My UK Culture Shock Experience 

Many people unfamiliar with British ways think that when we say "sorry" we're apologising. Not always true, it can simply mean, "I didn't hear you properly, can you repeat that please?" Alternatively it can mean, "Who the **** do you think you're talking to sunshine?", or even "Are you looking for a slap"? It's all in the tone of voice and the inflexion.

Ah yes the old passive aggressive "politeness" - plus weaponised sarcasm are the judo & karate of ancient English martial arts

We use ultra-politeness as an alternative to a smack in the gob. But we can do that if you aren't polite.

The luch dinner tea debate tends to be a north south thing, however no one even knows where the north ends and south begins lol

Regarding the coffee incident, your English is so good, she probably thought you were English. If you had more of a foreign accent she would have given you some leeway.

The quirks of us British are many. Tea, if you like tea, don't tell anyone how you make it unless asked by a person you know well, because no matter how you make tea, it'll be different to the way the person asking makes it and your way will be wrong. Lol.

I've never watched Gavin and Stacey either and I feel no temptation to do so.

I did enjoy your take on British ways, please make more

Refreshing to see someone's view on England outside of London! London in no way reflects what real England is!

Dinner is your main meal of the day whatever time it is

loved watching this- youre very natural and charasmatic on camera! and witty lol.

Breakfast, dinner, tea, supper.

Hi Mathilde - Dinner/;Lunch and Tea/Dinner/Supper are regional memes. In Manchester where you are the locals will refer to Dinner as the midday meal and Tea as the evening meal. Most of the examples you give I can relate to (having lived and worked in Greater Manchester for the majority of my life.) However, a lot of your experience appears to reflect big city life - in the suburbs and the rural areas there is less crime risk and fewer self checkouts! Keep well.

Your English is incredible. You should be very proud. Did you know that Wellington's horse at the Battle Of Waterloo in 1851 was called Copenhagen? Just a fun fact. Great video.

This was very informative and witty, thanks for your view on the UK. As an American I tend to have the same impressions esp about the über politeness...except tea with milk which I have been drinking since an adolescent.

Gavin and Stacey, The Inbetweeners, Only Fools And Horses and some of the comedy quiz panel shows are great to start watching

Haha, for the moving thing, myself and everyone I know say "excuse me" 😆 Some things are different between the cities and countryside - I'm a country girl (from Norfolk) and crime like what you mention is really rare out here :) Also we only have a couple of self service checkouts where I live, all the others are human operated, I believe that is another difference between city/country. You should try staying in some of the countryside if you get a chance, would be interesting to hear any differences between where you're from and the UK's :) But yeah, everything you have said here is completely correct! This is perfect for anyone wanting a true insight into the UK. Great video!

I really enjoyed and agree with lots 😂😂😂 thanks for sharing

The dinner, tea thing is a north/south thing but also a class thing. Upper class people are more likely to use lunch and dinner, but a northern working class guy like myself will say dinner instead of lunch and tea instead of dinner. Good reaction by the way and pretty accurate 😉

I once went out at Christmas for my friends birthday and one of my friends wore a cocktail dress and heels in 3 inch snow

Your command of the English language is impressive. Well done. I hope you continue to enjoy the experience here. We love Scandinavians.

Dear me Mathilde. You seem to have attracted some weirdly aggressive commenters here haha It's always interesting to hear the opinions of people living on our little island so thank you for sharing. I feel the dinner/tea thing is definitely different in the North compared to the South so you will find a mix depending on where people grew up.

I sympathise with you regarding the nuances of our culture. We can be accused of being rude for the tiniest thing which I often am because although I’m from London, I’m sick of having to tip toe around everyone in order not to cause offence.

Love your video and I must say your English is very good on the thing about different ascents most of ower words are a mix match of Saxon viking or old Danish and French and take it from a native to uk so of it I don't always get right

I’m 70 and brought up in the 50s and 60s. My family was “working class” in the Black Country (just South West of Birmingham, look for Dudley. The meals were always Breakfast, Dinner then Tea.

