Prepositions give many nonnative speakers of English a very hard time. And when they are used to form phrasal verbs, they seem even harder. Oftentimes it is challenging to remember what preposition follows a certain verb in order to communicate a particular meaning. According to the Oxford dictionary, a phrasal verb is a verb that […]
How to be an effective communicator
What does it mean to be fluent in English?
Do you consider yourself fluent in English or are you waiting to reach this “perfect” level when you will no longer make any mistakes and speaking English will feel as natural as speaking your native language? What does it mean to be fluent in another language anyway? When I started college in the US, I […]
How to sound clear in English
Last week I had a great conversation with a Bulgarian friend who shared with me that sometimes native speakers didn’t understand what she was saying. One time, for example, she asked someone “Where is Andy?” and she couldn’t understand why the woman she was talking to was so confused. When I told her that the […]
Bias against foreign accent and how to handle it
The power of simple words
To fake it till you make it or to be authentic?
When I was in elementary school, my physics teacher – a very good-hearted, but often contradicting herself – once looked at the class and said: “I’ve never told you, but let me repeat.” She proceeded to explain whatever she was trying to explain at the moment, but the rest of the class and I couldn’t […]
Embarrassed due to a mispronounced word?
Not long ago, one of my students shared with me a funny, but slightly embarrassing story regarding mispronunciation. She wanted to thank the technician who was fixing something in her house. But instead of “thank you for your patience,” what came out of her mouth was “thank you for your passion.” The guy looked perplexed […]
