The Confusing World of Hoping, Expecting, and Looking Forward to
Sometimes one word in a certain language can mean a number of different things in English. Of course, having multiple English words for just one word makes it very difficult for English learners. One of the best examples is ‘hope’, ‘expect’, and ‘look forward to’. To make things worse, ‘hope’, ‘expect’, and ‘look forward to’ […]
English Pronunciation
This short film is based on an archival sound recording taken from the 1945 Linguaphone series ‘English Pronunciation – A practical handbook for the foreign learner. Videos like this one lend learners a visual link between a vocabulary item and its meaning. The words in this video feature vowels and their various sounds in the […]
New Research Found Babies Are Natural Lip-Readers
Have you ever tried lip-reading? It turns out the answer is yes, even if you didn’t know it. Babies often stare at people; it’s just one of their adorable qualities. But it turns out they aren’t just staring, they are studying language. Research from Florida Atlantic University has shown that babies quickly transition from relying […]
TOP 10 common mistakes that Spanish speakers make in English- Part II
6. Directly translating a prepostion. Prepositions are tricky because they often change a lot between English and Spanish. Here are some specific examples of confusing prepositions. A Spanish speaker may say, “It depends of” instead of “It depends on”A Spanish student might say, “Call to someone” instead of “Call someone” (in English there is no preposition […]
TOP 10 common mistakes that Spanish speakers make in English.
While English is – supposedly – an easy language to learn (maybe), every native speaker of another language has his or her issues. Today and next week we’re looking at the common mistakes that native Spanish speakers make when trying to learn English. So next time if you say or hear “She has eyes blues”instead of “She has blue eyes” you […]
10 Interesting Facts about the English Language
Have you ever wondered what the little dot on top of an ‘i’ is called, or what the only two words in the English language that end in ‘-gry’ are? No? Well, get ready, because you are about to! In the English language, … … the shortest word containing all five main vowels is […]
People Make Better Decisions in Their Non-Native Language
Are you terrible at making decisions? Ponder over it in your second language to get to the solution! A recent study by Boaz Keysar has found that people make unbiased decisions when they are thinking in their second language. “We know from previous research that because people are naturally loss-averse, they often forgo attractive opportunities,” […]
“Going Green” Idioms
Today we’re “going green” with the focus on color idioms. Green is considered one of the basic colors and is one that is associated with jealousy, nature, good luck, and growth in Western/American culture according to this beautiful graphic. Check out the following five green idioms! (1) (to be) green with envy Meaning: very envious Sample Sentence: I was […]
How to remember difficult English Spelling
Do you struggle with English spelling? You’re not alone. English, for various historical reasons, has borrowed words from many other languages. As a result, its spelling and pronunciation is a bit… all over the map! Unfortunately, English doesn’t have a simple list of rules to follow that helps you pronounce any new word that you may […]
False Friends!
Se denominan false friends (falsos amigos) o false cognates (falsos cognados) a las palabras que por escribirse de la misma forma (o parecida) en español son confundidas, pero que en realidad en inglés significan otra cosa. Por ejemplo, “conductor ” en inglés no significa conductor, sino que se refiere al director de la orquesta o […]
10 Inspirational Quotes!
Even though most of us will agree that it is more and more important to speak English in it can be difficult to remain optimistic when the journey feels like a never-ending road trip with countless ups and downs. So to ‘animarte’ the following quotes are a simple reminder that learning another language opens our minds […]