I sometimes hear nonnative speakers of English with excellent levels of grammar and vocabulary still struggling with word stress. This is because some languages have fixed word stress, which makes pronunciation of words predictable. But in English this is not the case. That is, some words have their primary stress on the first syllable, while […]
Common questions during job interviews in the US
When I was working on my Master’s degree at the University of San Francisco, one of my professors told us a story about a Korean man who had applied for an open position at the university. The interview went great, my professor said. The candidate was knowledgeable and pleasant to talk to; he answered all […]
Confusing English pronunciation: L vs. W
During my last trip to Bulgaria, I had a conversation with a person who was helping me with some paperwork. At one point, answering one of my questions, he told me that I could find more details about the topic we were discussing “on wine.” Although this sounded odd to me, I immediately knew that […]
What is the best way to learn English?
How to speak up – even in “imperfect” English
My last flight from Europe back to the US went so smoothly that I was almost suspicious. “Could anything still go wrong?” I asked myself when the plane landed at the San Francisco airport. My husband and I spent the last five weeks in Europe, splitting our time between our two respective native countries Poland […]
10 commonly confusing English phrasal verbs
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
Commonly confused English words
When I was in college, one day during my math class the teacher was explaining an equation. One of my classmates, an Arabic speaker, raised his hand and asked a question referring to the remainder in the equation as a “reminder.” This slight mispronunciation made our teacher smile and she told him that he was […]
