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Avoiding false friends and using idioms correctly make learning English as a foreign language challenging, and not just for German native speakers. During President Macron’s recent trip to Australia, the French president called the wife of the Australian Prime Minister “delicious” (lecker). Certainly not what he wanted to say. Test your knowledge of some Business English idioms …

The World Economic Forum’s recent article on speaking English as a second language (ESL) points out that when someone uses a second language, they usually deal with ideas and information differently than they would in their native language.

You bring your own bag to the supermarket in order to reduce plastic consumption and save money. But nearly every product you buy is packaged in some kind of plastic? Things are going to change in the UK. The Telegraph reports that supermarkets have agreed to ban the use of single-use, non-recyclable plastic packaging by …

Why talk about the weather? It’s something that everyone has to deal with and experience. Even if people know each other well, it’s common for English speakers to start a conversation with brief small talk about the weather. It’s a way to reconnect and build common ground. You can also get a feeling for what kind of mood your conversation partner …

Since making small talk about personal interests is one of the best ways to connect and build relationships, it’s always good to know a bit about the most popular sports in a business partner’s country. For example, Super Bowl LII took place last week in the U.S. Do you know who won? Each sport comes with its …

Sie haben vor, 2018 auch neben dem Besuch eines Englischkurses Ihr Englisch zu verbessern? Dann haben wir hier einige Tipps für Sie: 1. Schauen. Egal ob Sie die Nachrichten auf CNN International oder Unterhaltung mit The Big Bang Theory, Suits, The Crown oder The Walking Dead schauen, Filme und Serien werden Ihr Hörverständnis sehr schnell …

Merriam-Webster and Oxford Dictionaries have announced their words of the year for 2017. Merriam-Webster’s choice, feminism, comes as no surprise:  Starting with the women’s marches in Washington D.C. and in other major U.S. cities held the day after Donald Trump’s inauguration in January 2017, and ending with the #metoo movement, which brought the issue of harassment and violence against …

Each week of 2017 we present an English idiom. “water under the bridge / water over the dam”: a past event; Schnee von gestern sein Example 1:  It’s water over the dam now. All we can do is move forward and try to prevent misunderstandings in the future. Example 2:  Don’t worry. What happened at the company …

Each week of 2017 we present an English idiom. “to have bigger fish to fry”:  to have more important matters to deal with; Wichtigeres zu tun haben Example 1:  We can’t worry about it at the moment — we have bigger fish to fry. Example 2:  He had received an interesting offer last year, but at …