Complimenting Brits

This week, Yang Li and William answer Jessica’s interesting question. When is it appropriate to compliment someone on their looks and how should you do it?

William tries to answer Jessica by complimenting a colleague at the BBC. She doesn’t react how you might expect. In fact, some British people don’t like receiving this kind of compliment.

As we shall see, giving and receiving praise is something that varies from culture to culture.

British people don't find it easy to receive compliments

So exactly how do Brits feel when you compliment them on their looks? What things can you say to make them feel good about themselves, and what things shouldn’t you say? Listen to the programme to find out.

If you have a question about British culture for the BBC Learning English China Team, email us at chinaelt@bbc.co.uk and we might answer it in this programme.