Every language has its own idioms and expressions.

But I believe they are not as important as you might think.

Instead of taking the time to learn them, spend more time on learning grammar or vocabulary, or working on your fluency skills. Especially if you want to be understood by everyone.

Why is that? Because so many idioms are regional. The idioms I use might not be understood in other parts of the world. And vice versa. I often come across idioms I’ve never heard before.

On top of that, if you don’t use idioms correctly, they sound unnatural.

Learn the most common ones if you like. But try to avoid them when you’re working with an international audience. Focus more on communicating in plain and simple language. 

Talking about idioms, here’s a German one I often used: “Abwarten und Tee trinken.” In English? “Wait and see!”

Do you have a favourite English idiom?

 

 

 

According to 19th-century French author Guy de Maupassant, it’s: “A Mystery! It’s the art of never seeming bored, of touching everything with interest, of pleasing with trifles, of being fascinating with nothing at all.

How do we define this lively darting about with words, of hitting them back and forth, this sort of brief smile of ideas which should be conversation?”

What a lovely way to see conversation—as a “sort of brief smile of ideas”!

Without conversations we can’t build effective relationships. But conversation is like a muscle. It grows stronger when we exercise it and stays weak when we don’t.

Just knowing the words and grammatical rules in a language isn’t enough. If we want to be able to hold a conversation in a second language, we need to develop our communicative competence in that language. And the easiest way to practise this is just by having conversations in that language.

If you’d like to maintain or improve your level of English, work on your pronunciation or learn new words, having “Colourful Conversations” in a pleasant and relaxed atmosphere might be exactly what you’ve been looking for.

Conversations can change us in more ways than we can think of.

I’d love to welcome you.

Do you know when to use adjectives with the -ing ending and when to use those with the -ed ending?

It seems to confuse a lot of people. And it’s not only with ‘exciting’ and ‘excited’.

It’s the same with ‘boring’ and ‘bored’, ‘interesting’ and ‘interested’, and other’ -ing and -ed adjectives!

Adjectives which end with -ing (exciting, boring, interesting and so on) describe the person or thing that has caused that feeling.

For example, “The book I’m reading at the moment is so exciting”.

Adjectives which end with -ed (excited, bored, interested and so on) tell us how a person feels about something.

For example; “I was excited when I heard the good news”.

Listen to my short explanation here:

And tell me if it’s helped you.

Test just how good your spelling is with Merriam-Webster’s quiz. 

You have 15 seconds to answer each question. The faster you answer, the higher your score. The harder the question, the higher your score.

Want to share your results with me?

Do you have a system that helps you to remember, organise and use everything you read?

I like making notes in a spiral-bound notebook, actually writing in the book itself or using those little arrow stickers. But Ryan Holiday’s notecard system looks so much better!

In this 8-minute long video you’ll meet the writer and professional reader Ryan Holiday and learn about his 3-step system for reading like a pro.

You’ll learn how he:
1. reads
2. organises what he reads, and
3. uses what he reads.

Do you do anything similar?