So, the focus of this week’s mini lesson is presentations, more specifically how to give an excellent presentation. As some of you may have seen from the white board photograph, there are three important points to consider when giving a presentation of any sort. They are as follows; 1. What is the main message of your presentation, 2. Be mindful of structure and 3. Be mindful of transitioning from one point to another. Before I flesh these points out in more detail, first I want to talk about some misconceptions people have regarding presentations.

Misconceptions

I think the most common one is that a presentation needs to be humorous or funny. I don’t subscribe to this idea personally. For a start, maybe you are not naturally very funny and trying to be could result in something very cringey (see any David Brent presentation). Another common misconception is that you need to be an expert on the topic you are presenting. Unless you are defending a doctoral thesis or something of that nature then I don’t subscribe to that idea either. Your presentation should be informative, easy-to-follow with a clear message and concise. Now I will flesh out the three points I mentioned in more detail.

3 points for a great presentation

1. What is the main message of your presentation? Let me start by saying that if you (the presenter) do not know what the main message of your presentation is, then how am I (the listener) supposed to know? This is something that requires careful consideration and once you know what the main message is, be sure to let your audience know at the beginning of the presentation. Imagine for example I want to give a presentation to a group of Mexican students about Ireland. Let’s also imagine that the main message of presentation is ‘how to find a job in Ireland’. I will proceed to introduce myself, thank everyone for coming, inform them what today’s presentation is about and then tell them exactly what the main message is. It is not a mystery; everyone now knows what it is. Obviously people will take away different things from the presentation but they will know what the intended main message was.
2. Be mindful of structure: structure is very important for both the person presenting and the person listening. For the presenter it helps them to feel less nervous about the whole idea. It also helps to remind the presenter of what he/she wants to say. For the listener it helps them to understand where exactly the presenter is in their presentation and what point they are referring to. Again a very simple way to do this is to highlight at the beginning of the presentation all the points you wish to discuss. Following the example I gave in the previous point about Ireland, at the beginning of the presentation after I have mentioned the main message, I then say that I am going to talk about Ireland today under three key headings. 1. Language, 2. Tourism and 3. Job Opportunities (key message). The structure is clear for all to see and my main message is clear, the only question now is how do I move from one point to the next smoothly and effortlessly?
3. Be mindful of transitioning from one point to another: so, the main message is clear and the structure is clear. I start by introducing the first topic, ‘The first topic I am going to discuss is the Irish language.’ So I give the talk about Irish language as best I can, mentioning all the points that I wanted to make. I then say, ‘So, that’s the first point finished. Does anyone have any questions or comments at this point of the presentation about the Irish language? No. Is everything clear? Yes. Can I move on to my next point? Yes. Ok, the next point I would like to discuss is Tourism’. After each point in my presentation I ask the audience do they have any questions related to the point I have just mentioned. This reduces the possibility of being asked any question and urges the audience to only ask a question about the point mentioned. It gives the presenter a bit of a break and time to calm down and take a deep breath if necessary, ready to talk about the next point. It gives the listener, who is probably thinking about dinner or coffee, writing something on Facebook or Instagram or whatever, ample opportunity to see clearly at what stage the presenter is in the presentation. As the presentation advances, the listener has been trained to understand when to ask questions and that the questions are related only to points mentioned.

This week I have talked to many different clients about giving presentations and they told me it was something quite daunting for them. After talking to them about this 3 point strategy and how it can be used, they all felt much more confident and have agreed to give me a presentation about a topic of their choosing in English. I was thrilled to be able to instil confidence in them so quickly. Hopefully it will be useful for all of you also and if you have any questions or comments related to this blog (or any other) please let me know.

In this blog post I am going to talk about language learning, but more specifically, how to approach learning a language. Due to the current global pandemic, conventional classes are out of the question. There are other methods of course, online classes being one and due to social distancing and other health and safety measures there has been a surge in online learning. People, however, could find themselves in a situation where they do not have much disposable income at the moment to afford classes but that does not mean that you cannot start learning a language and see tangible results quickly.

There are some languages which are, for one reason or another, more difficult than others to learn. For example, it is generally considered that Slavic languages are more complicated to master than Latin based languages. The starting point is the same, however. Most people will be able to say what their name is in more than one other language, not including their native language. They might even be able to say how old they are or where they live. The problem arises when we are asked questions and this causes us to freeze. We either do not understand the question, thereby rendering us unable to answer, or we understand but lack the vocabulary to respond. Let me explain how we can apply simple logic to overcome this problem and become more confident with learning languages.

