February, 2014

Cómo aprender inglés: Common sense advice

¿Qué otras cosas puedo hacer para mejorar mi nivel de inglés? Quiero saber cómo aprender inglés.

Si ya estás aprendiendo inglés, a lo mejor vas a clases un par de días a la semana, puedes tener la sensación de que todo va muy despacio, que no estás avanzando. Y probablemente tienes razón. ¿Así que qué más puedes hacer?

Simplemente, haz algo que te guste en inglés: ve una serie, le un periodo, escuchar música, ve un programa de cocinar… Cualquier cosa que haces “extra” en inglés te va a ayudar a asimilar la gramática, la pronunciación y el vocabulario en inglés.

¿Tienes que entenderlo todo? ¡NO! No te tortures buscando cada palabra en el diccionario, ni te lamentes porque no entiendes cada palabra que dicen en la tele, ni pasas horas y horas. ¡NO! Simplemente disfruta haciendo un pequeño esfuerzo para hacer algo que te guste…. en inglés.

Así, poco a poco el vocabulario en inglés resultará más fácil y la gramática empezará a sonar bien, …

Si quieres algo que sea a la vez más libre y más estructurado, una buena solución es de hacer un curso de inglés online. Practicas todos los aspectos del idioma, cuando quieras y cuanto quieras. Y aprendes. Here is more information: LinguaSuite English

NOW IN ENGLISH:

What else can I do to improve my English?

If you are already learning English, maybe you go to English classes a couple of days a week, you might feel like things are going slowly, that you are not making progress. And you are probably right. What else can you do?

Simply, do something you like in English: watch a TV series, read a newspaper, listen to music, see a cooking show… Anything you do “extra” in English will help you assimilate grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation.

Do you have to understand everything? NO! Don’t torture yourself looking every word up in the dictionary, don’t feel bad because you don’t understand every word on TV, don’t spend hours and hours! NO!! Just enjoy making a little effort to do something you like…in English.

And little by little English vocabulary will become more familiar, the grammar will start to sound right…

If you want to do something freer and more structured at the same time, a good solution is to do an online English course. You practice all aspects of the language, when you want and how much you want. And you learn. Here is some more information: English & Certification

Dichos famosos en inglés: Education is the most powerful weapon

Do you remember yesterday’s question?
¿Te acuerdas de la pregunta de ayer? FRASES CELEBRES EN INGLÉS

La respuesta es NELSON MANDELA

Tiene razón. La educación es un arma poderosa para cambiar el mundo sobre todo cuando sirve para que la gente se entienda.

¿Te haces entender en inglés?

El inglés es un idiomas oficial o especial en más de 70 países. Se estima que unas 750 millones de personas hablan inglés como idioma extranjero.

En Internet, en el control aéreo, en las publicaciones científicas, deportes, música, tecnología…. se usa inglés de forma masiva.

¿Quieres mejorar tu nivel de ingles? Prueba con este curso: English & You

photo from Wikimedia Commons

World map colored according to percentage of English speakers by country

· Dark green: 80–100%

· Green: 60–80%

· Green: 40–60%

· Green: 20–40%

· Light green: 0–20%

80–100%

60–80%

40–60%

20–40%

0–20%

NOW IN ENGLISH:

Pay attention to the vocabulary items in red!

He’s right. Education is a powerful weapon to change the world especially if it serves to get people to understand each other.

Do you understand other people in English?

English is an official or special language in more than 70 countries. It is estimated that about 750 million people speak English as a foreign language.

In Internet, in air traffic control, scientific publications, sports, music, technology… English is massive.

Más frases celebres en inglés:
John Lennon

Dichos famosos en inglés: Education is the most powerful weapon

vocabulario en inglés: EDUCATION y MANNERS

¿Quién dijo esto? ¡Es una de nuestras frases celebres en inglés favoritas!

La educación es el arma más potente que puedes usar para cambiar el mundo

¡Mañana os diremos quién dijo esta frase famosa!

Vocabulario en inglés para hoy:
Estas son nuestras 2 palabras de vocabulario inglés para hoy: EDUCATION y MANNERS.

