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Collocations are pairs of words or short phrases that often appear together, such as a verb and a noun, an adjective and a noun, or a verb and a preposition. Let’s have a look at the following two adjective + noun collocations: strong coffee, a powerful computer Strong and powerful have very similar meanings and …

In my classes, learners sometimes ask how Germany is shown in the international press. Here’s a great chance to find out. The BBC’s Business Daily podcast chose Dresden as the location for the last episode in its “Cost of living” series. In the week-long series, they looked at different issues connected to the rising costs of living. …

Tis the season to enjoy some Christmas music in English! The Guardian (UK) and Reader’s Digest (US edition) have both put together lists of the greatest Christmas songs. We’ve created Spotify playlists with the top hits from each publication. To access them, follow the links below. The top 20 Christmas songs from The Guardian The …

Would you like to improve your English pronunciation? We have an important tip for you: Pay attention to how you say consonants at the end of English words. Standard German has something called final devoicing (Auslautverhärtung) which means that voiced (stimmhaft) consonants at the end of words such as -d, -g and -b are devoiced …

Ending an English email to a business partner might feel a bit difficult. First there’s a short sentence to thank the person for their help or attention, or to remind them of what you need from them and when. And now what about that little word or phrase that goes above your name? What would …

Reading the news is a great way to learn English. But sometimes the news isn’t very happy and reading about what is going wrong in the world causes a lot of stress. Nice News offers a solution – you can read some English and get a good feeling about what is going on in the …

Before you prepare your English presentation, it’s important to think about who will be sitting in the audience. Not their names, but what they know about your topic and their reason for attending your presentation. Here are some general questions to ask yourself: A. Who is in the audience? > Where do they work? > …

Five idioms that show why you shouldn’t try to translate German idioms into English. Native speakers of all languages use idioms to express their ideas. But usually an idiom that is common in one language doesn’t have an exact translation in another language. Here are five common German idioms with no direct translations in English, …