When we ask someone, ‘How are you?’ in everyday conversational language there are only a limited number of response that are frequently used. I am aware before someone points it out that there are a wide range of responses that one can give but stay with me for a moment. More often than not, the typical responses are, ‘I’m great!’, ‘I’m ok!’, or ‘I’m bad / not good!’ Following this line of thinking, it is logical to learn these phrases because when you ask someone how they are, these are the most frequent responses that you will be faced with. From my own experience with language learning, I was very good at the start at directing the conversation. However, the problems arose when I was put in a situation where I had to respond to something or acknowledge that someone has responded to something I had asked.

Put simply, in Spanish say, when you say, ‘Hola, ¿cómo estás?’ to someone, try to think about what be a logical response to this question and learn these responses in order to improve your fluency. As I have mentioned before, a big part of language learning is mimicking what native speakers say in certain situations and this is a good example of how to do that.

So, a few days ago I was having difficulty getting to sleep and I got to thinking. Not about anything too serious, thankfully, but useful nonetheless. I started thinking about languages with respect to both teaching and learning them and I think I came to some interesting conclusions. My experience with learning Spanish was very formal and academic, at least at the beginning anyway, and I realised that when I found myself in a Spanish speaking environment, I struggled to understand what people were saying.

Looking back, I think the reason for this was because I had learned a neutral form of Spanish, which was universally understandable to native Spanish speakers, but nowhere close to being anything like a native speaker would say. Then I started thinking and I asked myself the following question, “If I were a student of English, what would I want to learn based on the experiences that I have from learning and teaching languages?” The short answer to the question is, I would want to learn expressions that native speakers use and in what situations I can use them. The long answer I will flesh out in more detail in a series of blogs I intend to write.

So let’s start very simple, not to be pejorative or condescending, but rather to highlight that whether it’s advanced learners or complete beginners, it’s usually the simple things that they often get wrong. Simple greetings or presenting oneself can be problematic for most students because maybe they try to translate something from their native language that comes out wrong, or they use a neutral/universal expression which isn’t frequently used. Let’s take the, “hello, how are you?” example as our point of departure. In terms of being grammatically correct, it most certainly is. I would argue, however, that it most everyday exchanges it is not a commonly used utterance.

If you want to sound like a native speaker try using phrases like, “How are ya?”, “How’ya doin’?” or “How’s it goin’?”. These phrases are more akin to what native speakers say when they want to say hello and it would be a good idea to start using them if you want to sound like a native speaker. If you live in London, or other parts of the UK, you are more likely to hear something like, “Alright?” which means “Are you alright?” In the USA maybe something like, “Whassup?” which means, “What is up?” might be more common. Of course being from Ireland, I should give an example which is commonly used in Ireland, “What’s the craic?” Anyone who has spent any length of time in Ireland will be very familiar with this expression. We use it to ask how someone is and if you live in Ireland and want to blend in then start using it.

How do you respond to all of these? Conventional grammar books will say, “Very well thank you!” Try saying, “I’m good!” instead as it represents something that native speakers use a lot in response to the many different questions mentioned above. So this is the first of a series of blogs which I intend to publish as often as I can. The next one will cover how to say goodbye like a native speaker. Thanks for reading!

As a teenager, I had to endure my best friend talking to me about some pretty obscure sports among other things. Baseball was one of them. I would have to listen to him waffle on about Barry Bonds’ homerun chase with the San Francisco Giants in the late 90’s early 2000’s, the curse of the Bambino (referring to the curse the Boston Red Sox franchise endured when they traded Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees), how A-Rod’s (Alex Rodriguez) contract with the Yankees was hurting their chances to win a World Series and the infamous Pete Rose, the player with the most hits in the history of baseball and why he was being snubbed from Cooper’s Town (baseball’s hall of fame).

Baseball has been widely regarded in the US as being the populations’ favourite past-time due to its humble and ordinary-decent background for the longest time. Admittedly, I am not the biggest baseball fan out there and I would struggle to be able to explain the rules and some of the terminology related to the sport and in terms of the part of the world where I come from, I don’t think I am alone in this.  Recently I have decided to pay attention to it, largely in an attempt to understand it. I am fascinated by how popular it once was, being America’s game from the 1940’s to the 1970’s. A dip in popularity followed, which led to the infamous steroid era, the money ball era (which became a popularised sports term following the motion picture). What I am more interested in is baseball terminology and how it has influenced the way we speak English in both the US and other English speaking countries.

