Nesse episódio do podcast Inglês Online falamos sobre a palavra such. Para ver e ouvir podcasts de semanas anteriores, clique em Podcast Inglesonline na barra lateral. Você pode também assinar o feed do podcast ou encontrá-lo no iTunes (veja o menuzinho ali ao lado).

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Hello, everyone. Today we have a new episode of the inglesonline podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.

Today I’m gonna give you several examples of how to use this word: such. S-u-c-h. Such. Such may be used to communicate a few different things, and today we are going to focus on one of them: how to use ‘such’ to emphasize. For example, when you say Mary is such a nice girl, what are you saying? You’re saying that you think Mary is very nice. It’s as though you were saying Mary is so nice. Instead, you say Mary is such a nice girl. Here’s another one: Bahia has such nice weather all year round. What does that mean? That means you think that the weather in Bahia is so nice, all year round.

It’s simple, right? As with everything in English – especially stuff that isn’t intuitive to us Portuguese speakers -  we have to hear it a lot in order to become familiar and absorb it. So here is a series of examples where I use the word “so”, which is the word everyone is more familiar with, in order to emphasize something. After I’m done reading this list, I’ll give you the same examples using ‘such’:

• This coffee is so bad.
• This car was so cheap!
• This study room looks so messy.
• The variety of products carried by this supermarket is so amazing.
• I didn’t know their house was so old.

Now let’s hear these sentences when they have the word such in them. ‘This coffee is so bad’ – we can say This is such bad coffee, or This is such a bad coffee if you want to be specific to the cup of coffee in your hand, for example.

‘This car was so cheap!’ can be said like this: It was such a cheap car! ‘This study room looks so messy’ can become This study room is such a mess. The next one we have is ‘The variety of products carried by this supermarket is so amazing’. You could say This supermarket carries such an amazing variety of products. And finally, ‘I didn’t know their house was so old’ can be expressed as I didn’t know they owned such an old house.

Did you notice that we say so bad, so cheap, so messy, so amazing and  so old? This is so good, that is so bad. This bar is so trendy, that house is so spacious, that girl is so clever, this magazine is so interesting. This little word ‘so’ comes before adjectives. Now notice how such was used in all the previous examples: such bad coffee, such a cheap car, such a messy room, such an amazing variety, such an old house. ‘Such’ comes before a short phrase, right? A short phrase containing at least an adjective and a noun. Bad coffee, a cheap car.  Such bad coffee, such a cheap car.

Here’s an expression that you’ll hear a lot as you get more and more familiar with English: This isn’t such a bad idea. What does that mean? When someone says This isn’t such a bad idea, they are saying that this idea isn’t so bad… it’s actually a good idea. This idea isn’t so bad. This isn’t such a bad idea. It may not seem like a very good idea at first; but as you take a closer look you realize that this idea isn’t so bad. This isn’t such a bad idea. It’s… an OK idea, maybe even a good idea!

Here are a few of my personal opinions: English is such a great language to learn and speak. The Internet is such a fantastic tool for business. It’s such a nice feeling to wake up to a sunny day. Dogs are such loyal friends. Memorizing words is such a boring thing to do. Again, listen: such a great language; such a fantastic tool; such a nice feeling; such loyal friends; such a boring thing.

Do you wanna give it a shot? Let us know how you would use such to talk about things in your life. Next podcast we continue with expressions with the word ‘such’. Talk to you next time.

Key expressions

• such a great girl
• This isn’t such a bad idea

Glossary

it’s as though you were saying = é como se você estivesse dizendo

all year round = o ano todo

trendy = algo que acompanha as últimas tendências, que está na moda

Nesse episódio do podcast Inglês Online falamos sobre vocabulário relacionado a fazer críticas. Para ver e ouvir podcasts de semanas anteriores, clique em Podcast Inglesonline na barra lateral. Você pode também assinar o feed do podcast ou encontrá-lo no iTunes (veja o menuzinho ali ao lado).

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Hi, all. Today we have a new episode of the inglesonline podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.

Today I’d like to talk about a business-related topic… criticism. First things first – listen to the word criticism again: CRITICISM. It’s as if you had an “a” between the S and the M: “criticisam”. OK, so for the second time I’m using a newsletter issued by technology company HP, or Hewlet Packard, as inspiration. This time what caught my eye was the vocabulary involved when you’re criticizing someone’s work. Or maybe I should say, when you’re constructively criticizing someone’s work. It is still very common for people to take criticism the wrong way, or to be offended, and… of course, the way you deliver your criticism makes all the difference.

However if you are planning to maintain some kind of professional interaction with American people you probably should get used to giving and receiving constructive criticism. People say ‘constructive feedback’ as well… same thing. In the time I studied and worked in the United States, no matter what kind of project I was involved in there always came a time when we had to meet with other people in order to get some feedback. Of course it can be nerve-wracking, but if you’re lucky enough to have a good boss and peers, you probably won’t be caught off guard by that kind of meeting.

So the HP newsletter I read is all about how to make criticism and the language you can use for that. I recommend reading the entire article since it’s gonna give you some insight into American culture, and also because I’m only going to touch on a few expressions from the article here, so, just click the link here on the podcast and read it to become familiar with a lot more vocabulary related to criticism.

The article splits the suggestions in three categories, and the first one is mild criticism. Mild means soft or weak, something that isn’t strong or extreme. Do you get the idea of mild criticism? Mild criticism comes across more like a suggestion but, don’t be fooled, if it’s your boss giving you the suggestion my guess would be… you’d better take it! Listen to some phrases from the article that can be used to give mild criticism:

• “I think it’s good but there are a couple of things I’d like changed.” Here your boss is basically saying he or she likes what you’ve done and there are a few things you should change.

Here’s a good one:

• “I’m not sure if the figures you quote on page 5 are completely up to date. Could you please have another look at them and adjust them if necessary?” “Figures” means numbers. This is an indirect way to communicate that your boss thinks you made a mistake with the numbers and they would like you to check your figures again.

Let’s move on to a few examples of moderate criticism. This one is, of course, a bit stronger or more comprehensive than mild criticism.

• “It’s basically fine but it’s not quite there yet.” That means, what you did is good, it’s in the right direction, I like it, but it’s not 100% yet; it’s not completely right yet. After your boss says that, he or she will probably let you know in more detail what you should add or change.

Here’s one more:

• “First of all, I don’t think the figures that are included can be right. Could you please take another look at them?” So this is another way to ask you to revise your numbers, right? But this time around your boss is being more direct. It sounds like the mistakes you’ve made here are more serious than in the first example.

And now let’s look at a couple of examples of what the article called heavy criticism.

• “It’s taken me a few days to get back to you with my feedback because there are quite a few points I’d like to discuss with you.” The article points out that “quite a few” means “a lot”, and I would agree with that. When your boss says there are a few points to discuss, he or she means ‘many points’ to dicuss. When they say “Do you have a minute? I’d like to discuss something with you” they really mean “Do you have a half hour?” and so on.

And here’s one more:

• “Do you see what I’m getting at? Does this make sense?” Your boss is asking you if you understand what he or she is saying; if you’re getting the point; if you see what they mean. These are very common phrases to check whether you understand, whether you get what they’re saying. Do you see what I’m getting at? Does this make sense?

So these were my chosen examples for this podcast. I disagree with how the author of the article classified the expressions: some of them don’t sound like heavy criticism to me, but I guess it really would depend on the content of the criticism. What you might notice when you read through the list is that people usually try not to sound aggressive when they’re giving someone feedback. Many people use mild words and expressions to deliver their criticism.

So tell us: have you received some criticism at work recently? How was it delivered? What do you think about the expressions mentioned in the article?  Talk to you next time.

Link para o artigo original

Key expressions

Vocabulary concerning criticism.

Glossary

constructive criticism = crítica construtiva

there always came a time when = sempre chegava uma hora em que

nerve-wracking = qualidade de algo que nos deixa muito nervosos

be caught off guard = ser pego desprevenido, ficar sem reação

if you’re lucky enough to = se você tiver a sorte de

I’m only going to touch on = eu só vou falar brevemente sobre

comprehensive = abrangente

Nesse episódio do podcast Inglês Online falamos sobre expressões com MAKE. Para ver e ouvir podcasts de semanas anteriores, clique em Podcast Inglesonline na barra lateral. Você pode também assinar o feed do podcast ou encontrá-lo no iTunes (veja o menuzinho ali ao lado).

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Hello, everyone. How’s it going? Today we have a new episode of the inglesonline podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.

Let’s talk about a few expressions with the word make. We’ve had a podcast before that revolved around MAKE, but today we have different expressions. The first one is really easy to understand, and it is one way… It is one more way you can agree with someone, or a way to express that you feel the same way as someone else. Imagine that you’re dicussing movies with a friend. She says that she enjoys watching a good drama, but she can’t stand excessive violence in movies. You realize that your friend has described exactly the way you feel about movies, and so you say That makes two of us. What does that mean? That means that, just like your friend, you enjoy a good drama but you can’t stand watching too much violence. So when you hear your friend express her opinion, you say That makes two of us. You and I have the same opinion.

Another example: you’ve just gone through a one-hour long karate training and you feel exhausted. You think the instructor is pushing his students a little too hard. Too much weight-lifting! You don’t understand why you should have to do so much weight-lifting for a karate class. You’ve been sore for weeks, and you tell another student “I don’t know why our instructor is pushing us so hard. What’s with all the weight-lifting? I’m thinking about quitting this class”. And, to your suprise, the other guy says That makes two of us. I’m glad I’m not the only one. What is he saying? He’s saying that he feels the same way and he’s been thinking about giving up karate and taking up tap dancing. So when you tell him that you’re tired of this class and you’re thinking about quitting, he says That makes two of us.

Now let’s focus on another term that also has the words make and two, although this one is used for a different purpose. Let me give you an example: you’re at a bar with people from your office, and you order a beer. John, who’s sitting by your side, immediately tells the waitress Make it two. Make what two? Hmm… the number of beers, I guess. Instead of bringing only one bottle of beer, the waitress will bring two. So what John meant when he said Make it two was, I want the same thing that he or she just ordered. Instead of bringing just one unit of that, bring two units. Make it two.

Well, you said you wanted a beer, then John said Make it two, and then Molly, who was sitting next to John said Make it three! She wants to have beer as well. So now she’s telling the waitress that she should bring three units of beer. In Portuguese we would say something like “Pra mim também, uma cerveja” or “Mais uma pra mim”, right? In English, if the person next to you orders exactly what you want to order, you can say Make it two. Or if someone has already said Make it two because this person is ordering the same as another person, you can say Make it three, and so on.

And here’s our final expression with make: imagine you’re driving somewhere with your family. Your wife or husband, and the kids. It’s a long trip and you’re tired, and you can’t wait to get to your final destination so you can rest and relax. But one of your kids is desperate to pee, so you make a stop at a gas station, and you tell your kid Make it fast! What does that mean? That means you are telling your kid to be fast. Don’t go into the restroom and spend 5 minutes looking at yourself in the mirror; don’t go into the convenience store, don’t start a chat with the store clerk. Just get in and out as fast as you can. Make it fast.

Here’s another example: you’re waiting for an important phone call in the next thirty minutes. Your friend Melissa sees your cell phone and says Can I use your phone real quick? I just have to let my friend know that I’m going to be late. You say OK, but make it fast. I’m waiting for a life-changing phone call. Make what fast? Make ‘the act of calling your friend’ fast. Don’t be long. In my previous example, the one at the gas station, make ‘the act of going to the restroom’ fast. “Make it fast” to me sounds a bit more bossy than “Don’t be long” or “Please don’t be long”, so don’t say that to your boss, for example.

Talk to you next time.

Key expressions

• That makes two of us
• Make it two
• Make it fast

Glossary

sore = dolorido(a)

What’s with… ? = que que é todo esse negócio de…?

to take up (an activity) = começar a fazer uma atividade

tap dancing = sapateado

you can’t wait = você não vê a hora

bossy = mandão, autoritário

don’t be long = não demore

Nesse episódio do podcast Inglês Online falamos sobre get away with, uma expressão super comum no inglês. Para ver e ouvir podcasts de semanas anteriores, clique em Podcast Inglesonline na barra lateral. Você pode também assinar o feed do podcast ou encontrá-lo no iTunes (veja o menuzinho ali ao lado).

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Hello, all. What’s up? Today we have a new episode of the inglesonline podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.

Let’s begin with a pretty interesting phrase: get away with something. Let me give you a very simple example: imagine you work in an office with your boss and two other people. So there’s three of you reporting to the same person, the boss: you, and your coworkers Monica and Jacob. Now, your boss doesn’t like it when you or Jacob are late. Yesterday, Jacob arrived ten minutes after eight and the boss reminded him that work starts at eight. Last week you were only five minutes late, and the boss told you he expected you to be on time every day. However… when Monica is late that’s a different story.

Monica arrived fifteen minutes past eight last week, and the boss didn’t say anything! Yesterday she had a long lunch and got back to work at two thirty and, again, the boss didn’t say a peep. Monica is obviously your boss’ favorite, and she can get away with almost anything. Again: Monica can get away with almost anything. What does that mean? To get away with something is to escape the consequences of something you did. Not just any consequences, though: unpleasant consequences. When someone gets away with something, that means this person isn’t facing potentially unpleasant consequences that other people might face if they did the same thing.

For example, if you’re late to work every day, there are probably going to be some unpleasant consequences, like… your boss is going to give you a warning. If the dress code at work is business formal and you wear jeans, there may be consequences. If you’re young and live with your parents, and they give you a curfew – in other words, you have to be home by 9 PM every night, and then one night you arrive at midnight, there are probably going to be consequences, right?

So when someone gets away with something, that means they do that thing that, in theory, no one can do, but nothing happens to them. Somehow, they don’t suffer the unpleasant consequences. Like Monica, at your office. She gets in late, and nothing happens. She forgets to turn in her weekly expense report on time, and the boss doesn’t say a word. So Monica can get away with being late… and she also gets away with not being on time with her report. She can get away with mostly anything… she’s the boss’ favorite.

Do you have any examples of your own? For example, when were you able to get away with something and you were actually surprised you got away with it? Maybe you didn’t follow some rule somewhere, and you thought you wouldn’t be allowed to participate in something, but you got away with it somehow… Maybe when you were underage you wanted to go to a party where only people who were over eighteen were allowed in, and you managed to get in. How did you get away with it? Did you present a fake ID at the door?

Here’s a very common phrase that you’ll hear a lot in movies and sitcoms:  You’ll never get away with it. That’s what your friend will say if you tell him or her that you are going to sweet-talk your teacher into raising your grades. You’re going to tell your teacher a very sad story about how you didn’t have enough time to prepare for the exams because you were caring for a sick relative. Your friend hears that and says “You’ll never get away with it! Forget it.” You think you’ll get away with it. You have rehearsed your story and you think it’s pretty convincing. You’re pretty sure you’ll get away with it. Your friend thinks it’s a waste of time. He says “You’ll never get away with it”.

One more example: your local movie theater has a promotion for this weekend where kids younger than 12 years old get in for free. Your niece, who is 14, says she’ll try to pass for a twelve-year-old in order to see a movie for free. You look at her and say “You’ll never get away with it! You’re tall and you don’t look like a kid anymore”. You think she’ll never get away with it. She’ won’t be able to pass for a 12-year-old.

So I’m waiting for your example in the comments… When was the last time you were able to get away with something that even you didn’t expect to get away with? Talk to you next time.

Key expressions

• get away with
• You’ll never get away with it

Glossary

a curfew = hora-limite para uma criança ou adolescente estar em casa, por exemplo

sweet-talk (someone) into (doing something) = convencer alguém a fazer algo por você (que normalmente a pessoa não faria) só no papo

Nesse episódio do podcast Inglês Online falamos sobre expressões muito comuns no inglês, que começam com That’s… Para ver e ouvir podcasts de semanas anteriores, clique em Podcast Inglesonline na barra lateral. Você pode também assinar o feed do podcast ou encontrá-lo no iTunes (veja o menuzinho ali ao lado).

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Hi, everyone. How have you all been? Here’s a new episode of the inglesonline podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.

So today I picked four expressions… more like four set phrases that start with That’s… All four of them start with “That’s…” They’re all very, very common in everyday conversation and if you’re used to watching TV shows or movies, you’ve definitely heard them before.

Here’s the first one: That’s it! What does that mean? I’m gonna use an example to illustrate the meaning of “That’s it!” Let’s say Jennifer is having dinner at a restaurant. She orders a pizza. When the pizza arrives, she takes one look at it and immediately spots a band-aid. Yes, someone’s band-aid ended up on Jennifer’s pizza. She calls the waiter and he takes the pizza away, and ten minutes later comes back with another pizza. By now Jennifer is really hungry, and she’s about to go for her first slice of pizza when she realizes that this is a pepperoni pizza! She didn’t order pepperoni. She hates pepperoni! She ordered the cheese and mushroom toppings on her pizza.

Jennifer returns her pizza once again. She’s starving now, and she’s not pleased at all that this restaurant screwed up her order twice! Finally the waiter brings her the pizza with cheese and mushrooms. Her mouth is salivating and she’s ready to dig in, when… The waiter sneezes all over the pizza. Jennifer stands up and says “That’s it! This place is awful, service is ridiculously bad! I’m never setting foot in this place ever again.

So when Jennifer said “That’s it!”, what did she mean? She meant that she had had enough. First, she found a band-aid on the pizza. Then, they messed up her order: they brought pepperoni instead of cheese and mushrooms. The last straw was when the waiter sneezed all over her pizza. That was the last straw! That’s when Jennifer decided that she wasn’t going to spend another second at that restaurant, even tough she was starving. That was the moment she said “That’s it! That is it!” Enough of this! I’ve had enough. I have to do something, I can’t stay in this restaurant another second! That’s it!

Do you recognize this phrase, “That’s it!”? It’s very common so you’re bound to hear it if you regularly watch TV shows and movies made by English-speaking countries, especially the US. Now, I just used this expression a few seconds ago: That’s the last straw! That means about the same as “That’s it”. I don’t know the origin of the expression; I’m not sure why there’s a straw in it… In Portuguese we say something about “gota d’agua”, right? We say “foi a gota d’água”. In English, people use the present tense a lot too: That’s the last straw! That’s it!

So what was the last straw, in Jennifer’s case? The sneeze, right? The band-aid… she was pretty annoyed, but didn’t leave the restaurant. The messed-up order, with the pepperoni pizza… again, she was annoyed but she didn’t leave. But when the waiter sneezed on her pizza… that was the last straw. She couldn’t take it anymore. She said “That’s it! That’s the last straw.” and left.

Alright! Let’s move on another expression. Actually, to a couple of expressions that are the English version of this episode’s title.When we want to say “Por mim, tá OK”, we do not say “For me, it’s OK”. Nope! Here’s how it goes: That’s fine by me, or that’s OK with me. Or you can say “That’s fine with me” or “That’s OK by me”. Fine by me, fine with me, OK by me, OK with me. Any one of those will work. So when your spouse suggests a restaurant for lunch, you can say “That’s fine by me”. When your friend gives you two choices of movies and asks which one you prefer, you can say “Either one is OK with me”. You usually drive to the beach but today your friend says he would like to take the bus. You say “That’s fine with me”.

So, tell us about the last time you said (or thought) “That’s it!” That’s the last straw! I wanna read your story in the comments.. C´mon! Talk to you next time.

Key expressions

• That’s it!
• That’s the last straw.
• That’s fine by (with) me
• That’s OK by (with) me

Glossary

toppings = coberturas da pizza

screwed up her order = errou o pedido dela

dig in = “atacar” a comida, começar a comer

I’m never setting foot in this place = nunca mais piso nesse lugar

sneezed = espirrou

Nesse episódio do podcast Inglês Online falamos sobre boatos, e como prometer que não vai contar nada pra ninguém.

Para ver e ouvir podcasts de semanas anteriores, clique em Podcast Inglesonline na barra lateral. Você pode também assinar o feed do podcast ou encontrá-lo no iTunes (veja o menuzinho ali ao lado).

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Hello, all. How are you today? This is the new episode of the inglesonline podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.

So, do you know what a rumor is? Rumor. A rumor is a piece of information, and this piece of information is unverified, which means no one really knows whether it’s true or not, and no one really knows who started it. Usually no one knows who actually started the rumor. I’ll bet every one of you listening knows what I’m talking about. When I worked for corporations, there were rumors all the time about this manager and that director not getting along, or a rumor that sales people were going to be laid off and so on.

So like I said before, a rumor is a piece of information that no one can really vouch for, right? It’s that kind of thing you hear from a colleague, or when you’re eavesdropping on someone else’s conversation… No one can say “This is the truth. This piece of information is true”. No, it’s always like “There’s a rumor that this or that is going to happen” or “Have you heard? There’s a rumor that Jenn is gonna be the next VP of Sales”. “Hey, I’ve heard that blah blah blah”. That’s a rumor, or boato as we say in Portuguese.

Rumors are usually spread by word of mouth, right? What does “word of mouth” mean? That’s when people speak to each other, when they talk to each other, when information is spread through conversation among people. So when someone tells someone else about some story they heard, that may or may not be true… that’s how rumors are spread: by word of mouth.

So you can say “There’s a rumor that Mark is gonna get promoted”. And you can also say “Rumor has it that Mark is gonna get promoted”. “Rumor has it” is a set phrase and it’s a very common way to introduce some piece of information you heard from someone and you don’t know whether it’s true or not. Example… Rumor has it that Ashton Kutcher is gonna be in the next novela das 8. There’s a rumor that we’re gonna have a local CNN channel. Rumor has it that we’re gonna have new employees from Spain. So, what’s the last rumor you heard?

OK, so let’s move on to another set phrase in English. This is an expression you can use when someone tells you a secret, and then asks you not to tell anyone. You can say My lips are sealed.  My lips are sealed. When you say that, you’re telling that person that the secret won’t come out of your mouth because your lips are sealed. You won’t tell anyone. You won’t tell a soul.

By the way, this is another very common phrase when you’re saying you’re going to keep something to yourself; you’re not gonna tell anyone: you can say I won’t tell a soul. My lips are sealed, I won’t tell a soul.

