Matching register — speaking as formally as the speaker does

Register is how formal or casual someone sounds. In CCL dialogues the English speaker is usually a professional — a GP, a real estate agent, a case worker — and the other speaker is a member of the public. Each has a natural level of formality, and your interpretation should keep it.

NAATI lists register under quality of language, so getting it wrong costs marks even when the facts are right.

What it sounds like

Take an agent saying: “Would you mind bringing in your payslips when you next come in?”

A rendering that keeps the facts but drops the politeness — “Bring your payslips next time” — changes the relationship. The agent sounds rude. The reverse happens too: interpreting a client’s casual “yeah, that’s fine” as a stiff, formal acceptance makes them sound like someone else.

Languages with built-in politeness

Many CCL languages mark formality in grammar, not just word choice. In Nepali, the choice between तँ, तिमी, तपाईं and हजुर signals the relationship between speakers, and verb endings follow. A professional addressing a client would normally use तपाईं. Slipping into तिमी changes the tone of the whole conversation.

If your language works like this, decide the pronoun level for each speaker at the start of the dialogue and keep it. Switching halfway through is a common error.

How to practise it

• Listen for the cues in English: “would you mind”, “I’m afraid”, “if that’s alright”. These are signals to soften your rendering.
• Copy the tone, not the words. Politeness in English often comes from indirect phrasing. Your language may express it through honorifics or verb forms instead.
• Check it in playback. When you compare your recording with the model answer, listen to the tone separately from the content. Did you sound like the speaker?

Register is easy to overlook because the facts feel more important. Fixing it is also one of the quickest ways to pick up marks.