I suppose the most obvious one to begin with is to hit a homerun. Even for someone who has little or no interest in sports, this is an easy one. It refers to being successful at something, or as successful as one can be in a given situation. It is the most successful single thing that a hitter can do in baseball and is incredibly difficult. Another idiomatic expression which is often used to express the same meaning would to hit it out of the park. The ‘it’ in this case refers to a given goal which has been reached to a high level of success. These expressions would be typically used in American English.

The concept of a curveball is a very common idiomatic expression, which interestingly is used in both American and British English alike. It refers to something unexpected or unpredictable. In baseball it refers to the unpredictable trajectory of the ball pitched by the pitcher which can be difficult to hit.

3 strikes and you’re out! This is arguably the most universal of the baseball idioms and is easy to explain to someone who is not familiar with it. In baseball, a pitcher must throw the ball towards the batter. If the batter fails to hit the ball after three attempts, then it is ruled as a strikeout. In business, this expression can be used to explain company policy regarding warnings. So, if an employee were to commit the same offense three times then they could face disciplinary action, or worse still, be fired.

To take a rain check refers to the notion of making good on a promise which could not be fulfilled due to unforeseen circumstances. In baseball it refers to reimbursing fans tickets due to a game being postponed during inclement weather. This idiomatic expression is more common in American English.

There are lots more that I have not mentioned in this piece but I fully intend to write a part 2 of this topic. Please feel free to mention any baseball idiom that you have heard that is not covered in this blog.

In my previous blogs I have written about how translating from your native language directly to the language which you are learning can be problematic. However, no matter how many times teachers advise students not to do this, students still fall into the habit of doing it anyway. Perhaps nerves get the better of them particularly when it comes to certificate exams. Regarding spoken errors, it can just simply be a lack of concentration. Regarding written errors, maybe overthinking, generalising grammar rules and failure to recognise that sometimes less is more are at play.

A big part of language learning in my opinion is imitation and this is where most students miss a trick I believe. By this I simply mean imitating what native speakers say and how they express themselves in different situations. The different situations I am referring to are simply formal and informal. Having a bank of idiomatic expressions and knowing in what situations they can be used can be very helpful for students to display a good command of the language. In this article I will explain, not only how seeing and understanding the language you want to learn in context is a more useful technique than translating directly, but also the contextual limitations of translating directly. 

English to the language learner can seem very apologetic and the example that I have chosen to title this piece (although taken to the extreme) illustrates that. When we are trying to express politeness, our sentences contain words and phrases like; sorry, could you and if you don’t mind. In the case of Spanish, these apologetic words are unnecessary. Instead there is a formal you tú and an informal you usted. Using one or the other depends on the situation and to whom you are speaking with. Similarly in English, speaking to a friend or family member we are less inclined to be as apologetic as we would be when speaking to someone of authority. This varying degree of formality that we use when speaking is called register.

It is our use of different registers which determine how we manage different relationships. Put simply, we use a different register when we speak to a doctor or lawyer than if we speak to our friends or family, for example. Something interesting to note here is, in an English speaking context we tend to address doctors in our formal, apologetic register. In a Spanish speaking context, we also address the doctor formally using the usted form, but the tendency also is to address the doctor by his title. Note the following example, ¡Hola doctor! ¿Cómo está usted? In English it would not be natural to refer to a doctor simply by his or her title, unless we add their surname (assuming of course that we know their surname). I often meet students of mine in informal settings like supermarkets or banks and they address me as teacher ¡Hola maestro! is what they usually say. However, thinking back to my childhood and whenever I met a teacher of mine, I would greet them with, “Hello Mr. Smith” or simply, “Hello Sir”. So even though I am not using their title, I am affording them the appropriate level of formality as it pertains to register.

