Speak English: How to Ask for Directions and Understand the Answer

Описание: Ask for directions in English AND understand the answers you hear! If you are travelling in an English-speaking city, this will help you use simple English phrases for everyday conversation and English travel phrases for beginners. You will learn how to ask for directions in English politely and clearly, using expressions such as “Excuse me, could you tell me how to get to…?” and other polite English expressions for asking for help in real situations.

Native speakers often use quick, everyday phrases when giving directions, so I explain the common expressions you will hear, including “go straight on”, “turn left”, “turn right”, “go through the park”, “go across the square”, and “cross the road”. These are essential English phrases for navigating a city, and very useful English vocabulary for streets and navigation. I also look at phrases such as “it’s opposite the station”, “it’s next to the post office”, and “it’s a ten-minute walk from here”, which are typical phrases native speakers use when giving directions.

This lesson will improve your English listening practice for travel and directions and help you understand English speakers in real situations, especially when you are visiting a new city or town. It is also helpful English for tourists and travellers who want to feel more confident when they do not have a map or phone. If you’re in London, your phone is likely to be stolen – then what are you going to do?

After watching, you can take the quiz on EngVid to review everything you’ve learned and continue building essential English for travel situations. I hope you enjoy the lesson and find it useful. https://www.engvid.com/easy-everyday-...

In this lesson:
0:00 How to ask for and give directions in English
0:57 Excuse me...
1:20 Could you tell me how to get to...
1:42 Could you tell me where the nearest...
2:01 How do I get to _______ from here?
3:28 Go along this street...
3:45 Keep straight on...
3:54 Go through...
4:53 Cross the road.
6:05 Turn left/right.
6:31 It's the second turning on the...
6:59 It's opposite/next to...
7:46 It's a ___ minute walk from here.

TRANSCRIPT:
Hello. I'm Gill at engVid, and today's lesson is about giving directions and asking for
directions. Okay? If you're in a new place you haven't visited before, if you don't have
a map, if you don't have a smartphone to find your way, if you want to just ask somebody
or if you feel like talking to somebody anyway, just for human contact, or if you're wanting
to practice your English in an English city or town, and you want to practice asking directions,
this is a good way of doing that.
So, okay, first of all, on the left here we have different ways of asking for directions.
So, it's a good idea to start... If you're approaching someone in the street, you have
to be a bit careful, and you might from a distance say, "Excuse me", a polite way of
getting their attention without making them feel threatened in any way. "Excuse me, could
you tell me how to get to maybe the nearest bank?" Something like that. Or, "to get to
the station, could you tell me how to get to...?" And "please", "please" is always a
good word to include. Right? Or, "could you tell me where the nearest bank is or the nearest
station, the nearest post office is, please?" Again, "please" is always good. Or you could
just say, "How do I get to the park from here? How do I get to a bank from here?" Or
if it's a particular place like an art gallery, "How do I get to the National Gallery from
here?" That sort of thing. Okay? So, in... Where the dots are, you just put in the specific
place that you're looking for.
So, moving on to giving directions, this is probably going to be where you have asked
for directions in English, and then a native... Possibly a native English speaker will be
giving you an answer, telling you how to get somewhere. So, you need to be able to understand
what they're saying, and unless they happen to be someone like me who teaches English
as a foreign language, they will just speak in their normal way. They may speak quite
quickly, they may have an accent of some kind that makes it a little bit difficult to...
To follow what they're saying. So, you have to be ready to understand the kinds of phrases
that they might use. So, they might say, "Go along this street." So, that means, you know,
"Keep walking along here. Don't cross the road or anything. Just stay on this side of
the street. Stay on this pavement and keep walking. Keep straight on. Keep straight.
Go ahead in this direction." Okay? […]