Your English is sooo nice!! I'm almost have the same culture shock with you as a foreign student lol (I'm in Leeds)

When I was little, all the UK supermarkets had the two lane dividers, at some point they disappeared.

I spent a few months in Denmark on an Army base, the first bit of 'equipment' they provided for the empty workshop, was a Coffee maker, and about half a truck load of Coffee, and word soon got round a Brit was on the base,,,the giveaway was asking for coffee with milk!!

Is installation of solar panels on the roof of your house or your car (in UK) worth it ?

The dropping of letters in place names is a matter of convenience. Think about how you first signed your name, maybe it was really precise with each letter clearly drawn or maybe it had lots of flourishes. Once you've done a few more orbits around the sun you'll notice that unless you really focus on doing it properly it becomes more of a squiggly line and maybe a quarter of the letters are recognisable, especially if you have to do it a lot for work or business. You'll keep a few identifying traits so you know it's yours but not at the expensive of saving time or effort. Place names are the same. The Shire of Worcester is now just woostersheer. The dinner/tea thing is like a lot of the internal cultural struggles in the UK in that it is class based and has its roots in events like the Norman invasion. When those of French persuasion ruled the natives of wealth who wanted to keep that wealth adopted the language and mannerisms of their new rulers as did anyone who wanted to move up the social ranks. This isn't universal though because the British contrarian nature means some things were stubbornly held on to by the rich which meant the poor would adopt the French in order to be contrary to the rich. The further north you go the less influenced the society tends to be as the French wished to stay close to "civilisation".

As a general rule of thumb Lunch/Dinner/Tea is a class thing The middle class call their mid-day meal Lunch and their evening meal Dinner, while the working class call their mid-day meal dinner and their evening meal Tea Gavin & Stacy is shit If you went to Manchester no wonder you encountered so much crime Apart from that, its always interesting to see how other people view us~ An enjoyable video, thank you

I think your experience is characterized by living in the city. There's quite the difference between the largest UK cities and more rural areas. The culture in cities is a lot more intense, magnified even and thus there is increased pressure to conform to their cultural standards. The rest of the country is more liberty minded and has a relaxed laissez-faire attitude to life and others; in fact you might say this characterizes the majority of the country. Also city folk act polite but are actually bastards, the rest of the country keeps up appearances as far politeness goes, but are generally more blunt, while genuinely being nicer.

Your English is amazing, were you brought up as bilingual? I can normally detect a slight accent (except Dutch who often speak better than me), but you are nearly perfect R.P. You come over very naturally as well, hope your studies go well.

The internationally recognised English accent is called "RP" (received pronunciation) and was traditionally used by BBC and other public announcers and broadcasters. It is strongly associated with the upper middle-classes from the Metropolitan south (London + SE England). Nowadays there is an effort to normalise the use of other regional accents in broadcasting. Obviously Scottish, Welsh and Irish people have distinct accents, there are major regional English accents too; West Midlands/Birmingham, NE (Geordie), Liverpool (Scouse), London/Cockney etc. In general northern accents are distinct from southern ones. There is a big north-south cultural divide in England.

The lunch/dinner thing is regional but a good rule of thumb is that dinner is the biggest meal of the day. So at Christmas, for example, when my family has a big meal in the afternoon we would say Breakfast, Dinner, tea - but on a work day (when I would just have a packed lunch) it would be Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. Supper is another confusion as some people use it in place of tea whereas others use it as a word for an evening extra - something that is more than a snack but less than a meal.

Our politeness is far better, than ever upsetting us, believe me do not even get us even slightly miffed.. up North Lunch is Dinner and Dinner is Tea.. sorted

Hi Mathilde. First time seeing your pretty face and hearing your very good English pronunciation. We are a strange complication of humanity but usually quite nice, especially us older types. I suspect you have been speaking English since childhood, yes? I look forward to hearing more comment from you about our mixed up approach to life. Jeff x

Fantastic video. I've subscribed and clicked the notification button Oh and liked 👍 How come you speak English more clearly than so many Brits? - I've often found that about people from Denmark, Sweden and Holland.