So next time someone tells you a secret, you can say “Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me. My lips are sealed”. Or when your coworker tells you she’s looking for a new job and asks you not to tell anyone, you can say “I won’t tell a soul”.

Please tell us in the comments about the last time you heard a false rumor. Talk to you next time!

Ouça também: Podcast “Não conte com isso”

Key expressions

• There’s a rumor that…
• Rumor has it
• Word of mouth
• My lips are sealed
• I won’t tell a soul

Glossary

I’ll bet = aposto que

be laid off = perder o emprego

vouch for something = assegurar que algo é genuino, verdadeiro

you’re eavesdropping = você está escutando (algo que não é dito para você escutar)

CNN = canal de notícias americano

soul = alma (na frase do podcast, soul simboliza uma pessoa)

Nesse episódio do podcast Inglês Online eu falo sobre mais duas expressões super comuns, que tem a ver com aquela sensação de reconhecer alguém ou alguma coisa.

Para ver e ouvir podcasts de semanas anteriores, clique em Podcast Inglesonline na barra lateral. Você pode também assinar o feed do podcast ou encontrá-lo no iTunes (veja o menuzinho ali ao lado).

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Hi, everyone. How have you been? Today we have a new episode of the inglesonline podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.

Today we’re talking about a couple of expressions that are really useful and you’re gonna hear them all the time on TV or real life conversations. The first one is He looks familiar, or It looks familiar, They look familiar and so on. You see someone and you think you know them, but you can’t really pinpoint where you know them from. He or she looks familiar. Or you see someone’s handwriting, for example, and you ask your friend “This handwriting looks familiar. Is it Fred’s?” and your friend says “No, it’s mine”. So that’s why it looked familiar.

Has anyone that you had just met ever looked at you and said “Hey, you look familiar”? This happens to me all the time. Someone that I’ve just met says “You look familiar”. And here’s something else that people I’ve just met are always telling me: “You look like my friend Gabriela.” “You look like my aunt Maria”. “You look like someone I know”. So maybe that’s why so many people think I look familiar when they first meet me: they think I look like their friend, their cousin, their aunt…

What about when someone’s telling you a story? Let’s say they’re describing someone to you. Your friend says “C’mon, don’t you know Sally? She’s tall, green eyes, red hair…”. You think you know who your friend is talking about, but you’re not sure. Do you say “Oh, she looks familiar”? No! You’re not seeing this person. Your friend is talking about her. So you say “She sounds familiar”. Another example: your brother is telling you about a book he read and he’s saying how much he enjoyed the book, and then he says “I think you recommended this book. Wasn’t it you?” And you’re not sure. The story sounds familiar, but you can’t remember if it’s because you saw a movie the other day with a similar plot, or if you really read that book and just can’t remember, so you say “Well, it sounds familiar but I’m not sure”. When the feeling of familiarity comes through voice or sounds, that is, when someone’s talking to you about something, or when you hear something, well… That’s because it sounds familiar.

And here’s another great expression, really really common and somewhat related to “looks familiar” and “sounds familiar”. This time your friend is telling you about someone he met… let’s say it’s a girl and her name is Jennifer. He’s telling you about Jennifer and he’s pretty sure you and Jennifer have met before. He’s describing her to you and you just cannot remember having met someone named Jennifer with those characteristics. You’re trying, you’re going as far back as high-school, and… nothing. Your friend insists that you and Jennifer know each other. You finally tell him “Hmm, it doesn’t ring a bell” That means simply that the name Jennifer, combined with the description of her your friend just gave you, doesn’ make you think of anyone in particular that you met in the past. You don’t remember her, you don’t know anyone like her named Jennifer. It doesn’t ring a bell.

Here’s one more example: you’re at work and you bump into your coworker Ted in the hallway. Ted says “Hey, I just talked to Michael right now, and he said you have that sales report from last month. It’s in a red folder”. And you say “Sales report… in a red folder. Doesn’t ring a bell, but let’s look in my office”. That means you can’t remember having any sales report with you, in a red folder. It doesn’t ring a bell.

So tells us about the last time you wanted someone to remember something and you kept trying to help them remember it, and they kept saying “Hmm, doesn’t ring a bell”. Talk to you next time!

Key expressions

• looks familiar
• sounds familiar
• doesn’t ring a bell

Glossary

you can’t pinpoint = você não consegue saber exatamente

you’re going as far back as high-school= você está tentando se lembrar de um ponto lá no passado, dos tempos de escola

somewhat related = tem um pouco a ver

Nesse episódio do podcast Inglês Online eu falo sobre duas expressões bem comuns com a palavra LESS.

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Hello, all. How’s it going? Today we have a new episode of the inglesonline podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.

Let me tell you about a very common and interesting expression in English: the lesser of two evils. Think about a situation where you had to choose between two not-so-great options. You have to make a choice in order to keep something going, or to fulfill an obligation. An election is a perfect example, when there are only two candidates running and you don’t like either of them.

Let’s say, though, that you firmly believe that, even if neither candidate is that great, you should pick someone. You should vote for one of them, that’s what you believe. You feel like it’s your duty to vote, and you’re not gonna spoil your vote either, so you MUST pick someone to vote for. The problem is, you’re not a fan of either candidate. You’ve heard bad things from trusted sources about both of them. So who are you gonna vote for? Candidate A is the one you were going for, until last week when your good friend Raymond filled you in on Candidate A’s real opinions about public transportation.

You were devastated. You’d been a big fan of Candidate A until that moment. And then there’s Candidate B, and you’re really not a fan. You just don’t think Candidate B has got what it takes to be an effective politician. You’re familiar with his work and you just don’t think he’s competent. So this is a tough choice for you. Since you’re adamant about voting for someone, you are going to choose the lesser of two evils, in your opinion. Both are bad, but you’re gonna go with the least bad, or the lesser of two evils. You’re gonna go with the one that, in your opinion, is going to cause the least damage as a politician. You’re gonna pick the lesser of two evils.

Here’s another example for that: your friends are going to watch a movie tonight and they’re asking you to come along. You’ve heard of this movie, and you think it’s gonna suck. Your other option would be staying home and watching boring TV shows. What to do? You choose the lesser of two evils, which in your opinion is staying in tonight and watching TV.

Here’s another set phrase with the word less: less is more. Less is more. Have you heard that one? How can less be more? Well, imagine that you’re in school and your History teachers gives the students a new assignment. She says you guys should break into groups of six and work as a team on the assignment. Your team spends two weeks working on the assignment and you realize that it’s not that easy to coordinate everyone’s work, or get everyone to agree on something, or find a date for the next meeting that will work for everyone, and so on.

So now your History teacher is giving the class a new assignment, and she tells the students that they should break into groups of three. So you and your two classmates start working on the new assignment and you realize it is much easier to get things going in a small group. The three of you agree on stuff quickly, it’s easier to find a place and time for the next meeting, and so on and so forth. So you come to the conclusion that, in this case, less is more.

“Less is more” means, there are advantages in not having too much or too many of something. It would seem that more people to help with an assignment is always better, right? Well, you don’t think so. Fewer people do a better job in your opinion. So, you think “I’m definitely happier in a smaller group. Less is more”.

And just a reminder that this is a set phrase, OK? It doesn’t really matter what you’re talking about. What matters is the idea that less of something, or fewer units of whatever… produce better results. So whether you’re talking about fewer people doing a better job, or a small computer being more powerful than a large machine, or a tiny fruit containing more nutrients than a larger fruit, you can say that, in this case, less is more.

So when was the last time you chose the lesser of two evils? Let us know in the comments. Talk to you next time!

Key expressions

• the lesser of two evils
• less is more

Glossary

spoil your vote = anular seu voto

you’re adamant about = você faz questão de, tem opinião firme a respeito de

the least bad = a/o menos ruim

the least damage = o mínimo de estrago

What to do? = O que fazer?

not a fan of either = não é fã de nenhum dos dois

fewer units of whatever = menos unidades do que quer que seja

Nesse episódio do podcast Inglês Online eu falo sobre duas expressões com keep, e mais uma super informal e coloquial.

Para ver e ouvir podcasts de semanas anteriores, clique em Podcast Inglesonline na barra lateral. Você pode também assinar o feed do podcast ou encontrá-lo no iTunes (veja o menuzinho ali ao lado).

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Hello, all. How’s it going? Today we have a new episode of the inglesonline podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.

Today we have two expressions with the word KEEP, and a third expression that doesn’t have the word keep. These are all very, very common terms in everyday conversation, so let’s get to know them and see how you can use them. The first one has to do with remembering something.

Let’s say that you’re on your way to someone’s dinner party with a couple of friends. You say “I heard Cindy is a fantastic cook! Can’t wait to try her food. I’m starving!” and one of your friend replies “I’m not sure who’s cooking tonight. It could be her sister Mindy, who is NOT a good cook! So, keep that in mind”. What does that mean? That means “keep in mind that Mindy may be cooking, not Cindy”. Remember, as you’re about to eat, that the person who made the dishes may not be Cindy, who is a fantastic cook, but Mindy, who’s… not that great a cook. Keep that in mind. Remember that. Keep in mind that the food may not be as good as you expect.

More examples? Imagine that you just moved to the United States and you’re on your first day on a new job. Your boss, who’s also Brazilian, but likes speaking English with you, says “Now that you work for an American company, keep in mind that being late for meetings and presentations is a no-no”. What is “a no-no”? That’s something people are not supposed to do. They shouldn’t do it. If something is a no-no, just don’t do it. Avoid it. In general, if you do something that is considered a no-no, you’ll attract a lot of attention upon yourself, or you will be reprimanded in some way, or you will get a fine… you get the idea.

So what is your Brazilian boss telling you? He’s telling you to keep in mind, to always remember that being late for work meetings and presentations is a no-no. Keep that in mind! Always keep that in mind. In Brazil we are usually more tolerant of lateness than Americans, so, actually if you’re thinking about moving to the US, keep that in mind: lateness is not as well tolerated in the USA as it is here. It’s a no-no in that country.

So, what kind of behavior would be considered a no-no in Brazil? Wearing high heels to the beach comes to mind. I think wearing high heels to the beach is definitely a no-no. I mean, you’re not breaking any laws if you do it, but it’s probably going to be very unconfortable and the sand may ruin your shoes, and… high heels are definitely not suited for the beach. So, I think wearing high heels to the beach is a no-no. You would have to be crazy to do that. You shouldn’t do it. Going to a meeting with your company’s CEO wearing shorts and Havaianas is a no-no. Don’t do that! That’s a big no-no. That shows lack of respect and professionalism, and depending on the company it may get you fired.

Our last expression for today is an interesting one… another set phrase with the word keep. Let’s say you and your teammates are at a meeting with the VP of Marketing discussing a project in order to get her approval. She gives her approval and then says “This project will directly impact our marketing strategy so I need to be informed of everything that’s going on with it. Please keep me in the loop” So the VP of Marketing is asking you guys to keep her in the loop. Please keep me informed of everything, let me know what’s going on, cc me on the emails, keep me in the loop. To keep someone in the loop means to make sure that this person is kept informed about all the news related to something.

Maybe you’re chatting with your two friends Mary and Jane about going to Mexico for a week next month. Mary is very excit ed; she’s game, she’s definitely going to Mexico with you. Jane isn’t so sure because she doesn’t know whether she’ll be able to get a few days off next month. She really wants to go, though, so she says “Guys, I really wanna go to Mexico so please keep me in the loop”. That means “When you exchange emails, cc me. When you start looking at hotels and plane tickets, I wanna know all about it. If you meet again to discuss the trip, let me know and I’ll come too. Please keep me in the loop” Jane isn’t sure she’s going to Mexico, but she wants her two friends to keep her in the loop.

So give us your examples of no-nos, in your opinion. Is going to a birthday party without a gift a no-no? Is being late a no-no? Let us know in the comments. Talk to you next time!

Key expressions

• keep in mind that
• a no-no
• keep someone in the loop

Glossary

comes to mind = é algo que vem à mente, é um exemplo que me veio

get a fine = levar uma multa

sandy = com areia, cheia de areia

she’s game = ela está dentro

cc (someone) = carbon-copy someone on an email, so that they’ll get the message even though they’re not the main recipient

Nesse episódio do podcast Inglês Online eu falo sobre duas expressões super comuns: it’s not over ’til it’s over e not worth the trouble.

Para ver e ouvir podcasts de semanas anteriores, clique em Podcast Inglesonline na barra lateral. Você pode também assinar o feed do podcast ou encontrá-lo no iTunes (veja o menuzinho ali ao lado).

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Hello, everyone. How’s it going? Today we have a new episode of the inglesonline podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.

Imagine that you’re watching a game of soccer on TV. This is a very important game to you… let’s say it’s the World Cup Final and Brazil is playing… Argentina, why not? So your eyes are glued to the game and you’re starting to sweat. Why? Because we’re thirty minutes into the second half and Brazil is losing. The current score is 2-0 (nil) in favor of Argentina. But you’re hanging in there. Still fifteen minutes to go. You’re on the edge of your seat, following every move of every single player and… Argentina scores again. That’s it. You can’t take it anymore. You get up and you tell your friends, who are all watching the game with you: I can’t take this anymore! Argentina’s the winner and I can’t watch Brazil lose yet another World Cup. I’m outta here.

And then one of your friends says “Hey, it’s not over ’til it’s over! Calm down, we still have fifteen… fourteen minutes to go. Who says Brazil can’t turn this game around? Just because we lost way before the finals in the last two World Cups, that doesn’t mean Brazil can’t score three, uh, four goals in… thirteen minutes. C’mon! It’s not over ’til it’s over.” So what is your friend saying? That as long as the players are in the field, playing, you don’t know what the final result will be because the game is not over yet. Anything can happen! It’s not over ’til it’s over.

“It’s not over ’til it’s over” is a very common set phrase and you may hear it in situations where there’s a particular outcome that you’re hoping for, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen. Here’s another example: you’re trying to convince your boss at work that your latest idea about how to increase sales should be implemented. Your boss has met with you and let you present the idea, but after your presentation he told you he just doesn’t see it happening, he doesn’t feel like your idea would be well accepted by the sales team. So it’s not looking good for you, right? Your coworker Stuart asks you how things are going with that great idea you had, and you tell him “Well, the boss kinda shot it down after our first meeting, but I get the feeling he’s still open to it. You know how strongly I feel about this. When the time is right I’m gonna bring it up again. It’s not over ’til it’s over“. So that means you’re hopeful, right?

And it’s very common for people to say “It ain’t over ’til it’s over”. It ain’t over ’til it’s over. “Ain’t” is a very informal term and some people use it in everyday speech instead of am not, is not, has not or have not. Be careful, though… Don’t use “ain’t” all the time, especially in the workplace. Not only is it informal, but it is considered improper English by many, so… unless you’re chatting with close friends, or just trying to be funny, best to avoid it.

Let’s move on to another interesting set phrase in English. Here’s an example: let’s say you’re home, hanging out with a few friends and one of them says “I’m hungry. Let’s order some pizza”. You have just moved into this house, and you haven’t bought any plates yet. You have no plates in your house. You got rid of the old ones ’cause they were all old and chipped, and you still haven’t gotten around to buying new ones!

So you say to your friends “Should I run to the store down the street and get us some plates?” And your friend says “It’s not worth the trouble. We’ll use napkins” So what your friend meant was, don’t bother. This isn’t worth the trouble, it’s not worth the effort of taking the elevator, going to the store, buying plates and then coming all the way back. You can have pizza on napkins. You’re among friends, no one cares. Should you go buy plates? Nah, it’s not worth the trouble. Don’t bother.

Are you familiar with today’s expressions? How would you use them? Talk to you next time.

Ouça aqui Lenny Kravitz cantando It ain’t over ’til it’s over

Key expressions

• it’s not over ’til it’s over / it ain’t over ’til it’s over
• not worth the trouble /don’t bother

Glossary

eyes are glued to = olhos estão pregados (colados) no

thirty minutes into the second half = em trinta minutos do segundo tempo

you’re hanging in there = você está aguentando firme

got rid of = se livrou de

Esse episódio do podcast Inglês Online é um pouquinho diferente, pois eu vou falar de três errinhos que eu tenho escutado ou lido com certa frequência quando vejo brasileiro falando inglês.

Para ver e ouvir podcasts de semanas anteriores, clique em Podcast Inglesonline na barra lateral. Você pode também assinar o feed do podcast ou encontrá-lo no iTunes (veja o menuzinho ali ao lado).

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Hello, everyone. How’s it going? Today we have a new episode of the inglesonline podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.

So, today’s podcast is about stuff that is usually considered very basic. You know, you’ve seen this on Lesson 3 of your Basic English book and… check! Done, and you’ll never talk about it again.

You know how it works, though: it can take some time until we internalize stuff we’re being exposed to, and the more we’re exposed to that stuff, the faster we’ll acquire it. That means, the faster we will internalize it. Students may have seen or heard about the basic stuff while attending English school, and that doesn’t mean they’re actually using that stuff correctly when they speak or write.

So this is my goal today: talk about three little mistakes I’ve seen, or rather, heard, people make, kinda often, lately. They are all what I would consider details, so English learners tend not to pay as much attention to them as they do the big stuff. You know, verbs, nouns and other big words.

So here’s the first thing I hear often: I’m engineer, and she’s teacher. We speak that way in Portuguese: eu sou engenheiro e ela é professora, but not in English. In English we say I’m an engineer and she’s a teacher. I’m an engineer and she’s a teacher. More examples? I’m a teacher and an engineer, she’s an architect, he’s a doctor, she’s a dentist, he’s a race car driver, she’s a publicist, he’s a police officer, she’s a dog walker, he’s a businessman, she’s a scientist, he’s a librarian, etc.

So what are you? Do you work or study? Are you a student? Do you take care of your home while other people are out? If so, you’re a homemaker, or a stay-at-home mom, or a stay-at-home dad – in case you have kids. I have a friend who lives in the US and she’s an HR executive, while her husband is a stay-at-home dad.

OK, moving along to mistake #2… I read this the other day: I’m fan of… something. Again, we say it just like that in Portuguese, right? Sou fã disso, sou fã daquilo. Not exactly so in English. In English, we say I’m a fan. I’m a fan of soccer, I’m a fan of comedies, I’m always a fan of restaurants with good service, I’m a big fan of Indian movies… He’s a fan of homemade ice cream, she’s a fan of sitcoms, he’s a big fan of soapoperas… Imagine that you show up to the opening of a new Greek restaurant in your town. Your neighbor sees you and he’s all surprised! He says “Wow, I didn’t expect to see you here! I didn’t know you were into Greek food.” And you say “Oh, yeah. I’m a fan. I’m a big fan.”

So what are you a fan of? Are you a fan of soapoperas? Are you a fan of water sports? What are you a fan of? Let us know in the comments.

And, last but not least, here’s the third mistake I’ve seen recently. You know how in Portuguese we say Eu não gosto de laranja. Eu gosto de maçã. Não aguento mais político. Detesto peça de teatro mas adoro filme. Well, in English we do not say I don’t like orange (unless we’re talking about the color orange). We would say I don’t like orangeS. And we don’t say I like movie. We say “I like movieS”. For all the stuff we can count, we use the plural. We can count oranges, apples, pens, movies, as in three oranges, four apples, five pens, two movies and so on. So in order to talk about them as a category, so to speak, we use the plural.

I don’t like orangeS. I like appleS. I’m sick of politicianS. I hate playS but I love movieS. I’m sick of all these carS in the street! I don’t like antS, I love beetleS, I don’t like monkeyS but I love lionS. I don’t like sitcomS but I really like foreign movieS. Here are more examples of when we use the plural form when speaking about things we can count, as a category:

• Speaking of movieS… Have you seen anything good recently?
• PancakeS are a good choice for the company breakfast. Everybody loves them!
• Merry-go-roundS are cool, but nothing beats rollercoasterS.
• I wish there were more towelS in this room.

Notice how we would say these sentences in Portuguese: Falando de filme… Panqueca é uma escolha boa… Queria que tivesse mais toalha.Now, again in English: Speaking of movieS… Have you seen anything good recently? PancakeS are a good choice for the company breakfast. Everybody loves them! Merry-go-roundS are cool, but nothing beats rollercoasterS. I wish there were more towelS in this room.

So keep an eye out for the plural form from here on out. And why not come up with your own examples in the comment area?  Talk to you next time!

Glossary

three little mistakes I’ve seen… = três errinhos que eu tenho visto…

…or rather, heard… = …ou melhor, ouvido…

…people make, kinda often, lately. = …as pessoas fazerem, com frequência, ultimamente

tend not to pay as much attention to them as they do the big stuff = tem tendência a não prestar tanta atenção a eles quanto prestam a coisas grandes

publicist = profissional de relações públicas, que pode trabalhar gerenciando a imagem de uma figura pública

stay-at-home = que fica em casa

HR = Human Resources (Recursos Humanos)

the opening = a inauguração

last but not least = por último, mas não em importância

beetle = besouro

nothing beats = nada melhor que

from here on out = daqui por diante

Nesse episódio do podcast Inglês Online a gente fala sobre algumas expressões comuns com a palavra better.

Para ver e ouvir podcasts de semanas anteriores, clique em Podcast Inglesonline na barra lateral. Você pode também assinar o feed do podcast ou encontrá-lo no iTunes (veja o menuzinho ali ao lado).

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Hello, everyone. How’s it going? Today we have a new episode of the inglesonline podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.

Today’s word is “better”. As in, Coke tastes better than Pepsi, or Pepsi tastes better than Coke, whatever your opinion is. Better, as in I like coffee better than tea. As in, I’ve had a cold since Saturday but I’m getting better now. I think you get the gist.

So I’m gonna talk about three really common expressions, or set phrases, with better. So for the first one, picture this: you’re about to get out of the house for the whole day. It’s early in the morning and you won’t be back home till after the sun has set. It’s been raining a lot where you live, but you take one look outside and you can’t see a cloud in the sky. All you can see is the clear, blue sky… no clouds in sight. You think to yourself that maybe today is going to be different – it’s not going to rain. But then you think again, and you remember that, sometimes, the weather can be unpredictable. Sunny in the morning, rainy in the afternoon. Who knows? So, again, you think to yourself: You know what? Better safe than sorry. It’s sunny right now, but what if it rains later? I’m gonna take my umbrella with me, just in case. Better safe than sorry.