Spanish speakers also have a reputation amongst English speakers as being quite direct and even rude in some cases. However, when we look at the two languages in context it is easy to see why, on the one hand that this is not the case, and why this perception exists, on the other. Let’s take an example, “Quiero una cerveza, por favor”. If we were to translate this directly to English, “I want a beer please” even with the inclusion of please it doesn’t seem appropriate. It seems direct, blunt and could be considered quite rude. However, in a Spanish speaking environment this would be considered normal, run-of-the-mill, everyday language. I am not saying that people don’t use more polite forms of expressing the same idea because they absolutely do and there are plenty of examples. It is to make the point, however, of how in terms of being direct and blunt without causing offence that English has more limitations than Spanish.

Perhaps a more relatable example, especially if you like football, was the incident between Luis Suárez and Patrice Evra during a match between Liverpool and Manchester United. Suárez was handed an eight match ban by the English FA and a £40,000 fine after a lengthy investigation which found him guilty of racism. The verbal exchange between the two players was in Spanish and the FA sought assistance from linguistic experts from the University of Manchester (see report paragraph 162). How did they arrive at the conclusion that what Suárez was racist? By doing what I have been talking about in this piece and that is putting what he said in context, both at the moment of speaking and culturally.

There is also the matter of how Evra perceived the situation and the manner in which what was said to him was said. A simple translation of the Spanish word negro is black, which has negative connotations depending on the context that it is said, but that is not how Evra interpreted negro during his over and back with Suárez. He interpreted it as the ‘n’ word. From the latter’s point of view this was extreme and he claimed that it is often used as a term of endearment. I am not in agreement with it being a term of endearment, nor do I believe that it carries the same weight in terms of racism as the ‘n’ word. During the scuffle, or whatever you want to call it, Suárez said to Evra that he doesn’t talk to negros. You don’t need to be a linguistic expert, in my view, to recognise that this can be construed as racism. Hopefully by now you have gotten the point regarding the importance of language in context and how direct translations are not effective for language learning and how imitation is a far better approach, especially for accuracy. Hopefully you will be better to understand, or even explain to someone else, that Spanish speakers are not rude due to the fact that their language allows for utterances which are direct.

When we are communicating in a language that is not our own, it is very common to make mistakes regardless of how proficient we may be. It can be frustrating when we just can’t express something in the way we want to nor find the words to truly explain how it is we feel. Some can be quite embarrassing, especially if we are not addressing someone formally when the situation calls for it, or if something we are saying can be interpreted differently, it could cause offence in a particular context. Almost all of my students are native Spanish speakers and this article deals with some of the mistakes that they make when communicating in English.

My experience with students here in Mexico ranges from absolute beginners to advanced levels and from children to adults. For the most part, the students have no reservations about expressing themselves. Some do it effortlessly with little or no mistakes, while others need lots of examples and practise to do so. However, in some cases it is obvious that the person is translating directly from their native (in this case Spanish) to English. This happens at all levels, yes, even advanced levels. It is important when errors become fossilised to recognise their origin in order to stop making them. In what instances is it most obvious? I’ll tell you what I think.

The answer quite simply is small talk. Sometimes when I listen to students, who are quite advanced, the conversation flows normally and then they say something that makes a bad impression especially if it is a speaking exam. For example, I could say that Mexico is a beautiful country with delicious food, but for a plethora of different reasons it has a bad reputation globally. To which a student will reply, “Yes, you have a reason!” This would make no sense whatsoever to someone who doesn’t speak a word of Spanish, but for those that do in this instance a Spanish speaker would reply tienes razón in order to express agreement on a certain matter. That’s one example.

Another common error that I hear a lot is when students want to ask me about places that I have visited in Mexico or Europe. “Do you know Cancun?” Asking someone if they know Cancún, or any other place for that matter, is not addressing as to whether or not I have been there. This is ultimately what the student in this case is trying to ask, at least in my opinion. So, do I know Cancún? Yes, I do. It is a holiday destination in the South of Mexico, located in the Yucatán peninsula. The weather is quite hot there I believe, etc. If I have visited the place is a separate issue which is not covered in the question. How can this be corrected, there are two simple ways that I would suggest. First, “Have you (ever) been to Cancún?” or “Have you (ever) visited Cancún?” The origin of the error comes from when asked in a similar context in Spanish as to whether or not someone has visited Cancún, the appropriate question would be, “¿Conoces Cancún?

