with Everest Language School

We want to wish all of our followers a very happy Valentine's day and want to teach you some English Idioms for Valentine's Day. For any of you who want to learn English idioms about love and the heart we have created a post over on our instagram just for you. Please feel free to share the poster with you friends and help "spread the love". Have a great Valentine's day and we hope that using some of these idioms will help you find love in Dublin.

Remember Everest Language School is an English school in Dublin. If you like the material you find on our blog, please look at our English courses and see if you would like to come and study English in Dublin.

What is Valentine's Day?

Valentine's Day, or St Valentine's Day, is celebrated every year on February 14th in Ireland and around the world. It is the day when people show their love and affection for another person by sending cards, flowers or chocolates with messages of love. 

Who was Saint Valentine?

Well, it’s actually not that clear! There were more than ten St Valentines and one pope Valentine. From what we know, St Valentine (the one we celebrate on February 14th) was a priest from Rome in the third century AD. At that time Rome was ruled by Emperor Claudius II. The Emperor had banned marriage because he wanted to have more men to fight in his army. 

Being a romantic person, Valentine strongly disagreed with this marriage ban, so he secretly organised clandestine marriages. Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before Emperor Claudius found out about what Valentine was up to and threw him in jail and sentenced him to death. This may have stopped him from performing marriages, but the execution made Valentine a martyr that we still celebrate today.

How did Valentine's Day start?

Like many Christian celebrations, we can probably trace the origins of a similar festival to pre-Christian times. It is generally thought that Valentine’s day developed out of an earlier Roman festival. The Romans had many gods and many days of celebration throughout the year, one such festival was called Lupercalia. This festival was also in mid February and marked the beginning of Spring.

The Lupercalia festival was a wild festival of animal sacrifice and madness in the streets. But it can be credited as one of the earliest occurrences the blind date games that are still popular on St Valentines day to this day. During Lupercalia, in the game, men would pull a random name out of a box. Based on who they got from this game they would end up with a “girlfriend” for the festival, and in some cases, they would end up getting married.

With this festival, as with many other pre-Christian festivals around the world, the church wanted to put a Christian stamp on this celebration and so they decided to use it to remember St Valentine. 

How did St Valentine’s heart end up in the heart of Dublin?

What many people do not know is that the patron saint of love has a very special link to Dublin, Ireland. The heart is the universal symbol of love, and in a church in the very centre of Dublin you can find the heart of St Valentine! 

But how did it end up there? Well, in 1835, an Irish Carmelite priest, Fr John Spratt was invited to Rome. The sermons he deliver proved to be very popular among the clergy there and because of that he received some unusual gifts from Pope Gregory XVI, including the heart of St. Valentine.

Today, you can find the heart of St Valentine in a shrine dedicated to the saint in Whitefriar church on Aungier street in Dublin. Still to this day the relic attracts visitors from all over the world, from amorous couples praying to St Valentine for eternal love to beekeepers praying he will look after their bees (St Valentine is also the patron saint of bee!).

Positive idioms about love for Valentine's day:

To be head over heels in love

To be mad about someone

To have the hots for someone

To have a crush on someone

Negative idioms about love for Valentine's day:

To break someone's heart

To be heart-broken

To be going through a rough patch

To be on the rocks

Phrasal verbs for Valentine's Day:

To go out with someone

To ask someone out

To chat someone up

To break up

To get back together

To get over someone

What type of English idioms and phrasal verbs do you want to learn next?

If you don't understand any of these idioms, please ask us in the comments.

Do you know any more English idioms about love or the heart?

Don't forget to say hi on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram 🙂

The post Learn English Idioms for Valentine’s Day – Updated 2021 appeared first on Old.

by Sean Newman

Podcasts for Learning English

Why you should learn English with podcasts:

All podcasts, but especially podcasts for learning English , are a convenient and great way to help you improve your English. They are on-demand internet radio talks that you can download to your mobile phone or tablet. It is said that just 20 minutes per day of a listening to an English speaking podcast can have a positive impact on your learning English! You can listen to them lying in bed, on the train back home or just wandering around the city, and let’s face it, sometimes the idea of sitting down with a 300 page English book after a long day of classes isn’t always what you want to be doing! 

