A few weeks ago we talked about three English words that have made their way into the German language, but take on a completely different meaning.

Let’s look at three more today: handy, smoking and box.

If you tell me about your ‘handy’, I’ll understand you because a lot of Germans use the same word. Other English native speakers will probably be confused, because for them it’s a ‘mobile‘, ‘mobile phone‘ or ‘cell phone‘. 

You might tell me that you or your partner is going to wear a ‘smoking’ to a special event. An English person won’t understand you. The word you need in Britain is a ‘dinner jacket‘ and in America a ‘tuxedo‘. (However, according to Moss Bros., ‘tuxedo’ is becoming more common in Britain now, too.)

You have a stereo system? You might tell me about your ‘boxes’. I’m not sure if a native speaker would understand you. Probably not. You need to talk about the ‘loudspeakers‘. 

Have you heard people using these words incorrectly? You might like to pass this message on to them.

“There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.”
Colin Powell

Whether we’re learning to play chess or learning a language, achieving our goals rarely happens by accident.

We might see other people succeeding, but we have no idea how much preparation and hard work went into their success.

And the only way to become successful in any area of life is to be prepared to make mistakes. It’s what we do after making those mistakes that counts.

If we’re worried about making mistakes, we’ll never get to speak a language. It’s only by making mistakes that we can improve.

So let’s approach failure positively—as a  way of learning. 

Here’s to your success!

This is a topic we discussed in my Facebook Group some time ago, as I realised not everyone understood the difference.

We use ‘this‘ for something that is close to us.

Imagine that you’re holding a pen in your hand. You might say, “Look at this pen here“.

We use ‘that‘ for something that is further away.

Imagine pointing to an object out of your reach. You might say, “Look at that interesting building over there“.

The plural of ‘this‘ is ‘these‘. And the plural of ‘that‘ is ‘those‘.

It’s easy when you know how, isn’t it?

Do you have any questions? Or do you have any grammar topics you’d like me to explain?

“Most of the excuses I made…

– not enough time
– not enough money
– not enough knowledge
– not the right connections

…were just ways to avoid the real bottleneck: Not enough courage.

There was always a small step I could have taken—if I had the guts to take it.”
James Clear

I made an excuse earlier in the day, saying that I didn’t have enough time.

Was that true? Or was it that I didn’t have enough courage?

If it had been important, I would have made the time or I would have found a way.

But instead of saying that it wasn’t that important, I made an excuse.