Bill Coulton's new book STALKER

I'm very happy to announce that STALKER , the latest novel by Bill Coulton, is now available on Amazon, in both Kindle and paperback editions.

This is a thrilling book! I'm reading it now and I really recommend it.

To order STALKER, click here.

Film recommendation: The Guard

Did you enjoy Pulp Fiction?

If so, I really recommend The Guard.

This is a great Irish film, very funny, with a wonderful script and marvelous acting.

The Guard is also a great film for non-native English speakers, because you get to hear Irish, American, and British accents.

I saw The Guard at the Verdi Cinema in Gràcia; if you're reading this in Barcelona, you can view the times here.

If you've already seen the film, or if you go to see it, I would love to hear your thoughts about it!

Fee, fare, fine

A fee is the money you pay for a service. So lawyers and designers have fees. A designer might say, "my fee is based on the project." Many professionals have an hourly fee, which may or may not be negotiable. You could also pay a fee to enter an event (entrance fee) or a fee associated with a bank account, or in order to be a member of a club (membership fee).

A fare is the money you pay for transportation. We can combine this word with the kind of transportation, such as bus fare, train fare, plane fare. For example, bus fare in Barcelona today is two euros. One compound noun we use frequently is airfare, which means the price of a plane ticket.

A fine is money you have to pay for breaking a rule or a law. You could have to pay a parking fine, or a traffic fine, because you didn't follow the rules. For example, the fine for parking in a red zone in California is very high. Athletes may have to pay a fine if they break a rule of conduct. Fine can also be a verb: a company may be fined for breaking the law.  

Nickname

A nickname is a name that we use for a person in place of his or her real name. We do this, usually, out of affection, but sometimes out of a more negative impulse. An example of an affectionate nickname would be calling Pablo Sandoval (the baseball player you see here) Kung Fu Panda. Sometimes they just call him "The Panda."
An example of a negative nickname would be calling someone a name referring to being fat, or having some kind of physical or mental problem, or referring to a mistake that the person made in the past. Actually, this negative usage is reflective in the word nickname: to nick someone is to hurt them a little.
Do you like to give people nicknames, affectionate or otherwise? Do you have a nickname yourself?

Old-timers, newcomers, newbies and rookies

If we imagine a company, or a club, or a team, the people who have been there for a long time are called old-timers. The people who have arrived or joined recently are newcomers. Sometimes the newcomers are also called newbies.
This image is from the baseball film Bull Durham. Tim Robbins is the newcomer and Kevin Costner is the old-timer brought in to help him improve. In sports, newbies are usually called rookies.
Which one do you prefer to be, the old-timer or the newbie?

Summer English ideas

It's possible that summer isn't that much different for you than the rest of the year. But just in case you have a little more time, or want to vary your routine a little bit, here are some ideas:

1. Read a magazine about a subject you're interested in. Even if you're a beginner in English, I guarantee you'll learn some vocabulary this way. Whether you like cooking, running, or computers, you'll learn a lot of new words!

2. If you have the chance to travel to an English-speaking country, ask people to speak English with you! This message is addressed especially to Spanish speakers; your language is soooo popular now that people all over the world will try to welcome you with it.

3. Learn some songs in English. Get the lyrics off the internet to make sure you really know all the words.

4. Organize a movie night or an English pub night with some friends.

5. Play Trivial Pursuit or Scrabble in English (it helps to have a good dictionary with you).

6. If you usually put on the subtitles, try watching without them!

7. Read a children's or "young adult" book in English. This is fun and you can learn a lot!

Do you have any other ideas? I'd love to hear them!

Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Rusty

Rusty is an adjective we use to describe the condition of this truck, but we can use it for other things too. If you used to do something easily, and now it's more difficult, you can say that you're rusty. Being rusty at something is usually an effect of not practicing for a while. You could be rusty at riding a bike, or cooking soemthing complex, or playing a sport. It's very common for your English to get rusty if you don't practice very much. Fortunately, if you learned something once, and learned it pretty well, it's not incredibly difficult to recover your skill, it's only a question of starting to practice again. This truck may never roll down the highway again, but you can regain your fluency in English with some practice and some patience!