During your English classes here at Everest Language School you will spend a lot of time speaking, reading, listening and writing which of course is a really important part of learning English. However, you will find that out in the real world in any English speaking country you will come across lots of different accents and ‘slang’ words, and especially in Ireland people speak very fast and with many different accents, even in Dublin alone!

Update: Everest now has its own podcast! - You can listen here: https://old.everestlanguageschool.com/podcast/

Podcasts for Learning English: Podcasts are a great way to improve your listening and understanding skills. This is possible whether it be an English Learning podcast or even just a regular podcast of a topic you might find interesting. Podcasts often have written transcripts (basically subtitles!) that go along with the speaking, so if you don’t understand a word or phrase that’s being spoken, you might be able to understand it in writing!

Podcasts also allow you to choose the subject that’s being spoken about, so you can learn English and also listen to a topic you are genuinely interested in.

You can also pick the level of English that’s suited to you, so if you are finding one podcast to easy or another too difficult, you can simply pick one that’s more suited to you and your level. You can also slow down podcasts to ½ the speed if you feel its too fast, or speed it up to x2 speed if you really want to challenge yourself.

Podcasts are generally free as well! Some have a small subscription fee, but even when they do they usually offer a one month free-trial, so you can decide if it’s worth parting with your money for.

You might find that listening to podcasts during your spare time will greatly improve your learning of English in the classroom!

Below you will find a list of some of what we think are the best podcasts to help you learn English!

Podcasts for Learning English: Our favourites

The English we Speak - BBC Learning English

Like any language, English has plenty of terms and phrases that you won’t find in the dictionary! You may hear them out and about and not understand what someone is talking about! This podcast has a huge selection of 3 minute tutorials explaining in simple terms what these phrases mean! For example if somebody says ‘I’ll give them a taste of their own medicine’ this means to get revenge on somebody.

These podcasts are particularly suited to students with an intermediate level and you find them here at this link - The English We Speak - BBC Learning English

6 Minute Grammar

6 minute Grammar is another podcast produced by the BBC and is updated weekly. The clue is in the name, it’s a 6 minute podcast focusing on a key area of grammar! For many students grammar can often be the trickiest part of learning English. This podcast is great for giving you a short and simple explanation of a key area of grammar with examples of hows its used to!

Its suitable for all levels and you can find it at this link - 6 Minute Grammar

All Ears English

All Ears podcasts for learning English use conversational English focussing on vocabulary. Many of the topics are about the different difficulties people face when learning English and cultural challenges that can contribute to this. There are hundreds of podcasts, many of which also focus on American culture.

To check it out you can follow this link - All Ears English

VOA News Learn English

VOA Learn podcasts for learning English focus on current affairs and news around the world - from the World Cup to Politics! This podcast is great if you’re looking to listen to a news topic that interests you, they have sections on Arts and Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Music and many more. You can also choose the level of English you can listen to the newscast. You can even check your level of English as they have a free English assessment test as well as an ‘Everyday Grammar’ section to help you brush up your skills!

You probably listen to the news anyway so you might as well listen in English! - VOA News Learn English

Business English Pod

Business English Pod is a little different to the other podcasts as it purely focuses on business English. What this means is, it focuses on the English you would need if you were doing a job interview, speaking on the telephone at work, presentations and meetings at work. This podcast also gives you tips on how to write your CV. Business English Pod is great for students who have already got their General English to a good standard and are starting to look for employment in English speaking companies. Job interviews and new jobs can be a daunting experience even if you are a native speaker so why not check Business English pod out and give the native speaking candidates a run for their money at Business English Pod!

Splendid Speaking

Here at Everest Language School we do lots of IELTS Exam preparation courses. These podcasts are aimed at helping you prepare for IELTS Exam. The podcasts are conversational and the host Peter Travis interviews a different English learning student each time about how they did in different parts of the IELTS practice test. These podcasts are a great way to help prepare for your IELTS exam and get some first-hand advice from students who have already taken it!

Check it out at Splendid Speaking!

British Council - Learn English

These podcasts for learning English are great if you’re looking for a podcast that does everything! It’s a one-for-all stop for Grammar, Vocabulary, Business English, IELTS and is suitable for students from Elementary to Intermediate Level. You can also interact with other users and give each other tips about what podcasts you found helpful.