These are just some examples that I hear quite a lot from Spanish speakers when communicating in English. I know it might seem like nit-picking but this is how someone can display fluency all the while not being fluent, which is what teachers/examiners want to hear, and mark generously by the way! The only way you can improve this is by talking with native speakers and having them correct you when you make mistakes. Also, listen to native speakers when they talk to each other. You will quickly pick up useful phrases to improve small talk and keep the conversation flowing naturally and seamlessly. As a parting note, I am aware that there are many more examples that would be enough to write a doctoral thesis which I have not mentioned. The key point to note is, don’t try to translate directly from your native language to another language. It is not an effective technique and usually ends in creating confusion and making errors. Instead focus on familiarising yourself with everyday expressions that are used in the language you want to learn and how to use them in the correct context.

It’s the New Year and it is around this time where people want to make changes and/or try something new. New diets are started, gym memberships are bought, old guitars are taken down from the attic and others, like me 7 odd years ago, decide to take up a new language. As I am a freelance English teacher, I am experiencing an influx of new students. Everyone has different reasons for wanting to learn the language, but most if not all ask me a question, which quite honestly, annoys me. I sit down with prospective students and often times with their parents, in order to explain my teaching style and philosophy. We spend time talking about their previous experiences, goals and expected outcomes, which is perfectly fine. I am then asked the dreaded question, when will I be fluent? It annoys me because it is a question that cannot be easily answered and quite frankly, doesn’t seem logical to ask. My intention is not to attack anyone who has asked this question before, but rather to give an insight as to what learning a language entails through a more simplified approach and question what language fluency means.

I have been learning Spanish for 7 seven years and my learning experiences have been a combination of informal classes, formal academic and travel. My studies have involved spoken lessons, translation studies, language exchanges, living/working in countries where Spanish is spoken exclusively, assignments, certificate exams, and then some more. I have been in love with the language, I have hated the language, I have tried in broken Spanish to explain my head cold symptoms to doctors, I have been a translator/tour guide for family who have visited me here in Mexico, I have been awarded a degree In Spanish, I have been married in Spanish and my daughter was born here in Mexico. After all that, I still don’t feel like I am fluent. Some people would find this to be ridiculous to think that I have been learning a language for this long and still, I don’t consider myself to be fluent. That brings me to the burning question which I will examine in the next paragraph.

What does fluency, or to be fluent actually mean? If you are asking if my Spanish is as good as my English, then the simple answer to that question is no. Can I use the language effortlessly and flawlessly? I would say sometimes. For example if I am tired, forget about Spanish because I find it incredibly difficult to concentrate. Being nervous also inhibits my ability to express myself clearly. There is also the diversity of accents and colloquialisms to take into consideration, especially with a language such as Spanish which is spoken in a lot of different countries. So if I say that I am fluent in Spanish, does that mean that I am expected to understand all of the intricacies and nuances of the language? No, that would be absurd and probably an unrealistic target for most people. Fair enough, I could be interpreting the question too literally, but surely you must understand my frustration with the question that titles this piece. So, with that borne in mind, what if I take a different approach?

But what if we change the question to; can I communicate my ideas to native speakers in a manner which they can understand? The answer to that question is, yes. Can I order a meal, compliment the waiter/waitress and complain if necessary for poor service or worse still, being short changed? Yes. If I am sick, can I explain my symptoms to a doctor? To a certain extent yes, but if I am honest I tend to go to the doctor with my wife. Can I tell jokes and funny stories from my childhood or adolescent years? Yes. Can I get through daily life and all of the human interactions that it entails in another language, in this case Spanish? Yes I absolutely can. The questions in this paragraph make more sense in terms of expected outcomes in my opinion. It is far more logical to think in terms of what is the next step and how can I get there as opposed to thinking too far ahead. Perhaps a useful analogy would be if an overweight person decided to lose weight, recommending entering a marathon or high intensity training would not be the best place to start. Instead a better approach would be to go for a walk, and then once that is mastered maybe a brisk walk would be manageable. 

I suggest thinking about language learning along similar lines. If you are starting as a complete beginner in any language, then focus on what complete beginners are taught and aim to master it and so on and so forth. There needs to be a long-term goal, of course and I am not saying that there should not be. However, setting small, achievable, short-term goals which, when carried out consistently, in the long run will help you achieve the overall goal. Do language exchanges with native speakers, listen to music, watch movies, read anything that you are interested in and more importantly be patient. Understand that speaking, reading, writing and comprehending another language is a long and sometimes frustrating process. Don’t get caught up with worrying about being fluent, aim instead for progression and improvement. Slow and steady wins the race!

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton