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Colloquial language
The English that you learn from a grammar book and in the
classroom is most likely to be standard English. It will generally
be language that everyone can understand all over the world. But
not all forms of English are standard.
Depending on where you are (in an Englishspeaking country), you
will hear people using a variety of expressions that you probably
wont find in standard grammar books. While some of these
expressions are specific to a particular region, others may be
specific to a particular person. There are also some expressions
that are in fashion one week but not the next.
Have a look at the different ways you can say, How are you?
Hows it going?
How are things?
Whats up?
How you doing?
These nonstandard or colloquial forms of English are quite
acceptable in speech. In fact, every language has standard and
notsostandard varieties. However, these expressions might confuse a
nonnative speaker who learned English from textbooks or from a
nonnative speaker of English.
In speech, it is the nonstandard or colloquial expressions that
are more likely to be used. It is not necessary to learn all
expressions of this kind, but learning some of these expressions
and using them in your speech will make you sound more natural. The
standard forms are preferred for formal writing.
Colloquial language is colourful and complex. You will hear it
used in one form or another in daily life.
Colloquialisms
Colloquialisms are the words that are used in everyday speech
and in informal writing.
Colloquial language is generally acceptable in social forms of
communication, like in a staffroom and in friendly emails sent to a
friend. It is important to note that colloquial language should be
kept to a minimum when writing a report for work or sending a
professional email.
Colloquial language includes contractions (shortening words),
such as cant (cannot), dont (do not) and werent (were not). It also
includes abbreviations, such as eg (for example) and Pty Ltd
(proprietary limited).
Idioms
Idioms are also used in colloquial language. Idioms are used to
express something different from what the words actually mean. For
example, an Australian idiom is fair dinkum which is used to ask,
Is it true?Slang
Slang is another form of colloquial language. Be careful when
using slang words as they are mostly used in social interaction and
can be offensive to some people. For example, Gday mate means,
Hello, friend! See the table for more examples.
IdiomMeaning
Hes done a Harold Holt!Hes disappeared!
No worries!No problems!
Im on a good wicket!Im in a good situation.
Its hard yakka.Its hard work.
How can you learn what these strange expressions mean?
Watch Australian movies or television shows and learn to listen
for colloquialisms. Isolate the colloquialisms and study their
meanings. Try watching movies like Crocodile Dundee, The Castle or
Australia for lots of examples of Australian colloquial
language.
Look at the history of the words used in the colloquialism.
Learn how they came to part of the dialect.
Yakka is an Aboriginal word meaning work.
Harold Holt is a former Australian prime minister who went
missing at sea, and was never found.
Find out what each of the following colloquialisms means.
Use each colloquialism in a sentence.
1.signed and sealed
2.rags to riches
3.up to speed
4.to and fro
5.safe and sound
6.you beauty!
7.smoko
8.barbie
9.flat out like a lizard drinking!
2 Commonwealth of Australia 2011, Licensed under Creative
Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Australia License Commonwealth
of Australia 2012, Licensed under Creative Commons
Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Australia License1