So that’s what this expression means: it’s better to take extra precautions than to take risks and maybe suffer some undesirable consequences. So maybe you’re in your car early in the morning and the tank is only half full, but you know you’re not gonna need to drive too far today. Then you remember your boss might ask you to do a last minute delivery… It’s not likely, but… who knows? You decide to stop by the gas station anyway and fill up the tank. Better safe than sorry.

The other two phrases aren’t very pleasant things to say, but hey, we’re not always pleasant, right? So let’s move right along to the next set phrase. Let me give you an example: imagine that you and your friend are visiting some touristic town for the first time and, actually, you guys have just returned from a day-long tour. You’re both tired and starving, and the first two restaurants you stumble upon are closed already. So you finally spot this little place that looks like a bar, and you guys get a table and, after a quick look at the menu, order some sandwiches. As you’re taking a sip of your Diet Coke, you ask your friend “How do you like your sandwich?”. Your friend says “Better than nothing”.

That means your friend doesn’t really like it. It’s the same in Portuguese, right? Better than nothing. It’s not good, to be honest, but I’m starving and it’s food, so it will do. Better than nothing. Can you remember the last time you had this thought? “Eh, better than nothing”. Maybe you had been wandering in the streets somewhere, looking for a restroom and just when you’re about to give up and call a cab, you finally find a public restroom. It’s dirty and it stinks, but you think to yourself “Better than nothing”. That’s based on a true story, by the way and… that’s all I’m gonna say.

And here’s the last one. You’ll say this one when you’re kinda annoyed at something or someone. Again, it’s very similar to what we say in Portuguese: Tenho mais o que fazer. You can say “I’ve got better things to do”, or simply “Better things to do”. Imagine someone asks you how your conversation with your neighbor went. So here’s the question: How did things go with your neighbor?” And you answer “Oh, I gave up. We simply can’t see eye to eye on this. I’ve got better things to do”. So what does that mean? That means you wanted your neighbor to agree with you on something, but that’s not gonna happen. You guys do not see eye to eye on this, trying to convince your neighbor is a waste of time, so you gave up. You’ve got better things to do with your time.

So give us your examples: when was the last time you thought “better safe than sorry”? And what about “better than nothing”, and “I’ve got better things to do”?  Talk to you next time!

Key expressions

• better safe than sorry
• better than nothing
• I’ve got better things to do

Glossary

as in = assim como em

you get the gist = você pegou a ideia

till after the sun has set = antes (até) do sol ter se posto

no clouds in sight = nenhuma nuvem à vista

a day-long tour = um tour que durou o dia inteiro

taking a sip = dando um gole

It will do. = Serve.

We don’t see eye to eye = a gente não concorda, não vê as coisas do mesmo jeito

Nesse episódio do podcast Inglês Online a gente fala sobre como pedir licença e terminar uma conversa quando você precisa (ou quer) ir embora.

Para ver e ouvir podcasts de semanas anteriores, clique em Podcast Inglesonline na barra lateral. Você pode também assinar o feed do podcast ou encontrá-lo no iTunes (veja o menuzinho ali ao lado).

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Hi, all. How’s everything? Today we have a new episode of the inglesonline podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.

So here’s an interesting topic for our podcast: you’re having a nice conversation with someone, either face to face or on the phone, and all of a sudden you realize you’re late. You have an appointment, or you gotta be somewhere else very soon. Or, you simply realize that, for whatever reason, you’re kinda done with this conversation and it’s time to end it, but the thing is… The other person won’t stop talking. Today’s podcast is about presenting you with several different ways to get out of a conversation, you know, without being rude or unpleasant.

And the inspiration for this episode came from an HP newsletter that someone forwarded me. You know HP – Hewlett Packard, the technology company? They have a newsletter where they talk about their products and other stuff, and on this particular edition, they were… There was this business tip with a list of things you could use to say goodbye to someone who won’t stop talking. For this podcast I’ve selected my favorite ones, but I’ve also included the link to the original newsletter article at the bottom of this post, in case you wanna check out their other suggestions.

So imagine you’ve been talking to this person for a while, and now it’s time to go. He or she has been talking incessantly and you’re just waiting for a pause! When they finally take a breath, here are a few things you can say:

• Well, Michael, it’s been wonderful talking to you! or OK, Catherine, it’s been really good talking to you; or
• I really enjoyed meeting you!; or
• Thank you so much for your time! It’s been so helpful talking to you; or even
• Hey, it’s been great to catch up! See you around.

The last one was very direct; right? You’re telling the person you appreciate the conversation you guys just had and then you’re saying goodbye. In all of the above examples you’re signaling the other person that you’re ready to say goodbye. You could also indicate that you would like to continue at a later time. For example, you could say…

• That is very interesting. I’ll need to think about it, but I’ll be in touch; or
• Great! So we’ll see each other on Friday, or next week, or at that conference in April, right?, or
• Look, I really have to go now but I’d love to talk more about this. Can I call you tomorrow?

So these are all very nice ways to wrap up a conversation, while at the same time conveying that you’re interested in what the other person is saying and would like to hear more about it.

Yet another way is just being honest about why you need to leave. Maybe you don’t mind sharing your reason for saying goodbye, and you could use one of these:

• Sorry! I really have to leave for the airport now, but it’s been great talking to you!; or
• I’m sorry, I have to run now – I’m late for a meeting. Here’s my business card. Let’s keep in touch!; or
• I have just seen someone I need to talk to. I gotta catch her before she leaves. Will you excuse me?

So when was the last time you had to excuse yourself from a conversation? What did you say? Me… it was a phone conversation and I had to get some work done, so I just said “I need to get some more work done before noon. Can I call you later?”

Let us know about your experiences. Talk to you next time!

Artigo: Como se despedir de uma pessoa que não para de falar!

Key expressions

Ways to end a conversation

Glossary

for whatever reason = qualquer que seja a razão

you’re kinda done with  this conversation = pra você, essa conversa meio que já deu

to convey = expressar

Nesse episódio do podcast Inglês Online vamos falar sobre algumas expressões muito comuns no inglês, todas com a palavra ‘would’.

Para ver e ouvir podcasts de semanas anteriores, clique em Podcast Inglesonline na barra lateral. Você pode também assinar o feed do podcast ou encontrá-lo no iTunes (veja o menuzinho ali ao lado).

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Transcrição

Hello, everyone. How’s it going? Today we have a new episode of the inglesonline podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.

Today I’m gonna focus on a few very common ways to use the word ‘would’. Would, as in… If I had a million dollars, I would travel around the world. There are some short phrases with ‘would’ that… They’re almost set phrases that people say very, very often in everyday conversation. They’re not hard to understand and I’m pretty sure that most of you listening would get the meaning if someone said one of these phrases, but the goal here is to expose you to them a little bit more and, who knows? Tomorrow one of them might come out of your mouth just like that.

So in order to introduce the first phrase with would, I’ll ask you to imagine that you’re at work right now, and just casually chatting with a colleague. There’s been a rumor going around the office today that everyone is going to be asked to leave at 3PM because of some kind of safety inspection or something… You’re hopeful. You feel super tired and you would love to be able to take a nap before dinner. So you ask your colleague – let’s say her name is Helen – so, you ask Helen, ‘Do you think we’re going home early today?’. And what does Helen say? She says ‘I wouldn’t count on it’. She seems so sure about it; you’re devastated. You ask her “Why?” and she says “I just talked to the boss and he said it’s business as usual until 5 o’clock”.

Helen’s answer to your question was “I wouldn’t count on it”. That means she doesn’t believe that that’s gonna happen. She doesn’t believe that people at the office are going home early today. Why does she think that? Because she talked to the boss, and the boss basically said that today is just another regular day at the office. So Helen is saying “I wouldn’t count on it. I don’t believe we’ll be going home early today. I talked to the boss, and he indicated that that’s not gonna happen, so… going home early today? I wouldn’t count on it.”

So whenever someone asks you if you think something is going to happen, and you’re relatively sure that that’s not going to happen, you can say “I wouldn’t count on it”. Is Brazil going to be the next World Cup champion? I wouldn’t count on it. Honestly? I wouldn’t. Are soapoperas going to be banned from our TV programming? I wouldn’t count on it. Are cats gonna start barking? I wouldn’t count on it.

But you haven’t given up yet. Helen thinks today’s business as usual, but she could be wrong so you move on to another colleague. You see Steve coming through the glass door so you think you might as well ask him what he thinks. “Steve, rumor has it that we’re all leaving the office early today. Do you think that’s true?” And what does Steve reply? He says “Oh, I wouldn’t know. I’ve just come in. I just arrived in the office, I haven’t talked to anyone yet, so… Sorry, I wouldn’t know”. There’s no way Steve would know whether this rumor is true or not. How could he know? He has just stepped into the office, he has just arrived, he hasn’t talked to anyone today, so there’s no way he would know anything about this. So when you ask “Steve, do you think it’s true?”, he says “Oh, sorry, I wouldn’t know”. That means, there’s no way he would know the answer to that question. Maybe someone who’s been in the office all day would know. But Steve? He wouldn’t know.

So if someone asks you, for example, “Is soccer a popular sport in India?” you can say “Oh, I wouldn’t know”. Unless you do know the answer, of course… I’m assuming that, like me, you don’t know which sports are popular in India. Or someone may ask you “Is it going to rain next week?” and you can say “I wouldn’t know”. How would I know? I wouldn’t know.

And, finally, here’s another very common expression with ‘would’… Let’s say you’re still at work, and you need a ride home today. So you ask your friend Michael: “Michael, can you give me a ride home today?” Michael drives to work and he lives in your neighborhood. So, again, you ask Michael “Can you give me a ride home today?” and Michael says “I would if I could. My car’s at the shop. We can share a cab”. So Michael can’t give you a ride today. Why not? Because his car is at the shop. He doesn’t have his car right now. If he did, he would give you a ride, of course! He would, if he could. He can’t, because his car is at the shop. So when you ask Michael if he can give you a ride today, he says “I would if I could”.

Picture a situation where someone asks for help, and you would be very happy to help, if you could. You would help, if you could, but for some reason you can’t. In cases like this, you can say “I would if I could”. Maybe someone asked you for a ride, but your car’s at the shop. Maybe someone’s asking to borrow your umbrella right now. “Would you loan me your umbrella real quick?” You say “I would if I could! I left it in the car, sorry”. Or someone asks you to give them a hand with their Math homework. You say “I would if I could! I’m hopeless at Math”.

What’s your example? Tell us about when someone asked you a favor and you wanted to help, but you couldn’t. Is this a time when you could have said “I would if I could”? Talk to you next time!

Key expressions

• I wouldn’t count on it
• I wouldn’t know
• I would if I could

Glossary

just like that = de repente, sem que você espere, sem mais nem menos

you’ve been told that = te disseram que

you need a ride home = você precisa de uma carona pra casa

my car is at the shop = meu carro está no conserto (ou na manutenção)

hopeless at Math = sou péssimo com matemática

Nesse episódio do podcast Inglês Online vamos falar sobre algumas expressões muito comuns com a palavra ‘call’.

Para ver e ouvir podcasts de semanas anteriores, clique em Podcast Inglesonline na barra lateral. Você pode também assinar o feed do podcast ou encontrá-lo no iTunes (veja o menuzinho ali ao lado).

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Transcrição

Hi, everybody. What’s up? Today we have a new episode of the inglesonline podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.

Today we have three expressions with the word ‘call’. Yeah, I’m talking about call, the same word we use when we telephone someone. But only one of the expressions today has something to do with giving a phone call, so, let’s get started with that one.

Here it is: “Don’t call us; we’ll call you”. That means, of course, please do not get in touch. We will contact you, we will let you know if we want to talk to you any further. So, for example, you had a job interview this morning and, at the end, you asked the interviewer “When do you think you’ll make a decision?” And the interviewer says “Don’t call us, we’ll call you. Thank you for coming!”

This phrase “Don’t call us, we’ll call you” is often understood as, and it often actually is, a dismissal. It’s like that person is saying “Don’t bother, OK? Don’t bother calling us. If you get the job, we will let you know”. Sometimes you see that on sitcoms: one of the characters comes back from a job interview and a friend asks “So how did the interview go?” and the character answers “The interviewer said ‘Don’t call us, we’ll call you’”. And the friend says “Oh, sorry to hear that. I’m sorry it didn’t work out”.

This phrase is often understood as a rejection, although, I mean, that’s not necessarily true, of course. It could be that the people at the company decide that they like you and that you’re a good fit for the job and they end up calling you, so… who knows? In any case, if you hear “Don’t call us; we’ll call you” at the end of an interview, you know what to do: nothing. And keep looking for a job, right?

Our second expression with ‘call’ today is a great one. I’m going to start off with an example which, I think, will make it easier for you guys to get the meaning. Picture this: you and your work mates are in the office, working on a spreadsheet. It’s a super important spreadsheet with a ton of calculations and you’ve all been crunching numbers for hours, and snacking on some pizza, and now you’re revising the numbers again… So finally, around 5 o’clock, your work is done. The spreadsheet is ready to be emailed to the VP of Sales. You take one final glance at the spreadsheet, save the file and zip it up.

You’re about to hit “Send” when John, one of your teammates, interrupts you and says “Wait! We’d better make this file ‘read-only’, you know, just to be safe. A couple of people other than the VP will be able to open it, so… Let’s make it a read-only file’. Everyone looks at John and you say “Good call!” No one but John thought of the security aspect. That spreadsheet is full of confidential information and you guys worked so hard on it. The least you can do is protect it from being modified, even accidentally. So that’s why, when John thought that it would be a good idea to make the spreadsheet read-only, you said “Good call!”

That means, wow, what a great thing to think of, what a great thing to notice! Here’s something that’s really important; it’s such an important and simple detail, and no one else even thought of it, but John. And that is why you said “Good call, John!” In Portuguese I guess we could say something like “Que sacada! Nossa, que sacada boa”. I think you get what I’m saying and next time someone in your team says “Good call!” you know you’ve noticed or realized something really useful or important before anyone else did.

And here’s one more very common expression with ‘call’: let’s call it a day. Let’s call it a day. That means simply ‘let’s end whatever it is we’re doing now, let’s be done with this for today’. People usually say that when they have been engaged in some sort of activity for some time… let’s say, for a few hours, and they’re ready to just be done with it for that day. Maybe they’ll continue tomorrow, but they’re done for today so they say ‘Let’s call it a day’, and then they say goodbye and go home, maybe. Or perhaps you’re having drinks with your work mates at a bar after work and it’s already 9PM, and one of your colleagues suggests that you guys go to a different bar now. You’re tired, you’re ready to go home so you say “Hmm, I think I’m gonna call it a night. See you all tomorrow at the office”.

Or maybe you met with your old highschool friends at the mall and you guys have been chatting and catching up all afternoon and all of a sudden you realize it’s already 5PM and you’re supposed to pick up your kid at school. So you tell your friends “It was great seeing you all, but it’s time I call it a day”.

So, has anyone ever told you “Don’t call us; we’ll call you?” Let us know in the comments.  Talk to you next time!

Key expressions

• don’t call us; we’ll call you
• good call!
• let’s call it a day

Glossary

a dismissal = uma dispensada

don’t bother = não se dê ao trabalho

crunching numbers = processar uma quantidade enorme de dados, fazer muitas contas

you zip it up = você zipa o arquivo

no one but John = ninguém, a não ser o John

Nesse episódio do podcast Inglês Online vamos falar sobre várias maneiras diferentes de responder a pergunta How have you been?

Para ver e ouvir podcasts de semanas anteriores, clique em Podcast Inglesonline na barra lateral. Você pode também assinar o feed do podcast ou encontrá-lo no iTunes (veja o menuzinho ali ao lado).

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Transcrição

Hello, all. How have you been? Today we have a new episode of the inglesonline podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.

Notice that I didn’t ask “How are you?”. I said “How have you been?” and that is another way to greet someone and ask how they have been lately, how they have been recently, maybe, or how they have been since the last time you two saw each other. How have you been? What have you been up to?

Of course, in the United States and, I believe, in other English-speaking countries as well, you’re not really supposed to launch into a detailed account of everything you’ve been doing or every illness you’ve had since you last saw that person… Remember this is a way to greet someone, so unless this is a really close friend or relative, your answer should probably be brief, and this is what we’re gonna talk about today.

So here’s one way you could answer someone who asks you ‘How have you been?’ – you could say “I’ve been keeping busy” or simply “Keeping busy”. That obviously gives the idea that you have been… doing stuff, whatever it is that you do. You’ve been studying, working, taking care of your kids, collecting stamps, cooking, whatever. You’ve been keeping busy. So if anyone asks you “How have you been?” you may answer “Keeping busy” or “I’ve been keeping busy” or even “I’ve been keeping myself busy”.

Here’s another phrase that people say a lot in answer to “How have you been?”: I’ve been keeping out of trouble, or just ‘Keeping out of trouble’. This can be kind of a facetious answer, you know… Facetious means slightly humorous. It could be that you really HAVE been keeping out of trouble – maybe you used to commit crimes and after some time in jail you decided to keep yourself out of trouble, so, hey, that’s literally what you mean, right, when you say “I’ve been keeping out of trouble”. But usually people just say that in a more tongue-in-cheek way, you know. How have you been? Oh, keeping out of trouble.

Now, if you want to express that you’re kinda going through some hard times, or that things haven’t been easy, you could say “I’ve been getting by”. Hey, how have you been? Getting by. I’ve been getting by. “Get by” is a so-called phrasal verb, right? When you get by, that means your life may not be ideal, you may not be performing at your best in some kind of situation, but you’re doing just enough to go on with your life or… you’re doing your best to overcome whatever difficulty you’re facing. So when you say “I’ve been getting by”, you’re saying that you probably wish things were different. There’s something going on that is kind of a setback in your life right now, so it’s not an ideal situation, but you’re getting by.

Here’s another one you may use in case you have been feeling a little sick, a little indisposed maybe… And, of course, you feel like sharing it so when someone asks you ‘How have you been?’, you can say ‘I’ve been under the weather’. When you say you’re under the weather, you’re saying you’re not feeling very well, you’re probably ill so… ‘How have you been?’ ‘I’ve been under the weather, but feeling better today’, if that’s the case. Also, let me bring the pronunciation of ‘under’ and ‘weather’ to your attention: under, and weather. For the second syllable of weather, the tip of your tongue will go briefly between your teeth, so… just something to notice. Under and weather.

Now let’s wrap things up with something you can use right now in case you’re in Brazil. Today in São Paulo we have a temperature of 30 degrees Celsius and I know that it’s a lot hotter in other places such as Rio and the northeast. And you know that the weather is one of people’s favorite things to talk about when they’re making small talk. So if someone asks you today “How have you been?” you could answer “Keeping cool”. “I’ve been keeping cool”. Well, in case that’s true, of course. That answer would make sense today, I think anywhere in Brazil, since it’s so hot. What have you been doing to keep yourself cool? I’ve been drinking water and staying out of direct sunlight for the most part.

So how have you been? Now it’s time for your answer in the comments. How have you been? Have you been keeping cool? Have you been under the weather? Have you been keeping busy? I know I have. Have you been… getting by? Let us know in the comments and talk to you next time.

Key expressions

• (I’ve been) keeping busy
• (I’ve been) keeping out of trouble
• (I’ve been) getting by
• (I’ve been) under the weather
• (‘I’ve been) keeping cool

Glossary

launch into a detailed account = começar um relato detalhado

to greet someone = cumprimentar alguém

tongue-in-cheek = irônico, pra ser engraçado

so-called = assim chamado, chamado

a setback = algo indesejado que veio para atrapalhar/atrasar

small talk = conversinha com estranhos na fila ou no consultório do dentista, pra quebrar o gelo, passar o tempo, etc

Nesse episódio do podcast Inglês Online vamos falar sobre expressões do inglês com a palavra ‘word’. São todas super comuns e fáceis de entender.

Para ver e ouvir podcasts de semanas anteriores, clique em Podcast Inglesonline na barra lateral. Você pode também assinar o feed do podcast ou encontrá-lo no iTunes (veja o menuzinho ali ao lado).

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Transcrição

Hi, everybody. What’s up? Today we have a new episode of the inglesonline podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.

Today I’m gonna talk about a few simple expressions that use the word ‘word’. I’m calling them simple because they’re very translateable, I guess… I think it will be very simple to get their meanings and many of you will recognize them. There’s an expression with ‘word’ that I say a lot: “in other words”. If you search this expression here on the blog you’ll find it in several articles. And that’s a nice expression for any teacher, since sometimes we explain something and then we want to maybe clarify some parts, or maybe summarize what we just said… So then we can say “in other words…” and we can try to explain that thing again but now in a different way.

OK, so ‘in other words’ doesn’t count. Here’s our real first expression of today. When someone says “I’d like to have a word with you” that means they wanna speak to you in private. This is usually gonna be a short conversation. You know, it’s very common for people to say also “I’d like to have a quick word with you”. In other words, “I would like to speak to you briefly”. In Brazil we say “Posso dar uma palavrinha com você”, right?

People will usually say that when they’re standing next to you, you know? “I’d like to have a word with you”. They’re not gonna yell across a room “Hey, John, can I have a word with you?” For example, your boss might approach you today at the office and say “Can I have a word with you?” And that could mean… several things, I mean, who knows? Your boss might want to simply congratulate you for a job well done, or he or she might want to excuse you from work… forever. In other words, your boss might want to have a word with you because he or she wants to fire you. So, it’s always thrilling when your boss says “Can I have a word with you?”, right?

Here’s another good, very common expression with ‘word’: “take my word for it” or “you can take my word for it”. That would be like “believe me, trust me”. Take my word for it. This is different from “I give you my word”, OK? “I give you my word” would be more like a promise; more like what we say in Portuguese “Te dou a minha palavra”. ‘You can take my word for it’, on the other hand, is just ‘Believe me, you can trust me’.