First of all I think that Mathilde is very beautiful with a very attractive manner. Second I live in a small village in the mountains of Spain and when I order tea in a café they make it with hot frothy milk like they do with coffee.

You are Danish living in the part of the UK once called the Danelaw due to the amount of Danish Vikings settled here including my own ancestors. Most people in the old Danelaw are descended from Danes. In Yorkshire our dialect is full of old words from Norse. I saw a documentary about Danish troops in Afghanistan and was surprised to find that I could understand a lot of what they were saying. I'm surprised that you didn't see the similarities. You're not as different as you think. You would see this more in Yorkshire I think.

Damnnnn that barista would not have gotten a please from me after that. You can totally ask for something politely without saying please. I think "may I have a coffee?" would make it sound more like but so long as you weren't obviously rude then it shouldn't matter. Thank you is way more important in my opinion.

Hi Mathilda, just a point on politeness, when you say can you move, just say “excuse me!” I know it sounds like you’re asking for forgiveness but that’s the Brit way of asking somebody to get out of your way. If they persist in staying there stick a “please” on the end! Still no move then just push past !!!.?? Well you know what I mean, but thats the correct, polite way to gain access to a clear way past people! Ok??? Cheers Aah Kid! Oh! That’s the most accent free accent I’ve heard, love it!

Black tea, no sugar but I prefer coffee.

Accents change every 30 miles or so. It can be difficult to understand people in the neighbouring county haha Is there a distinct difference between regional accents in Denmark?

I don't think you should have censored your points on crime and safety. This is important information for people to have, and you might save some future visitor from trouble.

I have a couple of degrees from Manchester University, and worked there for 34 years. I knew a Danish girl student in the late1980s, she wanted to lose her Danish accent, yours is very minimal and quite neutral BTW, when speaking English. When I knew her, she had perfected a flawless Mancunian accent, she sounded like she had been born in Chorlton or Whalley Range!

1:55 Yes, what you experienced was a "phatic" question = "denoting speech used to express or create an atmosphere of shared feelings, goodwill, or sociability rather than to impart information" And replying with actual information of your own is a definite faux pas (to use the Danish term). By the way, the Danish Gambit is my favourite chess opening, and definitely beats the Queens Gambit despite whatever Netflix might advocate. So, ... how are you today?

Maybe if you live in a big city but I think that's just the same for anywhere in the world I live in Cornwall and that Is very rare. even in Bristol where I am from That kind of crime is very rare.

Where did all the letters go? Ha I think Danish is a great example of a language that masters the silent letter. I know Swedish so am quite comfortable reading Danish but when it comes to the spoken language that is totally different. I remember taking the train journey from København to Helsingør listening to the station stop pronunciations. I would have been totally lost if it weren't the actual station signs. Which kommune are you from? Your danish accent is very soft. All the best with your studies!

Sorry about the crime I come from a big city, we are more aware of where we are and tend not to get caught of balance, not always we suffer too but I dont think as much

I cooked one for me and one of my sons this morning , have one probabley twice a week

In informal speech, especially working class; LUNCH = 'dinner', DINNER = 'tea', but in formal speech, and typical of the middle-classes, LUNCH = lunch, TEA = afternoon tea (a hot drink with sandwiches, biscuits, cakes perhaps) DINNER = Sit down evening meal, usually cooked.

Mathilde, I suggest you buy an anti-theft bag 😊 it's a great investment to keep your belongings secured. Take care!

What a great woman 👍

For dinner / tea one It depends where you come from im from the south of England, essex I and my family have always said tea for dinner never called lunch dinner its just lunch

_"Drinking tea is a religion to them"_ she says, as I sip my tea... Fair point.

