Hello. Do you need help with your listening skills in English? I think you may do. Today,
I'm going to teach you how to improve your listening skills. But it's going to be fun
because you're going to do it when you go shopping. Who likes shopping? Good. Okay.
Shopping. Wow, I'm so excited.
So you're going to go shopping. You're going to improve your listening skills, and -- three
in one today. It's on sale -- you're going to learn how to understand all those native
speakers. So crazy. Don't understand.
So if you go shopping or you actually buy something, you have to go to a cashier. Or
if you're going shopping for food, you're going to go to the checkout. Now, in my city
of Toronto, our lovely government has put a five-cent tax on a simple plastic bag. So
if I want a bag, I now have to pay five cents. Now, you might be thinking to yourself, "Ronnie.
Five cents?" And I say, "Yes. Five cents. One nickel. There's a beaver on it. I'm not
going to give the government five cents. It's my five cents. I will put things in my pocket
and carry it in my shirt before I give someone five cents." Yes. Yes. I am that cheap.
So when you go shopping, especially at a grocery store in Toronto, they're going to ask you
this question. They're going to say, "Doya wanna bag?" "What? Yes. Yes. Sure. I don't
know. Okay." "Jim bag?" "Jim bag? I'm not Jim. What? Hang on. What?" You have no idea
what this person said to you, and they're standing there like -- what's happening? So
I know, probably, automatically, you would say, "Yes." Five cents right out of your pocket
-- gone. Maybe you need five bags. That, ladies and gentlemen, is 25 cents. You get more of
those, that's one dollar. That's a lot of money for Ronnie. So what they really are
saying to you -- but they speak so quickly, and they are native speakers -- is "Do you
want a bag"? Or, "Do you need a bag?" But, of course, they don't say, "Do you need a
bag? Do you want a bag?" They're going to say this, "Doya wanna bag?" "Doya wanna bag?"
Your turn. "Doya wanna bag?" You say, "No. I brought my own bag, thank you." Or they
might use the verb "need". It's the same idea, except instead of saying "wanna", they're
going to say "needa". So they're going to say, "Doya needa bag?" "Doya needa bag?" "Do
you need a bag?" No. They say, "Doya needa bag?" You try. "Doya needa bag?"
So first step is done. Now, at this point, if I were you, I would just want to get out
of the store with my beautiful cupcakes and eat them. But no. They're going to ask you
more questions that you don't know the answer to and hope that you can just buy things on
the Internet. They're going to ask you -- because they're very nosy -- "Do you have airmiles?"
"Do you have an Optimum card?" "Do you have a points cards?" "Do you have a Sobeys card?"
"Do you have a Target card?" "Do you have a Sears card?" "What? What? What?"
So, "do you" -- that you can either say "doya", or really, really fast, "juya". So it's going
to sound like this, "juya". So they might say to you, "Juya have airmiles?" "Juya hav.
Juya hav." So we actually take out the H. You say, "jav".
"Jav airmiles?" Airmiles is a points card -- it has an airplane on it -- that if you
buy enough products at one store or various stores, you can, by some stroke of imagination
and luck -- fly on an airplane for free. I don't have enough points to do this because
I always forget my stupid card. And they say, "Jav airmiles"? And I say, "Yes.
" So they're waiting for me to -- I'm like, "I don't have it here. I do have one, though." So pretty
An "Optimum card" -- there's a really big, huge, supermarket that's actually a drugstore
in Ontario called "Shoppers Drug Mart". It has everything. I understand in most countries
a drugstore only has drugs. Our Shoppers Drug Mart has everything: cosmetics, food, snacks,
cleaning supplies, toilet paper -- everything you want right there, except for drugs. There
are no drugs there. They have something called an "Optimum card". So an optimum card or a
points card or a store card -- for example, if you go shopping at the very wonderful store
of Target -- and I am being sarcastic -- they're going to say, "Java Target card?" It kind
of sounds like this now, "java". "Java airmiles?" "Java Optimum card?" "Java points card?" "Java
Target card?" Most of the time, you're going to say "no". But if you're lucky enough to
have one of these cards, you can earn free points and yay and fantastic. You're going
to have to fill out a form and write out your name and -- it's troublesome. It's troublesome,
but you might be able to get points. So safest bet, "Doya wanna bag?" "No." "Juya have airmiles?"
