The English We Speak: Feel seen

Learning English Conversations

BBC

Education, Language Learning

4.6 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 6 May 2025

⏱️ 3 minutes

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Summary

An expression meaning your experiences or feelings are represented. Learn it here.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to the English We Speak, where we explain phrases used by fluent English speakers so that you can use them as well.
0:08.9	I'm Faye Faye and I'm here with Beth. How are you doing?
0:12.0	Hi, Faye, I'm great, thanks.
0:14.2	I actually went to see a comedian last night and she was talking about having a really long coffee order and feeling awkward about it.
0:23.1	I felt so seen. I have a really long coffee order. Oh really? Now I want to know your coffee order.
0:30.6	Okay. Are you ready? It's a soyamilk, sugar-free caramel flat white with two shots of decaf.
0:37.1	Oh wow. that is long.
0:38.8	So the comedian wasn't talking about you specifically, but you felt seen.
0:43.9	That means you felt understood.
0:46.2	The comedian was talking about an experience you can relate to.
0:50.1	Yes.
0:50.7	If you feel seen, you feel represented.
0:53.6	And it can be used in a jokey way, like with my coffee order, but it can also be used more seriously, like when people see themselves represented in a book or film, for example.
1:04.5	Yes. A lot of this is about inclusion. I was listening to the radio this morning and one of the presenters said that
1:11.4	she has two young children at home and every morning she has to, you know, get them up,
1:17.3	get them dressed. So she feels like she has lived 100 lives before she even leaves her front
1:24.3	door. And I felt really seen. Yeah, I can imagine. One of my friends is in a wheelchair.
1:30.5	And when she sees someone on TV that is in a wheelchair, she says that it really makes her feel seen.
1:36.7	So again, it's an experience that she can relate to. It's about feeling included.
1:41.7	Let's hear some more examples of feel seen.
1:56.8	So I'm a bit weird and I put orange juice on my cereal and when my friend said that she did the same thing, I felt so seen.
2:03.3	I think it's great when you're watching TV and you see somewhere that looks like where you live.
	...

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