As you spend more time here, you'll find most of us aren't as intense as your first impressions suggest. Welcome to UK.

Ha ha this is fun. I lived in the UK for two years and the German culture is exactly like the Danish. More direct, without much "please" here and "please" there. And we are rarely ever sorry. Worst, we say what we mean and we mean what we say. That's very, very disturbing for a Brit. I'm so sorry for that! Really, really sorry.

ah the good old "polite" British passive aggressiveness lol summarised perfectly

Talking about Gavin and Stacey, you need to watch, would I lie to you, and I tell you for why, the host Rob Brydon is a great host and really handsome man

As a northerner my meals are breakfast lunch and tea. If I dine out in the evening, i say im going out for a meal or to eat. I never eat dinner in the evening and supper might be toast or crsckers before bed. I know we Brits love our tea, but it's no more orevalent to Americans drinking coffee. What's the big deal with it? And I'd far be polite and use please and thank you than sound rude and abrupt. As a kid at home I had to ask permission to leave the meal table and to use the toilet in other people's homes.

English pronunciation is essy. If you're English. We invented the language to confuse foreigners. We did such a good job that it even confuses us sometimes.

I'm glad she's picked up on the different types of sorry. It's also used in the context of "I'm sorry (you are such an idiot and I have to deal with you today)".

A lot of our words are from older civilisations like the Romans, Anglo Saxons and Pagans and have been condensed or refined in used but not in spelling

Leicester ("Lester") was supposedly the capital of England under King Leir (same as King Lear in Shakespeare).

Mathilde, we Leicester folk truncate anything we think can be truncated. Wannanokeywissumrazzon? is asking if somebody would like an ice cream with raspberry sauce.

Yep, I't's rude to get straight to the point. :)

Breakfast is what you have in the morning. That is universally understood. The main meal of the day is dinner. People who have dinner in the middle of the day probably have 'tea' and a bite of 'supper'. Those who have their dinner in the evening probably have a light midday meal, which is called 'lunch'. 'Afternoon tea' is, as the term implies, served in the afternoon. Usually, from 4pm and consists of sandwiches, cake and scones with clotted cream and jam. However, this is a 'treat' meal, a bit like the Full English Breakfast and not the norm for most people. So, this bolsters the argument about the names of meals in favour of those who call the midday meal 'dinner'. However, even those people who call the midday meal 'dinner' will call a late breakfast/early midday meal 'brunch' - a portmanteau of 'breakfast' and 'lunch' - not 'brinner'. So, this bolsters the argument for the midday meal being called 'lunch'. Also, everyone who packs food to take to work calls it 'a packed lunch'. Are you with me, so far? Many people chop and change what they call meals - I fall into this bracket. For me, it's Sunday Dinner and School Dinners, but I love going out to lunch with friends (especially, when it's mostly a 'liquid lunch'). If it's before 6pm, it's tea. After 7pm, it's dinner. Confused? Not if you're British. In short, there is: Breakfast, Elevenses, Lunch/Dinner - or Brunch; Afternoon Tea, Tea/High Tea/Dinner and Supper. If you eat all of them, you have Hobbit genes. Simple!

Big mugs require two teabags if use sugar or sweetener make sure you double your normal amount or it won’t taste nice. I use Tetley teabags simply because they fit in the bottom mug as they are round. I have an English breakfast every week or two. Gavin and Stacey is absolutely rubbish.

These are so funny to me

omg I'm so embarrassed being British right now. You should probably move up North X

Talking of milk in tea, I've often found, when in hotels in Europe outside the UK, that adding milk to the tea there makes it taste horrible so I end up drinking it black.

In the north-east we don't use "roll" so I don't think it's correct to say it's recognised nationally - it's always a bun. I'd never heard of it until I went to a Greggs in the south when I was about 20 and asked for a sausage roll, and was handed a sausage sandwich... I could not have been more confused... I didn't know what had just happened... A Stottie isn't the same things as a bun - it's a very specific type of bread about 8 inches wide and 1 inch high.