So let’s see how this expression applies to your life. What kinds of products, or services or companies do you really trust? For example, if you’re a client of Bank XYZ and you’ve actually been a client of Bank XYZ for several years, and that bank has always treated you with the utmost respect and consideration… you have never been disappointed in them. I think in that case you would be able to say “I recommed Bank XYZ wholeheartedly. You can take my word for it”.  You can take my word for it, or, in other words, believe me, trust me, Bank XYZ is amazing, it’s fantastic, you willl love it. Take my word for it.

In my case, my real example would be: give Amazon.com a shot. If you’re looking for books written in English, or just any kind of imported book, open an account at Amazon.com, and place an order. It works really well most of the time. You can take my word for it. I’ve been buying books at Amazon for years and the only problem I’ve had so far was when someone tried to open an account using my credit card number. Amazon runs such a tight ship that they identified my credit card and sent me an email warning me that someone was trying to use it. So, again, just go ahead and open an account at Amazon and become a customer. They’re awesome… you can take my word for it.

What is your example? What would you recommend wholeheartedly, saying “You can take my word for it”?

Now here’s an expression that I think is exactly what we say in Portuguese. It’s something you can say when whoever is speaking in front of you says something and… it’s like they read your mind. They just said something that is exactly what you meant to say, but before you had a chance to open your mouth. So, that thing that person just said? You agree with it very much! You know when that happens? Well, you can say “You took the words right out of my mouth”.

OK, waiting for your example in the comments.  Talk to you next time!

Key expressions

• in other words
• have a word with someone
• take my word for it
• you took the words right out of my mouth

Glossary

to run a tight ship = gerenciar algo de maneira eficiente e firme

agree wholeheartedly = concordo totalmente

whoever = quem quer que, seja quem for

Nesse episódio do podcast Inglês Online vamos falar sobre três expressões do inglês muito comuns para descrever ambientes de trabalho (ou ambientes em geral) super competitivos, onde você deve estar sempre alerta se não quiser ser passado pra trás.

Para ver e ouvir podcasts de semanas anteriores, clique em Podcast Inglesonline na barra lateral. Você pode também assinar o feed do podcast ou encontrá-lo no iTunes (veja o menuzinho ali ao lado).

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Hello, everyone. How’s it going? Today we have a new episode of the inglesonline podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.

So I got my inspiration for today’s episode when I read a short paragraph on a public forum that was written by someone who worked for a well-known technology company.  I’ve selected three terms from that paragraph, and they are all very common and kind of interesting. You’ll be able to listen to the paragraph that inspired me at the end of this podcast.

So here’s the first term: dog-eat-dog. Nope, we don’t say “dog eats dog”. People say ‘dog-eat-dog’. I’m going to exemplify how this expression works as an adjective, and therefore, for our purposes the expression will be hyphenated. It’s like when you say “a ten-year-old boy”, you know? “Ten-year-old” is hyphenated, and it works as an adjective. We have written about this topic before here at Inglês Online, so make sure to check it out.

But what kind of adjective is ‘dog-eat-dog’? What does that expression mean? Let me give you an example of how someone might use it: one day you arrive at the office and you say ‘Good morning’ to John. He replies: “Are you kidding me? It’s not a good morning. This is a dog-eat-dog world”. You’re kinda taken aback by John’s reply, so you ask him what happened. He tells you that he has just been laid off. His boss told him that the intern he has been training for a couple of months is going to fill his position. He’s feeling betrayed. So he says “It’s a dog-eat-dog world. I’ve trained this intern and he stole my project and sabotaged my work. Now the boss thinks he’s a genius and I’m incompetent!”

So your colleague feels that the intern acted very dishonestly in order to steal his job. This situation illustrates what a dog-eat-dog environment would be: that’s when people are really competitive and will do anything to be successful even if what they’re doing is harming others. Some industries are said to have dog-eat-dog environments, like investment banking. What do you think? If you have a job, what kind of industry are you in? Would you describe your work environment as dog-eat-dog, or as relaxed and pleasant?

A dog-eat-dog situation doesn’t mean necessarily that people will be dishonest to get what they want, although I would say that… that can happen very often. Another term for such an environment is cutthroat. Cut, throat. Can you imagine what a cutthroat environment is like? That’s a very competitive place, where you’d better work hard and be smart and always alert, or else you’ll be stabbed in the back.

Stabbed in the back – that is actually our third expression of today, but let me get back to cutthroat. If someone describes their workplace as cutthroat, you can pretty much assume that this is not a place where people will be super nice and understanding all the time. It’s a place where people are very competitive and will do whatever it takes to get ahead. It’s the kind of environment where people never let their guard down because if they do, they may very well lose their job.

So dog-eat-dog and cutthroat are two terms that often go hand-in-hand. One thing that seems to be common in dog-eat-dog, cutthroat businesses is people stabbing other people in the back. Not literally, of course… But, let’s say you’re literally stabbed in the back. You can’t see the aggressor, right? You are caught by surprise and you don’t have enough time to defend yourself. So figuratively speaking, you can imagine what that means in a business environment.

You will usually use that term when someone you trusted does something to harm you, whatever that may be, and you feel betrayed. It’s a really strong expression.. this is not for the silly stuff. Someone you consider a friend, for example, might steal your ideas and leave you with nothing, and then you say “Michael stabbed me in the back”. Someone else who you trusted with a secret goes to your boss and tells the boss everything you had told her in confidence. You get fired, and you could say “She stabbed me in the back”.

Alright, so here’s the paragraph that inspired today’s episode, with all three terms in it:

I used to work at this company but I left 4 years ago. Part of the reason I left was that the environment inside the company is dog-eat-dog. For each person who gets a “good” performance review, an equal number of people must receive a “bad” performance review. This leads to cutthroat internal competition, a lack of empathy or friendship in the office, and generally an unfriendly environment. The benefits are great, the pay is great, but the people you work with are definitely out to stab you in the back.

OK, give us your example in the comments. Have you ever worked for a cutthroat, dog-eat-dog business?  Talk to you next time!

Key expressions

• dog-eat-dog
• cutthroat
• stab someone in the back

Glossary

taken aback = surpreso, confuso

understanding (adjetivo)  = compreensivas

whatever it takes = o que for preciso

to get ahead = pra ir pra frente

never let their guard down = nunca baixam a guarda

go hand-in-hand = aparecem juntas

Nesse episódio do podcast Inglês Online eu continuo falando sobre expressões que usam partes do corpo. Hoje, uma delas é sobre “agir pelas costas”, e a outra é sobre fazer valer a sua vontade.

Para ver e ouvir podcasts de semanas anteriores, clique em Podcast Inglesonline na barra lateral. Você pode também assinar o feed do podcast ou encontrá-lo no iTunes (veja o menuzinho ali ao lado).

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Transcrição

Hello, everyone. How’s it going? Today we have a new episode of the inglesonline podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.

Like I said in the previous podcast, there are tons of expressions in English involving a body part, and today we talk about another two terms, or expressions, with the words back and foot. Now, let me start off with an example for the first term. Let’s say you tell a friend that you visited your favorite store today and you found a beautiful dress that you wanted to buy. However, you realized you’d left your wallet at home, so… no way to pay for the dress on the spot. But since this is your favorite store, the manager knows you personally because you’ve been shopping there for years, and she tells you that since you like this dress so much, and since it is the last one they have, she’s going to save it for you for the next 24 hours. Or, she’s gonna hold it for you.

This is perfect, you think. Tomorrow after work I’ll swing by the store and pick up the dress! And, of course, I’ll be really careful not to leave my wallet at home once again. You’re so happy that the next day you tell your coworker, Jane, about the dress. You tell her that the store manager is holding the dress for you and you couldn’t be happier. Jane is impressed and she wants to know where the store is. You, of course, tell her. And here’s what happens next: when you get to the store, the manager is very surprised to see you. She asks “Is everything alright?” and you say “I’m here for my dress!” The manager looks even more surprised and she tells you that your friend Virginia came by around lunch time to pick up the dress. Virginia said that you wouldn’t be able to leave work early, so she was doing you a favor.

You can’t believe what you’re hearing. There’s only one person who could have done that, and her name isn’t Virginia: it’s Jane! You ask the store manager what this Virginia person looked like, and voilá: it’s Jane. You told Jane about the dress and she went behind your back and bought it to herself! Alright, so that’s the first expression: she went behind your back. Easy, huh? We have a similar expression in Portuguese that involves the same part of the body. What does ‘going behind someone’s back’ mean? Well, every time someone uses, let’s say, information about you to their advantage… especially if it’s something that will put you in a position of disadvantage in some way… We can say that person went behind your back and did something that feels like that person betrayed you.

It could be something you told that person in confidence; it could be something that someone found out about you and then they did something with that information to get something out of it, maybe… It could be that they told someone something that you wanted to keep from that person. For example, you didn’t want your friend Mark to know about your new boyfriend. You told your other friend Daniel about your new boyfriend and you asked him no to mention it to Mark. Well, Daniel went behind your back and told Mark everything about your new boyfriend. And now Mark is mad at you and he won’t even pick up the phone when he knows it’s you calling!

So, let’s recap: you told Jane about the dress, and then she went behind your back and bought the dress to herself. You told Daniel about your new boyfriend, and then he went behind your back and spilled the beans to Mark! So, do you have any examples where you feel someone went behind your back and you felt betrayed?

OK, do you remember one of the terms from last week’s podcast, compromise? People who are easygoing and mellow usually compromise a lot. They’re OK with making concessions or making compromises, you know, just to make sure that everyone is OK, everyone is happy in a particular situation, and so on. But even easygoing people will occasionally put their foot down for something. They will occasionally put their foot down. That means, they will occasionally insist that what they want has be done. People may say something like “Tonight I want to watch novela das 8 and that is that! I’m putting my foot down.”

Going back to the example from last episode, you wanted to have pasta for dinner and your spouse wanted salad. Remember? Let’s say that for some strange reason you guys can’t have both. It’s either one or the other. And let’s say that you have eaten salad for a week already and you’ve had enough! You tell your spouse “I’ve had enough salad and tonight we’re gonna have pasta! I’m putting my foot down”

So why don’t you give us your example in the comments? You can say something like this: my brother wanted to go to the beach and I wanted to go to the mountains. So I put my foot down, and we went to the mountains. Or you can say “My girlfriend wanted to watch an art movie, but I put my foot down. We went and watched Transformers”
Talk to you next time!

Key expressions

• go behind someone’s back
• put (my, his, etc) foot down

Glossary

swing by =dar uma passada

this Virginia person = essa tal de Virginia

something you wanted to keep from that person = algo que você não queria que aquela pessoa soubesse

and voilá = e não dá outra

it’s either one or the other = é um ou outro

Nesse episódio do podcast Inglês Online eu falo sobre duas expressões que usam partes do corpo, mais uma palavra bônus! (nada a ver com corpo, mas super comum e interessante).

Para ver e ouvir podcasts de semanas anteriores, clique em Podcast Inglesonline na barra lateral. Você pode também assinar o feed do podcast ou encontrá-lo no iTunes (veja o menuzinho lá em cima).

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Transcrição

Hello, everyone. How’s it going? Today we have a new episode of the inglesonline podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.

Today we talk about two expressions containing body parts. Yeah, body parts, like nose, arm, leg, foot and back.  These are all very common terms, so you may have heard them before and if you were not very clear on what they meant, this podcast is for you. And actually there are tons of expressions in English that include a body part, so I may come back to this topic in a future podcast, but today we’re kicking things off with two of them.

So here’s the first one: pay through the nose. Can you imagine what that means… pay through the nose for something? That means you’re paying a lot of money for whatever it is you’re buying or renting. Let me give you a few examples. Let’s say you want to have some kind of plastic surgery done on you, and your friend Mary recommends a plastic surgeon she knows. She says “He’s really capable, very skilled, and not very expensive”. When you hear that, you’re like… hmm, he’s very skilled but not very expensive? You’ve always thought that plastic surgery was something that would cost anyone a lot of money, so now you tell your friend Mary that you’re gonna do it with another surgeon, who charges twice as much. Mary says “You’re insane. You’re gonna pay through the nose for that doctor’s work. Are you sure it’s worth it?”

So what Mary is saying is that you’re gonna pay through the nose if you decide to have plastic surgery done by the other surgeon. Paying through the nose means that you’re probably paying way more than necessary for something. That is exactly what Mary thinks. The surgeon she knows is very skilled, in her opinion, and he would charge half as much as the other guy. Here’s another example: you wanna buy an imported car. Your friend Gary thinks you’re crazy. He says “You’re crazy. Do you know how hard it is to find a good mechanic for this car? You’re gonna pay through the nose for simple maintenance jobs and tune-ups. I think you should definitely go with a US car; it’s gonna be way cheaper in the long run, and just as good as the imported car”. So Gary is saying that if you buy that imported car, it is gonna cost you a lot of money in the long run, way more than you would have to spend if you just bought a US car. He’s saying that you’re going to pay through the nose for maintenance of that imported car… Maybe when you need to replace parts, those parts will be imported too.

And here’s a similar expression, with different body parts: this time, we have ‘arm’ and ‘leg’. Going back to the plastic surgery example, Mary thinks that if you choose to have surgery with some other doctor, instead of the one she recommended, it is going to cost you an arm and a leg. You’re gonna have to pay through for surgery; or you can say that the surgery is going to cost you an arm and a leg. Same thing with the imported car: your friend Gary thinks that maintenance of an imported car plus other associated expenses are gonna cost you an arm and a leg. You’re gonna have to pay through the nose for maintanance and other expenses.

And here’s one more for this episode. It’s a single word, actually, and it’s not a body part but it’s a very interesting and common word in English. Let’s say you’re a pretty easygoing person and you’re used to compromising pretty often. You’re used to compromising very often. What’s compromising? First of all, this is what many people know as a “false friend”. Compromise doesn’t mean ‘compromisso’. It means something else entirely.

When you compromise, you give up part of what you want, in order to reach an agreement with the other person. Example: let’s say you want to eat pasta tonight, and your spouse wants to have salad instead. You’re really in the mood for some spaghetti in tomato sauce, but you’re going to compromise. You tell your spouse that you’re gonna make a pasta salad. That’s not what you originally wanted; you wanted a hot pasta dish, and a salad is served cold, not hot. However, you want to reach an agreement with the other person while still having pasta, so you propose you guys have a pasta salad. So, that’s compromising.

There are some things that people will not compromise. For example, some people feel very strongly about their beliefs or principles, and they say “I will not compromise my beliefs in order to do what you’re asking me to do”. For example, let’s say your friend asks you to make him a copy of a software you bought. In other words, he wants you to pirate the software for him. You say “Sorry, I can’t do that. You’re my friend but I believe in being honest and I can’t compromise my beliefs to do what you’re asking me”.

So, what about you? When was the last time you compromised on something you wanted? Tell us in the comments about a situation where you feel you paid through the nose for something. Talk to you next time!

Key expressions

pay through the nose

cost (someone) an arm and a leg

compromise

Glossary

kicking things off = dando início (a alguma coisa)

skilled = habilidoso em sua área

half as much (as) = metade de, metade do que

tune-ups = serviços de regulagem

in the long run = a longo prazo

feel very strongly about = levam muito a sério

Nesse episódio do podcast Inglês Online a gente fala sobre algumas expressões em inglês com cores.

Para ver e ouvir podcasts de semanas anteriores, clique em Podcast Inglesonline na barra lateral. Você pode também assinar o feed do podcast ou encontrá-lo no iTunes (veja o menuzinho lá em cima).

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Transcrição

Hello, everyone. What’s up? Today we have a new episode of the inglesonline podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.

Let’s take a look at some terms or expressions with colors today. Here’s the first one: black and white. That’s the expression: ‘black and white’. What does it mean? For example, let’s say you work for a small company that makes custom computers. So one day the owner of the company tells you that he is facing a difficult situation: many suppliers of computer parts have increased their prices. That means that it is now more expensive to make a computer. Unless the company increases computer prices for the final consumer, you guys are going to start operating in the red real soon.

By the way – here’s another expression with a color; the color red: “in the red”. If a company is operating in the red, it means that that company is not making a profit right now; it is actually losing money. I think we’ve all heard of companies operating in the red. So again: the owner says that unless he increases his prices, the company is going to start operating in the red. When you hear that, you’re not really sure why the owner looks so torn. To you, the solution to this problem is really straightforward: just increase the prices of computers! Prices of parts and components have gone up… Easy! The prices of our computers will have to go up as well! Let consumers pick up that tab. After all, you think, our company can’t stay in the red. What about wages, and payments to suppliers?

Well, when you say all that to your boss, the company owner, he says “This is not a black and white issue. I can’t raise my prices simply because parts have gone up”. He then proceeds to explain that, actually, what his suppliers are doing – you know, raising the prices of parts and components… So what they’re doing isn’t right, since other major suppliers have not raised their prices. So he thinks that his suppliers shouldn’t be raising their prices either. He also explains that he can’t raise computer prices any more, or he will not remain competitive.

You hear all that and then you rememember that your boss said “This is not a black and white issue”. Now you can see that he is right. It’s not that simple. There is no simple solution to this problem, according to what your boss has told you. It’s not as black and white as you had thought. Your original thinking was “Well, if parts and components have gone up, we’ll increase computer prices. Simple! Problem solved.” But your boss showed you that there are other things to consider. There are aspects to this problem that you were not aware of before. Your boss is right: this is not a black and white issue. It’s a bit more complicated than you thought; there are other aspects to consider before making a decision.

Now, picture this: you had a brilliant idea yesterday about how to increase sales for your company. However, you cannot go ahead and implement your plan before your boss gives you the green light. Green light. In Portuguese, we would say “sinal verde”. So you need your boss to give you the green light. That means, you need your boss to authorize your actions, you need him or her to say “Go ahead”. You need your boss to give you the green light, or you need him to greenlight your project, so that you can go ahead and implement it. So this is a great expression for those of you who work in a corporate environment and who usually need someone’s greenlight in order to implement projects and ideas.

So, do you work? Do you have a job? When you have an idea, or when you want to implement a project, is there anyone in your office who has to greenlight your project? Do you need your boss to greenlight your plan?  Talk to you next time.

Key expressions

black and white

in the red

give someone the green light

greenlight something

Glossary

torn = dividido, sem saber qual opção considerar

the solution is straightforward = a solução é simples, óbvia

pick up that tab = pagar essa conta (sentido figurado para “pagar o aumento dos produtos”)

Nesse episódio do podcast Inglês Online a gente continua com o assunto amigos e amizade. E lá no fim, a nova aplicação da palavra “friend” em inglês.

Para ver e ouvir podcasts de semanas anteriores, clique em Podcast Inglesonline na barra lateral. Você pode também assinar o feed do podcast ou encontrá-lo no iTunes (veja o menuzinho lá em cima).

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Transcrição

Hello, everyone. How’s it going? Today we have a new episode of the inglesonline podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.

So today we’re gonna talk some more about vocabulary related to friends and friendship. Remember in the last episode when I said that you were friends with John? That means that John and you were friends. So in the last episode you were friends with John, and actually you and John became friends after Mary introduced you to each other. So Mary is a mutual friend.

Anyway, moving on… when a family moves into a new town, the kids start going to a new school and, what happens? They make new friends, right? They make new friends at the new school. So some people make friends very easily, some people take longer to make friends… Usually, though, when you arrive in a new place, a new city, for example, you make a few friends. You make friends with your neighbor, maybe, or maybe not. You make friends with classmates, and so on.

So, who are your childhood friends? Can you remember their names? Your childhood friends are, of course, people you were friends with when you were a child. They’re the people you befriended when you were all kids. To befriend someone means to become friends with this person. So where are your childhood friends now? Do you still keep in touch with some of them? Do you know where your childhood friends live?

Here’s an example: Jessica grew up in New York City. When she was still a kid, she became friends with two other kids from her neighborhood: Tina and Mike. The three of them were very close. They were close friends. But after they had all turned seventeen, they went their separate ways. Jessica went to college in Boston, Tina moved to Iowa and Mike went to Seattle to work for Microsoft. So now twenty years have passed. Are they still friends? Well, Jessica is still close friends with Tina, but she hasn’t heard from Mike in a long time.

Again: Jessica is still close friends with Tina. Here it goes again: Jessica is still friends with Tina. She is still close friends with Tina. Jessica and Tina are still close friends. That means that they still keep in touch, they still have a relationship, whereas Mike is still a childhood friend, but nowadays they don’t know where he is. So Jessica isn’t close friends with Mike any longer.

So here’s a little recap:

• if you and John are friends, you can say “I’m friends with John”
• if you and John are best friends, you can say “I’m best friends with John”
• if you and John are close friends, you can say “I’m close friends with John”
• if you became friends with some of your new classmates, you can say “I made friends with some classmates”

Guess who man’s best friend is. A dog, of course. That’s the same in English. We say that in Portuguese, and they say the same in English. Also, here’s the most recent application of the word “friend” that I know of: “friending” someone on Facebook. Yeah, “friend” has become a verb, which is something that can happen to almost any word in English, really. So “to friend someone” on a social network means you and this other person have become friends on that network. People usually say “Oh, I’ve friended such and such on Facebook”. “I have friended Mary Smith on Facebook”.

Your turn: let us know about your childhood friends. Are you still friends with them? And who have you friended on Facebook recently? Talk to you next time.

Key expressions

make friends with

befriend

childhood friend

to be (close) friends with

friend someone on Facebook

Glossary

such and such = tal e tal pessoa

Este episódio do podcast Inglês Online é todo a respeito de amigos – it’s all about friends. A palavra friend é muito conhecida de quem estuda inglês – até de iniciantes – mas há algumas construçõezinhas envolvendo amigos e amizade que não são assim tão intuitivas para nós, falantes de português. Hoje, neste podcast, você pode ouvir vários exemplos destas expressões que falam sobre amigos em inglês.

Para ver e ouvir podcasts de semanas anteriores, clique em Podcast Inglesonline na barra lateral. Você pode também assinar o feed do podcast ou encontrá-lo no iTunes (veja o menuzinho lá em cima).

