Travel English Understanding Directions 5 Advanced Expressions

hi i’m vanessa from speak english with

vanessa calm how can I get their help

let’s talk about it welcome to the fifth

video in the travel Survival Series so

far we’ve talked about a lot of common

situations that you’re probably going to

encounter when you travel especially to

an english-speaking country so if you

want to really remember all of these

expressions and review them it’s great

to watch the videos but I recommend

downloading my free gift to you it’s a

PDF guide travel Survival Guide it uses

all of the expressions from this series

you can download it print it out keep it

on your phone review it whenever you get

a chance you can download this in the

description below this video or at the

top here it’s for you let’s start with

today’s topic take a look at this video

and try to guess which situation which

travel situation are we going to talk

about in this video what do you think

you can sit today’s topic is asking and

giving directions if you did that is

correct we’re going to be talking about

a couple different ways to ask and give

directions so today’s lesson is useful

if you’re traveling or if you meet a

traveler in your city if you meet

someone who’s lost and needs to find a

specific place and they speak English

what are you going to say you need to be

able to use correct direction giving

expressions so that’s what we’re going

to focus on five different ways to give

directions let’s imagine that you’re

trying to go to a beautiful Botanical

Garden but you’re kind of lost so you

might ask someone do you know how to get

to the Botanical Garden you can use our

magic phrase that we’ve talked about

through this series excuse me I don’t

want to bother you but do you know how

to get to the Botanical Garden and they

might say yes go straight and then turn

left at the big intersection or just

keep going straight and then go left at

the big intersection did you notice that

in these directions they didn’t just say

go straight turn left turn right there

are some more natural expressions keep

going straight or go straight ahead and

then go right these are not as clear as

your elementary school textbooks but you

can still listen for those key words in

our second situation you’re trying to

find the tourist information center

great you’re going to find a lot of

useful information for tourists but you

gotta find it first so you might ask

someone where can I find the tourist

information center and they could say oh

it’s across the street from the

McDonald’s up there

it’s across the street from the

McDonald’s up there do you notice that

with these two so far the first one and

then this one people are using landmarks

the intersection the McDonald

oftentimes people don’t use street names

thankfully because as a tourist you

won’t probably know the street name but

they’re going to use landmarks it’s

across the street from that McDonald’s

great go ahead look for the McDonald’s

and then go across the street in our

third situation you’re trying to find

your hotel so you could ask someone uh I

thought that the Hilton Hotel was on

this road but I think I’m on the wrong

Street do you know where it is and they

might say oh yeah just go back one block

and turn left at the light just go back

one block one block is an American

English expression and it means one

street go back one block and turn left

at the light excellent this way you can

use expressions like blocks and it’s

commonly used in the u.s. to talk about

one street to the next street let’s

imagine that you’re walking around your

hometown and you see some tourists who

are lost they’re looking at their map

their map is upside down

they look really confused and they start

walking towards you and your heart

starts beating fast because you know

you’re going to have to give them

directions in English and then they say

to you I’m trying to get to this train

station am I on the right Road well you

could say to them yeah but it’s a long

way to walk you can catch the bus here

in five minutes that means that the bus

is going to come in five minutes and

you’ll get to the train station much

faster they could say or you could say

to them yeah but it’s a long way to walk

you’re on the right Road but it’s a long

way it’s far away it’s a long way to

walk so maybe you can catch the bus here

in five minutes I know when I’ve been

traveling different places sometimes

catching the bus is a little complicated

so when local people have helped me with

the bus system I feel so relieved and

just so grateful that strangers would

take time to help help someone who they

don’t even know so if you help someone

in your city to find the bus find the

train station find something they will

be really grateful in the 5th situation

let’s imagine again you finished work

you’re walking home and you see the same

tourists and they look lost again maybe

they need to get a better map well they

lost you again with a big smile because

they’re so glad that they found the same

friendly local person to help them so

they asked you how can I get to the

center of town how can I get to the

center of town maybe the center of town

is a little far away but it’s probably

faster to walk and take the bus so you

need to give a little more complicated

directions some of the best ways to give

directions like I mentioned is by using

landmarks so you could say Oh at the

third light the third light flashing

lights or stoplight at the third light

turn right and you’ll see a big statue

of a horse that’s downtown great they’ll

go three lights or three blocks probably

go three lights and turn right you’ll

see a big horse statue and that’s

downtown whoo you did it you gave

directions successfully twice so now I

have a question for you because I want

you to practice giving directions let’s

imagine that you are at work or you’re

at your favorite restaurant and you want

to explain to someone how to get to your

house well how would you give them

directions what is a good clear way to

give directions feel free to write in

the comments below use the expressions

from today’s lesson use them from the

PDF guide so that you can remember them

and use them in different ways as well

there’s a

to be mixed up and to be used in

flexible ways because that’s language

thanks so much for learning with me and

I’ll see you the next time bye

the next step is to download the free

guide travel survival tips I want to

help you master these expressions and

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lessons thanks so much for learning with

me bye