Australian Colloquialisms

Even if you have a good command of the English language the Australian accent and use of slang and colloquialisms can make understanding a good many Australians difficult.

A part of communication in the Australian workplace is the use of slang or colloquialisms.

The use of slang can be varied depending on the workplace. In a place of manual work slang may be more widely used, as opposed to say an office setting.

There are so many forms of slang and colloquialisms used in Australia it absolutely impossible to list them here. There is rhyming slang, “my china plate” (my mate). There is the condensing of words or phrases, “Do you wanna” (do you want to). Grammar and pronunciation can be mixed, “Where’s me car?” (where is my car?)
There are phrases used that seem to make no sense or have any bearing on the topic at hand. “No worries”, “I reckon”, “She’ll be right” and “I’ll give it a go” are some of these more widely used phrases.

There have been books written to help you decipher some of this mysterious language and there are websites available. If you don’t understand, the best rule however, is to ask the speaker to explain. Most Australians will realise you are having trouble understanding what they mean and they will be happy to rephrase for you so that you do.