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Transcrição

Hello, everyone. How’s it going? Today we have a new episode of the inglesonline podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.

Today I’m talking about friends. Yep, friends, probably one of the first words English students everywhere learn about. But can you use the word “friend” beyond the well-known and simple constructions “He or she is my friend” or “We are friends”? Let’s have a look at different ways we can use the word friend or other related words. I going to describe the relationship between you and one of your friends, who I’m going to call John. Here it goes:

First of all, friendship is what we call the relationship between friends. So, how do you and another person become friends? Let’s say we are talking about a guy friend of yours. A friend who is a man, or a guy. Let’s say his name is John. How did you and John become friends? Maybe he was a friend of a friend. What does that mean? That means that, for example, your good friend Mary had a friend called John. John was a friend of Mary’s before he became your friend. Mary introduced John to you, and now, you and John are friends too. So Mary is now a mutual friend, right? She’s a friend of yours, and she’s a friend of John’s as well. She’s a mutual friend. You and John were introduced by a mutual friend. Who is the mutual friend? Mary.

OK! So… I have just used several little expressions that revolve around the topic of friendship. They’re relatively easy to understand, but we are going to review each one of them and I’m going to give you a few more examples.

So I said that you and John became friends after Mary introduced you to each other. We can also say that you became friends with John. That doesn’t sound very intuitive to our Brazilian ears. Again: you became friends with John after Mary introduced the two of you. “You became friends with John” means ‘você ficou amigo ou amiga do John’. Think now of three of your friends: what year did you become friends with them? Me… I became friends with Claudia in 2001, I became friends with Lili in 2004, and I became friends with Ana in 2009. What about you?

OK, I also said that John is a friend of yours. How does that sound? He is a friend of yours. That means “ele é um amigo seu”. I just talked about the year I met three friends of mine, right? Claudia is a friend of mine, and I became friends with her in 2001. Lili is another friend of mine, and Ana is also a friend of mine. I became friends with Ana in 2009. So when I say that John is a friend of yours and Lili is a  friend of mine… Here’s the grammar reference for you: we’re using the possessive pronouns. These are the possessive pronouns: mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, yours and theirs.

So again: Lili is a friend of mine, and Claudia is also a friend of mine. John is a friend of yours, according to my story, right? Who are your friends? Is João a friend of yours? Is Luciana a friend of yours? Now, my friend Claudia. She has a friend called Livia. Livia is Claudia’s friend. Livia is a friend of hers.  Alexandre is also Claudia’s friend. Alexandre is a friend of hers. This isn’t complicated to understand, I know, but it’s always good to hear this stuff and get a bit more used to these expressions.

And I said before, in my little story, that John was a friend of Mary’s. So this is a common way to describe friendship between two people: John is a friend of Mary’s. Using my example, Alexandre is a friend of Claudia’s and Livia is also a friend of Claudia’s. My friend Mariana is friends with Joana and Renata. So Joana and Renata are friends of Mariana’s. Again: Joana is a friend of Mariana’s and Renata is also a friend of Mariana’s. They’re both friends of Mariana’s, right?

Now, my friend Mariana and I… we have a few mutual friends. That’s how we say “amigos em comum” in English: mutual friends. So Mariana and I have a few mutual friends. For example, I’m friends with Claudia, and Mariana is friends with Claudia too… so Claudia is a mutual friend. Sueli is another mutual friend: she is my friend, and she is also Mariana’s friend.

So what are your examples? What year did you become friends with João, Paulo, Marcos…? Are you friends with Lucia, Teresa or Carla? Is Julia a friend of your sister’s? Do you and your brother have any mutual friends? Tell us in the comments! Talk to you next time.

Key expressions

to become friends with

a friend of mine / of hers / of ours

a friend of Mary’s

a mutual friend

to be friends with

Hoje no podcast Inglês Online falamos sobre o terceiro condicional, ou como dizer “Se alguém tivesse me falado, eu teria ido” e coisas assim em inglês.

Para ver e ouvir podcasts de semanas anteriores, clique em Podcast Inglesonline na barra lateral. Você pode também assinar o feed do podcast ou encontrá-lo no iTunes (veja o menuzinho lá em cima).

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Transcrição

Hi, everyone. How have you been? Today we have a new episode of the inglesonline podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.

So how about we practice a very nice structure in English? Just for your reference, it’s called “the third conditional” but don’t worry about that. Let me establish the setting: we’re talking about past events, and about possibilities in the past. This is the basic structure:

If something had happened, something else would have happened.

In Portuguese, we would say something like “Ah, se tal coisa fosse assim, isso não teria acontecido” or “Se tal coisa tivesse sido de tal jeito, eu teria ido”. Just two general examples… So again, the basic structure in English is “If something had happened, something else would have happened”. As another grammar reference, here we’re using the “past participle” of the verbs. When we say “If something had happened…”, happened is the participle of happen. When we say “I would have taken…”, taken is the participle of “take”.

I don’t wanna focus on specific verbs, though. I’m going to use common, well-known verbs in the examples because what I really want to practice with you guys is how to express the idea of the 3rd Conditional. So picture this: you’re out with three of your best friends from school. The four of you have been friends for years. So you’re all, let’s say, at an ice cream parlor, enjoying your favorite ice cream, when all of a sudden another friend from high school walks up to your table. Let’s say her name is Sarah. Sarah is chatting with you and your friends and then she tells you that Michael, another classmate, was in the hospital for a month. He was just released last week.

You and your friends are suprised! ‘Cause you’re all good friends with Michael, and yet this is the first time you’ve heard about Michael being in the hospital.

• You say “Wow, if Michael had called me, I would have paid him a visit”
• Your friend Anna says “Lily is Michael’s girlfriend, and I see her every day at the club! If she had told me about Michael, I would have given him a call”
• Your friend Lisa says “Michael’s dad lives in my building! If  he had told me about Michael, I would have sent him a get-well message!”
• And your friend Melissa says “Well, if I had known Michael was in the hospital… I would have called you guys and we would have all paid him a visit together”

So what are you guys saying? You and your friends are all saying what you would have done, if you had known about Michael. If someone had called you, or if someone had told you about Michael being in the hospital, you guys would have gone for a visit. You guys would have paid him a visit, or maybe you would have at least sent him a card, or given him a call! But you didn’t know, no one told you about Michael, so you didn’t visit him at the hospital, you didn’t send him a card, nothing.

Here’s another one: you’re a student, and one of your classmates tells you that someone found a gold necklace in the science lab this morning. Here are a few thoughts you might have upon hearing about the gold necklace:

• If I had known about the necklace, I would have searched the science lab!
• If I had been to the lab and found the necklace, I would have tried to contact the owner.
• If I had been to the lab and seen this necklace, I would have done nothing.
• If I had seen the necklace lying around in the lab, I would have called the police.

Imagine you’re the student and someone told you there was a gold necklace in the lab, or in your classroom this morning. If you had found it, what would you have done? Talk to you next time.

Glossary

establish the setting = definir o cenário

get-well message = mensagem de “melhore, fique melhor”

upon hearing about the gold necklace = ao ficar sabendo do/sobre o colar de ouro

lying around in the lab = (jogado ou em algum lugar) ali no laboratório

Hoje no podcast Inglês Online falamos sobre como dizer em inglês expressões como “não seja tão modesto” e “o mérito é seu”.

Para ver e ouvir podcasts de semanas anteriores, clique em Podcast Inglesonline na barra lateral. Você pode também assinar o feed do podcast ou encontrá-lo no iTunes (veja o menuzinho lá em cima).

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Transcrição

Hi, everyone. How have you been? Today we have a new episode of the inglesonline podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.

So here’s an expression I wanted to talk about today: sell yourself short. Have you ever heard this expression? Can you guess what it means? We usually hear people use it like this:  Don’t sell yourself short. And as you get used to listening to real English, be it from TV shows, or movies, or podcasts, you’ll see that this expression will start popping up here and there. So let’s get on to an example.

Imagine that you have a friend who works at a TV station, OK? Now, he’s very young. Let’s say he’s in his mid-twenties. However, he started working for the station when he was just seventeen, as an intern. He’s a pretty hardworking guy, though, so he’s been promoted quite a few times since then. He’s done a little bit of everything; he has become a true jack-of-all-trades. So, let’s say this is your friend and his name is… Jack, why not? Jack is a jack-of-all-trades.

Anyway, he tells you that the old station manager has quit his job and the station has got to fill the position pretty quickly. They’re looking for someone young (check!), with a lot of initiative (check!) and a minimum of 10 years of experience. So your friend Jack wants to apply for the position, but he’s afraid the station owners will think he is too inexperienced. So you remind your friend Jack of all the important work he has done for the station. You remind him that he’s the one who filled in for the manager last month when the guy got caught in a car accident. And, finally, you remind Jack that he has worked in practically every division of the station, that he gets along very well with everyone and that he was the one to initiate many significant actions that had a huge positive impact on the station’s bottomline.

You say to Jack, Don’t sell yourself short! That means, give yourself credit where you deserve it! By the way, that’s another very common phrase in English: give yourself credit, give someone credit, etc. But back to selling yourself short: you remind Jack of everything he’s done that was important for the TV station, and you tell him to remember all that. You say, Jack, give yourself credit for everything you’ve done. You have worked hard for this station since your first day as an intern and even the old manager himself said that you would be a good candidate to replace him. So don’t sell yourself short!

That’s good advice, in general, right? Don’t sell yourself short! Be aware of everything you’ve accomplished and when someone asks you, you can be honest. Now, that’s different from bragging, of course. What does brag mean? To brag means to talk about something you did, or one of your qualities, in an arrogant way, or in an annoying way… You know, sometimes it’s a little much and you may even get the sense that what that person is bragging about isn’t even true. So there’s a difference between giving yourself credit and not selling yourself short, and bragging, right?

So here’s my question to you: do you give yourself credit for your accomplishments? Has this ever happened to you – you sold yourself short because you wanted to come off humble, and then later you regretted it? What about bragging – when was the last time you or someone you know bragged about something? Come on!

Talk to you next time.

Key expressions

• don’t sell yourself short
• brag
• give (someone) credit

Glossary

be it = seja

start popping up = começar a aparecer

in his mid-twenties = com 25, 26 anos

intern = estagiário(a)

jack-of-all-trades = faz-tudo, pessoa que tem habilidade com muita coisa ou quase tudo

check! = quando uma pessoa diz isso, ela quer dizer que alguma condição está sendo cumprida

filled in for (someone) = fez o trabalho de (alguém) enquanto a pessoa estava indisponível

bottomline = nesse caso, retorno financeiro

come off = parecer

Hoje o podcast Inglês Online fala sobre a maneira indireta de se “fazer uma pergunta” em inglês.

Para ver e ouvir podcasts de semanas anteriores, clique em Podcast Inglesonline na barra lateral. Você pode também assinar o feed do podcast ou encontrá-lo no iTunes (veja o menuzinho lá em cima).

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Transcrição

Hi, everyone. How have you been? Today we have a new episode of the inglesonline podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.

First of all, I would like to thank everyone who has left reviews for this podcast on iTunes. I really appreciate it and it’s a great thing that listeners are writing reviews and rating the podcast, since I guess iTunes takes reviews and ratings into consideration, as well as the number of downloads, of course… So they take all that into consideration when deciding which podcasts are the most popular.. And recently I’ve seen Inglesonline on the popular list at the Brazilian iTunes store, so that’s really cool.

OK, today I’m gonna talk about something that I guess most schools consider, maybe, basic or pre-intermediate material. I personally think, though, that this is a topic we could hear more of. I’m talking about asking questions directly versus getting information in an indirect way. Example: How old are you? That’s a direct question. It ends with a question mark, right? Let’s say this is a police interrogation and, for some reason, these are the questions you are being asked:

• How tall are you? Where do you live?
• Where were you last night around 8 o’clock? How did you get there?
• What were you wearing? Who was with you?

So these were all direct questions, right? They all ended with a question mark. Now let’s say the police officer, for some reason, doesn’t want to be so direct. He says to you “I wanna know how tall you are”. Not “I wanna know how tall are you“. We would say “I wanna know how tall you are”.  So, that’s not even a question! It’s just a statement communicating what the officer wants to know. But, wait! The question is “How tall are you?” So why do we have to say “I want to know, or I would like to know how tall you are”? Why can’t I say “I would like to know how tall are you“?

Well, think about some things that you know: your mother’s name, the way to the office, your phone number. Again: these are examples of things you know. You know your mother’s name, you know the way to the office – let’s assume you work in an office – and you know your phone number. So, these little phrases… are they questions? No, they are three different pieces of information that you know. Your mother’s name is a piece of information; the way to the office is another one and your phone number is another piece of information.

So let’s say there’s someone chatting with you… Let’s say it’s a woman and her name is Sally. Sally isn’t a direct person, so she’s not asking you stuff directly… Every time she wants to know something, she begins with “I’d like to know… blah blah blah”. I’d like to know this, I’d like to know that. So she says to you:

I’d like to know [your age]. What would she like to know? Your age.

Then, she says: I’d like to know [your mother's name]. What does she want to know now? Your mother’s name.

Now she’s saying: I’d like to know [the way to your office].

So [your age], [your mother's name] and [the way to your office] are the pieces of information that she wants to acquire. They are the description of what she wants to know. Then, Sally says:

I’d like to know [how tall you are]. Can you see that “how tall you are” isn’t a question? Rather, it is the description of what she wants to know now. What does she want to know now? She wants to know… how tall you are. “How tall you are” isn’t a question, it is just a phrase that describes what she wants to know. That’s why we don’t say “She wants to know how tall are you“.

So take a look at the questions at the beginning of this podcast. Let’s say these are all Sally’s questions. But since she’s not a direct person, she will not ask any questions. She will just state what she would like to know:

• I’d like to know [where you live].
• I’d like to know [where you were last night around 8 o'clock].
• I’d like to know [how you got there].
• I’d like to know [what you were wearing].

So give us a few examples of people who have indirectly asked you something. They wanted to know something about you or about someone else, and they said “I’d like to know…” or “Please tell me…”

And to wrap up this episode, I just wanted to plug the Inglês Online Facebook page once again – since Sunday, over 600 people have liked the page. So, please, if you’re on Facebook, click “Curtir” right here on the sidebar of Inglês Online or go to the Facebook page, it’s facebook.com/inglesonlinebr, and become a fan. I really appreciate your help spreading the word, and, what’s more, by becoming a fan you’re going to have access to promotions – the first one is happening soon, before the end of the year, with some very cool prizes… so, there you have it. Thanks, and talk to you next time.

Veja mais sobre perguntas indiretas aqui

Glossary

wrap up = finalizar

spreading the word = espalhando (sobre o site)

Hoje o podcast Inglês Online atende o pedido da Marianna Carneiro, feito pelo twitter inglesonline, e explica a diferença entre os verbos remember e remind, que podem ser, os dois, traduzidos do inglês como “lembrar”.

Para ver e ouvir podcasts de semanas anteriores, clique em Podcast Inglesonline na barra lateral. Você pode também assinar o feed do podcast ou encontrá-lo no iTunes (veja o menuzinho lá em cima).

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Transcrição

Hello, everybody! How have you been? Today we have a new episode of the inglesonline podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.

Today I’m going to focus on two words. Two verbs, actually: remember and remind. Remember is a pretty popular verb and you’ve probably heard this word or one of its conjugations at least a few times. So let’s get started with ‘remember’.

Remember basically means… lembrar. When you and a friend are chatting about a place you both visited years ago, you say to each other “Remember this? Remember that?” For example, Remember when we were in Rio and you got mugged?” And the other person may say “Yes, I remember that” or “No, I don’t remember being mugged”. And then your friend might say “This is what I remember: I remember going to an expensive restaurant with you, and then when the bill came you said you’d left your wallet at the hotel”.

Another very common way to use remember is when someone has a list of tasks they’re supposed to complete throughout the day, for example. Let’s say John has to run a few errands in the afternoon, and maybe at the end of the day someone asks John “So, did you remember to pick up the dry cleaning? Did you remember to pick up the groceries? Did you remember to post that letter? Did you remember to stop by the library and return that book? Did you remember to buy stamps?”

So here are a few questions for you: think of your last vacation. Do you remember where you went? Do you remember what you did? Do you remember resting on your last vacation? Do you remember having fun? Me.. I’m thinking about my last vacation and I remember exactly what I ate, and where I went, and I remember having a lot of fun. I do not remember resting a lot on my last vacation… I definitely didn’t have a lot of time to rest but I remember enjoying myself a lot.

Here’s another question for you: what are some of the tasks that you had to complete, say, last week? Or some of the errands you had to run last week? Did you remember to do everything you were supposed to do? As for me, I actually made a list last week with four or five items on it. I remembered to buy dog food, I remembered to get a haircut and I remembered to pick up some food at the supermarket. But I forgot to buy office supplies. What about you? What was on your list that you actually remembered to do?

Alright! Let’s move on to the word ‘remind’. “Remind” is often translated as “lembrar”, but it’s a different kind of “lembrar”. “Remind” means something like ‘make someone remember something’. So when someone says to you…

“Let me remind you that…”

This means that this person wants you to remember something. He or she is making you remember something. This person is giving you a reminder. They are putting something on your mind again. They are reminding you, or giving you a reminder. In Portuguese we could say “um lembrete”, a reminder. Here are a couple of examples:

• Let me remind you that our shop closes at 6. They are reminding you that their shop closes at 6. They want you to remember that; they don’t want you to forget it. So they’re giving you a reminder. They’re reminding you that their shop closes at 6.
• Another example: I just wanted to remind you that you have a meeting with the sales team in the afternoon. Here, someone wants you to remember that you have a meeting later. They are reminding you that you have a meeting. They’re making you remember the meeting; they’re giving you a reminder.

So, what about you? Can you remember an occasion in the past when someone was kind enough to remind you about an appointment that you had, and because that person gave you a reminder, you actually showed up for the appointment?

Talk to you next time.

Veja mais sobre remember aqui

Glossary

you got mugged = você foi roubado (na rua, no metrô, etc.)

run errands = ir no banco, passar no supermercado, comprar selo, tirar dinheiro, etc. etc.

Hoje o podcast Inglês Online tem a solução do lateral thinking puzzle apresentado na semana passada. Algumas pessoas conseguiram encontrar a solução (a Ira foi a primeira) – congratulations a quem conseguiu, pois não era uma solução trivial, não! Hoje também falo e dou exemplos sobre linguagem politicamente correta no inglês.

Para ver e ouvir podcasts de semanas anteriores, clique em Podcast Inglesonline na barra lateral. Você pode também assinar o feed do podcast ou encontrá-lo no iTunes (veja o menuzinho lá em cima).

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Transcrição

Hey, everyone! How’s it going? Today we have a new episode of the inglesonline podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.

So if you caught our last podcast – the episode was called Lateral Thinking – you know that it involved a little story about a guy who left his building in the morning and then returned at night, got into the elevator and then, depending on whether or not it had rained that day, or whether or not there was someone else in the elevator, this guy would go straight to his floor or he would get out on the 10th and then take the stairs. If this sounds confusing, just go back to the last episode and take a listen.

So the question was Why does the guy behave the way that he does? Why does he do that? Why does he get out on the 10th floor when it’s not raining, or when there’s no one else in the elevator? Well, a few people actually got the answer right! Some people figured out the solution. They figured it out, they solved the problem. Yep, Inglês Online readers are smart :) I have to admit I already knew the solution because I read it on a website. I didn’t figure it out on my own. I didn’t try too hard, to be honest… I got curious so after I read the problem I just went ahead and read the solution.

So here goes the solution: the guy who gets in the elevator every evening… He’s a dwarf. The guy is actually a dwarf. Remember the tale of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs? This guy is like those seven guys in the fairy tale, which means that he’s a short guy. So because he is short, he can’t reach the button for the twelfth floor on the elevator panel on his own. When it’s raining, he has an umbrella on him so he can use the umbrella to reach the button for the twelfth. And when there’s someone else all he has to do is ask that person to press the button.

Therefore, when he’s alone and doesn’t have an umbrella on him, he goes up to the tenth floor (he’s tall enough to reach that button) and then climbs the stairs to the twelfth. That’s all!

By the way, take a look at the image right beside the text of this podcast. It’s a fairy tale dwarf, right? The word “dwarf” isn’t acceptable when you’re referring to people… Neither is the word “midget”. You can refer to a person who is very short as a little person – as far as I know, that’s the acceptable, or non-offensive, or, some would say, the politically correct way to refer to a person who’s very short in stature.

And in the United States you’ll very often hear expressions like these: African-American, Asian-American, Italian-American, etc. “African-American” refers to people who are black or who have African ancestry. And we can usually just say “a black woman”, “black people”, that’s fine. If you want to sound just a bit more formal, maybe a bit more educated… you can say “an African-American woman, blah blah blah”.

And here’s something else I learned back when I was going to grad school in the US: girls over a certain age – I’d say around 21 – aren’t girls anymore; they’re women. One day my friend was chatting with another student and he said, “You should have come to the bar.. all the girls were there” He was referring to female students in our class. The other student said “Not girls… women!”. So when talking about females in your work environment, for example, you should probably use the word “women” rather than “girls”.

Here’s another one: many, many words in English that describe occupations are gender-neutral. What does that mean? If a word is gender-neutral, that means it is used for both men and women. It’s the same word for both of them. So it used to be common for us to read on the newspaper, or on business articles, something like this: “When the company CEO makes a decision, he has to take full responsibility for it”. In the past, everyone used “he” a lot when speaking in generic terms about executive positions and other jobs traditionally held by men. Nowadays, people are way more careful and they use “she” or even “they”, in order to be neutral.

Do you want to see several examples of this? Go to Seth Godin’s blog and look up the word “she” on the front page. You’ll see that Seth very often writes ‘she’, and not ‘he’, to exemplify customers, executives and other gender-neutral positions.

Alright! Let us know in the comments what else you’ve noticed about politically correct language. Talk to you next time.

