Thinking in English

Jason Fried, in his TED talk Why Work Doesn't Happen at Work (posted below), compares doing serious work to sleeping, in the sense that interruptions make both activities very difficult. He talks about sleep phases or stages, and how you have to pass through them in order to get to the deepest and most valuable sleep.

Thinking about this over the weekend, I realized that thinking in a foreign language is probably the same. A person needs time to go through the stages of speaking and understanding in order to really start thinking in another language. One of my favorite students recently requested a two hour class, so that she would start thinking in English.

For me to think in Spanish takes time, but I notice that it starts to happen during a film, a long conversation, or while I'm reading a book or long article. Then it lasts for a while after, and I really enjoy that. Also, sometimes I dream in Spanish!

To increase your ability to think in English, reading, watching films, listening to the radio and talking with people are all great methods. The key seems to be to give yourself enough time, and the amount of time needed will be different for everyone. Also, if you try to limit interruptions from your native language, the effect will be greater.

Image from Lost in Translation, courtesy of http://www.fanpop.com/

Commuter

A commuter is someone who has to travel to get to work, usually by car, bus, train or metro. Walking to work isn't commuting, because the concept is that some distance is involved. Some people have short commutes, others have quite long ones, even travelling between cities every day or every week. What about you? How do you commute? How long does it take? What do you do with your commute time?

Job vs. work

There are some differences between job and work. For example, when we're talking about business, job is countable and work is uncountable. We can talk about jobs with a number, for example, 100,000 jobs were created last year. Usually when we talk about work, we can't use a number, but we can say a lot of work or not very much work.
A job can be a position, like software developer. The work is software development.
To do a good job is to do something well, and we usually use it to talk about a single project, for example, the team did a great job on that campaign.
Work can also mean the place where we work. We say "I go to work at 9am every day." Right now, I'm writing this post at work.

TED Talk: Why Work Doesn't Happen at Work

This is a somewhat long presentation and it may take you a few minutes to get used to Jason Fried's accent. But I think he's saying some interesting things here...

Also, here's a bio for him with a link to his new book, in case you're interested:

Jason Fried is the co-founder and President of 37signals, a privately-held Chicago-based company committed to building the best web-based tools possible with the least number of features necessary.
Jason co-wrote all of 37signals books, including their latest “Rework.”, and is invited to speak on entrepreneurship, design, management, and software all around the globe.
37signals’ products include Basecamp, Highrise, Backpack, Campfire, Ta-da List, and Writeboard. 37signals also developed and open-sourced the Ruby on Rails programming framework. 37signals’ products do less than the competition – intentionally.
37signals weblog, Signal vs. Noise, is read by over 100,000 people every day.
Jason believes there’s real value and beauty in the basics. Elegance, respect for people’s desire to simply get stuff done, and honest ease of use are the hallmarks of 37signals products.

What to say when you're ill

We have a lot of ways to describe the condition of being ill or of not feeling well.

I'm a bit under the weather = I don't feel well but it isn't serious

I don't feel well

I have a cold = I'm coughing and sneezing

I have the flu

I have a sore throat = My throat hurts

I have a headache = My head hurts

I have a stomach ache

I'm sick/I'm ill = Nonspecific but more serious than "I'm not feeling well."

I hurt my back/arm/shoulder, etc.

When you call your workplace to tell them that you can't come in, this is calling in sick. For example "Bob called in sick today becuase he has the flu."

When you hear that someone is ill, you can say, "I hope you feel better soon!"

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving and the 4th of July are truly American holidays, in the sense that they don’t have a religious connection.
As kids in school, many Americans are taught a story about “the first Thanksgiving” which is a mythological meal that the Pilgrims and the “Indians” shared in Massachusetts. It’s customary to make crafts or dress up as Pilgrims and “Indians.” The standard images of Thanksgiving include turkeys and corn, autumn leaves, etc.
Currently, Thanksgiving is a family holiday in the US, and it’s a big time for traveling. Lots of people fly to visit family and have a feast together.
The traditional Thanksgiving meal includes roast turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing (often a combination of bread and vegetables), mashed potatoes and gravy (a sauce made from the turkey). For dessert, pumpkin pie is a classic. Most families only cook these foods for Thanksgiving, so there can be some stress involved!
One trend with regard to Thanksgiving is to incorporate foods from other cultures because extended families often include recent immigrants. So a dinner might have some American elements and some Vietnamese dishes, for example.
Another Thanksgiving tradition in some families is to watch American football. And then to fall asleep on the sofa…
Hopefully, Thanksgiving is also an opportunity to reflect on what we’re thankful for. This year I feel especially thankful for the wonderful life I have, and for everyone who has been so generous and inspiring to me.
So, Happy Thanksgiving and thank you for everything!