EDUCATION se refiere a las cosas que aprendes. De los libros, de cursos, de otras personas o de tu propia experiencia.

No confundes EDUCATION con MANNERS. La palabra MANNERS se refiere a las normas de comportamiento, de tratar a otras personas con consideración y ¡de portarte bien en la mesa!

Abajo tienes 2 frases en inglés para aclarar este vocabulario.

NOW IN ENGLISH:

Who said this?

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.

Find out tomorrow who the famous person is who said this sentence!!

Vocabulary in English for today::

Notice the word EDUCATION in English. It refers to what you learn. From books, or other people, or your own experiences.

Don’t confuse EDUCATION with MANNERS. Manners are the way you treat other people with consideration and the way you follow the standards of polite behavior.

Look at these sentences:

He never had a formal education, but he knows a lot about many things!

Eating with your mouth open is bad manners!

For more posts on English vocabulary, click here:
Para más posts con vocabulario inglés, pincha aquí:

VERBS FOR SPORTS
EVERY OTHER WEEK
SAY or TELL?
NEW or NEWS?

VALENTINE’S DAY

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY, XOXO!!!

Have you ever seen someone sign an email or card like this XOXO?

Do you know what it means?

The letter X represents a KISS* and the O is a HUG*. WHY????

It is believed that this custom comes from the Middle Ages*.

Sometimes people had to sign a document but they did not know how to write. So they would write an X and then kiss it as a way to show the signature* was true. (I suppose they symbol for a hug is just obvious…)

Do you know the expression “to wear your heart on your sleeve“? In Spanish it would be something like “llevar tu corazón en la manga”. A bit strange. It means that you don’t hide your feelings; that other people know how you feel, especially about another person.

Why do we say that?

Again, it appears that this expression comes from medieval times. On Valentine’s Day, unmarried men and women used to pick a name from a plate and pin the name to the sleeve of their clothes. For a week! Not too sure what happened after that. Do you know?

Check out these posts for more interesting facts on holidays and traditions:

Groundhog Day: Cómo ligar en inglés

Chinese New Year

New Year 2014

Christmas vocabulary

Black Friday

Thanksgiving

VOCABULARY FOR TODAY: VOCABULARIO EN INGLES PARA HOY

KISS = un beso, besar

HUG = un abrazo, abrazar

THE MIDDLE AGES = la edad media

SIGNATURE = when you write your name on a document, this is your signature

¿Cómo aprender inglés? Common sense advice

chica estudiando con montones de libros y dolor de cabeza

No entiendo todas las palabras cuando leo.

¿Las busco en el diccionario?

Cómo aprender inglés
El vocabulario en inglés

Intenta no abusar del diccionario. Adivina el significado de las palabras nuevas. Usa el contexto para hacerte una idea. Cuando de verdad necesitas saberlo, agarra el diccionario.Hay algunos diccionarios buenos online también. Recomendamos Word Reference porque tiene unos foros que te ayudan a encontrar exactamente el contexto que estás buscando y entender el vocabulario en inglés. Los cursos de LinguaSuite ofrecen un link directamente a este diccionario para que puedas hacer una consulta en cualquier momento.

El diccionario bilingüe es bueno si estás buscando una palabra en castellano que no sabes en inglés. Si quieres entender una palabra nueva en inglés, un diccionario monolingüe es mejor, pero requiere más esfuerzo de tu parte. ¡Ojo! ¡Un diccionario bilingüe puede ser peligroso! Algunas palabras tienen una definición en común, pero no todas.

¡Si dependes de un diccionario bilingüe, poder terminar diciendo bobadas! Cola en castellano puede ser glue (pegamento), tail (cola de un animal) or queue (cola de esperar) en inglés. ¡Son cosas muy diferentes!

Now in English:

Try not to use a dictionary too much. Guess the meaning of new words! Use the context to figure it out! But when you really need to know, reach for the dictionary. There are some good dictionaries online. We would recommend Word Reference because the forums often help you find exactly the context you are looking for.

