Learn More in English

06/23/2025

Writing words in English can be. . .difficult.

11/17/2023

Weird Words. What a crazy song: billyboil, jumpbuck, swagman??? They sure have some funny words Down Under. (Down Under is a way of referring to Australia.) This edutainment video explains not only some aspects of the peculiar regional dialect, but also the local history that is thought to have led to the famous "alternative national anthem" of Australia. Regionalisms occur when a group of people living at a particular time and in a particular place develop a distinctive way of speaking that is understood by the local community. It then becomes difficult for outsiders to understand the language.

See a simplified version of the song with "ordinary" vocabulary words below.

The song has been performed and recorded with a variety of accents and musical styles. It can be a very upbeat melody. An understanding of the lyrics reveals a story that is a little less jolly. It therefore becomes a suitable subject for the mournful elegy "The Band Played Waltzing Matilda". The ballad gives the imagined first person account of a young soldier from Australia who listens to the ever popular tune "Waltzing Matilda" at various points in his life. The piece is often played for ANZAC Day. This is a day in April which commemorates veterans, especially the Gallipoli Campaign of the First World War during which approximately 10,000 Australians and New Zealanders lost their lives during an 8 month stalemate with the Turkish Ottomans. https://youtu.be/cnFzCmAyOp8?feature=shared

Here is a much simplified version of "Waltzing Matilda". It is pretty "flat:. We're not just talking about the animation style in this case. Without the local colour of the original accent and the original vocabulary, the song lacks something. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2ebLFQj4Do

"Waltzing Matilda Explained" is an exploration of the history behind the writing of Australia's unofficial national anthem from its origins in a remote area ...

03/17/2023

New Words: "Phubbing"? What on earth? I guess that if someone says the word often enough, loudly enough, and seriously enough we'll just take it on as a foregone conclusion as a new word to use. It's a word that will stick. It might be used in a "serious scientific study" along with other inventions for vocabulary items such as "nomophobia" (fear of being without a phone) or plagonomy (fear of running out of phone battery) and there you have it! The newly minted "phubbing" (a combination of phone and snubbing) will become an accepted reality. If the psychologist looks inside our heads and puts a new label on it, then voilà! We are all instantly "phubbers" of the worst description. . .

The reality of the omnipresent smartphone might be a new reality. I don't really buy it that this human behaviour is new. There have always been "phubbers" in my books - lots of them. It's just that the behaviour has been more exposed to public and private scrutiny due to the involvement of smartphones and intrusion of social media in our everyday lives.

Saints preserve me from becoming another "phubber" for anyone! And that's about all I can do (or say) about that!

Don't let fear of "phubbing" stop you from using your phone to learn new words. Just be sure to use your phone to connect with people before you connect with words and connect with people before you use your words.

An online survey in Turkey found that people who are more exposed to partner phubbing (being ignored by their partner who was focused on their phone) are less satisfied with their romantic relationship and see its quality as lower. The study was published in Psychological Reports. ...

02/25/2023

What's the big deal? What difference does a single letter make? Who cares if you add in or drop a letter here and there in your pronunciation? Surely it is not that big of a deal! After all, it's a free country and we are all free to express ourselves with all of the idiosyncrasies of individuality and group identification that we choose, n'est-ce pas??!!??

What business is it of yours how I choose to pronounce "charcuterie"? I mean, what do you have to say about how I choose to say a particular word? Who made you the judge??!!

Well. That's rich, especially coming from the likes of everyone's favourite nouveau riche insufferable neighbours, Todd and Monica. Todd and Monica have been successfully flogging Léon's line of super cool up and out furniture for a few years now. (No doubt Todd and Monica have been paid rather handsomely for their contribution to creative advertising for the very English Toronto based furniture store. Although I did see that Todd and Monica had some competition from a French-speaking couple who carry on with the same mannerisms, if not the same words, as the company branches out, presumably into the Montreal market. How very chic!)

The take-home lesson? Pronunciation, even the pronunciation of a single sound, can make a difference. Some people might stumble over the way you say a word or phrase. If this happens often with the same word and you get some funny looks, maybe it is time to look again at your pronunciation. Some people make judgements about you based on how they hear you say things. That may not be fair, but it still happens.

That's kind of a negative thing. Okay. So, let's just stick with the ever annoying Todd and Monica and their great new ideas for home decorating. There's the word "super" right there in the word "superficial", so it must mean something good. Right??

Wait... was that priceless or pricedless? Find priceless style, priced less at Leon's. Explore here - https://www.leons.ca/pricedless

12/06/2022

Lost in translation: (Partial) Success! You know you are making real progress in a language when you start to think in the language and you are no longer conscious of a translation process. Of course, this doesn't happen all at once. More than likely, you've been at it for many years before things come together and you arrive at this stage of internalizing language learning. It is a goal most earnestly sought by many language learners. Sometimes you'll make a fool of yourself while trying very hard to pursue a greater finesse in your language arts. Sometimes progress creeps up on you when you least expect it after you have put in a lot of hard work trying to master things.

It's kind of like that pesky bee in Rowan Atkinson's (a.k.a. Mr. Bean) new comedy vehicle coming out on Netflix this month. His character spends a lot of time, apparently, chasing the bee around to no avail. All kinds of comical mishaps happen along the way. In his single-minded focus on "getting that bee" he never quite manages it.

It's really when we sit back and relax along the way that Rowan Atkinson's mastery of the art of non-verbal comedy comes into focus. Mr. Bean is all the funnier because he doesn't generally say much of anything out loud. Atkinson's version of highly developed physical comedy has a chance to shine precisely because it is a comedy that is not based on words.

