Using idioms can help you sound more fluent in English. As these fixed expressions are not literal, they can be quite difficult to understand. For example, it’s raining cats and dogs does not mean that dogs and cats are falling out of the sky but rather it is raining very heavily!
Most people would agree that a strong Spanish accent is usually easier to understand than a similarly strong French or Portuguese one. However, the pronunciation can cause considerable strain for the listener and seem somewhat harsh and flat. To get a clearer understanding of why Spanish speakers erroneously pronounce English, it is important to look at where these errors stem from.
According to Wikipedia a stative verb is one that describes a state of being, in contrast to a dynamic verb, which describes an action i.e. play, cook, run, etc. The difference can be categorized by saying that stative verbs describe situations that are static or unchanging throughout their entire duration, whereas dynamic verbs describe processes that entail change over time
Learning English can be very difficult and frustrating at times but using technology can make life a lot easier and take the pain and strain out of learning. Here are a few tried and tested methods that we at Carole Brown Idiomas find helpful:
Speaking recently with our students at Carole Brown Idiomas, we have been asked how to advance learning outside the classroom.
There is no doubt that there are many language tools available but we have chosen three in particular to share with you.
1) Podcasts
2) Series
3) Graded Readers
American English began to deviate from British English as soon as the United States won its independence from Great Britain in 1776.
This is a question our students ask us a lot in Carole Brown Idiomas and we feel that it is a valuable topic to blog about. For those working in companies and studying Business English, we recommend the Cambridge BEC (Business English Certificate) Vantage exam