von Christine Burgmer | Sep. 25, 2026 | Sparks |
Nobody else knew what „ballpark“ meant either The hardest person to follow in an international meeting is often the one who grew up speaking English. They say „let’s park that“ or „give me a ballpark figure“. Everyone else...
von Christine Burgmer | Sep. 24, 2026 | Sparks |
Understanding isn’t the same as speaking You understood every word of the presentation. Then someone asked you a question. The answer was completely clear in your head. Something else came out of your mouth, slower and smaller, and you spent the afternoon...
von Christine Burgmer | Sep. 23, 2026 | Sparks |
A feedback or feedback? The word English never counts. You said it in the meeting and everybody understood you. „We had a nice feedback from the client.“ Nobody corrected you, because nobody needed to. The meaning arrived intact. The only snag is the...
von Christine Burgmer | Sep. 22, 2026 | Sparks |
Fluency isn’t speaking fast At some point you decided that fluent means fast. So you speed up. And the faster you go, the less you sound like yourself. You don’t take the second you needed. The easy word comes to you after the sentence is over. You finish...
von Christine Burgmer | Sep. 21, 2026 | Sparks |
Ms, Mrs or Miss, and why you don’t need to know Before you sent a two-line email, you went looking for clues. Mrs or Miss. Her LinkedIn photo was not helping. It’s a small thing that stops you for a minute. Getting it wrong feels rude, and there’s no...
von Christine Burgmer | Sep. 18, 2026 | Sparks |
Sorry, can I just jump in here? Interrupting in English. It’s not rude. It’s a doorbell. The English ring it first. „Sorry, can I just jump in here?“ Nobody is actually sorry. It’s a polite noise that means „I am about to speak...
