:11

like the the thing with the health

9:13

system yeah that one of the presidents

9:15

wanted to bring in this whole idea of a

9:17

health system for people who you know

9:20

can't afford to actually pay for it

9:22

themselves yeah and everybody on both

9:25

sides said no we don't want that and you

9:28

just think well really that's got to be

9:30

a benefit yeah if everybody can actually

9:34

you know get hell and considering we

9:37

call it a first world country but it's

9:40

you know for some people it's not it's

9:42

like you know other countries across the

9:44

world that don't have those really

9:47

important facilities to encourage health

9:50

and well-being would you live in the US

9:53

now no never why

9:57

uh because life's all about

10:00

the dollar and if you haven't got the

10:02

dollar you're living in a third world

10:03

country if you can't afford about 20

10:07

million every couple of years for your

10:10

health insurance you are utterly stuffed

10:13

wow would you ever consider living there

10:16

probably not to be honest like the whole

10:19

sort of setup just doesn't really appeal

10:21

to me there's other placees I'd rather

10:23

live for example like the the Healthcare

10:25

System right that' be a negative of

10:29

netive negative for me personally what

10:30

would you say is a negative like a

10:32

subjective negative oh God that diet

10:35

diet okay like the choice of uh I think

10:39

the regulations they haven't got the

10:41

same regulations that we have in well I

10:43

was going to say the EU but we're not

10:45

kind of part that

10:46

anymore get ready okay but as UK and the

10:49

EU they don't have the same regulations

10:51

so I think they eat maybe poor quality

10:55

uh larger portions uh walking around

10:57

with guns all the time felt really

10:59

uncomfortable that's a common thing

11:01

people talk about the guns yes I felt

11:03

really and but friends of mine had guns

11:06

they'd have guns in the in the in the

11:08

grub compartment of their car oh really

11:11

yes and they show you at them yes where

11:13

I Liv the girl upstairs uh there was in

11:17

my apartment there was two I was on the

11:18

bottom floor she was on the top

11:20

floor um one Saturday we we woke up and

11:25

there's gunshots went outside and she

11:27

was shooting the T the time off of his

11:30

car I don't know what he'd done he'd

11:32

obviously done something he shouldn't

11:33

have done she shut all his tires off of

11:35

his car and all the kids were out there

11:37

were like jering her on and clapping and

11:41

like excited and I was just like this is

11:44

a Saturday morning before I was going I

11:45

was getting ready for work and

11:47

somebody's going out with a Gun and

11:49

shooting their partner's car up oh my

11:52

God and in comparison for people who are

11:55

watching it's like the I'm not when are

11:59

not customized to guns all right it's

12:02

just this was 1984 when I was there of

12:05

course that's that's important to the

12:07

last time I went to the States was 97

12:10

and I was in Florida then yeah which is

12:12

is a different vibe yeah okay in Florida

12:15

I don't know why but it just is even

12:17

though it's down in the South it's not

12:19

the same mentality as you know like

12:21

South Carolina

12:23

Georgia um Alabama tenness all of those

12:26

places are like but you still would go

12:28

back to live there even if you have no

12:30

desire okay and what would you say would

12:32

be a positive if they're if they're them

12:35

being Patriots and having a terrible

12:37

Healthcare what would be a positive to

12:39

the US you think I'd say the business

12:42

world is a lot more um sort of affluent

12:45

there right compared to here I'm not

12:47

saying it's not as big here you could be

12:49

more successful or it's more yeah I

12:50

think you could there's more paths to be

12:52

successful say someone like New York for

12:53

example don't here right but I'd say

12:55

that would attract me but apart from

12:57

that not much if you were to live there

13:00

you go to New York and live the American

13:02

dream way yeah I say so just hope you

13:04

don't get ill yeah I've been looking

13:07

watching the Paralympics so you're and

13:09

the Olympic so you know you just sort of

13:13

you know the flags are going up all the

13:15

time aren't they because they're winning

13:18

so many things there they're a sporting

13:21

success America in many ways right yeah

13:24

and they have a whole system for sport

13:27

you know in their college system

13:29

beautiful mountain region it's almost

13:32

like a Mini World in itself so you've

13:35

got um everything from sunny beaches to

13:38

Snowy Mountains another thing that would

13:41

positively come to mind is probably the

13:43

vast

13:45

Countryside beautiful diverse um

13:49

biodiversity I would quite like to go

13:51

there and have a look at some point

13:53

there are opportunities for people are

13:55

not academic to still be able to go

13:58

through the college system and actually

14:01

achieve a sporting achievement even if

14:03

they don't continue it when they're

14:05

older there is you know it's part of the

14:08

whole curriculum and I think that's very

14:10

important yeah cuz we don't seem to do

14:13

that in the same way in this country can

14:16

can we end this with a positive though

14:17

cuz you must have seen things you

14:18

thought oh that's really good I like

14:20

that we don't have that over here what

14:22

did I like over

14:25

there wrecking the brain I like cheap

14:29

alcohol you could buy really lovely

14:31

alcohol cheaply

14:33

[Music]