This has also helped Mr. Bean to become a worldwide phenomenon. In a previous era, just before accurate instant translation was available where video quickly circulated the globe via the Internet, Mr. Bean could go anywhere he wanted in the world and still be understood. Genius.

For those of us who don't want to rely on instant Google translate on a phone forever, but who want to actually converse in our language of choice, I am afraid that it is a bit more difficult. No easy laughs. Mastery of the language may seem like a distant and remote destination, but for some of us it's still worth it.

You might even get a magnificent collector's mug like this one along the way!

If you're a Mr. Bean fan you won't want to miss this. Watch the preview of the Netflix "Man vs. Bee" series here: https://youtu.be/4WzsoVE4D8M

06/07/2022

But it sounds the same?!!? What?!? You mean you write it the same way, but it's not the same word?!? This is confusing.

Well, there are some confusing things when it comes to homonyms, homographs, and homophones. It becomes clearer when you see examples with words that are commonly used in the English language. The clue is the context. To understand the word you need to see it in the context of a sentence, story, or picture.

There are technical terms (Homonym, homophone, homograph) to describe something you may have already seen or heard. (It is too much for a bare bear to bear!!) You can still enjoy jokes and understand the words even if you don't know the technical terms.

For a better understanding of the technical terms, the infographic below and the video should help to keep it all straight when it comes to those tricky terms describing words that have a bit too much in common. https://youtu.be/f_7FR59AKmQ

03/12/2022

Lots of reading can help you to make lots of progress in learning a language. To make it a success, you have to read things that are not too long or too hard for your level of English.

How can you find things that fit? How can you find lots of things that fit? How can you find enough things that you are interested in that fit?

Readworks.org can be a solution.

03/05/2022

Do you want to learn more in English and learn more in other parts of your life? Prepare to be bad to be good!

In order to really learn something as complex as a language, you need to be willing to NOT be PERFECT . . . in the beginning. If you are too self-conscious or too impatient when you make mistakes, you will not be able to learn. Then you have to be willing to keep on going for a long time, even though you know you really are not perfect . . . in the middle. You have to keep working at the learning process for a long time even though you don't seem to be making progress very fast. Finally, in order to really get to an advanced level, you have to SEEK to be PERFECT . . . in the end. You must accept correction in those places where you still have a problem even though you have already learned so much. You must not be content with doing the easy things that you can already do.

But if you seek this perfection in the beginning you will only fail.

"Every master was once a novice.
You have to start somewhere. Right?
Be okay with being terrible in the beginning.
Be okay with being mediocre in the middle.
And if you're having fun, be okay with whatever level you're at in the process.
"Be brave enough to suck at something new."
Sometimes, the win is conquering your fears.
Sometimes, the win is learning something new.
Sometimes, the win is getting uncomfortable.
Sometimes, the win is making friends in the process.
Sometimes, the win is laughing at yourself.
Sometimes, the win is joy.
Sometimes, the win is learning that you don't like what you just tried!
Embrace it all!" - Posted by "Community of Seven".

10/21/2021

Learn to read. Live more life.

10/21/2021

Reading something you enjoy reading is a key to unlocking a new language. Sometimes creating a space where you can enjoy reading can also be helpful. Perhaps you would like to read while you drink a favourite cup of tea or coffee. Perhaps there is a place where you can enjoy pleasant weather or a beautiful scenic vista.

The point with extensive reading (when you read a lot quickly without stopping) is to make the effort to create an experience that is positive. Learning another language is hard work. You may be more successful by creating an attractive experience for yourself that helps you to keep reading.

Adding a soundtrack to your reading to play in the background is another idea. Here is the song that I added originally to 'The Cottage Book Nook' picture. It is very atmospheric instrumental music from the early 1960's. I am not really recommending this music (or this book or this film with the same title - they are not all that good!) I am recommending that you pick something that you like.

"The Summer Place" Instrumental Music Video: https://youtu.be/tSsiS-v6_6M

Original photo by Teacher Lynn Romain Dion.

06/27/2021

Spelling - Who cares? What's a little typo? (Well, first of all, what's a "typo" in English? A typo is a typographical error from the time when words were typed out on typewriting machines. You may have just pressed the wrong key by accident. This is different than when you may not have known how to spell a word.)

This funny little video shows that a small mistake could turn into a big problem in the business world. It pays to be accurate. Learning how to spell crazy words in English is a big pain, but, once in a while, fixing an error can be even more painful! Get a machine and then get a person to check your spelling when it is really important.

Empower your designers. Take back your marketing site. And never fear the typo. Break the code barrier — with Webflow.Learn more: https://wfl.io/typo--------...

05/27/2021

Seven Secrets to Perfect Pronunciation in English! Really?!? Well, yes, but . . . It's all true. Mastering these seven things in English pronunciation really will make a big difference in how you sound and in how well native speakers will understand you.

Are they super hard? Well, no. Are they super expensive to get someone to teach you these things? Not necessarily. A good and experienced ESL teacher should be able to address these concepts if they have good tools and training. Does it take a long time to learn? Again, not necessarily.

It does take practice to master and implement each one. Each of the seven may be a unified concept, but there are many examples to learn within each category. But don't get discouraged. Even making a beginning with each of the seven categories will make a difference in the quality of your spoken English. Miss Ruth knows what she's talking about!

Do you have trouble pronouncing American English? Watch my entire video series about the 7 aspects of pronunciation you must know in order to sound clearer a...