Mindset

My word of the day is mindset. The American Heritage Dictionary defines this as "a fixed mental attitude or disposition that predetermines a person's responses to and interpretations of situations." Mindset is different from mood, because it changes less. We use it to talk about a person's general attitude, his or her way of thinking or way of seeing things. You will often see this word with an adjective describing the attitude, for example "environmental mindset," which means that the person or entity is in the habit of thinking about the environment.

Discussion vs. argument

A discussion is simply a talk about something. An argument is a talk in which people disagree. Sometimes the argument involves getting angry, sometimes not. The verbs are discuss and argue. Here are some examples:

Hi Bob, I'd like to meet with you today to discuss our plans for the holiday lunch.

We were discussing the surprise party when Cynthia walked in.

Unfortunately, our discussion turned into an argument when Jerry started talking about politics.

Our neighbors argued all night and I could hear every word!

I don't want to argue about it. Let's just forget it!

P.S. Thanks to Bill Watterson for the image from Calvin and Hobbes.

Acronyms explained: DIY and RSVP

An acronym is a word, usually capitalized, where each letter stands for a word. You probably already know a lot of these in English, like ASAP and VIP.
DIY means "do it yourself" and you will see it as an adjective for things you can build or make on your own. For example, "DIY toys are popular at Christmas." This means that you have to assemble the toy yourself.
RSVP means to tell someone whether you can come to an event. It comes from the French expression respondez si vous plaît. You'll see this at the bottom of invitations, usually with some contact information and posssibly a deadline, like "RSVP to Michael by October 25th."

Calling guest bloggers: songs!

The other day one of my favorite people was talking about learning English through songs. What's interesting to me about this is that native speakers learn a lot through songs too, and especially when you're a kid, you don't understand all the lyrics and sometimes you even hear them incorrectly! So you go around singing to the radio or cd with the wrong words, sometimes for years.

If you have a song that you learned some English from, or even just a song that you really like, it would be great to post it here so other people can enjoy it too. If you'd like to participate, please email me at coultonv@yahoo.com.

What's my level?

It's natural to wonder about your level when you're learning a language. It's also important to think about the concept of levels and ask why we have them. For teachers, determining a student's level may be important in order to place the student in a group, or to plan an appropriate course. We often talk about levels with adjectives like "elementary," "intermediate," "advanced," etc. Our teaching resources are generally labeled with these levels.

Aside from being an organizational tool, however, the concept of levels can be problematic. When you get off the train in London and need to ask someone for directions, he or she won't care what level you have according to your academy, or whether or not you've passed the First Certificate. The question will be whether you can communicate. As I wrote in an earlier post, communication is really the objective of learning a language. It's possible that communication has as much to do with your intention and your attitude than with your pronunciation, vocabulary, etc.

I don't mean to say that you shouldn't care about your level or try to improve it. In fact, I think it's important to keep trying to improve in your native language too! My only point is that after we've used the concept of levels to organize a class, it's a good idea to move on to communication, and realize that even people with an "elementary" level can be great communicators!

Go the extra mile

To go the extra mile is to make an extra effort, to do more than the usual amount, to exceed expectations. This week, several of my current and former students have gone the extra mile. I won't embarass them by writing their names here, but whether it was making a comment in English or writing a truly excellent report, studying very hard for an exam or doing homework in the middle of a very busy week, they all went the extra mile. I'm impressed and inspired by these efforts!!!

Settle for

My phrasal verb for today is settle for. It means that you will accept something, even if it isn't exactly what you want. For example, "I would prefer to have chocolate, but I'll settle for vanilla." Or, "The original price was €1,000, but they settled for €950."