Glossary

on my own, on his own = sozinha/por conta própria, sozinho/ele mesmo/por conta própria

he has an umbrella on him = ele tem um guarda chuva com ele

grad school = escola de pós-graduação

Hoje tem um lateral thinking puzzle or problem. É um probleminha que requer pensamento criativo e original para ser resolvido. Por que a pessoa da historinha tem esse comportamento? Não vale postar a resposta aqui! (semana que vem eu posto).

Para ver e ouvir podcasts de semanas anteriores, clique em Podcast Inglesonline na barra lateral. Você pode também assinar o feed do podcast ou encontrá-lo no iTunes (veja o menuzinho lá em cima).

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Hi, everybody! What’s up? Today we have a new episode of the inglesonline podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.

Today on our podcast I’m gonna talk about lateral thinking. What does that mean? Well, the Wikipedia… you know Wikipedia? Wikipedia.org. The Wikipedia says that lateral thinking is when you solve a problem using an indirect and creative approach. That means that the solution isn’t obvious and that you won’t find the solution through traditional logic. In other words, to use a popular expression, you have to think outside of the box to solve lateral thinking problems. To think outside of the box means to think creatively, to be original or unusual, stuff like that.

So there are many lateral thinking puzzles, or problems available on the Internet and for this episode I’ve selected one that is probably the most well-known lateral thinking problem of all. So, before I present it to you, let me establish a few ground rules: you can easily find the solution to this puzzle by googling it. That means, doing a Google search. You can do that if you want, or maybe you’ve heard of this problem before and you know the solution. Whatever the case, please do not post the answer in the comments.

Deal? OK, here’s the puzzle:

A man lives on the twelfth floor of an apartment building. Every morning he takes the elevator down to the lobby and leaves the building. In the evening, he gets into the elevator, and, if there is someone else in the elevator — or if it was raining that day — he goes back to his floor directly. Otherwise, he goes to the tenth floor and walks up two flights of stairs to his apartment.

So, what do you think? Are you familiar with the puzzle? Let’s break it down: a man lives on the twelfth floor of an apartment building. That’s floor #12, right? Tenth, eleventh, twelfth… So he lives on the twelfth floor. I live on the fifth floor, by the way. Which floor do you live on? So, moving right along… This guy takes the elevator every morning, down to the lobby, and then leaves the building. He probably goes to work every day, or maybe he goes to school, we don’t know.

Anyway, in the evening he gets into the elevator… but here’s the interesting part: if there is someone else in the elevator when he gets in, or if it was raining that day… he goes to his floor directly. Now, if there’s no one in the elevator when he gets in,  or if it didn’t rain that day, then he goes to the tenth floor, floor #10. And he gets out of the elevator on the tenth floor. Not on the twelfth floor, where he lives. If there’s no one in the elevator, or if it didn’t rain, he takes the elevator up to the tenth floor, gets out, and walks up two flights of stairs to his apartment on the twelfth floor.

Now, why does he do that? When he gets back home, in the evening, he’ll go directly to the twelfth floor if there’s someone else in the elevator, or if it rained that day. Otherwise, he gets out on the tenth, and climbs two flights of stairts to the twelfth. Can you imagine why someone would do that?

So leave us your comments, tell us what you think. And I’ll give you guys the answer probably later this week or on the next podcast. Talk to you next time.

Glossary

deal? = combinado?

whatever the case = qualquer que seja o caso

moving right along = continuando

flights of stairs = lances de escada

Tem duas palavrinhas em inglês que geralmente provocam confusão por causa da concordância verbal não muito intuitiva para nós: police e news. Inglês tem dessas coisas… Pois então nosso podcast hoje será sobre isso.

Para ver e ouvir podcasts de semanas anteriores, clique em Podcast Inglesonline na barra lateral. Você pode também assinar o feed do podcast ou encontrá-lo no iTunes (veja o menuzinho lá em cima).

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Hi, everybody! What’s up? Today we have a new episode of the inglesonline podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.

So, do you know those words in English – police, and news? The way they are used is not very intuitive to us, Portuguese speakers.  Why? Because the word “police” sounds like the Portuguese word “polícia”, which is a singular word, right? We say “a polícia é isso, não é aquilo” so once we start using “police” we sometimes slip and say “the police is” or “the police was“. The correct way to say those is “the police are” and “the police were”. And the other word I mentioned is “news”. “News” ends with the letter “s”, and that, to us, means “plural”. So we would say “the news are“, right? Nope, people don’t say that in English. They say “the news is…” and “the news was”.

If “the police are” and “the news is” sound strange to you, then you’re in luck: this episode is all about giving examples of how these words are used and providing you with the opportunity to get a little bit more used to them. So let’s get started with the word “police”. And by the way, do you remember a recent episode where I talked about the pronunciation of “focus”, closet and “chocolate”? I said that those three words were some of the most mispronounced words by Brazilians… You know what? “Police” could have made that list.  I’ve heard many people say “police” and by now you’ve heard me say it police several times, so, that’s it. Police. Not “police”, police.

Alright, so here are some things that we might read on a newspaper:

• The police are looking for a missing girl. Again, there’s a missing girl… she disappeared, and the police are looking for her.
• In some countries, the police are well equipped to deal with all kinds of crime.  What does that mean? That means that in some countries the police are well trained, they are well prepared, and they have everything they need to deal with all kinds of crime. In some countries, the police are very well equipped.
• In some places, the police are using infrared cameras to help them identify criminals. So the police are using infrared cameras in some places.
• There was a robbery in my neighborhood yesterday, and the police were called immediately. The police were called immediately.
• Everyone waited outside while the police were investigating the crime scene.

Do you have your own example? Can you remember the last time the police were in your neighborhood? I remember once when there was a fight at a bar near my house and the police were called.

OK, let’s move on to the word “news”. “News” is like the word “information”. We don’t say two informations, three informations, and we don’t say two news either. We say, for example, I’ve received some information or They had no information for us. Likewise, we can say I’ve received some news and They had no news for us.

You know how some people say that “No news is good news”? What does that mean? No news is good news. That means that if you haven’t heard from somebody, if no one has bothered to call, it is usually because everything is going well. That is good news. If there is no news… that is good news. Some people disagree, of course. They think that no news is bad news. If someone has gone away and hasn’t called you… that means that something bad has happened. So, in this case, no news is bad news.

Here’s another pretty common thing that people say a lot:  I have bad news and good news. Which one do you wanna hear first? So, the bad news is, blah blah blah and the good news is, blah blah blah. You know what else happens a lot? Someone gives you news that isn’t so good, and then they immediately say  But the good news is… What does that mean? That means that, although what they said initially isn’t that good, there is an upside to it. There’s a positive side, there’s some kind of advantage to this situation. So someone might say “Well, they’re out of chocolate pie! We’re not gonna have our favorite dessert this time around. But the good news is, we now have a good excuse to stop by the ice cream parlor”.

And here’s a song that has “news” in it: A day in the life, by The Beatles. If you’re a fan, knock yourself out!  Talk to you next time.

Key expressions

• police
• news
• no news is good/bad news
• good news and bad news

Glossary

we sometimes slip = às vezes a gente escorrega

you’re in luck = você está com sorte

could have made that list = poderia ter aparecido na lista

likewise = da mesma maneira

no one has bothered to call = ninguém se deu ao trabalho de ligar

an upside = um lado bom

Hoje eu vou falar sobre duas expressões em inglês que são mais ou menos relacionadas: elas tem a ver com acreditar ou não em alguma desculpa ou ideia de alguém. Para ver e ouvir podcasts de semanas anteriores, clique em Podcast Inglesonline na barra lateral. Você pode também assinar o feed do podcast ou encontrá-lo no iTunes (veja o menuzinho lá em cima).

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Hi, everybody! What’s up? Today we have a new episode of the inglesonline podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.

Today let’s talk about a couple of expressions with the words buy and sell. But we’re not going to focus on the more traditional meanings of buying and selling, like… buying a bicycle or selling a house. Here, we’re talking about ideas, excuses, reasons for doing something and stuff like that.

An example: let’s say you have a ten year old son, little Jimmy, and one day he comes home with a note from his teacher, Ms. Johnson. The note says that he’s been acting up and kinda disrupting the class. So you ask little Jimmy what’s going on. Why is he acting up?, you wanna know. And Jimmy says “I’m not acting up! I’m always quiet in class! Kenny is the one who’s always joking and acting up! She tought it was me because we look like twins.” So this is Jimmy’s excuse: he is actually an angel in class while Kenny is the one who can’t be quiet. But Jimmy and Kenny look so much alike that their teacher mixed them up! She sent Jimmy home with a note, instead of giving Kenny the note.

So Jimmy tells you this little story and you are just not buying it. You are not buying this story. That means you are not convinced. You don’t think his story is credible. You know your son, he’s impossible! And he’s very creative too. You know that it is highly unlikely that Jimmy is quiet in class. So, yeah, you’re not buying it. You’re not buying his story. Here’s another example: your friend had agreed to go to the movies with you tonight and now he’s just called you and said that he’s feeling a little tired so he won’t be able to go tonight. You know this guy well and you know that he was really looking forward to going to the movies, so… you’re not buying it. You’re not buying his excuse. That’s a lame excuse! He’s tired? You’re not buying it. You think the real reason why he canceled on you is something else entirely. You’re not buying that he’s too tired to go to the movies.

Now, here’s the opposite idea… for example: let’s say your friend is telling you about her trip to some beach town you had never heard of before. She tells you it was wonderful, the beach was amazing and the weather was so nice. You say “Hey, I’m sold! That beach town sounds amazing and I wanna go there!” I’m sold – that means… you’ve convinced me, I see what you’re saying, I believe you.. I’m sold. I still remember one day, when I was living in the US, and I told my roommate that I had eaten a, I think it was a salami bread or something, and that it also had parmesan cheese on it, and she said “I’m sold!” That means she thought the bread sounded delicious and she wanted to have some herself.

So I’m gonna present you with a list of things that someone might say to you, and you tell me whether you would say “I’m not buying it” or “I’m sold!”.

• Someone says to you “My Internet course will teach you how to become a millionaire in less than a month! You’ll never have to work again. And it costs only ten thousand dollars. Remember, you’ll become a millionaire in a very short time.” What would you say? “I’m sold” or “I’m not buying it”?
• Another one: a friend says to you “You know that chocolate cake you ate at my house the other day? I’m gonna make it tomorrow, so if you wanna come by, you can watch me and learn how to make it yourself.” What would you say? “I’m sold” or “I’m not buying it”?
• You’re going to a U2 concert tonight and your friend tells you “I just met U2′s agent and he gave me backstage passes! We’re gonna meet Bono tonight!” What would you say? “I’m sold!” or “I’m not buying it”? It depends on who the friend is, right?
• Last one: the owner of a language school tells you “Be our student and we promise you’ll be fluent in any language you want in 3 months! We have the best teachers, the best materials, the best snack bar! And you’ll be speaking English like a native in 3 months.” What would say? “I’m sold! or I’m not buying it”?

Talk to you next time!

Key expressions

• I’m sold
• I’m not buying it

Glossary

acting up = fazendo bagunça, se comportando mal

mixed them up = confundiu os dois

highly unlikely = altamente improvável

a lame excuse = uma desculpa esfarrapada

Hoje eu vou falar sobre duas expressões em inglês relacionadas, que tem a ver com nossas expressões em português “Pega leve”, “Dá um tempo pra ela”, etc. Para ver e ouvir podcasts de semanas anteriores, clique em Podcast Inglesonline na barra lateral. Você pode também assinar o feed do podcast ou encontrá-lo no iTunes (veja o menuzinho lá em cima).

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Transcrição

Hi, everybody! What’s up? Today we have a new episode of the inglesonline podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.

So picture this: you work for a company that sells pencils. It’s a very competitive market and the salespeople in your company work 14 hours a day. You’re the sales manager, so you have to make sure that everyone in your team is at the top of their game and working really hard to bring as much business to the company as humanly possible. So what happens one day is that your boss, the president, presents his protegé to you, and tells you that from now on, he is part of the sales team. So the new guy, Gary, has zero experience in sales. He looks like he doesn’t even like selling. He may not even like pencils that much, you’re not sure. However your boss has asked you to be patient with Gary. He said “Look, I know Gary is not an experienced sales person, but please work with him. Be patient, go easy on him, OK?” Hey, he’s your boss. He’s the president of the company and the one who pays your salary, so you answer “Sure”.

So one of the things your boss said was “Go easy on him”. What does that mean? That means.. be extra-patient with him. Be gentle. Go easy on him. For example, if an experienced sales person lost an important client, that sales person would be in serious trouble! But not Gary. If Gary loses an important client, be patient. Don’t be mad, don’t fire him, go easy on him. This expression “go easy on someone” is very common when we’re dealing with beginners, with rookies… A rookie is someone who’s just starting out in a profession, or an activity. For example, if you enjoy watching cop shows, you’ve probably heard the word rookie before. There’s always a police officer who’s just started working for the force; he or she is a rookie. And when there’s a rookie in the group, you may hear someone say “Go easy on her” or “Go easy on him”. Although I don’t think that’s very common in the police because they like to be very tough, but… I think you get the idea: don’t be so hard on this person. Be patient, because he or she is a beginner, they don’t have much experience, they’re still learning. Go easy on him; go easy on her.

So here’s a related expression: give someone a break. When you’re demanding a lot from someone, and it’s clear that what you’re demanding is more than he or she can handle, someone might say “Give him a break!” or “Give her a break!”. Let’s say you have a new employee, Tony, and he is doing everything he can to do a good job. However, the company is not doing so well. It’s not Tony’s fault… Times are hard, customers have less money than ever before, so everyone in the industry is having a hard time meeting goals.

You think Tony can take the pressure, though. He’s experienced, he’s tough and he’s very smart. So you keep increasing his workload and demanding great results from him. Tony is looking increasingly tired, but you still think he can take it. Your friend Mary, however, thinks you’re going too far. She says “You should give Tony a break. You should definitely give him a break. He’s doing his best to meet your demands and he’s doing very well. He’s already proven himself. Give him a break, or he’ll get sick and you’ll lose him”. So your friend Mary thinks you should give Tony a break. In Portuguese we might say something like “Dá um tempo” or “Dá uma folga pra ele”. Give him a break, he’s doing his best and he’s visibly tired.

In movies it is very common to hear someone tell another person “You should give yourself a break. Don’t be so hard on yourself, give yourself a break!”. That happens when the character, let’s say, John… So John is blaming himself for some mistake he made in the past, and he can’t forgive himself, and he’s suffering… So a friend tells him “John, give yourself a break. You didn’t know what you were doing back then, so just give yourself a break”.

So give us your own examples in the comments! Talk to you next time!

Key expressions

• go easy on someone
• a rookie
• give someone a break

Glossary

at the top of their game = com a melhor performance possível

bring as much business as humanly possible = fazer (trazer) a maior quantidade de negócio que for possível para um ser humano

his protegé = o protegido dele

don’t be so hard on this person = não exija tanto dessa pessoa

everyone is having a hard time… = todo mundo está tendo dificuldade em…

…meeting goals = atingir os objetivos (bater meta, como dizemos no Brasil)

Hoje o
podcast vai focar na pronúncia de algumas palavrinhas do inglês: focus, closet e chocolate. Por que estas palavras específicas? Por que na minha opinião estas três são as que as pessoas mais erram na pronúncia, incluindo gente que lida com inglês no dia a dia. Se você gosta do assunto, já fiz outros podcasts focando em pronúncia de outras palavras: o primeiro deles gira em torno de blew, o passado de blow.

Para ver e ouvir podcasts de semanas anteriores, clique em Podcast Inglesonline na barra lateral. Você pode também assinar o feed do podcast ou encontrá-lo no iTunes (veja o menuzinho lá em cima).

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Hi, how have you been? What kinds of interesting things have you been up to? Today we have a new episode of the inglesonline podcast, as usual. To download or just listen to other episodes and download transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline. On this episode, we’re going to talk about three specific words: FOCUS, CHOCOLATE and CLOSET. I’m sure at least one of these words is no stranger to you even if you’re a beginner. Why am I focusing on these three words? Because throughout my life what I’ve noticed is that these are probably the three words I hear Brazilians mispronounce the most. Did you get that? Mispronounce… that means, pronounce incorrectly.

Here’s the first time I heard the pronunciation “choco-leit” for chocolate: when I was a kid I went to Disneyland as part of a group, and our guide was a woman who spoke English, of course. One day I saw her chatting with an American and she asked him some question about “chocolate”. But the thing is, she didn’t say chocolate; she said choco-leit. The American guy didn’t understand what she was talking about. She repeated the word choco-leit two more times, I think, until someone realized what was going on and said “Oh, she means chocolate!” And then the American guy finally got it and gave our guide the information she was looking for.

So there you have it: not chocoleit, no. We say chocolate. Again, chocolate. It’s not really “chocoláte”, and it’s not “chocolet” either… it’s chocolate. Chocolate. Fortunately it is extremely easy to find numerous examples of how the word chocolate is used, since it’s such a popular snack (or delicacy) everywhere! Do you like hot chocolate? White chocolate? Brazilian chocolate, or imported chocolate? I have never liked white chocolate, I don’t know why… I just don’t like how white chocolate tastes. Do you? Also, I used to eat a lot more chocolate when I was a kid than I do now. I still love chocolate, don’t get me wrong… I just don’t eat it as often now. How about you? Are you one of the few people in the world who doesn’t like chocolate? Or are you a chocolate-eater like me?

Let’s talk about the second word: focus. Yep, focus. F-O-C-U-S. Focus. Remember that car called Focus? OK, so that’s not how we pronounce focus. We don’t say fócus, and we don’t say fókius either. We say focus. Again: “fôu-câs”. How do we use this word? The meaning is about the same in Portuguese and English, so… Sometimes when a group of people is having a meeting and people start to get disctracted and start talking about something unrelated to the subject of the meeting… When that happens, someone may say “Focus, people, focus!” That means, let’s concentrate, let’s focus on the topic of the meeting. When you focus on something, you put all your attention on that thing, right? And when someone says “Oh, Mary is very focused… she’s a very focused person” that means that Mary has a very clear idea of what she wants and probably a clear idea of what she has to do to get what she wants, and so she’s very focused on getting there. How focused are you? Are you determined, driven and focused?

And last but not least we have the little word closet. C-L-O-S-E-T, closet. In Brazil, it is common to hear people say clôset. However, that is not the correct pronunciation. People do not “clôset” in English-speaking countries. They say closet. Again, closet. What is a closet? Well, it’s a space in a bedroom where people keep their clothes and other stuff. It has a door, or two doors, a few drawers, and it’s usually made of wood or some plastic material. When someone is trying to sell a house, they may say “The bedrooms have a lot of closet space”. That means that the closets must be very large, there’s a lot of room inside them, a lot of space, and therefore residents will be able to store lots of things inside them. Do you have a lot of closet space at home? Are your closets small or large? I have to say, there’s not much closet space in my bedroom. My closet is not big. It’s not small either, it’s just average.

OK, so here’s a sentence that contains all three words we focused on today:

Keep your focus on the chocolate in the closet

Let’s pretend there’s a chocolate bar inside the closet and for some reason you have to keep an eye on it… Yeah, it doesn’t make much sense but it puts all of those words in the same sentence, so there you have it: keep your focus on the chocolate in the closet. Talk to you next time!

Key words

• focus
• chocolate
• closet

Glossary

is no stranger to you = não te é estranha

did you get that? = entendeu (isso)?

delicacy = iguaria

don’t get me wrong = não me entenda mal

driven = empenhado, motivado

last but not least = por último, mas não menos importante

keep an eye on = ficar de olho em

doesn’t make much sense = não faz muito sentido

Hoje eu vou falar sobre uma construção muito comum no inglês. Primeiro eu vou dar exemplos de como essa construção é usada para dizer, aproximadamente, as frases abaixo na língua inglesa:

Você se preparou? / Quanto você se preparou?

E daí, mais exemplos de como dizer coisas assim: Não dá pra acreditar como isso aqui é caro!

Para ver e ouvir podcasts de semanas anteriores, clique em Podcast Inglesonline na barra lateral. Você pode também assinar o feed do podcast ou encontrá-lo no iTunes (veja o menuzinho lá em cima).

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Hi, everybody! What’s up? It’s been a week since my last podcast – I’ve been traveling and I just got back so today we have a new episode of the inglesonline podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline. Today we’re gonna talk about a very common way to say, in English, things we say in Portuguese like these: “Você tá bem preparado ou mal preparado?” or “É incrível como ele é inteligente!” Just keep listening and you’ll get a better idea of what I mean.

Let’s start with this little story: suppose Johnny is a high-school student and he has a Geography test tomorrow, OK? So John has been studying for a few days but he still feels insecure about the test, unfortunately. He asks his father “Dad, do you think I’ll do well on the test? What do you think, dad?” And his father says “Well, it depends. It depends on how prepared you are for the test, and it also depends on how difficult the test will be”.

Again, Johnny’s dad says “It depends on how prepared you are for the test, and it also depends on how difficult the test will be”. So let’s break it down: “it depends on how prepared you are”. What does that mean? In Portuguese we would say something like “Depende se você está bem preparado ou não” or “Depende do quanto você está preparado”. Johnny’s father might ask him “Did you study a lot? Or did you just read your book superficially? How prepared are you?”

And Johnny might answer “I’ve studied a lot in the past few days. You can ask me anything about Geography and I’ll give you the correct answer. I’m very well prepared”. So, in this case, how prepared is Johnny? Very! He’s very well prepared, actually.

So here’s something else you could ask Johnny: on a scale of 1 to 10, how prepared are you? Johnny thinks he is very well prepared, right? He said he studied a lot in the past few days, and he knows the answer to any question you might ask him. So the answer is “10″. On a scale of 1 to 10, how prepared is Johnny? He’s a 10. He is very, very well prepared.

So Johnny’s dad also said “It depends on how difficult the test will be”. It depends on how difficult the test will be. How difficult will the test be? We don’t know. Only the teacher who created the test knows. It may be a very difficult test, or it may not be difficult at all… it may be very easy, who knows? At this point, only the teacher knows how difficult the test will be.

So this is what people mean when they ask you “How difficult was the test?” They wanna know if the test was very difficult, or if it was just a little difficult, or maybe not difficult at all. When someone asks you “So, how good was the movie? Did it measure up to the hype?”, this person is asking you if the movie was very good, or just good, or maybe not good at all. How good was the movie? So think about the last time you took an exam. How prepared were you? Very prepared, or not prepared at all? How difficult was the exam? Very difficult, or not at all? Think about the last meal you ate. How good was the food? Think about the last movie you watched. How good was it? Very very good, or not good at all?

And here’s something English speakers say a lot when they have a strong opinion about something: “Can you believe how awful that hotel was?” So, how bad was the hotel? Very, very bad, right? It was awful in this person’s opinion. This person is asking you “Can you believe how awful that hotel was?” Someone else might say “I can’t believe how beautiful this place is”. So, in this person’s opinion, this place is very beautiful. It is so beautiful that he or she can’t believe it. They can’t believe how beautiful this place is. Here’s another one: ” I can’t believe how expensive that sandwich was!” So that  sandwich was not cheap. It was very expensive… it was so expensive that your friend can’t believe how expensive it was.

So tell us: how fluent are you in Portuguese? Very fluent, or not at all? How prepared were you last time you took an exam? Talk to you next time!

Key expressions

• How prepared are you?
• I can’t believe how awful this is

Glossary

let’s break it down = vamos por partes

measure up to the hype = foi tudo isso que estavam dizendo

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Hey, everybody! What’s up? This is Ana Luiza, with a new episode of the inglesonline
podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download
transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.

OK, so let’s get this episode started with a little story. Let’s say
you’ve teamed up with one of your classmates to work on a school
project. Let’s say her name is Anna. So you two scheduled your first
meeting, but Anna didn’t show up. No warning, no phone call to let you
know what happened. She simply doesn’t show up at the appointed time.
You give her a call, her mom tells you she’s not home. So next day you
ask her what happened, and she says something about being busy… she’s
kinda mumbling it so you can’t really understand it, and then the
teacher arrives and you have to go back to your seat. So, in the end,
you have no idea why she stood you up.

You try to schedule
another meeting with Anna so the two of you can work together on the
school project, but she says she’s busy the whole week. You’re beginning
to think Anna is not interested in doing any work. So you try one more
time: you tell her that you’ve already done 30% of the work, but you
need her help to work on the other 70%. She tells you she can’t because
she has to plan a birthday party for a friend. Again: Anna tells you that she can’t meet with you because she has to plan a birthday party for a friend. And you say “OK, that’s
it! Enough is enough. You’re not making an effort, you’re not pulling your weight at all, and this is a two-person project. I’m gonna talk to our teacher right now and let her know I want to do this with someone else”. So when Anna told you that she had to plan a birthday party… that was the last straw. That was the last straw.

Look at the picture – you can see what a straw is. There’s a reason for this expression, but I’m not gonna get into it right now. So, listen again: when Anna told you that she couldn’t meet with you because she had to plan a party, that was the last straw. You had been patient up to that point, but that was just too much! That was the last straw. You went to see your teacher immediately and you told her you wanted a different teammate.

Different story: maybe you bought a new computer, thinking it would work perfectly, and then you realize quickly that it came with a limited version of the operating system and you’ll have to pay for an upgrade to have the full version. A few days later you realize that one of the USB ports doesn’t work. You’re annoyed, but you’re still hanging on to the computer since the number one reason you bought it is that it has a very good built-in DVD player. You love watching movies and videos, and you wanna be able to do that on your computer. So as long as it plays your DVDs well, you will let minor things slide. Sure, you’re annoyed that you had to pay for the full version of the operational system and you’re also annoyed that one of the USB ports won’t work, but you’ll let those things slide since you’re pretty happy with the quality of the video.

Then, the unthinkable happens: it’s Saturday afternoon and you’re ready to kick back and relax while watching one of your favorite comedies on DVD. You grab a bag of Cheetos, relax into a comfortable chair and and then you pop the disc into the computer. Almost twenty seconds go by and nothing: the computer can’t even recognize the disc. You remove the disc, pop it back in and nothing. You call the Customer Service phone number and you spend 30 minutes on the phone trying to make it work, and nothing. Then you look at your watch and you realize it’s almost 8 o’clock and you’re late for a date. You think “Now the video won’t work? That’s it. That’s the last straw. I’m done with this computer”. So that is the last straw. First you paid for the OS, then you found a non-working USB port, and now the computer won’t play your DVD’s? That’s the last straw.

So, tell us about a situation where you were dissatisfied with something and your dissatisfaction kept growing until something happened and you thought” That’s it! That’s the last straw” and then you left, or you canceled your purchase, or you returned a product, or you left your job… whatever! Let us know in the comments and talk to you next time!

Key expressions

• that’s the last straw

Glossary

mumbling =falando meio baixo, não muito claramente

she stood you up = ela te deu o bolo (não compareceu ao compromisso combinado)

enough is enough = basta, não dá mais

not pulling your weight =não está fazendo a sua parte

a two-person project = um projeto para duas pessoas

I’m not gonna get into it = não vou entrar nisso, falar disso

built-in = que já vem embutido

let (something) slide = não ligar para/ perdoar (alguma coisa)

the OS = the operational system

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Hello, everyone. How are you? This is Ana, with a new episode of the inglesonline
podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download
transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.

I’m gonna talk about three
expressions, and to kick things off, I’m gonna give you an example for
the first one. I’m pretty sure you’re gonna get this one very fast.
Imagine that there’s a woman named Susan who works in an office as a
financial analyst. She works in a cube, and in the cube next to her
works a guy named Gary. So let’s say that Susan goes to work every day,
and every day, when she’s about to leave, she puts some office supplies
in her purse. You know, office supplies? Pens, erasers, staplers,
paper… So every day before she leaves she grabs some supplies, hides
them in her purse and takes them home. She’s stealing office supplies.
The thing is, Gary is on to her. He is on to Susan. He knows she’s
been stealing a lot of supplies.

So what does Gary do? He
approaches Susan one day, when they’re alone in the office, and tells
her “Hey, I’m on to you. I saw you hiding a bunch of pens in your purse,
and then staplers and a lot of other stuff. I know you’re stealing. So
I’ll let our boss know you’re stealing, unless you pay for my silence”.
OK. So what is Gary doing? He’s blackmailing Susan, right? He’s
blackmailing her. He is threatening to rat her out to their boss if she
doesn’t pay him for his silence. So now Susan is being blackmailed.

This is a very common plot device in movies and books. Very often
it’ll happen that one of the characters will blackmail another
character, like… John finds out that Mary is lying about something and
so John blackmails Mary. If she doesn’t do what he wants, he’ll tell
everyone she’s lying. Or Jennifer finds out that Donna is cheating on
her boyfriend and she tries to blackmail Donna, saying that she’ll tell
Donna’s boyfriend about the cheating if Donna doesn’t do what she wants. Can
you remember a scene from a movie where one person blackmailed another?
Tell us about it in the comments.

By the way, I think you can get the meaning of “ratting someone out”,
right? When you rat someone out to their boss, for example… you’re
telling something to the boss that the person is trying to hide. Maybe
that person made a mistake, maybe they just did something wrong, or
dishonest, and they’re trying to cover it up, and then you go to the
boss and you tell him all about that person’s mistake. You are ratting
that person out. You’re ratting him or her out. So, to recap, Gary is
blackmailing Susan, right? He’s threatening to rat her out to the boss
if she doesn’t give him money.

Alright, let’s move on to the last expression of today: when
something happens out of the blue, that means that that thing happens totally
unexpectedly, without any warning. Out of the blue, as in, something
that comes out of the blue sky, like a spaceship in those old sci-fi
movies. For example, you had a friend in school when you were 5 or 6
years old. You were both children, obviously, but you were very close.
One day your friend’s family moved to another country and you never
heard from her again. You’re now 30 years old, and, out of the blue, you
get a letter from her. You never thought you would hear from this
friend ever again until one day, out of the blue, you get a letter from
her.

More examples: two friends met at a café the other day to chat and they were having a great time catching up
until, out of the blue, one of them stood up and said she had to leave.
What else? Jack lent Mike some money last week and he told Mike there
was no hurry to pay him back. Yesterday Jake and Mike ran into each
other at the club, and then, out of the blue, Jack says he needs the
money back. One more: Melissa was walking down the street  yesterday, and
out of the blue comes a police officer and arrests her!

OK, that’s it for today. So tell us what someone said to you, out
of the blue. You were totally surprised by what this person said, or
did, completely out of the blue. Talk to you next time!

Key expressions

• blackmail
• rat someone out
• out of the blue

Glossary

to kick things off = pra começar, dar o pontapé inicial

cube = aqui, cubículo ou baia de escritório

he’s on to her = ele já percebeu que ela está fazendo algo estranho/errado/diferente/etc.

cover it up = mascarar as evidências, fazer com que aquela coisa não seja descoberta

catching up = pondo a conversa em dia

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Hi, everyone! How’s it going? This is Ana Luiza, with a new episode of the inglesonline
podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download
transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.

Today we have a couple of expressions with the word “cold”. Yes, cold, the opposite of hot. The first expression has to do with “cold feet”. Cold feet. Just as a reminder, feet is the plural of foot. One foot, two feet. Look at the picture: there’s a guy in a tuxedo, and his feet are cold. He’s got cold feet. Why? Well, apparently he’s about to commit to something really important, and he got scared all of a sudden. Maybe… he’s about to get married!

If you’re used to watching American movies, especially movies where there’s gonna be a wedding, you have probably heard the expression cold feet. For example, the engaged girl, who’s about to get married, is talking to her best friend, and she’s saying that she’s not so sure she’s ready to get married. Then her best friend says “Are you getting cold feet?”

So, yeah, this expression “He’s got cold feet” or “She’s getting cold feet” has to do with anxiety or fear, regarding something that you’re about to do, or something that you were supposed to do. However, now, you’re not so sure you can go through with it. You’re not so sure you want to do it. You’re having doubts, you’re feeling insecure, you’re a little anxious about it… you’ve got cold feet. Of course, some people are engaged to be married and then, they get cold feet and eventually they break off the wedding. Some people get cold feet on the day of the wedding. Now, that’s usually not a good sign.

We can get cold feet about other things, though. Example: some friends are planning a trip to the North Pole and they invite you to join them. You’re really excited, but your friends are telling you about all the different kinds of equipment you guys will have to take to be able to do stuff in the North Pole… and you’re starting to have second thoughts. You’re feeling a little anxious about this trip and now you’re not so sure you wanna go anymore. You are definitely getting cold feet about going to the North Pole, no pun intended.

OK, changing topics: here’s another great expression with the word cold. Let me give you an example. Let’s say you’re a guy and just started dating a girl, and after a month she decides to take you to meet her family. You get there and you meet her brother, her sister, her mother and her father. They’re all really friendly and nice to you, except her brother. He’s not being friendly at all. You try to initiate a conversation with him a few times, but he’ll answer yes or no and then he’ll start talking to someone else. You ask him about his job but he pretends he can’t hear you… he’s ignoring you completely. This guy is giving you the cold shoulder.

You have no idea why this guy is doing that. Everyone in the family is treating you well. They can hear you when you talk to them. This guy, on the other hand, is behaving like you’re not even there. He is totally giving you the cold shoulder. So you finally accept that he must be really immature and you give up trying to get to know him. Has something like that ever happened to you? I think everyone has been through a situation where they were trying to get to know someone, and the other person gave them the cold shoulder.

So what are your stories? When was the last time you got cold feet, and why did you have cold feet? When was the last time someone gave you the cold shoulder, or you gave someone the cold shoulder? Let us know and talk to you next time!

Key expressions

• get or have cold feet
• give someone the could shoulder

Glossary

go through with something

have second thoughts

no pun intended = o trocadilho não foi intencional (você está tendo “cold feet” ao pensar em ir para o Pólo Norte)

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Hey, everybody! What’s up? This is Ana Luiza, with a new episode of the inglesonline
podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download
transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.

OK, think about this: you just graduated from high school and you’re
trying to get into college XYZ. You want college XYZ because it’s the
college your parents went to and you think it’s the best college in the
world. So you’re not applying to any other schools. The only school, the
only college you are interested in is college XYZ. You’re not even
gonna try other schools. That’s risky, right? That’s a risky thing to
do. If college XYZ doesn’t accept you, you will have to wait a whole
year in order to be able to apply for college again. That would be
similar in Brazil to taking the Vestibular exam to only one college or
University. If you pass, great; if you don’t, you’ll have to wait until
the next round of Vestibular exams to try again.

So many people
would consider that a risky thing to do. So… you know what you’re doing, when you do this?
You’re putting all your eggs in one basket. Someone might tell you “Are
you crazy? Don’t put all your eggs in one basket! I know college XYZ is
your favorite, but you should also try college ABC and college FGH!”
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

Another example… Let’s say you hired someone to organize the
Christmas party at your office. You’ve never heard of this person before
but you spoke to her on the phone and she seemed nice. She is going to
take care of the food, the decoration and the music. Everything. So you
tell your boss that you hired this person to do everything, and he says
“Are you sure you wanna have all your eggs in one basket like that? Why
don’t you hire someone else to take
care of the decoration, and another person to handle the music? I mean,
you don’t even know this person, and she’s responsible for everything!
It’s too risky”. So you think about it, and you realize that it’s true,
you really are putting all your eggs in one basket by hiring only one
person to handle all aspects of the Christmas party. And what’s worse,
she hasn’t been recommended by anyone… you got her number off the
yellow pages.

And here’s a saying I heard the other day: a leopard can’t change its
spots. Look at the picture: do you see the leopard? Leopards have black
spots all over their bodies. They’re covered in spots. So, the saying
goes “A leopard can’t change its spots”. What does that mean? Basically,
that means that people don’t change, or people can’t change. So it’s
very common to hear that saying when, for example, you were expecting
someone to behave differently from the way they usually do. For example,
sometimes a woman complains that her boyfriend or husband has cheated
on her for the third time, and then someone will say “Hey, what did you
expect? A leopard can’t change its spots”. So, if the guy cheated
before, of course he’s going to cheat again. A leopard can’t change its
spots.

What do you think? Not necessarily in regards to cheating, but in
general: do you think it is true that people can’t change? Do you agree
with this saying “A leopard can’t change its spots”? My opinion is, it
depends. I certainly think it is possible to change. It is possible for
people to change, to modify their behavior for various reasons. So I
think that a leopard can change its spots. A figurative leopard, of
course! Not the animal. Sure, sometimes people exhibit the same behavior
all their lives… they do the same thing over and over again. But
that’s not always the case. So, this saying… A leopard can’t change
its spots? I think sometimes it applies, but most of the time, to be
honest, I don’t think it does.

What is your opinion? Do you agree that a leopard can’t change its
spots, or do you have an interesting story to tell us about how someone
really changed their behavior? Let us know in the comments. Talk to you
next time!

Key expressions

• all your eggs in one basket
• a leopard can’t change its spots

Glossary

what’s worse = o que é pior

off the yellow pages = a partir das páginas amarelas

a saying = um ditado

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Hey, everybody! What’s up? This is Ana Luiza, with a new episode of the inglesonline
podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download
transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.

So, picture this: you’re a manager at some company, and recently your
personal assistant of nine years quit for personal reasons. You’re a
little upset because you really liked her, but hey, life goes on so you
hired a new assistant. So today is your new assistant’s first day on the
job, and she’s trying to learn everything… And, at the same time, you’re
so nervous because the VP of Finance decided to visit your office.
So of course you want everything to go perfect, and you are so worried
about little details, and at the same time you have to instruct your new
assistant. She seemed like a great assistant when you hired her, so
you’re hoping everything will go great today. Then the VP arrives, and
your assistant is rude to him. Yeah, she’s rude to him. The VP of
Finance. He talked to her and she ignored him. She was on the phone, on a
personal call, and she continued to talk like the VP wasn’t even there.

When
you realize what she’s done, you dash off to the reception area and
welcome the VP into your office. The most surprising part is that the
woman is still on the phone. At lunchtime, a coworker asks you “So,
how’s the new assistant doing?” and you say “I’m not 100% sure yet, but I
can tell you that she definitely got off on the wrong foot”. Your
coworker says “Really? She got off on the wrong foot? What happened?”
And you tell him what happened, and he agrees with you: your new
assistant definitely got off on the wrong foot.

So, “to get
off on the wrong foot” is a very, very common expression and you can
hear it very often in movies and TV series. Usually, it’s a situation
where two people were randomly brought together by some sort of
circumstance… For example, they both got hired to work together, or
they find out that they’re gonna be lab partners for the rest of the
semester, or they’ve never met before but they’re going on a trip
together because they’re in the same group of friends…. So in movies
it’s usually a situation where these people didn’t know each other and
now for whatever reason they are forced to interact and spend time
together. And what happens, specially in romantic comedies is that they
fight a lot in the beginning, then they get on each other’s nerves a lot…
That happens a lot in movies, right? So very often one of them will try
to call a truce and he or she will say “OK, I think we got off on the
wrong foot. Can we start over?”

So, what does that mean? That means that this person is acknowledging that they didn’t get along very well in the beginning, for whatever reason they got on each other’s nerves,
but this person thinks that it would be better if the two of them got
along and just coexisted peacefully. So this person says “We got off on
the wrong foot. Let’s start over. Can we start over?”

Key expressions

• get off on the wrong foot
• get on someone’s nerves

Glossary

dash off to = vai rápido até

lab partners = parceiros nas atividade de laboratório na escola

for whatever reason = por uma razão qualquer

call a truce =dar uma trégua

let’s start over =vamos começar do zero (com intenção de ser melhor dessa vez)

whistle = assobiar

working up the courage = arrumando, tomando coragem

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Hey, everybody! What’s up? This is Ana Luiza, with a new episode of the inglesonline
podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download
transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.

So today I’m gonna talk about a few common expressions,
and two of them include the word shoes. Picture this: your friend is talking about his
neighbor, a 29 year-old woman who has a full time job as a salesperson
and moonlights as a bartender. She moonlights as a bartender. What does
that mean? That means that, besides her main job, besides her full time
job as a salesperson, she has a side job, an additional job as a
bartender. It’s a part time job… When someone moonlights in addition
to their main job, it’s usually a part time job ’cause well, you can’t
have two full time jobs at the same time. And I guess having a second,
part time job is called “moonlighting” ’cause it’s usually something you
do at night, again, in addition to your full time job.

So this
woman works as a salesperson and then she moonlights as a bartender. So
your friend is telling you about how tired Lisa looks… let’s say her name is
Lisa. I mean, of course she’s tired. The woman sells during the day,
and then she bartends at night. And bartending hours aren’t easy! Bars
usually stay open until very late, so Lisa only has a few hours to rest
until she has to get ready for her sales job in the morning. So your
friend is telling you all that and you’re shaking your head… You tell
him “Why would a young woman like Lisa do that? I can’t believe it. It must be so exhausting to work two jobs! I would never do that”.

And
then your friends says “Well, if you were in Lisa’s shoes, you might.
If you were in her shoes, you too might work two jobs. She doesn’t have
any family other than her two-year-old daughter
so she’s alone in the world. She has to provide for herself and for her
daughter. So, if you were in her shoes, maybe you too would work day
and night.” So, what do you think? If *you* were in Lisa’s shoes, would
you have a full time job and an additional part time job too? What would
you do, if you were in Lisa’s shoes?

Of course, when we say
that – to be in someone’s shoes, we mean… If you put yourself in
someone’s shoes, you can imagine what it is like to be in their
position. You can see or experience something from their point of view. So go ahead and think of someone you know who has to make a difficult decision right now. Maybe it’s a friend who is considering quitting college in order to work. Maybe it’s a relative who wants to move abroad. Maybe it’s someone from your office who has been offered a position at a much smaller company. If you were in this person’s shoes, what would you do? What would you do, if you were in her or his shoes?

OK. Let’s change the subject a little bit. Let’s say you’ve been working for the same company for eight years, OK? Eight years, it’s a long time. So you know all the employees at this company, you know what everybody does, this company is like a second home for you. One day your boss tells you that Mary Smith, sales supervisor, is quitting. In all the twelve years Mary has been working for this company, she has earned the respect of the entire industry for her professionalism and work ethic. However, she has received a great offer from another company, and she’s accepted it. That means that there’s a job opening for a sales supervisor in your company right now, and your boss says that she thinks you would be just perfect for the job. You have been with the company for eight years, you are a great employee, very competent, and your boss thinks you would be perfect to fill Mary Smith’s shoes.

Again: your boss thinks you would be perfect to fill Mary Smith’s shoes. What does that mean? That means that  your boss thinks you would be perfect to to take Mary’s place and do her work
well. Yeah, your boss thinks you would be able to fill Mary’s shoes. You are a little nervous about this. You don’t think it’ll be very easy to fill Mary’s shoes. She’s extremely well-regarded and respected; her work is top-notch. You think it’s not gonna be easy to fill Mary’s shoes, but your boss thinks you can do it. You can fill her shoes. You’re capable, you’re competent and dedicated. You can fill Mary’s shoes.

So if you have ever been promoted or hired to a position previously occupied by a well-regarded employee, please let us know what filling his or her shoes was like! Let us know about the last time you put yourself in someone else’s shoes to understand what they were going through. Talk to you next time!

Key expressions

• she moonlights as
• (put yourself) in someone’s shoes
• be in someone’s shoes
• fill someone’s shoes

Glossary

bartending hours = horas/horário em que um bartender trabalha

you might = talvez você fizesse

moved abroad = mudou-se para o exterior

top-notch = de altíssima qualidade

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Hey, everybody! What’s up? This is Ana Luiza, with a new episode of the inglesonline
podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download
transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.

