She spoke fluent English, but still got rejected for jobs. It wasn’t her grammar. It was the way that she spoke  — fast, tense, unfriendly. This episode reveals what helped her.

Real English Skills

She Thought Her English Was Good — Until She Moved to California

Class 3 — having and existing, in Malayalam script. It opens with a sentence that surprises most learners:

Malayalam has no verb meaning "to have". None. There is no word you can point at and say that one means have.

Before you decide that is a defect — a true have-verb is actually the unusual thing. Most of the world’s languages do not have one. Western Europe does, English got it from there, and English speakers therefore assume it is normal. It is not normal. It is a regional habit.

So how does Malayalam say I have a brother? It says TO ME A BROTHER EXISTS.

എനിക്ക് ഒരു ചേട്ടനുണ്ട് — enikku oru chettanundu.

There is your എനിക്ക് again from Class 1 — to me. And the new word: ഉണ്ട് (undu) — there is, it exists, it is present.

That frame — എനിക്ക് + the thing + ഉണ്ട് — is every sentence about possession you will ever need:
എനിക്ക് സമയമുണ്ട് (enikku samayamundu) I have time
എനിക്ക് പണമുണ്ട് (enikku panamundu) I have money
എനിക്ക് ഒരു ചോദ്യമുണ്ട് (enikku oru chodyamundu) I have a question
എനിക്ക് പനിയുണ്ട് (enikku paniyundu) I have a fever

And the company Malayalam keeps here is excellent company. Russian has no have-verb in normal use — у меня есть, at me there is. Irish has none: tá leabhar agam, a book is at me. Hebrew says yesh li, there is to me. Finnish, Hungarian — none.

Turkish is the closest of all, almost word for word: var for there is, yok for there is not, and possession is my-thing var. Hold on to that pair, because Malayalam’s ഉണ്ട് and ഇല്ല are the same two words doing the same two jobs. If you speak Turkish, you already own this entire class.

ഇല്ല (illa) is the negative twin: there is not. എനിക്ക് സമയമില്ല — I have no time.

Quizzes below. Dr. Reshmi R Nair — SpeakMalayalam.

Speak Real Malayalam | Slow • Clear • Natural

#3 Malayalam Has No Word for Have — And Most of the World Agrees With It

Unless your hair magically grows shorter, you probably GET your hair cut. There is grammar for haircuts???
Also, two funny expressions for asking someone if they got their hair cut.

The Social Evolutionary

Grammar for haircuts???

Join us on a special trip to the Two Oceans Aquarium in Cape Town, where we'll explore the amazing underwater world. Discover colourful fish, funny penguins, and graceful rays as we learn about the ocean and why it's important to protect it. Get ready for an exciting adventure filled with incredible sea creatures and the beauty of nature.

"Welcome to our podcast, Playful English Proficiency!

I'm your host, Adalet, and today we're going on an amazing adventure to the Two Oceans Aquarium in Cape Town, South Africa. Get ready to explore the underwater world and meet some incredible sea animals!

The aquarium is in Cape Town, where you can see a beautiful big mountain called Table Mountain. It's called the Two Oceans Aquarium because two oceans meet here near Cape Town: the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean.

Inside the aquarium, I saw lots of bright tropical fish, like clownfish and pretty pink anemones. They looked so beautiful!

I also saw some funny penguins. There were penguins from South Africa called African penguins, and they were really noisy! They walked around and made loud noises, like donkeys. I love their adorable little waddle.

Next, I found some penguins called rock hoppers. Now, they jumped on rocks just like their name. It was so fun to watch them! Later, they were swimming in a big tank, and it looked like they were flying underwater!"

Please feel free to contact me here on italki if you would like a PDF script of this podcast episode.

See you next time!

Cape Town Chronicles

Episode 1: An Adventure at The Two Oceans Aquarium (A2)

👉If you plan to visit Montenegro🛫, here are some restaurants 🍷 you MUST VISIT:
4. STARI MLINI (Dobrota)
5. RESTORAN GALION (Kotor)
6. KONOBA FERAL (Herceg Novi)
For B1 learners and above.
Срећно учење! / Srećno učenje! 📚
See you in class!👋


SERBIAN TO GO

Top 10 najboljih tradicionalnih restorana u Crnoj Gori - Part 2 - 6/10 (Normal pace B1 and above)

I introduce my brother, Bryce, and we discuss our experiences learning to play guitar as teenagers.
We share some advice for beginners and also talk about our memories.

If you've ever been curious about what it takes to start playing guitar and you want to learn some relevant vocabulary, this episode may be for you!

This is just Part One of our conversation. I'll be posting Part Two next week.

***For English learners! – Detailed vocabulary lesson begins at 23:14***

***Full episode transcript available ⁠here: https://american-idiom.com/f/008-why-does-everyone-learn-the-same-first-song-on-guitar⁠***

Episode Outline:

Bryce introduces himself (Starts at 1:20)
How Bryce started playing guitar (Starts at 1:58)
Taste in music (Starts at 3:12)
The first songs we learned (Starts at 3:39)
Our recommendations for a good 'first song' (Starts at 6:46)
Playing electric guitar vs. acoustic guitar (Starts at 10:00)
How to avoid annoying your neighbors (Starts at 12:50)
What it's like playing in a rock band (Starts at 13:38)
Our memories of being in a band together (Starts at 14:56)
The most difficult part of playing in a band (Starts at 16:25)
Our connection to Greta Van Fleet (Starts at 20:41)

Vocabulary and examples (Starts at 23:14)

get away with something (used at 5:11 and explained at 23:20)
take one for the team (used at 14:20 and explained at 25:18)
be on the same page (used at 18:18 and explained at 27:27)

Brentoni's English Podcast

008 Why Does Everyone Learn the Same First Song on Guitar?

Welcome back to The Everyday English Podcast! In today’s episode, we are moving beyond the basics. We are diving into three advanced conversational phrases that will make you sound more fluent and natural in English. We’ll cover "To play it by ear," "To bite the bullet," and "To see eye to eye." We’ll break down what they mean, give you real-life examples, and share tips on how to use them. Let's get started!

The Everyday English Podcast

Level Up Your English: 3 Phrases for Advanced Conversations

Students regularly ask me, "How do I know what comes after a verb?" If a verb takes another verb as a complement, it is usually either a full infinitive or a gerund (e.g., "to do" or "doing").  Bare infinitives (e.g., "do") can only be complements for a small number of verbs, but these verbs are very common.  In this article, I take a look at some verbs that take bare infinitives as complements.  

To access the full text of this podcast, please go to https://www.difficultenglishexplained.com/what-comes-after-verb-2/.

Be sure that you read the first post in this series!  You can find it at: https://www.difficultenglishexplained.com/what-comes-after-a-verb-to-do-do-or-doing-part-1/

Difficult English Explained

What comes after a verb? "To do", "do," or "doing"? (Part 2)

Chi di noi non si è mai chiesto "Perché si dice così?" studiando una lingua?
In questo episodio alcune riflessioni sulle difficoltà del dare una risposta a questa domanda... e se valga veramente la pena porsela.