"No." "Java points cards?" "No. No, no, no." So first two questions, no and no. Yes. We're
almost done shopping. I'm really hungry. I just want to eat what I bought.
The next thing they're going to ask you is, "Crediter debit?" Excuse me? "Crediter debit?"
"Did you just? Huh? No?" "Credit or debit?" Or they're going to say, "Are you going to
use credit or debit?" "Are you going to use credit or debit?" "Here. Take my money. Leave
me alone. I just want to eat these cupcakes." "Credit or debit?" In English, we never bother
to say "or". What we do is we take out this "or", and we say "crediter debit?" This is
a general rule when we put two words together, we never ever ever say the "or". We always
stick ER or -er on the last or the first word. As an example, if maybe it's Friday and you'd
like some fish -- no, sorry. "Fish? What?" Maybe you're on an airplane, and the stewardess
comes with the cart and says, "Chickener beef?" "Chickener? Chickener?" "Chicken or beef.
Chickener beef?" You go, "Chicken?" So when we say this in English, we never say the "or".
We always say "er". So they're going to say, "Credit or debit?" This means are you going
to use a credit card -- like a Visa, a MasterCard, or American Express -- or are you going to
use debit? Now, a debit is a bank card. So maybe you have a bank account -- I hope so.
If you do, send me some money -- and you have a debit card. So they're going to say, "Credit
or debit?" Or, they might use a longer sentence, and they might say, "Are you going to use
credit or debit?" But they say "areya gonna", "areya gonna use","areya gonna use credit
or debit?" Your chance. Try. "Areya gonna use" -- "Areya gonna use credit or debit?"
So then, you go, "No. Just debit card. Card." Done. The other thing -- the easier thing,
if you want to -- is you just wave some cash or some money in front of their face. They
don't even have to ask you. You go,"... cupcakes." The easiest thing is to use cash. I personally
don't ever have cash. I always use a debit card. It's a little bit more difficult. But
I'm lucky I understand these native speakers.
Now, the last bothersome question they will ask you is, "Do you want -- or do you need
a -- or they might say 'the' -- receipt." Now, first of all, the way we say this word
is really crazy. It looks like ree-see-pee-tee. Would you like your ree-see-pee-tee?" But
we actually say the word like this, "re-seat". So they're going to say to you, "Do you need
you want a receipt? Did you need the receipt?" For this one, I guarantee you the best thing
to say for this is, "Oh, yes. Yes, please." So "no, no, debt, yes, please." Smile. Cupcakes.
They're not going to say, "Do you want the receipt" or, "Do you need the receipt?" They're
going to go back to this one. "Doya" or "java". No. They wouldn't say "java". They would say
"doya". Okay? So "do you want" -- like this one, you would say, "doya wanna", "Doya wanna
receipt?" "Doya needa receipt?" So it's just like the very first question, "doya wanna"
"the", they're going to say, "doya wanda", "doya wanda receipt".
It depends on if it's "a receipt" or "the receipt". It's all articles. "Doya wanna receipt?"
"Doya needa receipt?" "Doya wanda receipt?" "Doya needa receipt?" So this one is going
to sound like "needa", "Do you needa receipt?"
Did you like shopping? I hate it. But it is necessary. My hobby is going to supermarkets.
So I actually like grocery shopping. But sometimes, it's very annoying and inconvenient when I
just want to get out of the supermarket and eat my cupcakes or whatever I bought. And
the cashier asks me these crazy questions. "No, no, debit, yes, thank you. Bye." Please
say "thank you" at the end of all the transactions. It makes the person working have a better
day. And if you don't understand what someone has asked you, try not to get angry -- advice.
Just ask them to repeat it. But "yes, yes, no, no, no, yes" works well.