A bilingual dictionary is good if you are looking for a word in Spanish you don’t know in English. If you want to understand a new word in English, a monolingual dictionary is better, but it takes more effort. Be careful! A bilingual dictionary can be dangerous! Some words have one meaning that is the same, but other definitions of the same word in Spanish may not correspond to English definitions of the same word.

If you depend on a bilingual dictionary, you can say some silly things! Cola in Spanish can be glue, tail or queue in English. They are very different!

Más consejos:
How many days a week?
How many words?
Learn English in a month?

LinguaSuite: recuérdate que son los mejores cursos de inglés online para las personas que hablan español.

¡Empieza hoy!

GROUNDHOG DAY results 2014

from the official Groundhog club site
Holidays: Groundhogs Day

Do you get it? Basically, MORE WINTER!!!

VOCABULARIO EN INGLÉS: LAS PALABRAS DE HOY

seer = a person who can SEE the future, like a clairvoyant

stump = when you cut down a tree, what is left is the stump, a short piece of tree in the ground

awaken = similar to WAKE UP

shadow = when you stand in a sunny place, you see your SHADOW. Don’t confuse this work with SHADE

shade = when it is hot and sunny, you look for some shade where you can sit and be cool

You can see more about this at the official Groundhog Day site: groundhog.org

Dichos famosos en inglés: Happiness is the key to life

FRASES CELEBRES EN INGLÉS

“When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.”

Many people think John Lennon said this, but other people are not so surt. What about you? Have you heard this before?

Anyway, who cares? The quote is a good one, whoever said it!

Do you have any favorite quotes from John Lennon or other people? Share them with us!!

VOCABULARIO EN INGLÉS
When I was 5 years old = Careful, NOT When I had 5 years or With 5 years !!
Grow up = When you stop being a child and start being an adult, you grow up.
Assignment = Your teacher gives you an assignment to do for homework.

Groundhog Day- Cómo ligar en inglés

Today, the 2nd of February, is one of our funniest Holidays— GROUNDHOG DAY!

A good day to LIGAR EN INGLÉS?? In English, “ligar” is to pick somene up.

In one scene in Groundhog Day, Bill Murray is trying to get Andie MacDowell to fall in love with him. But they don’t even really know each other!

The scene is great for learning for pick up lines in English.

Hmmm or is it? Watch the clip and listen to Bill. What do you think of his pick up lines??

VOCABULARIO EN INGLÉS: LAS PALABRAS DE HOY
Here are some of the key sentences. Can you hear them?

If you only had one day to live, what would you do with it?

I’m interested in you. What do you want?

What do you like?

What do you think about?

What kind of men do you like?

What do you do for fun?

Talk to me. Let me buy you a cup of coffee. And a doughnut.

So what do you want out of life anyway?

Are you seeing anyone?

What I really want is someone like you.

Who is your prefect guy?

Andie resists!

Is this for real or are you just trying to make me look like a fool.

I think this is getting too personal, I don’t think I’m ready to share this with you.

Oh please!

Listen for these qualities she wants in a man:

Humble, intelligent, supportive, funny, romantic, courageous, has a good body but doesn’t have to look in the mirror every 2 minutes, kind, sensitive, gentle, likes animals and children, will change poopy diapers, he plays an instrument, he loves his mother

Back to Ground Hog’s Day, today! …

It’s part of popular culture in the USA, made even more famous by the movie of the same name.

The idea is that when the groundhog comes out of his hole, if he sees his shadow, he will be frightened and go back in again and we will have another 6 weeks of winter. If he doesn’t see his shadow, spring is around the corner.

Where ever did we get such a crazy idea?!

A GROUNDHOG photo from Wikipedia

Apparently, in ancient times, people in (what is now) Germany thought that a similar animal, the badger, could predict the weather and tell them when it was a good time to do the planting. When the first German immigrants came to Pennsylvania, they kept the tradition.

Punxsutawney in Pennsylvania held its first Groundhog Day in the United States in the 1800s. Today the town attracts thousands of visitors every year.