I tend to make the claim in class that no native speaker usually speaks English like you’re required to speak in a C2 exam. Probably, this is the realm of academic language, the news, literature, and royalty, perhaps. Fair enough. But what can you do to sound more ‘C2-ish’?

(This is very much a work in progress. Further tips will be added)

  1. Instead of saying ‘I don’t’ /’she didn’t’…..–>use ‘fail to‘ instead.

For example:

  • I don’t understand—>I fail to understand
  • She didn’t explain—>She failed to explain
  • You don’t understand/realise–>You fail to understand/realise…
Source

2. Linguistic politeness:

You could make simple requests by saying ‘Can you’ or ‘ Could I? and that would sound polite enough to the Spanish ear. I’m sorry to say, however, that you can sound even more polite (as if to emphasise that you know that yours is too big an imposition). Start instead by saying ‘I was (just) wondering if I could…’.

 
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Another politeness strategy you can use is: when making a request or asking for information, instead of asking ‘Do you have …?’ or ‘Do you know…?’ , you can ask ‘Do you happen to have…?‘ or ‘Do you happen to know…?‘. That way, you are somehow trying to reduce the imposition of your question.

3. Use a word my students ‘love’: fathom.

Watch this clip from ‘The Undoing‘ (2020). The lives of the character played by Nicole Kidman and her son have been shaken by a tragic event (no spoilers). [Context: this is an extremely affluent family, from an upper-class background and education].

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I cannot fathom how you are bearing up through all of this. [“I can’t truly understand” or “I can’t even imagine”]

More examples:

I can only begin to fathom (how you feel/what you are thinking/…)

4. You seem to have…

Instead of making very blunt, straight-forward assertions, such as ‘You have lost weight’, or ‘He has missed his train’, you can say 

  • ‘You seem to have lost weight’
  • ‘He seems to have missed his train’

You can watch this clip from Good Omens, where linguistic politeness is illustrated very clearly: 

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5. Rather than ‘several’, use ‘ a number of‘

  • several ways–>a number of ways (You can do so in a number of ways)
  • several years —>a number of years (I lived there for a number of years)
  • several times—>a number of times (I told my teachers about this a number of times)

You can watch some examples of use here: 

6. Tend to (avoid generalisations) 

It is best to try and avoid over-generalisations. Claims such as ‘Teenagers do not read books anymore‘ might be too bold for the English ear (and possibly not true). Try instead something like ‘Teenagers tend not to read books anymore‘, ‘Teenagers do not seem to read books anymore‘, or ‘Most teenagers do not seem to read books anymore‘. 

Other examples: 

  • Spanish people crave socialisation—>Spanish people tend to crave socialisation [Not every Spaniard needs or even enjoys it]
  • Students thoroughly enjoy video games—>Students tend to enjoy video games [Again, not every student is keen on video games]

7. Use alternative ways to express frequency: 

  • From time to time; occasionally—> every now and then/every now and again/once in a while/every once in a while (Some people need a rest every now and again)
  • Usually, most of the time—>more often than not (Food is scarce and more often than not they go hungry)

You may also like: expressions to improve your speaking

(Updated 18th Jan 2024)