Posts by Ethan

Mistakes with false cognates are far too common among English learners. False cognates—words that are the same/similar between different languages, but have different meanings—are always tricky [deceitful] for language learners. The mistake of using present instead of introduce is made by almost every English learner, especially in business settings, where we make acquaintance of new…

You probably already know this: Phrasal verbs are SUPER common in English! But how often do you actually use phrasal verbs when you speak? You do not need phrasal verbs to be understood, and many of them have a (less common) Latin equivalent in English. However, I’ve noticed one of the things that makes the…

If you are like me, you wait all year for the new season of Game of Thrones. Seriously, it’s like Christmas, or your birthday. We GoT fans (as we abbreviate it in English) mark the days on our calendar to find out what will happen next. But for non-native speakers, you probably find the language…

Note: This is Part II about not making mistakes in English. If you have not read Part I, I recommend you do that first. Last week, in Part I, we looked at why people fear mistakes, common misconceptions, and the definition of true fluency. Just a reminder, we defined true fluency as: Speaking confidently and being…

Ethan here, and today I’m going to tell you the secret to speak English without making mistakes! Are you ready? The secret is… … … … Make A LOT of mistakes! What? This probably sounds pretty counterintuitive and it might not be what you want to hear, but if you want to speak without mistakes,…

Duolingo has revolutionized the way that people learn languages, and is leading the world in free education. In fact, Duolingo’s promise is: Learn a language for free. Forever, a wonderful and altruistic mission. For this reason, millions are turning to Duolingo for their language learning needs. Leading this are people, probably like you, with an…

What’s up everybody?? This week I have another awesome, fun lesson for you with some popular new music: The hit song 7 Years by Lukas Graham. When you first listen to this song (or if you’ve heard it before), you might be thinking, understanding this native English is really difficult! But guess what? It’s not…

In the United States this time of year almost everyone, religious or not, is celebrating Christmas. During Christmastime, it’s common to decorate the house with lights and a tree with ornaments, make sweets like cookies and toffee, drink hot chocolate, play in the snow, and exchange presents with loved ones. Today I have a fun,…

Adele’s new song, Hello, is number 1 all over the world. But do you understand what she’s singing about? Even if you do get the basic meaning, have you caught all of the interesting expressions that she uses? And last, are you using music like this to help you improve your pronunciation and sound more…