Check it out at Learn English - British Council

IELTSPodcast by Ben Worthington

These are just a few of the many podcasts for learning English. Alternating the different podcasts on maybe a weekly or monthly basis is a good idea to ensure you’re getting a diverse learning experience.

The post Podcasts for Learning English in 2019 – Everest Language School appeared first on Old.

Understand English in Ireland

Most of the time, students arriving to Ireland will come with a fair knowledge of English. We’ve all watched movies in English, studied in school, listened to music…and when we move abroad we are not too worried because, at least, we have the basics! Then we arrive and the reality of the city you’ve chosen hits you. The accent is so different from what you learnt in school and there are expressions you hear every day that you have never heard before (and have no idea what they mean!).

This will happen to you whether you move to Scotland, Canada, England or any other country but for those lucky ones that chose Ireland, here are a few things you need to understand English in Ireland.

How to understand Irish English pronunciation

• The Dublin U sound.

  Apart from English having very few concrete rules about pronunciation, you’ve probably learnt that U should sound like /ʌ/. However, one day in Dublin and you are already having problems being understood when asking for the “bus /bʌs/ stop”. In Ireland and particularly in Dublin, people pronounce U in a particular way. They will understand you much better if you ask for the “bus /bʊs/ stop” rather than the “bus /bʌs/ stop”. As well as this, you constantly hear “bot” /bʊt/ in the conversations and don’t know what it is… and then one day someone says to you “thank you very much” /tʌŋk juː vɛri: mʊtʃ/  and it all makes sense… In Dublin they go to the “pub” /pʊb/ and not the “pab” /pʌb/, they have a “cup” /cʊp/ not a /cʌp/ of tea, and they live in /dʊblin/ not /dʌbli:n/. To understand these strange phonetic symbols, check out this interactive phonetic chart.

Check out the video below for some Dublinese pronunciation lessons from some brilliant local school kids!

Expressions to help you understand English in Ireland

• How are you? Are you ok?

  During your first days in the city it feels like everyone really cares about you and how you are! Buying milk in the supermarket, the shop assistant asks you “Are you ok?”. Next thing in the pub the waiter asks “How are you?” and you reply “I’m fine thanks, and you?” and this keeps happening everywhere you go. The reality is that, as lovely and warm as Irish people are, when they ask these questions in these types of situations they actually mean “Hello”, “How can I help you?”,  “What would you like to drink?”, etc. Having said that, if you are up for a conversation please do tell them that you are having a great day and they’ll surely be happy to have a little chat with you. They also love conversation!

• How are you, love?

  Irish people are so lovely that you will very rarely be addressed as madam or sir. They will generally prefer to call you “love”, “pal”, “buddy”…

• What’s the craic?

  The real Irish way of asking “How are you?” or “What’s happening?”. Foreigners are often quite confused about how you should answer this question. You’ll get there eventually. Generally if someone ask “What’s the craic?” meaning “How are you?”, the answer is “Grand, and yourself?” meaning “Fine thanks and you?”. If they mean "What happening?" you can answer "zero craic" or "no craic" meaning nothing is happening. On the other hand, if they want to say that there are a lot of good things happening they can say "the craic is ninety" or "the craic is mighty". You now have a basic idea of what the word means, but you need to live in Ireland to know what craic actually is so I’ll leave that for when you get here. 

• Come here (come’ere)

  No, they do not want you to go and move to where they are so they can show you something. When Irish people say “come’ere” they just mean listen, no need to actually “come here”. You might spend a few days going over someone desks until you learn this (I know I did).

• Your man, your woman, your one

  This is a way of referring to someone without saying their name. Everyone in the conversation seems to know who “your man” is … apart from the foreigners in the group that keep thinking it someone somehow related to them. No, they are not talking about your boyfriend, girlfriend… just about your one, you know? As a rough translation “your man” means “that guy” and “your one”/ ”your woman” means “that girl/woman”.

These are only some of the things that you’ll probably notice in your first weeks in Dublin. Never mind if you are going to Cork or Galway or some other city because again, there will be different expressions and accents that you’ll need to get used to. This is the fun part of learning a language from native speakers in their own country and learning that a language is more than just lots of grammar rules! Hopefully these tips will make it easier for you to understand English in Ireland. 

