Tag Archives: english

Out with the Old, In with the New: Bye British English, ‘Ello Euro-English

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Brexit has been blamed for all manner of things: changing trade routes, price increases, you name it. However, one of the latest things it stands accused of is the eventual dilution of the purity of the English language and the rise of something called Euro-English. Wait, what? Isn’t that just English? Well, sort of. It(…)


How Politics May Determine Your Next Language

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What do you consider when you are choosing a language to study? Is it the relative ease to pick it up, future job prospects, for deepening the enjoyment of the place you’re going to travel to? Or maybe simply because it’s the popular language to study right now. But then… what is it that makes(…)


What Exactly is Business English?

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For those of you who aren’t already in the know, Business English is A Thing when it comes to the matter of learning English as a foreign language. Amongst General, Academic, ESP (English for Specific Purposes), and others, there are learners who seek out courses or tutors specifically to learn Business English on the basis(…)


Odd Words and Sayings Unique to British English

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Is there another language besides English that is such a mess of dialects and colloquialisms? Does relocating barely 25 miles in non-English speaking countries mean that opening your mouth immediately identifies you as a foreigner to those parts? We’re sceptical about that; here’s some of the most delightfully odd words and sayings from (arguably) the(…)


The Language Behind Science

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Scientists, those of us in pursuit of knowledge rather than lining our pockets or seeking our own personal gain, can be relied upon to be the most neutral of the neutral, the pinnacle of unbiased thinking in a world that is so tarnished by opinion and personal point of view. Right? Mmm, sort of. Science,(…)


Why English Remains Today’s Lingua Franca: Part 2

English being considered the lingua franca of this world is sure to get the back-up of those whose own native tongue is vastly more widespread in use—or at least equal to it—across the globe. We can look to Mandarin, Spanish, or even Russian as other contenders for this coveted title, and yet the fact remains(…)


Why English Remains Today’s Lingua Franca: Part 1

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Oh, fellow native English speakers, we hope you won’t object to us tarnishing us all with the same brush here, when we say that there is such an expectation of hearing English everywhere we go, that we are everything from surprised to alarmed when we realise that it isn’t. English is touted as the lingua(…)


Native English Speakers’ Need to Adapt to Non-Natives

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Native English speaker? Good for you! Confident that you would pass any grammar test thrown at you with flying colours? Fabulous! So the news that you may, in fact, have to rethink or relearn your own native tongue in order to make people understand you better might not be something you readily want to hear. We(…)


English Proves to be the Least Predictable Language

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Living in a country with a language that is about as different from English as possible I have had my own serious problems with learning to read and write Thai. Thai has more consonants and vowels than English that pair up to create different tones. There is also the ambiguous placement of vowels: sometimes before,(…)


Howdy Partner, Where Ya From?: A Guide to American Accents

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The United States of America is a huge country made up of 50 states, 48 continental and 2 separate, each of which has its own identity, sense of pride and history. There is however one common denominator: the English language. In total, there are 225 million native speakers of English and 25.6 million speakers of English(…)