In December 2019 I visited the forgotten country between Kazakhstan and China. Kyrgyzstan is one of the less-developed countries in the world with a 90 % Muslim population. We didn’t know what to expect, but…
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35 Business Euphemisms
No one likes to talk about the nasty things in life, right? I mean, who enjoys discussing how many people they had to fire this week, just because the company wants to save a bit…
Virtually Perfect
OK, so here’s something I know about you. Either you, or someone you know, is learning a language online. I’m right, right? Online language learning is growing at a fast and horrifying rate. One recent…
5 fel på svenska
Jag heter Luisa Kerek. Jag har jobbat som lärare i svenska i snart tio år och undervisat människor från hela världen. När man frågar studenterna vad de tycker är svårast med svenska, svarar de ofta att…
Ruminations on the Emotional Heavy-Lifting of International Moves
In my third international (intercontinental, really) move in five years, I hoped that the process would become easier and that I would find more of a flow which thus far has eluded me. Perhaps it’s…
Words That Aren’t What They Are – 10 English Contronyms
We all know that some words have lots of different meanings. I remember one student, very early in my teaching career, asking me what “to” meant. That was a very difficult question to answer. English…
Internet Collocations
—In many ways I’m glad. I’m glad because I’m from that strange generation that knew what lifewas like before the Internet, but also was young enough when it arrivedto be able to adapt to it…
Anyone can play guitar
In the immortal words of Radiohead, “Anyone can play guitar.” And they’re right. That’s the great thing about the guitar. It’s for everyone! But how do we talk about it? What’s the name for those…
Whose English is it anyway?
OK. Let’s start with a little quiz. Which sentences are correct and which ones aren’t? I’ve seen so many country. She spend all day yesterday talking about giraffes. Have you ever seen elephant? Your brother…
Cutting a Dash
Do you know what a fen is? It’s “a low and marshy, or frequently flooded, area of land”. The ‘low’ bit is a shame, because I really need there to be a ‘high’ version. Not…
How I Learned To Stop Worrying About My German (EN/SWE)
When I settled in Germany at the beginning of 2017, I discovered that the Turkish, Italian and English languages allowed me to communicate with more or less everyone I met – in the kiosk, at…
