A client showed me a list last week. Everyday words on the left, “advanced” ones on the right, an arrow between them. “Get” became “obtain”. “Help” became “assist”. “Ask” became “enquire”.

She’d started using them in her emails. Correct, formal and somehow not her. One line read like a letter from a solicitor about a parking dispute.

The real skill is quieter than vocabulary. It’s register: knowing which word belongs in the room. A surgeon obtains consent, then gets a second opinion from a colleague. Same person, two registers, both right.

You’re allowed to use the simple word. Most of the time, it’s the clearer one too.

Quick win: Next time you reach for the impressive word, try the plain one first. Ask whether it actually fits the room.

💬 Which “advanced” English word were you taught to use that you later stopped using?

You know that hot feeling in your face when you say something in English and the other person looks confused?

You want to disappear. You think about the sentence again and again, wishing you could take it back.

But that hot feeling is doing something good. It helps your brain remember. We forget the sentences we say perfectly. We remember the ones that go wrong, and then we make them better.

I still remember a mistake I made in a talk twelve years ago. I have never made it again.

So when your face feels hot, don’t run away. Stay and keep talking.

Quick win: When a sentence comes out wrong, just say it again in a better way. That second try is the one your brain keeps.

💬 Which mistake taught you the most?

This summer, watch a football team. The players come from many countries. Not one of them stops to ask, “Is my English correct?“

A player from Senegal, a goalkeeper from Germany, a coach from Italy. They shout three quick words to each other while they run. The English is messy. Some words are missing. But it works. They only care about one thing: Did my teammate understand me?

In your next meeting, you ask two things. Did they understand me? And was it correct? The second question makes you wait. You wait so long that the moment is gone.

Play it like the football players do. Say the messy version. Get understood. Keep going.

Quick win: Next time a sentence feels not quite right, say it anyway. Ask, “Did they understand me?” — not “Was it perfect?

You open the page. Within seconds you’re thinking, “Maybe this is the thing I’ve been missing.”

I caught myself doing it last week. The offer wasn’t useful to me. What grabbed me was the promise: finally easy, finally sorted.

I see the same pull with English. Another course, another method, another system that claims to make everything click. The attraction feels rational, but it’s rarely about missing information.

You already know more English than you think. The harder part is trusting what you have. That’s quieter than a new method, and there’s no sales page for it.

Quick win 

Next time a new course or language hack tempts you, ask yourself: “What would I do differently if I already had this?“

Quite often, the answer is simply, “I’d speak more“. And that’s something you can do today.

💬 Have you ever bought a course when what you really needed was confidence?

She thought she understood. She hadn’t.

A client told me about a meeting last week.

Her colleague said, “Can you have a look at this when you get a chance?”

She spent two hours reviewing it and sent detailed feedback.

He was surprised. He’d only meant, “Feel free to read it if you’re interested.”

Both were speaking English. Neither was wrong. And yet they left the conversation with completely different expectations.

Researchers call this perceived comprehension: you think the message got through when it didn’t. Nobody notices until the misunderstanding turns into extra work, a missed deadline or an awkward conversation.

The problem isn’t vocabulary. It’s context. And context is invisible until something goes wrong.

When a conversation feels clear but leaves room for interpretation, one sentence can help:

“I just want to check I’ve understood correctly. My understanding is that…“

You don’t need perfect English to avoid misunderstandings. You need the confidence to check.

Quick win: After any important conversation, say, “Let me confirm what we’ve agreed.”