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American Role Play Conversation: Is the Invitation Real?

Lindsay: This is an All Ears English Podcast, Episode 92: “American Role Play Conversation: Is the Invitation Real?”

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Gabby: Welcome to the All Ears English Podcast, where you’ll finally get real, native English conversation with your hosts, Lindsay McMahon, the ‘English Adventurer’ and Gabby Wallace, the ‘Language Angel,’ from Boston, USA.

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Gabby: In this episode, you’ll listen to two role play conversations and see if you can decide which one has the real invitation.

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Gabby: Hey guys. This is the end of a conversation. So…

Lindsay: All right.

Gabby: “Hey. So it was really good talking with you.”

Lindsay: “Yeah, yeah. That was great. Yeah, so (um) (you know) yeah maybe we should hang out some time.”

Gabby: “Yeah, that’d be great.”

Lindsay: “All right. So have a good night.”

Gabby: “Yeah, you too. Get home safe.”

Lindsay: “Yeah. Take care. “

Gabby: “Okay. Bye.” All right and this is the end of another conversation. We’ll call this conversation two. “So it was really great talking with you.”

Lindsay: “I know. That was really cool (you know). It, it’s so cool, (you know), we connect on so many different, in different areas.”

Gabby: “Yeah.”

Lindsay: “(Like) you know we’re both interested in business. That’s really cool.”

Gabby: “I would love to hear more about your projects.”

Lindsay: “Yeah absolutely. So have you (um) maybe we should get coffee, (you know), next week.”

Gabby: “That would be great. (Um) are you generally free (like) in the mornings or the afternoons?”

Lindsay: “Yeah afternoons are usually better for me, even (like) next Tuesday I’m free.”

Gabby: “Perfect. Okay. So sometime Tuesday afternoon. Let me give you a call on Monday.”

Lindsay: “Cool.”

Gabby: “Is that all right?”

Lindsay: “That’ll be great.”

Gabby: “Okay cool. We’ll follow up then.”

Lindsay: “Awesome. I can’t wait.”

Gabby: “Okay. Have a good night.”

Lindsay: “Take care.”

Gabby: “Bye.” Okay cool. So you guys we showed you the end of two different conversations. (Um) which do you think has the better possibility of us actually seeing each other again? The first one or the second one? If you said the second one…

Lindsay: “Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.”

Gabby: You are correct. (Um) in this, in this episode, we wanna (want to) talk about when people say “Do you wanna (want to) hang out some time?” Or “Do you wanna (want to) get coffee some time? Do you wanna (want to) get dinner some time? Do you wanna (want to) do blah, blah, blah some time?” Are they sincere?

Lindsay: Right. So this is really tricky. And I’ve had a lot of students ask me “Why is it that Americans invite me out and then don’t follow-up or when I followup they act weird and say they don’t want to see me?” It’s very confusing…

Gabby: Yeah.

Lindsay: …so the word “sometime” could mean “I’m serious.” It could also mean “I’m not serious.”

Gabby: Yeah. It’s very common and very confusing. But, (you know), we were talking about, well how do we use “Do you wanna (want to) hang out sometime?” Sometimes it’s used to end a conversation. It’s not even sincere. It’s not even real.

Lindsay: Right.

Gabby: It’s just a way to exit a conversation. It’s not a very good way, in my opinion ‘cause (because) it’s…

Lindsay: Yeah.

Gabby: …it can be confusing, but it happens a lot.

Lindsay: Yeah. There are definitely better ways to do it. It could be (you know) – so try to avoid using this. But if you receive this (um) this statement, you need to understand it’s not necessarily an invitation.

Gabby: Right.

Lindsay: (Um) can you give us an example of when you’ve used this Gabby?

Gabby: Oh yeah, absolutely. So (um) I remember – well I, I went to study abroad (like) twelve years ago in Cuba. I was there in the summer and (you know) I was having a conversation with some, some nice Cuban friends and (um) my Spanish wasn’t that good at that time actually, but, (you know), I remember, (you know) (um) they invited me to have dinner (like) at their house and I said “Yeah we should do that some time.” And they’re (like) “Well, how ‘bout (about), how ‘bout (about) tomorrow?” And I was like “Well, maybe some time, (you know).”

Lindsay: Yeah. That’s a great example.

Gabby: And they, they took it really seriously. And, (you know), they were calling me the next day saying “Oh we have dinner prepared.” And I was (like) “What?” I did not understand that “sometime” or tomorrow for them was really serious and when I said some time I just meant to say good-bye.

Lindsay: Yeah, it’s kind of a filler.

Gabby: Yeah.

Lindsay: It’s a filler word. It’s a way to end the conversation and that’s really it in that case and especially your intonation.

Gabby: Right.

Lindsay: “We should have dinner some time.”

Gabby: Yeah, really unsure.

Lindsay: In an unsure kinda (kind of) trailing off.

Gabby: Yeah, yeah. (Um) so in our first conversation it was not – there, there were no specific (um) times mentioned. There was nothing specific that we wanted to talk about or follow-up on, whereas in the second conversation, (you know), we mentioned what we wanted to talk about, why we wanted to meet again, and generally when we were going to meet and when we were going to talk again.

Lindsay: Yeah.

Gabby: So much more specific. That’s how you know when someone is really inviting you to meet again.

Lindsay: Yeah, this is one of those nuances that you might have to experience life abroad, life in the US to really understand it, but (it’s) just something that’s important to be aware of. So the key…

Gabby: Yeah.

Lindsay: …take away today is not (uh) a phrase or an expression, it’s just an awareness. We want you guys to be aware that this term is used in different ways to mean different things.

Gabby: Right. Yeah, very helpful.

Lindsay: Awesome.

Gabby: Cool.

Lindsay: Interesting. Thank you.

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Gabby: Hey Lindsay. I heard that (uh) one of your students was talking about the transcripts.

Lindsay: Yeah. So (um) a student of mine in Spain was saying that he is really a visual learner, so he needs to not only listen to All Ears English every day, but he also needs to see the words.

Gabby: Yeah, that’s really helpful, I think, for a lot of people to read as they listen.

So yeah, we wanted to remind you that we have the transcripts available at our website, www.allearsenglish.com/conversations. And the transcripts are just the text of what you’re hearing.

Lindsay: Yeah. Just every word that we’re saying spelled out for you. So there are no secrets. You’ll know exactly what you’re saying, we’re saying. So come on over.

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Lindsay: If you want to put your ears into English more often, be sure to subscribe to our podcast in iTunes on your computer or on your smartphone. Thanks so much for listening and see you next time.