Name: Uncomfortable Questions and How You Should Deal with Them in English
Uploaded: 2024-10-15T21:01:10.000Z
Duration: 9 min 40 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Hi, my name is Anne Marie with Speak Confident English and this week we are

To-infinitive

going to talk about those questions like: so why aren't you married yet?

Past simple

And why don't you have any kids? What happened with your divorce?

If you've ever had to deal with an uncomfortable awkward or intrusive question,

then in today's video we're going to talk about how to deal

with those questions politely in English.

One of the biggest difficulties when speaking another language is how to

answer or deal with uncomfortable questions. Now honestly when someone asks

you a question that really isn't polite or appropriate, they know it.

They know that it's nosy and that they shouldn't ask it.

In fact, in English we often use phrases like

I know I shouldn't ask this but why don't you have kids?

I hope you don't mind me asking but what happened in your divorce?

they know they're asking a question that isn't polite.

The challenge is how do you respond and this is why it's difficult.

In your native language you totally know what to say.

You could make some kind of joke or say something like

hey that's none of your business! Which we do say in English.

But when you're doing it in a second language

you're not so comfortable about making the jokes and

you might feel really embarrassed in the situation, you're surprised by the question

and honestly you just don't know what to do.

You want to change the topic or answer the right away but it doesn't make you feel comfortable.

But in today's Confident English lesson you'll have several

strategies that you can use to politely and kindly deal with those questions in

a way where both of you can leave the conversation and feel happy or you can

continue the conversation on a totally different subject. But first there's one thing

you need to know and that is you don't have to answer an uncomfortable or awkward question!

If someone asks you something and you don't feel very good about it,

So let's talk about some ways that you can deal with that situation.

Strategy number one: play at their own game.

Now I only recommend this strategy if you're talking to someone that

you know well and you see them regularly and you can control your intonation in English.

I actually have a fantastic lesson on that and

I'll be sure to include a link at the bottom of this lesson below the video.

you are repeating a really difficult or uncomfortable question back to them and

you might say something like well how much do you weigh or

before I answer that question you tell me why don't you have kids.

you need to make sure that your intonation doesn't sound angry or upset.

You want it to be a little bit playful and light. So again you need to

be in control of that intonation and I recommend that it's with someone that

you see regularly or you know well—maybe it's a neighbor or someone that you work with.

Now if you're not comfortable playing with the language and asking an

inappropriate or uncomfortable question back, then here are four other strategies

that are really simple and polite to use.

First, simply address it politely and you can say something like:

I'm sorry I really don't want to answer that.

You know I'd rather not talk about that or you know I'd rather not talk about that here

maybe we can go to lunch sometime and talk about it.

And finally, I'm not really comfortable answering that. All of those examples are

perfectly polite and it's a great response to an uncomfortable question

and then you can immediately end the conversation if you want or ask a

different question and change the subject.

Now number two: you could be much more direct,

and this might be better if someone asks a particularly nosy or intrusive question,

For example: That's really personal I'm not going to answer that.

Or that question makes me really uncomfortable I'm not answering it.

I'm gonna pretend you didn't just ask me that.

Where I come from I was taught not to ask those kinds of questions.

As I said, those are much more direct, but it does let the person know that

what they asked wasn't okay and again you don't have to answer it if you don't want to.

Now let's imagine that someone continues to ask you this uncomfortable question

they won't let you say no, they won't let you push the question away, then it might

be appropriate to call them out. In other words you are directly letting them know

For example: I can't believe you're asking me that. It's really not appropriate.

It's not okay to ask that kind of question.

That's a really rude question. Or finally, you could even just ask them

why they need to know—why do you need to know that? Why are you asking me?

And the truth is, there isn't a reason why. They don't need to know.

The final strategy you can use is to brush it off like a joke.

You can laugh a little bit, make a joke out of it

and then continue the conversation without answering the question.

This strategy again is all about your intonation

so if you remember that very first strategy where we talked about

asking an inappropriate question back, just like that we really need to control your intonation.

You want your voice to be light and friendly, polite as you make a joke

Some common phrases that we use to make a joke out of inappropriate questions

are things like: That's for me to know and you to find out.

Why don't I just give you my diary? My lips are sealed, my lips are sealed.

I'm afraid I'm gonna have to leave you in suspense on that one forever.

Now in today's video I've given you those five strategies of

how to deal with uncomfortable questions, and I shared with you

some of the common expressions and phrases that native speakers say,

things that I say when someone asks me a question I don't want to answer

but the truth is there are so many options and in the online lesson today I've included

many more examples, so I recommend that you go to the online lesson and review

those other examples. The best way to really get comfortable and be prepared

for how to deal with an uncomfortable question is to review the online lesson