Frustrating

Hello,

Not sure what "r8" means but I guess (as you said) it means "right" or (alright).

A lot of people here in England will not say "Hello" or "Hi", there is a lot of variations depending of where in the UK there are from. In my area we would say "Alright mate?" "You alright?" (which mean "Hello, How are you").
He is probably saying "alright" but because of his accent you don't hear the first bit or maybe in Sheffield it's cut short to "right".

Is it not at all arrogant, it's just like saying "hello , how are you" but really with him being in another country he should make an effort to use the same type of greeting as you use because it can cause confusion. You should explain to him that people don't understand what he says when he uses slang.

hope this helps.

Thanks so much Yeah I thought it was something like that, I know he's not being rude when he says it but I can tell some other people do. If he keeps doing it on a regular basis I will say something, but really he's only been here a few months so i'm not going to put too much pressure on him

Thanks again!