I moved from Prague to Stockholm in the summer of 2010. This was a dream come true, as I had always wanted to work and live in Scandinavia. At the very beginning of my adventure I did not have a job and I had no idea what to expect. Although my wife is Swedish, it was not entirely easy, even for her, to return to…
“You’ve been chosen to launch Microeconomics in English.” When Economics University of Prague lecturers Zuzana and Marketa were awarded this honor, they knew they had to brush up on their English – fast! No matter how much education and experience one has, explaining complicated concepts in a foreign language is difficult. Even native speakers must continually hone their skills in clear and comprehensive language use….
There can be few words in the English language with the sheer versatility of ‘gate’. The noun, of course, usually refers to an outdoor portal, often with a structure to be opened and closed, though it does have other connotations. In archaic English it also means ‘street’, and in my own ancient and mediaeval city of York, we still have many thoroughfares named in this…
Just before I leave my hotel room to go to a conference hall to meet leaders from a large multinational company, I have the feeling that I would rather pack my suitcase, jump in a taxi and catch the next flight home. Since 2008 I have worked as a part-time leadership and management consultant, but I cannot seem to get beyond the feeling, just before…
In September 2013, our first child Samuel was born, and I founded LOS Language Online Services. I sometimes called myself a Diaper CEO; changing diapers and making my first-ever business plan went somehow hand-in-hand. In this entry, I’d like to share some personal examples of these bottle-fed life and leadership practices, specifically delegating, and resolving conflict. When our son was born, we lived in a…
Managing to speak 2-3 languages is normal these days, at least among people who are not indifferent to the current and future state of the world. The ability to communicate clearly in words and letters, particularly in English, puts us on the same starting line with a billion other “competitors”. Nothing more, nothing less. Knowledge of a language only qualifies us to enter the competition (this…
I decided I wanted to be a teacher as soon as I started teaching. Before that, like many people in this world, I didn’t really know what to do with my life. When I was a kid I thought I wanted to be a war journalist, and which I think I have more or less been and I can still become. I knew that I could not do something…
Corporate language training is becoming extremely important for today’s knowledge workers. Not only does it provide desired language skills, but it is integral to helping people accelerate their professional careers. In an LOS business language class, we always target the needs of the individual. Gone are the days when schools can offer generic solutions. We at LOS realize that your work daily interconnects with international…
Being fluent in a foreign language takes me nowhere. I must alsolearn to understand the culture of those who speak that language. I have been teaching students from different cultures for almost 10 years. However, only after I read The Culture Map by Erin Meyer, specifically the first chapter, did I come to the point where I realized that even if we all spoke one language,…
It strikes me as a gaping deficit of the modern education system that we often spend more time learning to communicate in a foreign language than we do learning to communicate truly and deeply in our own language. This might sound surprising coming from someone who teaches 3 languages, speaks half a dozen and has spent time learning a few more. But if there is…
Before I became a Teacher of English as a Foreign Language, I spentover 30 years as a Lawyer. And, for the greater part of that time, I wasalso the guy in charge of the whole operation. As with the majority of bosses of SMEs, I had to do so much more than be good at my chosen profession. In addition to actually generating income (forgive…
EY, PwC, Deloitte or KPMG – winning an interview at a top consulting firm is exciting! But how will you survive the interview, especially if English isn’t your native language? It’s a short step from panicking to imagining radical language improvement in just one month. The bad news – such improvement is impossible. The good news – you can compensate. Languages evolve out of complex human…
