Oct 23, 2012

Expression: Hang in there!

When we say, "hang in there", we mean that we recognize a situation is difficult, and we want to encourage the person or people to continue, to keep going, to not give up.

Sometimes people also use it to explain that they are continuing in spite of difficulties. Here are a few examples:

You: How are you?
Your friend: Not so good. I have a huge amount of work to finish, and I think I'm getting the flu.
You: Oh no! Well, hang in there!


Bob: How's it going since you and John broke up?
Mary: Well, I'm hanging in there.
Bob: That's good. I know it's really difficult!

Oct 15, 2012

Steps to better listening in English

About understanding people speaking in English, I have good news and bad news.

Since people often prefer to hear the bad news first, here it is: understanding native speakers is really hard.

In fact, it's really, really, really hard! And you know why. Because they speak quickly, use a lot of phrasal verbs and expressions, and because they have regional accents. They don't separate the words, and it seems impossible to figure out anything, or you hear something different from what they're actually saying, and eventually you lose your focus.

I know.

The good news is that you can improve your understanding with practice.

Maybe you'll never be able to understand that guy from Scotland or New York perfectly, but by structuring your listening and practicing, you can improve a lot.

Here are five steps to take:

1. Find a listening resource that you like. This is important, because if you like it, you'll use it more. This could be a CD with a book, or something online. Here are two online resources that are well designed:
BBC Words in the News, TED.

2. Plan to use your resource when you have time to repeat the activity twice or three times (or more). Listening to something only once doesn't give you the opportunity to remember much or to learn any new words or expressions.

3. Use your listening with text or subtitles. You may prefer to read subtitles or text the first time, or you may prefer just to listen and see what you hear. I think the most effective way is to listen once without text, listen again with text or subtitles, and then do it one more time to focus on parts that are difficult. Having the text or subtitles that you can pause is a great way to check your understanding.

4. Start identifying different accents. If you listen to English speakers from different countries, it can be interesting to try to notice the some differences in the way they speak. For example, many Americans pronounce the "r" very clearly at the end of words like "never". On the other hand, many British speakers don't, which changes the sound of the word a lot.

5. Use the same sources repeatedly. It takes time to get used to the way people speak. Give yourself this time, and try to be patient. After all, it took years for you to learn your native language, and people were speaking to you in it every day!

I would love to hear from you about any other listening practices you've found to be effective...

Oct 9, 2012

Silent E

I just can't help but post this incredible tribute to "silent e" from The Electric Company. I learned a lot from watching this program as a child, and this video is a great example of their fun and creativity...

Oct 3, 2012

Revamp

My word for today is revamp.
This is a verb, and it means to change and improve something.
Check out a few examples:

Maria decided to revamp her CV before she started looking for a new job.

Our favorite restaurant has revamped the menu, but we don't like it as much as before.

If you want to revamp your living room, what about painting one wall a bright color?

The adjective for this verb is revamped.So in the image here, we can see the revamped painter's hook.

Have you revamped anything lately?

Oct 1, 2012

Colleagues, coworkers and workmates

These are all words for the people you work with.

Colleague is the most formal of the three. People usually use this word if they work in an office, or at a university, etc.

Coworker and workmate are the exactly the same, and you could use them for any work context. Sometimes you'll see it spelled co-worker. The only difference here is that Americans usually say coworker, and British people often say workmate.

I'm really lucky, because my colleagues at InfoJobs are fantastic! What about you... How would you describe your coworkers?