My Blog until 2018

We all know that it's not easy to work in a culture that is quite different to one's own....

Even I have a problem getting my tongue around this one! "If Stu chews shoes, should Stu choose...

How would you translate this sentence? "Welche Art von Filmen magst Du?" It doesn't matter...

Negotiating in your own language is tricky. But how on earth are you going to negotiate in a...

"To downsize" is business-speak. It's another way of saying "to reduce the size of a workforce"...

"Whatever you are, be a good one." Abraham Lincoln

In his blog, British etiquette expert William Hanson answers readers' questions on how to behave...

Tongue twisters are a great way to practise and improve pronunciation. Give this one a try:...

It's amazing just how many different words you can find to say that someone has been fired....

When I first heard the phrase 'touch base' years ago, I had absolutely no idea what it meant. A...

"Believe you can and you're halfway there." Theodore Roosevelt

We talked about dressing for a "Black Tie" event two weeks ago. But what would you wear if you...

"I thought I'd begin by reading a poem by Shakespeare, but then I thought, why should I? He never...

In German we always say "Willkommen in ...". In English we use 'to'. So we say, "Welcome to ..."...

We spoke about euphemisms last week, remember? Those words and phrases that often try and make the...

This sounds like a real dream job for a lot of people. Lego is looking for model builders. You'll...

Have you ever heard people say, "We have to think outside the box"? This is a phrase I call...

"Isn't it funny how day by day nothing changes but when you look back, everything is different?"...

Today is St. Valentine's Day. If you're planning on cuddling up with someone special and are...

"His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork." Mae West

High heels look good, but are fairly dangerous, according to a study. Listen to a very short...

I wanted to share some euphemisms (in German: 'beschönigende Umschreibungen') with you today. But...

You often hear that customers are a company's most valuable asset. So are you doing something...

This is something I read recently. Instead of saying that you've just bought a "run-down or...