Understand Irish accents

Ireland's first language is Irish, which is also known as Gaelic but you will rarely meet people who speak Irish fluently and in public. Of course, you can find Irish on street signs, in buses or trains and the Irish people learn it in school, not to mention all the nearly unpronounceable names like Siobhan, Saoirse and Caoimhe.

While you might not hear a lot of Irish people speaking Irish, it is quite common to hear different types of Irish accents, while you speak to people from around the country. The major Irish dialects or accents are: Dublin English, Ulster English and West and South-West Hiberno-English. But there are also hundreds of more specific regional accents. This variety of accents can make it more challenging to understand English in Ireland.

The Dublin accent is probably the one you will hear the most. This accent is influenced by the British English due to the British occupation for over 800 years. There are different types of Dublin accents. While there are many different accents within the city the biggest difference is between the Northside and the Southside.

Ulster English is mostly spoken in Northern Ireland as its origin lies in Scotland. West and South-West Hiberno-English is spoken as the name already tells in West and South-West Ireland. In this part of Ireland they speak more Irish than in the rest of Ireland which is why their accent is more influenced by the Irish.

This video gives you some examples about some Irish accents:

And if you are interested in more you can check this (https://www.uni-due.de/IERC/index.html) out and listen to some more Irish accents.

I hope this helped you to understand most of the Irish people and maybe you want to learn how to speak in an Irish accent now.

Enjoy learning and speaking in Ireland!

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiberno-English

https://www.uni-due.de/IERC/index.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ee_N3g4ORLk

The post How to understand English in Ireland (accents, pronunciation and expressions) appeared first on Old.

Learn Irish English Expressions for Paddy's Day

‘Well, what’s the craic? Do you have a couple of DEADLY Irish expressions ready for Paddy’s Day?’

1. “What’s the craic, are we heading to the parade?” Translation : What is the plan, shall we go to see the parade?
2. “Stall the ball, I’m just after waking up!” Translation: Give me a couple of minutes, I have just woken up.
3. “Well we would want to get a move on” Translation: We need to hurry up.
4. “It’ll be grand, sure.” Translation : Don’t worry, everything will be ok
5. “Are you coming for a few scoops later on?” Translation : Are you joining us for a drink, or two later today?”
6. “I’m not sure, I’m knackered and I have a bit of a head on me” Translation I don’t know, I’m very tired and a little bit hungover
7. “I bet you’re raging that you went out last night, are you?” Translation: Are you annoyed about your decision to go out last night?
8. “Ah no, I’m grand, you know yourself. And there was savage banter at the party to be fair” Translation: “Not really, I’m ok, you understand. And furthermore the party was a lot of fun.
9. “You’re a gas ticket! C’mon so til we get you the hair of the dog and we’ll head out and go bananas later” Translation: You are crazy! Let’s go and get you a drink to cure your hangover and later we will party.
10. “Deadly buzz, sounds class. Lovely hurling altogether” Translation: That sounds good to me.

More Words and Phrases for St.Patrick's Day 2017

In this video, you can hear lots of Dublin people saying typical Irish expressions. This is not the type of English that you will learn in a class in your country. These are the expressions, words and phrases and Irish people (and particularly Dublin people) use when they talk to each other. It's not necessary for you to learn all of these phrases, but using a few and understanding a few more, will make your time in Ireland a lot more fun!

If you want to learn more about Dublin slang expressions, you can check out previous post called Dublin Slang Expressions.

What's happening in Dublin for Paddy's Day in 2017?

A LOT!

There is so much happening in Dublin that it would be impossible for us to tell you everything. To check what's happening in the city, you can visit the official St.Patrick's day website.

The celebrations begin in Dublin on Thursday. There is so much happening throughout the city, but our big recommendation is the outdoor Céilí. A Céilí is a traditional Irish dance party. Hundreds of people will meet at Earlsfort Terrace in Dublin 2 for the biggest Céilí in the world. Here you will have the chance to see the best Irish dancers in the world and learn how to dance yourself!