Understanding the news

News stories can be challenging to understand because they use unfamiliar vocabulary and different structures. For example, when you see a headline that says "Obama to visit India, " it means that Obama will visit India. News writers try to capture people's attention by writing in ways that are surprising, but this can make the meaning more difficult for readers.
One of the best resources I have found is the BBC's Words in the News site. Here you can listen to a story, read the story, hear the key vocabulary and read definitions of the vocabulary words. If you use this resource regularly, you will definitely improve your ability to understand news reports. Go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/wordsinthenews/ and click on the story you want to listen to and learn about.
As always, I would love to have your feedback!

How Much Does Your Building Weigh, Mr. Foster?

Here's the trailer for a film which has inspired me a lot. It's about the life and work of the British architect Norman Foster. He has designed a huge number of projects around the world, and is currently involved in the new World Trade Center project in New York City. His energy, creativity and stamina are fantastic! I hope you enjoy the trailer...

SWOT!

The graphic here is of the SWOT chart. As you can see, the concepts are strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. We use the tool to analyze internal and external forces to create strategies. Here are the concepts in more detail:

Strengths: characteristics of the business or team that give it an advantage over others in the industry.

Weaknesses: are characteristics that place the firm at a disadvantage relative to others.

Opportunities: external chances to make greater sales or profits in the environment.

Threats: external elements in the environment that could cause trouble for the business.

Famous failures

This short video shows us some very famous people who were considered failures at some moment of their lives. I like the message, because really doing things in life usually means failing sometimes. I would love to hear your thoughts about this...

Word order with question words

Question words are words like what, when, where, and how, etc. We use them to form questions like "Where are we going?" As you see, the word order here is question word + auxiliary verb + subject + main verb.

Sometimes, however, we use question words in sentences that are not questions. For example, "We don't know where we are going." Here, you can see that the word order is different after the question word. The order is question word + subject + auxiliary verb + main verb.

If you review the examples below, you will see the difference:
Who is he?
I know who he is.
Where is the post office?
I don't know where the post office is.
What am I doing?
I know what I'm doing.

When you're speaking, it's easy to use the question order even for sentences that aren't questions. But if you start practicing with this, you'll start to improve. Also, when you're listening to the news, watching a film or video, or talking with your teacher or another native speaker, you can pay attention to the way they use these word orders.

What to say when someone sneezes

If someone sneezes and you want to say something in English, the best expression is "Bless you!" As we're entering the cold and flu season, you'll probably have a lot of opportunities to use this!

False friends in English: assist and attend

False friends are words from two different languages that appear to be the same, but have different meanings.
One example from Spanish would be the verb asistir. The correct verb for this in English is attend, and the noun is attendance. We attend meetings, classes, and other events.
The verb assist in English means to help, and the noun is assistance. Assist and assistance are more formal, so they are good for business emails, and you will also see them in news reports. Here are some examples:
"I can't attend the meeting tomorrow because I'll be out of town."
"We have to keep good attendance records so we can see who comes to class."
"I'm writing to ask if you can assist me in preparing my application for an MBA program."
"The government has promised its assistance to people who lost their homes in the tsunami."

Sesame Street and British Council for Kids

I've added links to Sesame Street and the British Council Learning English for kids. When I was growing up, Sesame Street was a very important part of my day! It's impossible to estimate how much I learned from watching that program. The amazing thing is how fun and funny it still is, while being educational. I think this is a big advantage for parents, because you can enjoy it along with your kids...

The British Council Learning English for Kids is also very good, and the resources there are appropriate for older kids too. I hope you find these useful, and as always, your feedback is appreciated!

Percent and percentage

We use percent after a number, like "Forty-eight percent of the people like hot dogs." Percentage is the noun for the concept, as in, "What is the percentage of people who like mustard on their hot dogs?" The answer could be "Sixty-seven percent."Personally, I like mustard on a hot dog. How about you?

Find out and let me know

To find out something is to learn about it or to discover it. For example, "I don't know where the nearest bank is, but I'll find out." Or, "We were planning a surprise party for Cynthia but she found out."
We use this a lot in business. We have to find out how much things will cost, who can provide the services we need, etc.
Let me know means tell me when you have the information. For example "When I have the exact dates for the conference, I'll let you know." Or, "Could you let me know when Bob comes back from lunch?"

Spend vs. waste

To spend time is to use time. For example, "I enjoy spending time with my friends." or, "I spent a lot of time on that project." We use the same verb with money.
To waste time is to use it in a way that has no value. For example, "I wasted my time waiting for the bus when I should have taken the metro." Once again, we use the same verb with money. For example, "Don't waste your money on this product because it doesn't work!"