Soft white roll = bap, Crispy white roll = cob, short French-style long roll = baguette, French-style long loaf = French stick, small roll on top of a big roll = cottage loaf, big oval loaf with grooves on top = bloomer, they are just different types of bakery product.

what about the "missing" letters in Danish? Selvfolgelig sounds like selferly.

the use of the C-word is something very prevalent in Australia & may have arrived here via the huge number of Aussies who come over for their 2 year work-permit pilgrimage to the mother country. Working class & northerners have an evening meal called tea. Middle class & southerners have supper or dinner.

Hi if you know your Shakespeare King Lear ×!# the original king of Leicester so it is really Lear center but it got abbreviated if you say Learcestet, it sort of works and makes it interesting if you know the story of King Lear and his 3 daughters

Tea is much more important than religion.

You're on the wrong side of the Pennines lass, get yourself over to Yorkshire and up our Dales where you will find folk speaking a dialect very close to Danish. Our Ridings (thridings) are over a thousand years old thanks to the Danes. As to tea, I prefer it without milk. The south begins on the other side of the Yorkshire boundary...

That's a really good review of your culture shocks, Mathilde. Your experience depends, of course largely on those you interact with most. I have to say that calling the evening meal 'tea' is a very lower-class idiom. The correct word is 'supper', though sometimes yer upper-middle classes may call it 'dinner.' The midday meal is always 'lunch.' 'Tea' (other than the basic drink) should always refer to either 'elevenses' (mid morning tea break, with which you have a light snack) or 'afternoon tea', which is a kind of mini-sandwiches and cakes affair, taken with tea (the drink). Confused? I'm not surprised. And there will undoubtedly be people who argue with me in comments below. Take no notice of them. They're just plebs. Lol.

In cities like London always go out understated or under dressed never go out in posh dress because your a target of crime always keep valuables out of sight for the same reason. In all towns or villages there isn't that problem people are friendlier

I love danish people

But the USA invented the self checkout, the CheckRobot. First installed in a Kroger store near Atlanta, Georgia.

If you want to understand what happened to British place names, then you need to watch Map Men, it's also got a lot of British humour. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-uYNzqgU7na4.html

2 Lane check-out is genius.

'erb ... where did all the letters (h) go??

The "C" word is far more common with younger people, very few older 40+ would use it casually as it's still considered offensive.

I'm a blasphemer then. I don't like tea and never have give me coffee anyday.

If someone said to me"can you move" I'd say yeh , but you won't be able to soon if you speak to me like that again

You’re in Manchester, so a bread roll is a Barm. I live in Manchester, but I’m from the South East, so it’s a roll. My ex wife is from Nottinghamshire, where the call it a cob. Aldi and Lidl don’t have self-checkouts

Beautiful girl and beautiful Chanel ❤

Are you in London?

A bit out of the context but your eyes are so pretty

Haha that's uk girls no coat .its.snowing!

I am English, I rarely drink tea, and never with milk.

That coffee lady was being very rude. It’s just a given that you say please in the UK when asking for something, but most Brits wouldn’t be that offended xD

Acclimated? I'd say acclimatised. Is acclimated something I've missed or maybe American?

tbh when it comes up to how girls dress. I dk what it is. Because in my teen years I lived in germany and the Czech Republic. And in the winter it gets REALLY cold. Like -20°C cold. And when I went out partying I dressed "normal". (UK normal) And I was never cold. While all the locals were in their thic ass jackets still freezing their ass of. 🤣😂 Maybe it is in our genes not to freeze that easily. Other example. Grandpas (from the uk) go out in shorts to shovel the snow. Germans always stare like they are looking at a litteral unicorn. 😂🤣

The crime you described- If you are in London that's more of an occurrence than most other places

Mathilde, you're well cute!!