Friday is St.Patrick's Day (Paddy's Day). There will be so much happening around the city, but the main event will be the parade. The Dublin St.Patrick's day parade is incredible and attracts visitors from all around the world. There will be hundred of amazing musicians, dancers, performers and works of art moving through the Dublin streets. Dublin can be extremely busy and it can be hard to see the parade from the street, so we are inviting our students to drop by the school for one of the best views in the whole city. Our students will be able to watch the parade pass right past our classrooms.

If Dublin gets to crazy and too busy for you, you can alway escape to Howth. In Howth, on the St.Patrick's weekend there will be a Prawn Festival where you can taste the delicious world famous Dublin Bay prawn.

Route Map of St.Patrick's Parade 2017:

2017 Dublin parade route:

The Dublin parade will start on the Parnell Square on the North of the city will come down O'Connell street, cross the O'Connell st. bridge and continue onto Westmoreland st. (passing Everest Language School). The parade will then turn right onto Dame street. At Christchurch, the parade will turn left and continue in the direction of St.Patrick's cathedral before finally turning left again and finishing on Kevin's street.

Where is the best place to watch the parade from? Everest, of course!

Here some photos from Paddy's Day from Everest

View more amazing photos on our Facebook page.

St.Patrick's Day Wordsearch

To finish up today's post, we have prepared a little wordsearch to help you to revise some of the St.Patrick's day phrases, vocabulary and expressions you have learned today. From all the Everest team, we wish you a very happy St.Patrick's day 2017!

The post Paddy’s Day in Dublin 2017: Expressions, Phrases, and Information appeared first on Old.

The post 13 English Idioms and Proverbs appeared first on Old.

English Listening - Improve your listening by watching TV!

by Éadaoin Curtin

English teacher in Everest

Listening and understanding is often very difficult for language learners. Maybe your listening in the classroom is fine but having conversations and watching tv can be more difficult.

The easiest way to improve your listening outside the classroom is by ... watching TV!

BUT it’s very important that you watch series which are interesting to you, you shouldn’t feel like you are studying.

Try watching a TV show you’ve never seen before. Watch it in English with the subtitles (in English!) for 3 or 4 episodes, then try to watch without the subtitles. You could watch one episode with subtitles, then one without subtitles. The episode you watch without subtitles will be more difficult, so you can try taking breaks every 15 or 20 minutes.

Websites to help you improve your English listening

Ororo - www.ororo.tv - €5 per month, €12 for 3 months.

Movies and tv series

You can watch with English subtitles, you can slow the speed of the show and you can watch in dual subtitles (Spanish, Italian, Portugese, French, Polish, German, Russian)

A lot of great new and old TV shows and films.

Grey’s Anatomy - medical drama

The Night Manager - spy thriller

Dr House

How to Get Away with Murder

Scrubs

Futurama - Animated comedy set in the future

Lie to Me - detective drama

The Gilmore Girls - drama

Black Mirror

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt - comedy

The Sopranos

Skins

Hannibal

The IT Crowd

Netflix - www.netflix.com - €8 - €12 per month, the first month is free.
Movies, documentaries and tv series.

You can watch with and without subtitles, usually only English.  

Recommended shows on Netlfix

Fringe - Sci-fi / drama

Marco Polo - history - the main actor is Italian.

Sherlock - detective

House of Cards - American political drama

Breaking Bad - a chemistry teacher becomes a drug dealer

Scrubs - medical comedy

Vikings - a good mix of accents

Wilfred - better with subtitles

How to Get Away with Murder - about student lawyers in America

The Vampire Diaries - Two brothers who are vampires

Sense8 - An international cast so lots of great accents, about people with a supernatural connection.

Sons of Anarchy - American motorbike gang

The Wire - diffcult, better with subtitles.

Narcos - about Pablo Escobar - 50% in Spanish so no need for subtitles!

The Sopranos

Dr House - medical drama

The Killing - detective drama

The Newsroom - about journalists

Channel 4 On Demand - www.channel4.com - Free
Channel 4 is a popular British TV channel which makes great documentaries and series, and a lot of reality TV shows. They show them on TV but you can also watch them here ‘on demand’.

You can find older series in the Boxsets section, www.channel4.com/programmes/boxsets.
Accents - English, Irish, some American.
No subtitles.

Recommended shows on Channel 4:

Black Mirror - about how technology is affecting our lives.

The IT Crowd - two computer nerds in a big corporate company.

