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Speaker 1: Seems like these days a lot of folks are busy

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and even stressed. How about you? Have you ever wanted

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to describe your situation or feeling with something more conversational

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than I'm very busy or I'm stressed. I'm glad you

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said yes. In fact, Native speakers usually have a few

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other ways to talk about stress and being busy that

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sound more natural and more conversational. We often explain why

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we're busy, or we soften what we say so we

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don't sound so dramatic. And that's what I want to

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help you with today, talking about stress and being busy

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naturally in English.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to another Happy English podcast, coming to you from

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New York City, and here's your English teacher, Michael.

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Speaker 1: All right, thank you John In Thanks everyone. It's Michael

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here from Happy English and I help people speak English better.

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And this is Happy English Podcast, Episode nine to eighty two,

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Naturally talking about stress and being busy. Today, we're going

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to look at some very common every day phrases Native

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Speakers use to talk about being busy, stressed, or overloaded

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without sounding too dramatic or complaining too much. Let's start

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with the most basic word busy. Busy just means you

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have a lot to do. It doesn't always mean you're stressed.

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Like you might say, sorry for the slow reply, I've

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been busy this week with meetings and reports, or I

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can't grab lunch today, I'm busy catch up on work

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I missed yesterday. You could also say this month has

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been busy because I'm getting ready to move to a

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new house. Busy is safe and polite, and you'll hear

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it all the time in daily conversation. Now, Native speakers

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often soften the words busy or stressed by adding phrases

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like a bit, kind of, or pretty. So instead of

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saying I'm busy, you might say I have a lot

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going on at school so I've been a bit busy lately,

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or I've been pretty stressed these days because my kids'

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school schedule just changed. You might also hear I'm kind

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of stressed right now. I have a presentation to do

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later today and a deadline to meet tomorrow. Even when

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people are very stressed, they often soften their language like

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this in conversation. To be honest, I think that when

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you're stressed, you're stressed. Saying I'm a bit stressed doesn't

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mean just a little. It's a softer, indirect way to speak. Next,

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let's talk about the phrase I have a lot on

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my plate. This is a very common way to say

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you're busy with responsibilities or tasks, like I'd love to

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help you this week, but I have a lot on

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my plate with work and family stuff. Or Jenny has

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a lot on her plate right now she's moving in

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starting a new job. This phrase sounds honest and very natural. Now,

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let's move on to some phrases that sound a little stronger.

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One of those is under a lot of pressure. When

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someone is under a lot of pressure, there are deadlines, expectations,

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or responsibility, like I'm under a lot of pressure at

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work because the project has to be finished by Friday.

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Or Jack's under a lot of pressure since he just

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became the team leader and everyone is watching him. Or

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Donna is under a lot of pressure right now. If

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this deal doesn't go through, the company could lose money.

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This phrase sounds serious but still professional, and it's pretty

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common in work situations. Another very common word is swamped.

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Swamped means you have too much to do, usually for

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a short period of time, like the company president is

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coming to visit on Wednesday, so we're completely swamped at

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the office right now, or final exams are coming soon,

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so the students are swamped with homework and studying. You

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might also hear where's swamp this week because two people

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are out sick. A slightly stronger word is slammed. Slammed

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often describes a short, intense period of work. For example,

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I didn't even have time for lunch today. I've been

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slammed since this morning, or the restaurant was slammed last

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night because it's a holiday weekend. Here's another work example,

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customer support has been slammed ever since the new project launched.

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Slammed is very common in spoken English. You'll also hear

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people say things like I've got a lot going on

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right now. This is also very natural and very flexible.

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For example, I've been a little quiet lately because I've

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got a lot going on at home. Or she's not

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ignoring you, she just has a lot going on right now.

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If a friend asks about your weekend plans, you can say, hah,

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I can't even think about that today. I've got a

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lot going on. Using I've got a lot going on

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is great when you're super busy, but you don't want

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to explain all the details. Another soft natural phrase is

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trying to keep up. Basically, the phrase keep up means

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to stay at the same level or speed as something else,

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and we often use it like this, there's been so

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much work lately, I'm just trying to keep up, or

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with all these changes at the office, everyone is trying

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to keep up. You might also say between work and family,

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I'm doing my best to keep up. So let's put

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this all together. We use busy for neutral situations, and

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we often soften the words busy and stressed with phrases

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like a bit busy or pretty stressed. We say I

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have a lot on my plate when we're dealing with

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many responsibilities. We use under a lot of pressure when

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there are expectations about us. And we use swamped or

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slammed for short periods when there's just too much to do.

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And then I've got a lot going on right now. Again,

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it's great when you're busy, but you don't really want

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to explain all the details. Using these phrases will make

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your English sound more natural and more conversational, so try

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one or two of them out this week. That's how

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you build fluency and keep in mind the best way

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to remember English like this and any other word or

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phrase in English, is to take that word or phrase,

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write it in a sentence that's true for you or

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true in your world, and then memorize your sentences. Hey,

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thanks for listening, and remember learning another language is not easy,

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but it's not impossible, and I'm here to help you

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on your journey.

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Speaker 2: This podcast was brought to you by Happy English. Please

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visit Myhappy English dot com. Show your support for Happy

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English by leaving us a review. Get English, Get Happy,

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