Plan, plans, planning

Plan is a verb, and it's regular. "We're planning a surprise party for Cynthia." It's also a noun: plan is the thing and planning is the process. Here is an example: "Our planning was excellent, and the plan worked perfectly." A plan can be a physical object, like the drawing here, or a series of steps that you have in writing or in your mind. (The plan here is by the American architect Louis Kahn, for the Esherick House.)

Have a good day!

It's common to say "Have a good day" or "Have a good weekend" when you're saying goodbye to someone. What is the best response? "You too."

Using new language

This is a nice graphic from Presentation Zen, and the message seems very good. When you learn a new word, expression or structure, the best thing will be to start using it when you speak. This isn't easy, but until you start using the new language, it won't really be active for you. If you practice with it, with time it will become more natural.

Meet/know/see

When you encounter someone for the first time, you meet him or her. Usually, we say "Pleased to meet you" or "Happy to meet you."

After you've met someone, you know each other. You may not know him or her very well, but you know who the person is. On the other hand, you might know him or her very well. For example, "I've known my best friend for thirteen years."

When you see someone you already know, you can say "I'm happy to see you!" We don't say "happy to meet you" in this case, because we already know the person.

Crave/craving

My word of the day is crave. This is a verb, and it means to want something very, very much. For example, right now I'm craving chocolate. I hear the voice of the Milka bar calling me from the vending machine. Do you hear it? Maybe not. It's calling only for me!

We often use this verb with food, but you could use it with many things. She craves sleep! He craves the new BMW!

The noun form is craving, and we usually use this with the verb have. He had a craving for guacamole.

What about you? Are you craving anything right now?

Having more effective meetings

Recently the subject of meetings has come up often. Many people go to a lot of meetings and wish that these were more effective. I've added a link to a nice website called Effective Meetings, where you can find a lot of simple, practical ways to improve your meetings. Although many of these concepts are basic and may seem obvious, like so many other things, the key is to do them! As always, your feedback is appreciated!

http://www.effectivemeetings.com/

Freedom to comment here

Finally, I've figured out how to enable all comments here without people needing to have a Google account, etc.
Sorry for the delay! If you have any problem trying to leave a comment, please let me know at coultonv@yahoo.com.
Thanks!!!

Communicating in English!

There is no question that learning English, or any language, as an adult is not easy. If you're learning, there is usually some reason, or many reasons, why. It may be for your job, or for your professional development in the future, or because your boyfriend is from Australia! Knowing why you need and want to learn can help you to direct your effort, and also to evaluate your progress.

I would argue that for most people who don't want to work as English teachers or editors, the most important element in learning English is communication. For you in your study, you can ask what you need to communicate, who you need to communicate with, and what the situation is. Some people need to know more formal expressions than others. Some people send a lot of email, for others the phone is more important. Knowing this can help you to target the areas you need to improve in.

Often, people communicate well but feel disappointed because they know they made some mistakes. In my experience, native speakers make mistakes all the time! In writing, on blogs, in speaking, in presentations, so many mistakes! Even in advertising campaigns! I'm not saying you should be happy about mistakes, only that the real measure of your success in English is whether or not you can communicate. You can always improve. But after you talk with someone, maybe you can ask yourself if you communicated with them or not. If the answer is yes, then you succeeded! Next you can think about how to improve for next time.

One of the best practices I see with my students is that they correct themselves in the moment. I think this is difficult, because it means that you are calm enough to do it, but it's an excellent way. Do you have any practices that have helped you? It would be great to hear about them...

On my own, by myself

On my own and by myself both mean "alone." The important thing to notice here is the preposition for each one. Both expressions are often used when we're talking about being independent. The second one comes up a lot with children, for example, "Today Nicholas tied his shoes by himself." This means that he did it without any help. Sometimes we add all to give more emphasis, for example, "Jenny made this cake all by herself!"
On my own is often used with living, to talk about living alone after leaving the family home, or after living with other people or with a partner. For example, "After his divorce, Jim decided to live on his own for a while."
The image here is by Buson, and it's called Landscape with a Solitary Traveler. We could say that the person is traveling by himself. Some people really enjoy traveling on their own, but most seem to prefer to travel with others. What about you?