The Blog

Look for common English metaphors to help you understand new phrases

In the last phrase this week, "The video's pretty choppy on my end," I explain that English speakers think of a telephone or online conversation as an imaginary string between two people. So you can talk about "my end" or "your end" of a conversation, just like you can talk about the two "ends"...

A Skype conversation: "flipping a coin"

Here's a Skype conversation I had this morning with an English learner:

Shinichi: Hi, can i ask you a question?
PhraseMix: Hi
PhraseMix: Good morning.
PhraseMix: Sure, ask away.
Shinichi: first question: how do you say コインをひっくり返すin english?
PhraseMix: "flip a coin" (but I had to look it up)
Shinichi:...

Learn proper English, and then make mistakes on purpose!

I have a confession to make: I love saying things the wrong way.

In the morning, when people at work say "How are you?" I usually answer "Wonderful!" instead of "Fine" or "Good". When I call an old friend, I don't say "Hey man, how's it going?". Instead I try to think of some new funny way to say...

Should we forget about PhraseMix and just go make international friends?

Yesterday I read a post at the Fluent in 3 Months blog. The author, Benny, says:

If you want to speak a language well, the amount of money or quantity of course material or choosing the “best” one to invest in, or how much you study, will not determine your success. It’s how...

Don't try to learn similar phrases together (or you might make a dumb mistake like I almost did)!

Should you learn similar words and phrases at the same time, or words and phrases that are different from each other?

The first instinct for most language teachers and learners is to group similar vocabulary together. When I first began learning Japanese, I had a list of animal names to study, a...