Acronyms explained: ROI

ROI means return on investment. You will often encounter this in business articles. For example: "Businesses looking to optimize the ROI for training have found that shorter courses are more effective."

Good read

A good read is a book you can't put down. It might be a novel, but not always. Now, when the nights are long, it's a great time to get in bed a little early with a good read. If you're interested in sharing your opinions about what you're reading, and maybe interacting with other readers, you might be interested in http://www.goodreads.com/, which is a social networking site devoted to books...

You know, etc.: fillers in English

You know is one example of a "filler" in English. We use it to fill a space when we need a second to think. I imagine that every language has these, and I notice that most people have their favorites, the ones that they use habitually.

It's very easy to import fillers from your first language into English, but the result is something like, "Hi, o sea, hello, I'm calling to talk to Edward, vale? I am Jorge..." The best strategy here will be for Jorge to learn the fillers in English. Then he can say, "Hi, I mean, hello, I'm calling to talk to Edward, ok? I am Jorge..." Jorge needs to have some fillers in English because we all need them; they give us time to think about what to say next. The most common ones are you know, I mean, well, and like.

Of course, it's possible to overuse fillers. For example, "I was, like, really worried about the exam, like, but then, like, Raquel was like, it's like really easy, like don't worry, and I was like, super relieved, but like..." Unfortunately, this way of speaking is very common for native speakers, especially young people, and it can make understanding them really difficult! Somehow, you have to delete all those "likes" in order to understand what the speaker is saying.

Nonetheless, I encourage you to choose one or two fillers that you feel comfortable with, so you can use them when you need to hesitate. If you catch yourself importing fillers from your native language, look for a substitute! Your listeners will thank you!

Relentless

My word for today is relentless.

To relent is to stop. When we add the sufffix -less, it makes it negative, and so this adjective means without stopping. If a person is relentless, they won't stop, no matter what happens!

We can change relentless into an adverb by adding -ly. For example, "it rained relentlessly during our vacation."

I think that one's feeling about this concept depends on the situation. Sometimes we admire a person for being relentlessly positive or optimistic, but sometimes not. Also, when you see this word in the news, the context will usually tell you whether the relentless person or thing is considered to be good or bad. A relentless pursuit of the cure for cancer seems good, while a relentless pursuit of money and fame might not seem so good, depending on the person's behavior...

P.S. This photo is from the film "The Limits of Control," directed by Jim Jarmusch

from Fast Company

Fast Company has two nice articles you might enjoy. The first one is about New Year's resolutions for innovative teams. The second one is a list of recommended business books. Of course Switch by the Heath brothers was on the list, and if you haven't read any of this one yet, I really recommend it! Here are the links:

http://www.fastcompany.com/article/10-new-years-resolutions-for-innovative-teams

http://www.fastcompany.com/pics/best-books-business-owners-2010

Worth it

The American Heritage Dictionary defines worth as a noun which means: 1.The quality that renders something desirable, useful, or valuable: the worth of higher education. 2. Material or market value: stocks having a worth of ten million dollars. It's also an adjective used to describe the value of something: this book is worth a lot of money!

We have some important expression with worth. We say that something is worth the trouble or worth the effort. The shortest way to say this is "it's worth it" or "it's not worth it."

It's worth practicing these expressions a little bit, because sometimes expressions which repeat words like "it" are difficult to remember, and they may sound strange to you at first. But it's worth the effort!

Happy New Year!

I hope that if you have celebrated the New Year, you've had a wonderful time and that 2011 is off to a great start.

Many people make New Year's resolutions. These are plans for taking up new activities (like exercise) or giving up bad habits (like smoking). The stereotype about these resolutions is that they don't last very long; the gym is full of people for a few weeks and then most people return to their previous habits.

I really only have one resolution this year: to be very careful with how I spend my time. My idea is to focus on the people and activities which are most important to me, and to make sure I have enough time for them.

If you're reading this blog, one of your ongoing resolutions may be to improve your English. If that's the case, time will be an important factor. Not because improving takes so much time, but because constancy is important. Whatever you're doing, such as taking classes, studying on your own, or trying to maintain or improve your level by reading, etc., the regularity of the time you invest is probably more important than the amount. On the other hand, if you know that you need two straight hours a week to start thinking in English, then that should be your goal.

As always, I recommend the links to the right as good sources of daily or weekly doses of English. And finally, a lot of people say that one of the most important elements of pursuing a goal is to celebrate small victories. I encourage you to set some goals for yourself, or to collaborate on them with your teacher, and try to recognize when you've attained them. This can be as simple as understanding more of the news, or learning a new verb or expression. Recognizing that you've done it will encourage you to do more!