In this video, Vicky talks about the ways that Spanish and English footballers have influenced each other. 

The verb to influence in this question means to change how people act and think. We normally use the verb to influence to talk more about cultural changes more than political changes. When people are influenced to change, they are normally happy to change.

We can also use the word influence as a noun to talk about the change that has happened. Spanish players and managers have had a big influence on football in the UK.

Thanks to the internet and global trade, countries and cultures are more connected than ever and this means that there are signs of influence in culture, food, music, art, fashion and many other aspects of life.

Here are five ways that you can talk about different influences on your country:

African and Caribbean music has had a profound impact on British culture

The noun impact, when used to describe a change, can be used with the verbs make and have. Both make an impact and have an impact mean to significantly change something, but the phrase make an impact implies that the change was deliberate; that is, it was done on purpose. 

For example, the Premier League’s kick it out campaign to tackle racism has made an impact in clubs up and down the country. The campaign was designed to tackle racism in football. 

However, it would be better to say: Pep Guardiola has had a big impact on a lot of coaches. It was not his intention to change coaches and players, he wanted to make his club successful, but in doing so, he has changed the way lots of coaches approach matches.

Notice the use of the present perfect. We often use the present perfect in phrases about impact if the changes that have happened are still present. For more information about the present perfect, take a look at the page for the Premier Skills English podcast on the present perfect.

British culture has been influenced by historical and modern migration

If you are talking about things that have influenced you or your country. The most obvious place to start is the word influence. In this phrase, I used the passive form. This is because the sentence is about Britain, but the agent of the action (the subject of the verb influence) is not Britain; it is historical and modern migration.

Influence is similar to having an impact; traditionally, influence is not deliberate. So, if an artist creates some art, perhaps a piece of music or a film, if it is really popular, other artists will try to copy and recreate some of the elements. The new works or art are influenced by what the artist was trying to copy. This is really easy to see in films. Daniel Craig’s portrayal of James Bond came after the Jason Bourne films and you can see how the new Bond films were influenced by the style of the Jason Bourne films.

More recently, the word influence has been adopted by people who use an online fan base to persuade people to buy something. These people are called influencers. In this new sense of the word, the verb to influence is active.

Drinking tea was brought to the UK by a Portuguese princess.

When talking about cultural changes, we sometimes say where a new cultural trend was adopted from or the person or people that introduced that cultural trend.

It’s rare that an individual introduces something that completely takes over a country, but historically, there are some famous examples. For example, Sir Walter Raleigh, the Elizabethan explorer and writer brought potatoes and tobacco to the UK after travelling to North America.

Much of this influence comes from South Korean food.

The word influence can be used as a noun and it means the change that has happened.
It is quite common to say where the influence comes from. So in music, there are lots of trends. In the 1990s, rock music changed because of a style of rock that originated in Seattle in the USA. Nirvana were the most influential of the bands of that period and so you can hear elements of their style in lots of music that came after them and if you wanted to talk about the change, you could say that the influence comes from Nirvana or grunge music. I think there are lots of influential artists and you can talk about their impact when discussing the music that came after them by saying that the influence came from their music.

In the UK, we have adopted food, music, art and language from all over the world. 

The most common use of adopt means to look after and take legal responsibility for a child when you are not that child’s parent. So in cultural terms, it means to appreciate a new style of something or a cultural practice and start doing or cooking or singing, using that new style so fully that you feel like it is yours. I read in the news recently that the drink Guinness, which is a famous type of Irish beer, is really popular in Nigeria. In fact, it’s so popular in Nigeria that the Nigerians drink more Guinness than the Irish do. When the beer is brewed in Nigeria, the recipe is slightly different, I think a more traditional recipe than is used in Ireland and so you can say that Nigerians have adopted Guinness.

Your turn

Imagine you were like Vicky and living in the UK. 

What cultural practices from your country have had an influence on the UK? 

What cultural practices from the UK have had an influence on your country?

Let us know in the comments below.