Mis-Fits - teenagers with super powers.

Skins - teenagers lives, dark and dramatic.

Fr. Ted - an Irish comedy about 3 priests

Catastrophe - An Irish woman and an American man have a baby by accident.

The post English Listening – Improve your listening by watching TV appeared first on Old.

or any other language

Matthew Youlden’s second name should be Mr. Languages. This guy from Britain speaks nine languages fluently and understands more than twelve more. Can you imagine? The world would be yours!

If you have problems learning another language, check out Matthew's recommended tips!

1. REMEMBER YOUR REASON FOR DOING IT

You need to have a good reason to learn a new language, otherwise you won’t stay focused and you'll find unnecessary excuses, which might put you off course.

“OK, I want to learn this and I’m therefore going to do as much as I can in this language, with this language and for this language.”

2. DO IT WITH SOMEONE ELSE (FIND A PARTNER)

Mathew learned many languages, like their first foreign language Greek, with his twin brother Michael. Giving each other motivation and positive encouragement made learning possible.

“We were very motivated, and we still are. We push each other to really go for it. So if he realizes that I’m doing more than he is he’ll get a bit jealous and then try and outdo me (maybe because he’s my twin) – and the other way round.”

Don’t worry if you don’t have a sibling, it can be anyone as long as they keep pushing you.

“I think it’s a really great way of actually going about it. You have someone with whom you can speak, and that’s the idea behind learning a language.”

3. TALK TO YOURSELF

You shouldn't think you are weird while talking to yourself, Maria does it all the time 🙂 So don’t worry and go for it.

“It might sound really weird, but actually speaking to yourself in a language is a great way to practice if you’re not able to use it all the time.”

It helps you to remember new vocabulary and phrases and builds up your confidence for the next time you speak with someone.

4. MAKE IT RELEVANT TO YOUR LIFE

While it may help you to stay focused on textbooks as well, you should make conversation your goal and keep talking to people.

“You’re learning a language to be able to use it. You’re not going to speak it to yourself. The creative side is really being able to put the language that you’re learning into a more useful, general, everyday setting – be that through writing songs, generally wanting to speak to people, or using it when you go abroad. You don’t necessarily have to go abroad; you can go to the Greek restaurant down the road and order in Greek.”

5. ENJOY IT

How about writing or recording songs? That’s the way how the “Super Polyglot Bros” practice their new languages. You are not following step 4 if you can’t find any fun games or ways to make it more interesting.

6. BEHAVE LIKE A CHILD

Think back, how easy was it to learn something knew. You weren’t afraid of making mistakes or anything else. We learn by making mistakes. How many times have you heard an adult say “I can’t” instead of “I haven’t learned that yet”.  If you wanted a piece of chocolate in your childhood, you tried as hard as possible and as many times as necessary to get it. Do the same!

7. CHALLENGE YOURSELF

If you really want to learn a new language, get up and talk to people. For sure you can’t learn the right pronunciation from looking into your textbook or writing something 100 times in a row. You need to get up and talk to other people! I know it doesn’t feel good when someone has to ask you 3 times for one word but he had to go through the same at some stage in his life,  and if he hadn’t, don’t worry at all because you speak more languages than him. Remember step six, you have to make mistakes to learn. You will get more confident day by day.

“At the beginning you’re going to encounter difficulties: maybe the pronunciation, maybe the grammar, the syntax, or you don’t really get the sayings. But I think the most important thing is to always develop this feel. Every native speaker has a feel for his or her own language, and that’s basically what makes a native-speaker – whether you can make the language your own.”

8. LISTEN

You must listen to conversations, songs, radio or anything else where you can hear the language and the right pronunciation. Every language sounds strange at the beginning but you will get used to it after a while.

“We’re able to pronounce anything, it’s just we’re not used to doing it. For example the rolled r doesn’t exist in my form of English. When I was learning Spanish there were words with the hard r in them like perro and reunión. For me, the best way to go about mastering that is actually to hear it constantly, to listen to it and to kind of visualize or imagine how that is supposed to be pronounced, because for every sound there is a specific part of the mouth or throat that we use in order to achieve that sound.”

