Yang Li and Dan look at the different names for shops in America and Britain in the fourth of our programmes focussing on American vocabulary.

The first one looked at food and drink; the second one at clothes; and the third one at items around the house.

This week listen to our guests Daniel and Rogan compare vocubulary from the two countries.

Do you know which of these words are American and which ones you'd hear in the UK?

main street and high street

Sweets or candy?

movie theatre and cinema

newspaper store and newsagents

pharmacist and chemist

barber shop and hairdresser

candy store and sweet shop

sales clerk and shop assistant

Listen to the programme to find out.

If you have a question you would like to ask our team, email us at questions.chinaelt@bbc.co.uk.

We might make a programme about your question.

American English Words: Business complex:  美国英语词语： 商铺  
 
Insert
 
Li: So where can you go to get medicine?
 
Rogan:  OK,  yeah,  well  if  you  need  to  get medicine  you  get  a  prescription  from  your doctor and you go to the pharmacy and…
 
Daniel: Are you sure it's not the Chemist?
 
Rogan: The chemist is experiments in a laboratory. 
 
Daniel:  I  think not,  the chemist  is down  the  road and  I  can go and get my antibiotics from there. 
 
Li: See, here we see  the difference between a British person and an American person. How about if you go to have a haircut – where do you go?
 
Rogan: You go to the barber shop. 
 
Daniel: No no; you go to the hairdressers.
 
Yang Li:  The barber shop or the hairdressers?
 
Dan:  The pharmacy or the chemist?
 
Yang Li:  That's part of a discussion I had with Rogan and Daniel. 
 
Dan:  They both speak English but  they don't agree with each other on certain words.
 
Yang Li:  Words  such  as 药店和理发店。大家好我是杨莉，欢迎收听你问我答节目，今天我的搭档是 Dan. Hi Dan.
 
Dan:  Hi Li.  I understand  that you've done  three programmes  in  this series. So this is the fourth programme on American English words? 
 
Yang Li:  That's right I am sure Simon would be very pleased that we have made a series based on his request:
 
Page 2 of 4
 
 Insert
 
Hi BBC, I like your Question and Answer programme. I have a question  too; Americans use different words from the British such as eggplant and aubergine, or fall and autumn. Could you make a summary? Thanks. 
 
Dan:   In the fourth programme of American English words we'll explore terms of address relating to business complexes. 
 
Yang Li:  对商铺的不同称呼。
 
Dan:  Rogan is an American student on holiday in the UK, whereas Daniel is back in the UK from the States for work experience. 
 
Yang Li:  I  had  a  chance  to  talk  to  both Rogan  and Daniel. As  you  listen  can you single out the words that you think are American words?
 
Insert
 
Li: Rogan, have you had any difficulties communicating with people in Britain? 
 
Rogan: Well, yeah, actually, I was supposed to meet Daniel after his work at Santander bank.  I  had  trouble,  I  got  turned  around  on  the main  street,  and  I  couldn't  find  the building. And so I asked a number of people – a police officer, an ambulance driver – and then I asked a couple of people on the street, but they couldn't understand me and then they sent me to different locations. 
 
Li: Did you do any shopping?
 
Rogan:  Oh, I went  to  the candy store  to  find some souvenirs  for my mum, because I promised  her  I'd  bring  some  things  home.  They  don't  have  candy  stores  like  that  in America, that have so many international candies. So they had chocolates from Germany and Switzerland and all sorts of things and it was really nice.
 
Dan:  I've  just noted down a  few words that are American,  for example, on the main street, the candy store and candies.
 
Yang Li:  Dan 指出三个单词 main  street 商业街；  candy store 糖果店，还有  candies 糖果。 How would you say them in British English Dan? 
 
Dan:  Well over here we'd say high street, the sweet shop and sweets.
 
Yang Li:  接下去的对话中 Rogan 和 Daniel 有更多的分歧。
 
Insert
 
Li: If you are  looking  for something  in a shop, and you couldn't find  it, who do you ask for help?
 
Rogan: You usually ask the sales clerk. The sales clerk will help you.
 
Page 3 of 4
 
Daniel: Well good luck finding a sales clerk in England 'cos they're called shop assistants, and they assist you with your shopping. 
 
Li: Do you like to see films?
 
Rogan: Yeah, yeah, I love to see movies. We don't really call them films that often. Films is kind of more a proper way to say it. And yeah, I go to the movie theatre all the time. 
 
Li: Daniel, how about you?
 
Daniel: Yeah, I go to the cinema quite often, yeah I do go to the cinema, to watch films.
 
Dan:  Now  I  can  see  there are more differences here: people working  in shops are generally referred to as shop assistants in the UK.
 
Yang Li:  That's  right. 美国英语把商店服务员称为  sales  clerk 而在英式英语中则是  shop assistant. 
 
Dan:  Then of course  in  the UK we always go  the cinema  to see  films, not  to a movie theatre to see movies. 
 
Yang Li:  美国人去电影院看个电影是 go to the movie theatre to see a movie 而英式英语中的电影院是 cinema, 电影是 film.
 
Dan:    As  Rogan  said,  film  is more  proper  or more  formal  so  they  tend  to  use movies instead.
 
Yang Li:  Dan would you say that in the UK here people would be able to understand and work out what all these American words mean?
 
Dan:  I think so; I would reckon that there might be some confusion at first but usually everyone can make themselves understood.
 
Yang Li:  Thanks  Dan  for  co-presenting  the  programme  with  me;  I  thoroughly enjoyed it. 
 
Dan:  Li, it's an absolute pleasure. 
 
Yang Li:  Now we're going to leave you with a recap of the American English words from my discussion with Rogan and Daniel.
 
Dan:  Enjoy and bye bye.
 
Insert
 
Rogan:  Main street
 
Daniel :  High street
 
Rogan:  Movie theatre 
 
Page 4 of 4
 
Daniel:  Cinema
 
Rogan:  Newspaper store
 
Daniel:  Newsagents
 
Rogan:  Pharmacist
 
Daniel:  Chemist
 
Rogan:  Barber shop
 
Daniel:  Hairdresser
 
Rogan:  Candy store
 
Daniel:  Sweet shop
 
Rogan:  Sales clerk
 
Daniel:  Shop assistant