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¿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.

Chinese New Year- Did you know

photo from Kinternational

Did you know these facts about the Chinese New Year????

It’s a very traditional and festive holiday not only in China but also in Chinatowns all over the world, including New York, San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia, London and more.The US post office has created this stamp to commemorate the holiday this year.

photo from US Postal Service

The date is based on the Chinese calendar. Traditionally from the last day of the year to the 15^th day of the first month! What a celebration! This year it starts on January 31^st.

2014 is the year of the horse.

Dragon dances and street fairs are very popular.

It’s also a popular time to do a real good cleaning in the house. We call this SPRING CLEANING.

Children receive red envelops with money inside as gifts. The amount of money must be an even number (2, 4, 6, 8 etc.) But it must NOT be divisible by 4 (4, 8, 12, 16 etc.) The number 4 means death in Chinese.

To make sure you don’t have debts and money problems during the year, the Chinese believe that you should pay any money you owe family and friends before the New Year.

On the last day of Chinese New Year, people go out with red paper lanterns. It’s called Lantern Day and it is supposed to light the way for the New Year.

photo from TIME OUT

Have you ever had the chance to go to a Chinatown or China for the New Year celebrations? Can you share some more fun facts about the Chinese New Year?

Pete Seeger- American icon- is gone

photo from Wikipedia by Anthony Pepitone

Pete Seeger, singer, song writer, champion of social change and American icon has passed away at the age of 94.

For many Americans Pete Seeger is about as close as you can get to being a real hero. Pete Seeger was an activist all his life as an anti-war demonstrator and defender of the poor and minorities, inspiring many with his songs.

He is also well known and well-loved in New York especially for his long and tireless campaign to clean up the Hudson River. In the 1970s this river was contaminated by PCBs, a nuclear power plant, pesticides… His boat, the Clearwater Sloop and its organization were fundamental in getting the river clean again.

photo from Wikipedia, by Anthony Pepitone
Hudson River Sloop
cultura americana

As a folk singer and song writer, Pete Seeger was popular in the 1950s until his group, The Weavers, was blacklisted. In the 1960s, he re-emerged on the public scene as a prominent singer of protest music in support of international disarmament, civil rights, and environmental causes.

Here he is singing Which Side Are You On?

The song was written in 1931 by Florence Reece who was the wife of Sam Reece, an organizer for the United Mine Workers in Harlan County, Kentucky.

The song still has relevance today when we can all ask ourselves which side we are on when we think about all the ideals Pete Seeger fought for.

Listen to Which Side Are You On

WIN AN ONLINE ENGLISH COURSE! ¡GANA UN CURSO DE INGLÉS!

WE HAVE A WINNER!

Congratulations to the winner of this month’s QUIZ, Yolanda Gutiérrez!!!!

Yolanda correctly answered the question:

¿Cuál es correcto en inglés?

a) I have 35 years.

b) I am 35 years old.

Do you know the answer? It’s b) of course!

In English we say I AM not ~~I HAVE~~ when we say our age. Be careful! This is a very common mistake.

You can also say I AM 35. We understand you are talking about your age.

You can win an English & You course every month! Just check here and we will tell you how you can win.

Common Sense Advice on Language Learning

Cómo aprender inglés
How many days a week should I study?

He studies English on the train!

The best answer to this question is another question. How many days a week can you study? The best study plan is the plan that you can do. If you are too ambitious, you will probably give up. Decide on a study timetable that fits in with your life and then stick to it.

If you sincerely want to learn to function in English, try to remember that you are immersed in a learning process. Try not to switch your head off when you are not actively studying! Be a little bit obsessive about it. Eh?! What I mean is that you can think about what you have been learning recently when you are on the train, cleaning up the kitchen or taking a shower!

It’s better to do a shorter study session every day rather than a long session every few days. If you just have 10 minutes, study for 10 minutes! It is surprising how much you can achieve little by little. Be consistent and you will learn!

Cómo aprender inglés

¿Cuántos días tengo que estudiar?

Ahora lee el texto en español, y presta atención a las palabras de color rosa para mejorar tu vocabulario en inglés.

La mejor respuesta a esta pregunta es otra pregunta. ¿Cuántos días por semana puedes estudiar? El mejor plan de estudio es el plan factible para ti. Si haces un plan demasiado ambicioso, lo vas a abandonar. Proponte un horario de estudio de acuerdo con tu vida y después hazlo.

Si realmente quieres aprender a funcionar en inglés, intenta acordar que estás inmerso en un proceso de aprendizaje. ¡Intenta no tener la cabeza apagada cuando no estás activamente estudiando! ¿¡Cómo!? Lo que quiero decir es que puedes estar pensando en lo que has estado estudiando cuando estas en el tren, recogiendo la cocina o ¡duchándote!

Es mejor estudiar un poco todos los días en vez de dedicarte a una sesión de estudio larga con menos frecuencia. Si solo tienes 10 minutos ¡haz 10 minutos de estudio¡ Es sorprendente cuánto se puede conseguir poco a poco. ¡Se constante y aprenderás!

LinguaSuite is the only online English course that gives you a study program that fits in with your life!

Personal plan according to your months of study and hours of study per week.
No limits! If you finish your plan, you continue until you reach the end of your period.
The intelligent system gives you new linguistic contents when you are ready for them.
4 different courses: General English, Business English, English for Travel and English for the Cambridge First Certificate Exam.

Check it out: LinguaSuite

Here is today’s vocabulary in English
give up = abandonar, dejar I gave up smoking last week.
fit in with your life = ser compatible con tu vida LinguaSuite fits in with your life.
stick to something = no abandonar. Make a plan and stick to it.
switch your head off = apagar tu cabeza. When I watch TV, I switch my head off.
clean up the kitchen = recoger la cocina. After lunch my husband cleans up the kitchen.
rather than = en lugar de. Today I took the train rather than the car.
consistent = constante. CAREFUL! This is a FALSE FRIEND!
You have to be constant if you want to learn a language.

Common Mistakes in English. Do you speak Spanglish?

WRONG I play poker every 15 days.

RIGHT I play poker every other week.

RIGHT I play poker every two weeks.

15 days?! WHAT is THAT?! In English we count 7 days to make one week, so 2 weeks is 14 days. It’s arithmetic!

Notice these similar uses:

Every other day (NOT “one day yes, one day no”!!)
Every other year
Every two years
Every 10 years

If you make this mistake, try to correct it. Say it to yourself. Tell yourself a list of things you do every other week or every 10 days. You can do it!

If you like this, tell us!! And tell your friends!

Tag questions in English

GRAMÁTICA INGLESA

ERROR EN INGLÉS

TAG QUESTIONS

RIGHT They live in Chicago, right?

RIGHT They live in Chicago, don’t they?

WRONG They live in Chicago, isn’t it?

WRONG They live in Chicago, no?

We have mentioned in previous posts that, unfortunately, you can’t just put no?at the end of the sentence in English. Sorry!

So what can you do?

Learn tag questions: do you? have they? will he? But these are tricky and if you don’t need to learn them for an exam, frankly, don’t bother.
Some people solve this problem by saying right? or yeah? at the end of the sentence. Just don’t do it too much because it can be irritating.

If you like this, tell us!! And tell your friends! LinguaSuite