London Interviews 5

More videos of native speakers in the centre of London

Guy on Oxford Street (This guy has a normal London accent)
Luke: What’s the best thing about London?
Man: The best thing about London is there’s a lot to do and a lot of places to go. It’s one of the biggest cities there are in the world so you’ll find a lot of culture and diversity.
Luke: OK. Worst thing?
Man: Everything’s expensive and you can not get a job to save your life, and when you do they pay[s] you nothing.
Luke: Alright, great, thank you very much.
Man: Is that it?
Luke: Yeah, that’s all. Thanks a lot.

Girls in Carnaby Street (These girls are from Australia so they have Australian accents)
Luke: So, where are you from?
Girls: Australia
Luke: Whereabouts in Australia?
Girl 2: It’s a little town called , so
Girl 1: In South Australia, down at the bottom, where the Great Australian Bight is
Luke: Don’t you have beautiful weather and beaches and stuff down there?
Girl 2: We do yeah, umm, Adelaide has really nice beaches. It gets really cold in winter, but yes, during summer it’s really really nice
Girl 1: It’s hot and dry, but it’s good, it’s fun.
Luke: Ok, how long have you been in London?
Girl 2: Umm, five weeks now so not too long at all
Luke: Right. What are you doing here?
Girl 2: We’re just travelling around, just exploring. I guess we always want to be, like, somewhere that we’re not, so we thought we’d just come and check out London, check out the sights, make a working holiday out of it. So, yeah, that’s pretty much it.
Luke: So, in your opinions then, what’s the, what’s actually the best thing about this city?
Girl 1: the best thing, hmm
Luke: Yeah
Girl 2: Nightlife is, nightlife is pretty good, and it’s just lots more opportunity I think for work. We, like, da[nce], like we’re performers so we dance, we sing, we act, so there’s a lot more auditions happening, lots more agencies
Girl 1: More than in Australia
Girl2: So, a lot more happening I guess you could say
Luke: It’s a bit entertainment industry isn’t it, here.
Girls: Yes, it’s huge here.
Luke: What about bad things? What’s the worst thing about London?
Girl 2: We were just discussing that! Far too many people!
Girl: And also, it’s kind of like a very l- rushed lifestyle, like, we’re used to just very chilled out slow pace and everyone’s just rushing off to go somewhere else, and it’s just constant… s’like, yeah
Luke: You have to learn to, sort of, walk twice as fast as normal in London
Girl 1: It kind of gets you a bit stressed out as well, ’cause you’re like “why is everyone, like, overtaking me? Oh my god!” You just try to keep up
Luke: You’ve got to go at, like, twice the normal speed.
Girl 2: Oh, exactly, it’s really like go go go, so, it’s been a bit of an adjustment, ummm
Girl 1: We’re slowly getting used to it
Luke: Alright, great, thank you very much
Girls: Thank you!
Luke: Cheers, bye bye

3 Lads in Carnaby Street
Luke: How’s it going?
Lad 3: Good, how are you?
Luke: Fine thank you. So, do you all live in London?
Lads: yeah
Luke: and did you all grow up here?
Lads: Yeah
Luke: oh hold on, I just need to move back a bit. So, what’s it really like than? Because, I mean, this video is for people who don’t speak English as a first language. They might come to London for a few weeks. But what’s London really like?
Lad 3: it’s a beautiful city on the outside. It’s aesthetics, it’s lovely. The buildings are amazing but it’s more sinister than I’ve found, compared to other cities. People don’t seem to be as friendly, it’s a busy place
Lad 1: No-one talks
Lad 3: People don’t care for each other
Lad 1: it’s a really shit community, running through the whole of London. No one knows each other.
Luke: So, it feels a bit unfriendly
Lad 3: The amount of people you meet on the tube, you should have something, like, everyone should speak to each other, so m-m-more people you would know, rather than not everyone sitting there ignoring each other and suspecting something if they speak to you
Luke: Right, so if someone speaks to you on the tube you just think “who’s this weirdo?”
Lads: yeah
Luke: Ok, alright, umm, I was going to ask you what the worst thing is, but I think you’ve just explained that. What about the best thing, unless you’ve already said that?
Lad 2: The sights
Lad 3: The culture. It’s the history and the culture. You’ve got, you get a proper feel for… it feels different to a lot of other places because the British history and stuff that’s ???
Luke: Ok. Thank you very much guys. Have a nice day
Lad 1: see you later
Lad 3: laters

Man in Chiswick
Luke: So, err, what’s the best thing about London?
Man: err, best thing is, err, the nightlife, is pretty cool up in London. Especially Leicester Square is very lively and everything like that. Err, and, err, yeah that’s pretty much it!
Luke: Alright, what about the worst thing?
Man: Err, traffic is pretty bad in London, and pollution is pretty bad as well. Like, the way so many cars, there should be a lot more bicycles and areas for people to walk, and a lot more public transport to be used as well
Luke: Okay, great
Man: Thank you, bye
Luke: Cheers
Man: *laughs*

Some definitions of some words/expressions you might not know:
you can not get a job to save your life” – if you can’t do something to save your life it means you can’t do something even if you try very hard
sinister” – dangerous and threatening