Resources: Notes on Life and Language in the United States

In today's post, we have some communication and culture tips from a current student at English and Culture. Consider this question: How are disagreements resolved in your culture? Is it done differently in your country than here in the United States? During a recent cultural training session with one of our students from Korea, we looked at the different styles of settling a disagreement in both the US and Korea. We also talked about how those different styles of disagreement might be rooted in deeper cultural values and styles of communication. Keep reading to find out this student's views on the different approaches to resolving a disagreement in the US and Korea.

If you are living and working in New York and you are struggling with a lot of problems or challenges in your new life, why not consider the ways that taking private English lessons could help solve some of those problems? Of course, if you decide to take English lessons you will have to work hard but imagine how much better your life would be if you had more confidence in your English? If you think about your life right now, how many of your problems or challenges are related to your English skills? In this article, we will take a look at some of the common problems for professionals in NY and how private English lessons help them overcome those problems.

So you are living and working in the United States. What cultural assumptions do you have about American people or about your colleagues from other parts of the world? I have spoken with many international professionals who are working in the US and abroad and the most common thing that I hear from people is "well, I don't really notice too many differences. Basically, we are all the same"  Really? We all have the same worldview? The same communication style? The same orientation toward time? I strongly disagree! Perhaps this assumption is our first problem. We often don't see that there are differences. If we are really all the same, why do business deals fall apart between North Americans and Latin Americans when the assumptions about time and scheduling differ. Why do Americans interpet "it will be difficult" as "yes we can do that" when it actually means "no, it's not possible" in Japan.

Do you ever wonder how to write a business email in English correctly, using the right professional tone?

English language learning methods, for both students and adults, need to change in the future. What should change about the current methods? Aaron Myers has written an exellent blog post with his 9 Ideas for Reinventing America's Language Education System. Most of his ideas are concerned with the way that kids learn languages in school. However, we work with English language learners who are international professionals in New York and Boston and I believe that the old way of teaching and learning a language is similar in many education systems around the world.  When our students come to the United States to work and need to improve their English to communicate in their company, they often have certain ideas about how English should be learned based on the old, ineffective methods of language education that were used in their home country. It's time to change those old methods and focus on what's really important in language learning. In this post, I will point out some of Aaron's ideas and I will add an idea of my own that I think has been overlooked.

Intercultural communication (communication between people from different cultures) is now taking place all over the world, especially in large cities like Boston and New York. We are encountering people with different ways of communicating in every area of our lives including our careers and the business world, our social lives and in our academic courses. This is an exciting moment but do you sometimes feel confused or lost in these encounters? For example, did you ever wonder why your colleague said "yes, I will try " when he really meant "no, absolutely not"?  Culture is more complex than we realize! To be successful in intercultural communication, we need some knowledge and skills. What do we need to successfully communicate with a friend, colleague or acquaintance from another culture? In this article, I will talk about 6 things you can do to improve your cultural competence and become a better intercultural communicator.

Would you like to know more about interviewing in English? Are you preparing for a job or internship interview in the United States? In previous articles, we have talked about how culture affects your interviewing style and why it is important to ask questions in an interview in the US. We have also talked about the four common questions that you should expect to get when you are being interviewed in the US. So if you have read our previous articles, you know a few things about what to expect in an interview. But do you have the vocabulary words that you will need to effectively communicate your skills and experience? In today's lesson, we will look at some essential vocabulary words for an interview.

When you practice your English, phrasal verbs are one of the most important things to learn if you want to be able to communicate with local people.  Why? Because we use them all the time in daily conversations! What is the difference between hang in, hang out and hang up? Do you know how to use put in, put out and put off? Have you struggled with phrasal verbs in the past? If so, we have created a quiz book for you with 3 of our best phrasal verb quizzes. This is an opportunity for you to practice some vocabulary words at home and learn how to use them when you speak with local people. Remember, your first step is to learn them and your second step is to go out and practice them with native speakers! So get started!

Welcome to today's English lesson! Today we have a video quiz on phrasal verbs. Phrasal verbs are one of the biggest challenges for our students in New York and Boston. The best way to learn how to use phrasal verbs is to memorize them and then get out and practice them with native speakers! In this video, you will learn 5 new phrasal verbs in about two minutes. Are you ready to get started?