A Spark a day.
One idea. Every weekday. Under a minute.SPARKS OF ENGLISH
Notes from the real world of English at work. The mistakes, breakthroughs and surprising moments that happen when English leaves the textbook and enters the meeting room.
You already speak the language. But under pressure, it does not always feel that way. That’s when overthinking and second-guessing tend to appear.
The Sparks are short prompts for exactly those moments – and now and then, something you can try out straight away.
Designed specifically for German-speaking professionals who want to speak clearly without checking every sentence before they say it.
After a few weeks, many readers notice they:
- Keep talking, even when the perfect word is missing.
- Respond faster when a conversation shifts unexpectedly.
- Stop losing precision in the moments that count.
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✦ Your welcome gift: “50 Quick Fixes for Clearer English”. So small details don’t slow you down.
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❝Einer der ganz wenigen Newsletter, auf die ich mich an jedem (!) Werktag aufs Neue freue.❞
Barbara Gölz
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“How do I stop apologising in English?”
“How do I stop apologising in English?” Someone asked me this last week. She’d counted: seven apologies in one meeting. None of them necessary. The...
The myth of thinking in English
People often tell me, “I want to think in English.” It feels like the goal – it isn’t. A client said this week: “If I could just switch my brain to...
The moment you lose your words
There’s a moment many people know too well. You’re in a meeting, someone asks you something in English, and suddenly – nothing. The word you need is...
There or their – the mistake your ear never makes
Native speakers mix these up every day. Not because their English is bad... because their fingers are fast. A client sends me something to review....
Denglish that actually works
Some Denglish is confusing. But some Denglish is perfectly fine – and even native speakers use it without noticing. A client told me this week: “I...
Her English was fine. It was the commas.
This week, someone told me something I hear surprisingly often: “My English is fine… but I never know if my punctuation is ‘right’.” She speaks...
The moment I stopped apologising for my accent
I’ve heard my German accent in English for decades. At some point, I stopped treating it as a flaw. A client once said something that stayed with...
Stop translating. Start speaking.
You build the sentence in German, translate it, check if it sounds right – and by then, the moment has passed. I hear this from clients regularly:...
You don’t need to choose the right tense. You need to finish the sentence.
A client told me this once: "I lose two seconds every time I decide between I work and I am working. Two seconds doesn't sound like much. In a...
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