Kick-start your Spanish journey with me as I teach you the most common Argentinian greetings and the friendly “vos.” In this relaxed A1 episode, you’ll practice saying hello, learn a simple mini-dialogue, and discover why mistakes are just part of the fun. Grab your mate, repeat after Valentina, and start sounding like a local—one “hola” at a time!

Spanish Card

Episode 1 – [A1] “Hola, ¿Cómo andás?”: Basic Greetings in Argentinian Spanish

Knowing Everything About Chinese Cultrue

10Traditional Chinese Medicine

In this episode, you can notice the simple way to interact while hearing someone telling a story, using “然后呢？”. In this case, "然后呢？" means "and then?".  

今天我到外面走走，没想到发现了一大堆蚂蚁正在搬一只死了的虫子。
它们有的拉着脚，有的拉着头，还有的拖着身子 ，
几乎把整个虫子都围住了。可是虫子却一点儿也不动 。
不过，蚂蚁们也没有放弃，依然竭尽全力地拉着。 
最后在蚂蚁们坚持不懈的努力下，终于把虫子拖回了家。
蚂蚁这种坚持不懈的精神值得我们学习吧? 

Difficult words:

•  没想到 
[ méi xiǎng dào ]
didn't expect

•  身子 
[ shēn zi ]
body; pregnancy; health

•  几乎 
[ jī hū ]
almost; nearly; practically

•  围住 
[ wéi zhù ]
to surround; to gird

•  虫子 
[ chóng zi ]
insect; bug; worm; Classifiers: 条 

•  放弃 
[ fàng qì ]
to renounce; to abandon; to give up

•  竭尽全力 
[ jié jìn quán lì ]
to spare no effort (idiom); to do one's utmost

•  终于 
[ zhōng yú ]
at last; in the end; finally; eventually

•  坚持不懈 
[ jiān chí bú xiè ]
to persevere unremittingly (idiom); to keep going until the end

•  精神 
[ jīng shén ]
spirit; mind; consciousness; thought; mental; psychological; essence; gist; Classifiers: 个 

•  值得 
[ zhí de ]
to be worth; to deserve




我们说 - 我们学 Practical Conversations

Ant-蚂蚁 (Intermediate)  

冇錯，我地去睇咗張敬軒啊！有人仲睇左兩次，有人仲握咗手。我地幾個粥友都係從細聽張敬軒聽到大㗎。呢兩集我地就分享下我地從搶飛到演唱會現場嘅全方位體驗，同埋我地從細聽到大嘅經歷。如果你都鍾意張敬軒同港樂，就一定要入黎聽下我地吹咗啲乜啦！

夠鐘煲粥 Congee Time

EP9. 我地去睇軒公啊（下）

Habit stacking, a concept popularized by James Clear in his book “Atomic Habits,” can be a powerful tool in business negotiations. It involves pairing a new habit with an existing one to create a sequence of behaviors that lead to a desired outcome. With practice, habit stacking can help negotiations become more natural and impactful.

Identify Core Habits: Start by pinpointing habits that are already part of your negotiation routine, such as reviewing key documents like contracts or setting clear meeting agendas in advance of discussions. These foundational habits form the base of your negotiation process.

Stack New Behaviors: Attach new habits that enhance negotiation skills, like practicing active listening techniques or rehearsing persuasive yet empathetic language with a colleague, to these core habits. Layering in complementary behaviors builds negotiation acumen over time.

Create Triggers: Use the completion of one habit as the trigger or cue to smoothly start the next habit in the sequence. For instance, after reviewing all pertinent documents, you might then take 10 minutes to practice delivering your opening pitch out loud.

Maintain Consistency: Repeat this full habit stack sequence consistently, whether daily or weekly, to solidify the new negotiation habits. Performing the behaviors together and over time will make them almost automatic. Over several months, this approach can lead to more effective, impactful and confident negotiations.

By using habit stacking to systematically improve your negotiation techniques, you can achieve better outcomes and build stronger long-term business relationships. With practice, your negotiations will become more natural and impactful.

Mail Bag coming on Monday!

The Global Professional Podcast

Habit Stacking to Improve Negotiation Skills - Episode 43

This podcast discusses the critical role of figurative language—such as idioms, metaphors, and similes—within the context of Business English. It outlines numerous benefits, explaining how this type of language enhances clarity, strengthens persuasive arguments, and builds rapport by signaling cultural fluency. It provides a detailed list of eight main reasons why figurative language is important, including its ability to simplify complex technical jargon and facilitate compelling storytelling.

The importance of figurative language for Business Communication

Why figurative language is so important for Business English

Therapeutic English for your life. How to succeed in life and how to stay happy. 

We tend to have lots of thoughts and ideas about things but what's the quality of those thoughts?

Are they supporting us or destroyng us?

Do we know what they are ?

What if we'll ( for once ) become aware of what's in your mind and realize ( finally ) what is the real reason why we stumble from time to time.

Will that be of assistance?

This podcast will help you to explore what's in your mind so you may never need a coach or a psychologist as you'll know what you are creating.

Use it and May The Force Be With You :)

The Habits of Women Growing Into Strong, Confident English Communicators

Therapeutic English for your life. How to succeed in life and how to stay happy. 

SANDRA: So … what should we do?
JULIE: Well, I like to do arts and crafts, and I’m really good at
drawing. What do you think?
SANDRA: Hmm … how about playing a board game? That would 
be more fun.
JULIE: OK. Let’s play Scrabble! I’m really good at spelling, too!
SANDRA: Oh, yeah? We’ll see about that!

LANGUAGE NOTES
• So … Notice how the “o” sound is drawn out here, combined with the intonation, which 
shows boredom.
• I’m really good at “Really” means “very” and is used to emphasize “good.” It goes before 
the adjective.
• What do you Notice the pronunciation here — it sounds like “Whaddaya.”
• Hmm … is used to show that the speaker is thinking. It is also used to show that the speaker 
disagrees with an idea.
• How about is used to make a tentative suggestion. The speaker is introducing an idea and 
doesn’t want to sound too strong.
• Let’s is used to make a strong suggestion. The speaker feels confident about the plan.
• Oh, yeah? We’ll see about that! “Oh, yeah?” is used in a joking way to show a bit of friendly 
competition. Notice the emphasis on “that,” which refers back to “good at spelling.”

English Conversation practice (30-day challenge)

Day 22: What you are good at!

Egg prices are rising in America. The average cost of a dozen eggs hit a record $4.95 in January — up 53% from a year earlier. The price was below $2 in early 2022.

While the coronavirus pandemic and inflation have affected prices, experts say the real problem has been bird flu. An outbreak that began in early 2022 has become the largest in US history, affecting more than 100 million egg-laying hens.

To cope with rising egg prices, some Americans have been going straight to the source — and renting hens.

Rent The Chicken in New Hampshire is letting people rent egg-laying hens for six months at a time. For $595, you get two egg-laying hens and a guide on how to take care of them, as well as chicken feed and a coop to keep the birds in.

The birds actually aren't very difficult to take care of, explains Brian Templeton, owner of Rent The Chicken. "You just let them out and walk around and they go in at night on their own," he told CBS News.

"People really enjoy it," he added.

Rent The Chicken says two hens should produce eight to 14 eggs per week.

That comes to about $25 for every dozen eggs — so it's not really a savings.

You can also get four hens for $735, which would reduce your cost to about $15 per dozen eggs.

However, if you'd like to keep your chickens and coop at the end of your rental period, you can — for an extra $350 to $450.

According to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, hens will usually live for six to eight years, and produce eggs for three to four of those years.

So that might bring your price down over time.