9. WATCH PEOPLE TALK

Your tongue, lips and throat are responsible for the right pronunciation. If you don’t have the chance to do so, watching movies or TV is a good option. Pronunciation is just as much physical as it is mental:

“One way – it might sound a bit strange – is to really look at someone while they’re saying words that use that sound, and then to try to imitate that sound as much as possible. Believe me, it might be difficult at the beginning, but you will. It’s something that is actually quite easily done; you just need to practice it.”

10. GO FOR IT

So you have accepted the challenge? Matthew recommends the 360° maximalist approach: no matter which learning tools you use, it’s crucial to practice your new language every single day:

“I tend to want to absorb as much as possible right from the start. So if I learn something I really, really go for it and try to use it throughout the day. As the week progresses I try to think in it, try to write in it, try to speak to myself even in that language. For me it’s about actually putting what you’re learning into practice – be that writing an email, speaking to yourself, listening to music, listening to the radio. Surrounding yourself, submerging yourself in the new language culture is extremely important.”

You have already made a huge step when you are able to have normal conversations! This makes it easier for you and you will have more fun and motivation to continue. You won’t annoy people by not speaking their language perfectly. If you tell them that you’re practicing and learning a new language, most of them will look up to you and be delighted to help you.

“Sure, you can travel abroad speaking your own language, but you’ll get so much more out of it being able to actually feel at ease in the place you are – being able to communicate, to understand, to interact in every situation you could possibly imagine.”

Adapted by Tom Port (source: Babble)

The post Video: How to Learn a New Language (10 Tips) appeared first on Old.

7 Tips on How to Use Commas in English

1. The seven coordinating conjunctions: and, but, for, or, nor, so, yet demand a comma to separate an independent clause. Example:

"He climbed to the top of the mountain, but he still couldn't see the sea."

2. When we put an introductory phrase before a main clause, we use a comma. Example:

"Early one morning, Maria decided to climb Everest."

3. When we want to add extra (non-essential) information in the middle of a sentence, we use commas to separate this idea from the main sentence.

Maria, who had never climbed a mountain before, decided she would like to climb Everest."

4. We use commas to separate three or more words, phrases, or clauses written in a series.

"Maria packed a rope, a tent and a compass for the trip"

5. We use a comma to separate adjectives describing the same noun.

"She took a big, old, red tent with her."

6. We use a comma near the end of a sentence to separate a contrasting part of the sentence. This is usually used to reflect spoken English. Example:

"You haven't ever climbed a mountain before, have you?"

7. We use a comma to shift between the main sentence and a quotation.

She looked at the sherpa and said, "Can you please show me the way?"

These tips have been adapted from Purdue Owl (Grammar: Articles)

This video came from Ted-ed (English Grammar Video Lessons)

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English Grammar: The Passive Voice

In English, the most important information always comes at the beginning of the sentence. The passive voice allows us to draw attention to the object of the verb rather than the agent (the “do-er” of the action). It is also a tool for when the agent is unknown, unimportant or obvious.

To construct the passive use the verb TO BE in the necessary tense and then add the PAST PARTICIPLE of the verb required.

If you have any questions please ask in the comments below.

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Sometimes there are too many rules to follow in English. Sometimes learning a language can feel like too much work, especially when you don't have enough time. We have put together this infographic to help you understand and remember some of the rules for using too much, too many and not enough. If you have any questions please ask us in the comments and if there is anything else you would like us to explain, please ask us below.

TOO MUCH, TOO MANY and NOT ENOUGH

TOO MUCH and TOO MANY

We use TOO MANY + COUNTABLE NOUN

We use TOO MUCH + UNCOUNTABLE NOUN

 There are too many books in granddad’s house!

The boy has put too much sugar on his grapefruit!

NOT ENOUGH

 There is not enough sugar in my coffee

There are not enough chairs

SHERPA WISDOM: Notice that ENOUGH goes BEFORE a NOUN

TOO

We use Too + an ADJECTIVE

The boy is too small to ride the rollercoaster = The boy is not tall enough to ride the rollercoaster

SHERPA WISDOM: Notice that ENOUGH goes AFTER an adjective

COMMON MISTAKES

The coffee is too much hot for me           The coffee is too hot for me

I like Dublin too much            I like Dublin a lot/ I really like Dublin

I am too much happy             I am very happy/ I am really happy

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