Any Denglish in your English?

I often hear these mistakes made by German speakers who are learning English.

They say:  Trainings.

The problem here is the plural form.  It sounds very strange to use a plural form of this word.

Correction:  Training courses.

E.g. I attended several training courses at the start of my new job last year.

As an alternative we could use training events.

E.g.  He organises all the training events for our department.

A further alternative could be training sessions.

E.g.  There are 6 training sessions in total.  Each session lasts 3 hours.

Have fun learning English!

Louise

Let’s be honest, sometimes English can be confusing.  Sometimes when learning English it is easy to mix up words or be unsure when to use them.

I often hear German speakers who are learning English make mistakes with the words ‘bazaar’ and ‘bizarre’.

Take a look at the examples below.  Hopefully they will make things clearer for you.

Bazaar is a noun and describes a marketplace or shopping area particularly in the Middle East.

E.g.  The bazaar is the main trading place for people in the city.

Bizarre is an adjective and is used to describe something or someone that/who is odd, strange or unusual.

E.g.  The film we watched yesterday was really bizarre.  We couldn’t understand the ending at all.

Have fun learning English!

Louise

Let’s be honest, sometimes English can be confusing.  Sometimes when learning English it is easy to mix up words or be unsure when to use them.

I often hear German speakers who are learning English make mistakes with the words ‘weather’ and ‘whether’.  These words sound the same but have different meanings.

Take a look at the examples below.  Hopefully they will make things clearer for you.

Weather as a noun refers to meteorological conditions on a days-to-day basis.  It includes things such as temperature and rainfall.

E.g.  The weather is warm and sunny today so let’s go out for a walk.

Weather as a verb means to come through problems, trouble, challenges etc.

E.g.  The company is in financial trouble.  Do you think they will weather the storm and be able to carry on?

Whether is a conjunction in English.

E.g.  I don’t know whether he is in the office today or whether he is on a business trip.

Have fun learning English!

Louise

Let’s be honest, sometimes English can be confusing.  Sometimes when learning English it is easy to mix up words or be unsure when to use them.

I often hear German speakers who are learning English make mistakes with the words ‘aloud’ and ‘allowed’.  These words sound the same but have different meanings.

Take a look at the examples below.  Hopefully they will make things clearer for you.

Aloud is an adverb and refers to the spoken voice rather than something being done mentally.

E.g.  He read parts of the report aloud so that everyone in the room could hear.

Allowed is from the verb to allow.  It can mean to give permission to someone to do something or for something to happen.  (Alternatively you can use the word permit.)

E.g.  The teacher allowed the children to play outside ten minutes longer than normal.

It can also be used to talk about the amount of time that has been allocated for a certain thing.

E.g.  4 months were allowed to complete the project.

Have fun learning English!

Louise