Let’s talk about ‘dressing up’. When you go to a fancy party or to an
important event, you usually have to dress up. That means a nice dress
for a woman, and a suit for the guy. Usually. For example, let’s say you are a
parent – a mother or a father, you’re a parent, and you have six
children. You tell them “Next Saturday we are going to our cousin Mary’s
wedding. So you all will have to get into some nice clothes and look
presentable!” So one of your children says “Oh, we’re gonna have to
dress up?” One of your daughters says “Oh I hate having to dress up!
Then I’ll have to be all careful to not spill soda on the dress…” And
you say “Yes, we all are going to have to dress up. It’s a wedding! We have to dress up for the occasion. It’s going to be a
formal party and that means night dresses for women and tuxedoes or
formal suits for men. We are all going to have to dress up.”

What are the occasions we usually dress up for? Weddings… If you’re
invited to attend the Oscars, you’ll have to dress up. When was the
last time you dressed up for something? For me, it was the last time I
went to a wedding… I had to dress up a little.

Now, sometimes you dress up for an event, and when you get there,
everyone is dressed very casually. Like, everyone is in jeans and
sneakers. Has that ever happened to you? You’re the only person wearing a
nice dress, or in a business suit; everyone else is wearing jeans. You
are overdressed for the event. You are definitely overdressed. That
means the stuff you’re wearing is too formal or too sophisticated for
the event you’re at. So you look around, you see how everyone’s dressed,
and you feel you are overdressed for this event.

Of course, the opposite happens very frequently as well. You may go
some place and find out that you are underdressed. That means you look
around and see people in, let’s say, tuxedoes while you’re wearing your
brown slacks and your Havaianas sandals. You are seriously underdressed
for the occasion. Has that ever happened to you? Have you ever gone to
an event underdressed? I have. I was in school, and someone was going to
throw a party and this person invited everyone in our class. Well, I
forgot to read the part on the invite that said that it was a formal
party. That definitely meant women wearing dresses. Not me… I totally
missed that and showed up wearing black slacks and some t-shirt. Yep,
true story.

And here’s another cool way to use “dress up”. We can use this expression “dress up” to mean “wear a costume”. So, for example, many men dress up as Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. Many people dress up as different things for Carnaval in Brazil. Right? At least when they’re children. There’s no Brazilian Carnaval in the United States,
but people still dress up for Halloween. It’s true, in the United
States Halloween is an opportunity for women to dress up as a witch, for
instance, and for men to dress up as Batman, for example.

Alright, that’s all for now and please tell us your stories about
being inappropriately dressed for an event. Overdressed or
underdressed, it doesn’t matter – let us know and talk to you next time!

Key expressions

• dress up
• dressed up as
• overdressed
• underdressed

Glossary

slacks = calça comprida

I totally missed that = eu não vi aquilo

costume = fantasia

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Hey, everybody! What’s up? This is Ana Luiza, with a new episode of the inglesonline
podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download
transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.

You know when we say something like this in Portuguese “Assim que estiver pronto, eu te ligo”? Today let’s take a look at one of the expressions in English that we can use to say “assim que”. My inspiration for today’s podcast came from a line I heard on a sitcom episode the other day. One of the characters said “I’m swamped this week, but I’ll call you as soon as things get back to normal”.

So she said “I’m swamped this week”. What she’s saying is, she’s extremely busy, she’s ridiculously busy… she’s swamped. And “swamped” comes from the word swamp, which means pântano or brejo in Portuguese. Look at the little picture to your right: that’s a swamp. So I guess when someone says “I’m swamped”, it’s kinda like when we say in Portuguese “Eu tô atolada”. I’m ridiculously busy, I’m swamped.

Anyway, back to the line from the sitcom. She said “I’m swamped this week, but I’ll call you as soon as things get back to normal”. I’ll call you as soon as things get back to normal. So what does that mean – “as soon as things get back to normal”? That means that things are not normal right now, and she has already explained why. She’s busy, things are hectic. In a few days, maybe in a couple of weeks, she will be less busy, she will have taken care of everything she needs to take care of now, and she will have some free time to call you and talk to you. As soon as that happens… as soon as things get back to normal, she’ll give you a call.

Let me give you another example: let’s say you’re at work and the phone rings, and you answer it, and it’s Kelly. Kelly is a secretary, an assistant, and she works for the VP of Sales. So Kelly tells you that she’s overheard her boss telling someone that five people in your department are going to be laid off! And you say “What? Are you sure?” And Kelly says “Well, I’m almost sure… Yeah, I’m almost sure he was talking about your department” And then she tells you she’s gonna try to find out more about this, and then she’ll call you again. Now, you’re worried. What if this is true? What if it’s really true that five people in your department are going to be let go? You’re concerned, you’re anxious, and you say “Kelly! As soon as you hear something, call me! Please call me as soon as possible and let me know what’s going on!” Call me immediately, as soon as you hear something about this.

That’s a very, very common expression: as soon as possible. Let me know, as soon as possible. Do this or do that, as soon as possible. In the work environment people many times abbreviate this expression to its initials, A.S.A.P. Sometimes someone will say “Let me know what happens A.S.A.P.”

Here are a few more examples for you:

• Your boss calls you at home and tells you “Something urgent has come up. Come to my office as soon as you get here.”

• Your friends invite you to visit them at their hometown. You can’t go right now because you just started a new job. You tell them “I just got a new job so right now I can’t, but as soon as I get a week off, I’ll be there for sure.

• You are talking to your friend and you tell him what happened this morning. You woke up and while you were having breakfast, you checked your emails. Your mother had emailed you asking you to call her as soon as you woke up.

It’s your turn now. Leave your examples in the comment section. Talk to
you next time!

Key expressions

• I’m swamped
• as soon as…
• as soon as possible

Glossary

the other day = outro dia

kinda like = [kind of like] é meio assim, é tipo, é que nem (expressão informal)

hectic = frenético, super agitado

overheard =ouvi, ouviu (a conversa de outras pessoas)

VP = vice president

people are going to be laid off/let go = pessoas serão mandadas embora

what if…? = e se…?

something has come up = algo aconteceu

get a week off = conseguir uma semana de folga

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Transcrição

Hey, everybody! How’s it going? This is Ana Luiza, with a new episode of the inglesonline
podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download
transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.

Today we have the last episode.. that’s the fourth episode in the series where we talk about past forms of
verbs that end in -ew. You’ve already listenend to podcasts about blew, flew
and grew and today we’re gonna have threw take the stage.

So threw is the past of throw. Threw, t-h-r-e-w. First of all, do you remember what “throw” means? Look at the picture. That man is about to throw a ball. Kids sometimes throw stuff. They love to throw food while they’re eating and sometimes they throw food at the person who’s feeding them!

And we throw stuff away all the time. That usually means we are throwing something in a trash can. For example, last week I cleaned the place where I store old stuff from school, old documents, bills… and I threw a lot of stuff away. I threw it all away. Sometimes we buy something to eat because we think it’s going to taste delicious and then… after the first bite we realize we don’t like it. Has that ever happened to you? That used to happen to me all the time. Once I bought bread at this really fancy bakery. The bread was so expensive that I thought it had to be the best-tasting bread in the world. You know what happened? I had a bite and it was awful. It was so dry and hard that I didn’t even wanna eat the rest of it. I just threw it away.

On another occasion I bought what looked like delicious soup at a supermarket. I was really hungry so when I got home I wasted no time: I heated the soup and started eating it. Well, it tasted awful and I was eating alone, I didn’t have anyone to give the soup to, so I just threw it away. So what do you do when you buy something to eat and then you don’t like it? Do you eat it anyway, to get what you paid for, or do you just throw it away?

OK, now imagine that this is going on: you’re talking to a friend and he’s telling you about a new place in town. It’s a bar, it’s also a restaurant, and it’s really cool. And your friend was there last night and he loved it, so tonight he wants to go again and he wants you to come with him. You’re very excited because you’ve been studying a lot lately for your exams and you haven’t been out with your friends in a while, so you’re really looking forward to this place. Your friend tellls you it’s the best bar he’s been to this year, the music is great, the atmosphere is so awesome… And then you ask your friend what the name of this place is, and your friend tells you “Cemetery Bar and Restaurant! So, how about we meet there at 8?” And you just stand there, in silence.

You were getting so excited about this place, and then your friend told you what it’s called. Cemetery Bar and Restaurant? That was not what you were expecting for a name. Your friend just told you that this place with great food, great people and great music is called Cemetery, and then he suggested you guys meet there at 8. You’re still silent, you’re kinda surprised… that name threw you off a little bit. I mean, you would never expect a great place to eat and meet people to be called Cemetery. That name threw you off a bit. Now you’re wondering if this place is really what your friend says it is. You think your friend may be confused, or maybe he’s making this up… maybe he’s trying to be funny? You can’t believe a bar or a restaurant would be called Cemetery. That name threw you off completely, to be honest. That means that you’re confused, you thought you had a good idea of what this place was all about, but now you’re not so sure. Cemetery? That name threw you off, and you have to ask your friend a few more questions before you’re sure you wanna go there.

Here’s another example: Sally and John have been chatting for thirty minutes, and right now John is inviting Sally to a party on Saturday. He says “I would love for you to come to the party with me! I’m really glad you’re coming. I’m gonna pick you up at 8!” So Sally thinks “Wow, John is so cute! And he just asked me to go to a party on Saturday night! I think he’s into me!” And then John’s cell phone rings and he says “Just a minute, it must be my girlfriend”. And then he starts chatting with his girlfriend on the phone. Well, that just threw you off a little! He seemed so excited to take you to the party and now you find out he has a girlfriend? That totally threw you off and now you don’t know what to think! You’re surprised, you’re confused, you’re thinking maybe you misheard him! Maybe he was saying that he was going to take his girlfriend to the party, and not you!

So tell us about a time when someone said something that completely threw you off: it was something you were not expecting at all, it confused you and you didn’t even know what to say! Also, take a look at the transcript on the website: I’ve included a link to an excerpt of a Friends episode (that means a little piece of a Friends episode) where Ross gets really mad because someone threw his sandwich away. Talk to you next time!

Watch Ross’s sandwich

Key expressions

• throw something away
• it threw me off

Glossary

take the stage = ser o centro das atenções, o foco

fancy = sofisticada

he’s making this up = ele está inventando isso

what this place is all about = como é esse lugar, o que ele representa

he’s into me = ele está interessado em mim

you misheard = você ouviu mal

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Transcrição

Hi everyone! How have you been? This is Ana Luiza, with a new episode of the inglesonline
podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download
transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.

So here’s
episode three in the series where we talk about past forms of
verbs that end in -ew. I’ve already given examples with blew and flew,
and today you’re going to hear examples with grew. Grew is the past of
grow. Grew, g-r-e-w. I guess ‘grow’ is a verb that even basic students are
familiar with. It’s a pretty common word and it doesn’t take long
for beginners to start hearing questions like “Where did you grow up?” So let’s
start with something very basic and then, I’ll talk about a few
expressions with grow.

For example, me. I grew up in São José dos Campos. Where did you grow up? My
sister and I grew up in São José and my cousins grew up in Campinas.
Did you hear that? Grew, g-r-e-w, grew. What about you? Maybe you
grew up in Rio, maybe you grew up in Bahia, maybe in Paraná… Let us
know in the comments where you grew up.

And, here’s a nice way to use this phrasal verb “grow up”: you know when someone is being childish?
When someone is being childish, it means they’re behaving like a child.
Maybe this person is being immature or silly… In Portuguese we might
say something like “Ah, deixa de ser criança”. In English, you can say
“Oh, grow up!”. For example, let’s say your friend wants to go shopping for a new TV and she asked you to come with her. When you’re about to leave home, however, you realize that tomorrow you have an English exam which you had forgotten about, and you still have to prepare for it… otherwise, you might flunk English.

So you call your friend and you explain what’s going on, and she tells you “I can not believe you’re blowing me off like that! You promised you’d come with me! Why are you blowing me off?” Your friend thinks you found something better to do and so you’re simply blowing her off. But that’s not what’s going on at all… You tell her “Mary, I’m not blowing you off! I really forgot all about my English exam. I’m really sorry, but I have to study!” And she says “I know you’re lying. You don’t want to come with me to the mall. Are you afraid we might run into your ex-boyfriend?”. And you say “Oh Mary, grow up! I saw my ex-boyfriend yesterday. I really have to study”. So what you are saying, when you say “Mary, grow up!”… you’re saying, stop being childish. Stop being immature. Don’t be silly. Grow up!

And
here’s another cool expression with grow: something or someone grew on me. Let me give you an
example: when I bought my first mp3 player a few years ago, I didn’t
like it. I thought the controls were hard to find and the menus were
difficult to navigate. Despite not immediately liking it, after using
the player for a while it grew on me. That mp3 player grew on me. What
does that mean? That means that I didn’t like it very much in the
beginning, I wasn’t very impressed with the player, but I started using
it anyway and every time I used it, I liked it a little bit more. I noticed that this player was able to do some cool things, and after a while I realized that I really liked it. So that
mp3 player grew on me. It really grew on me. True story.

Here’s a story I read on the
Internet: a traveler checked into a 5-star hotel in Hong Kong. He was
expecting a very luxurious bedroom, but when he saw his room he was
unimpressed. The furniture wasn’t very new and he had to pay an extra
fee to use the Internet. But here’s what he also said: during his stay,
he had the opportunity to interact with the hotel staff several times
and they were very friendly and helpful. He also said that he was
surprised at how good the breakfast was, and how close the hotel was to
some very nice shopping areas in Hong Kong. So he concluded his little
story by saying “the hotel grew on me”. He thought he didn’t really like
the hotel in the beginning, but during his stay it grew on him.

We
can also use this expression for people. You know when you start
interacting with someone and in the beginning you think you don’t like
them very much? Then as you get to know him or her better and better,
one day you realize you like this person. You can say “Yeah, I didn’t really like him when I joined the company, but he grew on me”.

What are your stories? Tell us about something that grew on you. Talk to you next time!

Key expressions

• grow up!
• it grew on me

Glossary

otherwise = se não

flunk = bombar, ser reprovado em

run into = encontrar de repente, por acaso

despite = apesar de

I started using it anyway = eu comecei a usá-lo mesmo assim

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Hey, what’s up? I’m Ana Luiza, with a new episode of the inglesonline
podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download
transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.

So
today
we have episode two in the series where we talk about past forms of
verbs that end in -ew. Last week, last episode I talked about blew, and on this one
I’m gonna talk about flew. Flew, f-l-e-w. So if you haven’t yet completely internalized the pronunciation of the word “flew”, this is the podcast for you. Pay attention to all the examples, and notice every time I say that word.

Let’s get started: flew is the past form of fly. Birds fly, planes fly, Superman flies… So let’s say this weekend a bunch of your friends are flying in to spend time with you. “They’re flying in” means, they’re coming to where you are by plane. So your friends Jack and Steve flew in this morning. Jennifer flew in last night, and Mary is flying in later today. One more time: your friends Jack and Steve flew in this morning and Jennifer flew in last night.

And here’s a nice saying: Time flies when you’re having fun. We kinda say the same thing in Portuguese, right? Time flies when you’re having fun. So when we wanna tell someone that we were having such a good time doing something, we can say something like “Time flew by”. Or when you’re doing work that requires intense concentration, you know? Time usually flies. An example: I started preparing for an
exam in January. There was so much to study. Time flew by and before I
knew it, I was on my way to take the exam.

Another one: my friends and I went to the beach last weekend. It was so much fun.. time flew by and before we knew it, it was time to come back. So
tell me: when was the last time you were so involved in what you were
doing, that time flew by? Or maybe you were having so much fun, you were enjoying it so much, that time flew by and you didn’t even realize it?
Maybe you were spending time in the company of friends? Watching a great
movie? Cooking? Taking an exam? Counting sheep?

And here’s one more informal expression using fly: when someone flies
off the handle, that means this person has suddenly become very, very
angry. Example: My dad flew off the handle when I showed him my report
card. Again: my dad flew off the handle when I showed him my report
card. You know, report card? That’s the card with all our school grades.
So one more time: my dad flew off the handle when I showed him my report card.
He flew off the handle. What is a handle? What does handle mean? Well,
it has a few different meanings, and one of them is… a handle is the part of an object where you put your hand… so, that’s easy to remember. You grab the handle and then you move the object, or you carry it with you. For example, a door has a handle. Some bottles have handles, a cup has a handle. It’s the part where you put your hand, and, you know… you grab it and then you move the object. So that’s the handle.

So back to that expression: fly off the handle means to get furious all of a sudden. Here’s another example: we were waiting in line to be seated in a very busy restaurant, and at one point the hostess told the couple waiting in front of us that their table would be ready in another thirty minutes. When this guy heard he was gonna have to wait another 30 minutes he just flew off the handle at the hostess, and the thing is, it wasn’t really her fault but the guy just couldn’t contain himself. He had probably been waiting there for a while, so… Anyway, he flew off the handle after the hostess let him know that he would still have to wait.

The last time I saw someone fly off the handle was… at the airport. About six months ago, I was waiting in the checkin line and I heard the airline attendant tell a passenger that his suitcase was over the weight limit and he had the pay the overweight fee. This guy went nuts. He was so angry that he yelled at the poor woman. In other words, he really flew off the handle.

So what are your stories this time? Tell us about the last time someone flew off the handle because of something you told them… or the last time you flew off the handle! And tell us about the last time you were taking an exam, or talking to someone, or watching a movie, and you were so into it that time just flew by. Talk to you next time!

Key expressions

• time flies when you’re having fun
• time flew by
• he flew off the handle

Glossary

before we knew it = quando a gente percebeu

counting sheep = contando ovelhinhas

report card = boletim

you grab = você segura, agarra

went nuts = enlouqueceu

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Transcrição

Hey, what’s up? I’m Ana Luiza, with a new episode of the inglesonline podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.

Today I’m gonna focus a little on pronunciation. This will be the first in a series of episodes where I’m gonna talk about these words: b-l-e-w, f-l-e-w, g-r-e-w, k-n-e-w and t-h-r-e-w. So the words I just spelled out, they are blew, flew, grew, knew and threw. I thought it would be a good idea to focus on these words for some time because this kind of pronunciation, when we have the word b-l-e-w and we say it “blew”… This can be counterintuitive for us Brazilians and other Portuguese speakers. We tend to say it “bliu”, “fliu”, something like that… instead of blew and flew. So let’s hear them! I’m going to actually focus on blew on today’s episode. I’m gonna use blew in many examples, and you’ll have the opportunity to get used to it and the way it is pronounced a little bit more.

So let’s get started. B-l-e-w. Blew is the past form of “blow” and blew, b-l-e-w, is actually pronounced like the color blue. Practically speaking, there’s no difference. One of the meanings of blow has to do with air in motion. For example… you know what blows? The wind. The wind is air in motion, so you can say “The wind was blowing outside”. And we always blow up balloons for kids parties, right? That means we blow air into the balloons so that they’ll get big.

So here’s an expression: something blew me away. B-l-e-w, blew. That means that I was amazed at this thing, I was very moved or I was deeply affected by this thing. For example, people who went to the last U2 concert in Brazil said that it blew them away. The U2 concert blew them away. They left the concert in a state of amazement, they kept talking about the concert for days, they kept thinking about it, they had dreams about the U2 concert… It blew them away, it really blew them away. The first time I visited my sister’s hotel, it blew me away. I was expecting a nice hotel but what I saw just blew me away. It was beautiful and very well decorated, with a lot of attention to detail. It blew me away. I was amazed and very impressed. The hotel blew me away.

Here’s another very informal expression: blow someone off. Let me tell you a story I just read on a magazine to illustrate the meaning of “blowing someone off”: a guy was working out in a gym, and he saw an attractive girl on a treadmill. He decided to approach her and say something, you know, try to talk to her. Well, he did that, and the girl just looked at him for a few seconds and walked away. She blew him off.  The girl blew him off completely.

Here’s another example: you made plans with a friend to go see a movie. You guys talked on the phone a few days ago and you agreed to go see this new blockbuster that just came out. So, as you’re about to leave home, you get a text message from your friend that says “Sorry! Something came up. I can’t make it tonight”. You wonder what happened, so you give your friend a call. His mom answers the phone and she tells you that his ex-girlfriend showed up unexpectedly, and then they decided to go out. So your friend blew you off. He blew you off for his ex-girlfriend.

So here’s a recap: many people told me that the U2 concert blew them away. The first time I visited my sister’s hotel, it blew me away. A guy at the gym approached a girl and she blew him off. And your friend blew you off for his ex-girlfriend. So, what are your stories? Tell us about something that totally blew you away. Or maybe the last time you blew someone off at the last minute…Or tell us about how someone blew you off when you tried to talk to them. Talk to you next time!

Key expressions

• it blew me away
• blow someone off

Glossary

treadmill = esteira (de ginástica)

something came up = ocorreu um imprevisto

I can’t make it = Não dá pra eu ir

unexpectedly = de surpresa, inesperadamente

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Hi, how’s it going? This is Ana Luiza with a new episode of the
inglesonline podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and
download transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast
Inglesonline.

So last week I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts… It’s called Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! and it’s set up like a quiz show where every episode they have two or three famous guests on, and listeners can call in, and all the participants have to answer questions about a certain topic, and there are prizes… It’s a funny show, so it’s a nice one to listen to. And there’s a cool thing about this podcast, which is, although it is not made for learners of English, there are transcripts available for parts of the show. So if you want to check out Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!, go to inglesonline.com.br, look up this episode of the podcast and you’ll find a link to Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!

So I was listening to an old episode last week and they were talking about a group called Men of Tears. So men in this group… they get together and, basically, they cry. Many of the participants haven’t cried since they were little boys, some of them have never cried, so they get together and revisit sad memories and then, they express their sadness through tears. This group’s philosophy is the more men cry, the less anger and violence in the world.

So, first of all, what do you think about that? Honestly, I think it’s a great idea. And I think that American men may have a harder time crying than Brazilian men. I think Brazilian guys cry a little more often than their American counterparts. What do you think? If you’re a guy, when was the last time you cried? And if you’re a woman, do you remember seeing men cry?

Anyway, I thought I’d present you guys with some expressions concerning tears and crying. They’re not depressing, though, so don’t worry. Let’s start with movies. Have you ever cried watching a movie? OK, if you’ve never cried… have you ever just teared up a little while watching a movie? I’m talking about tearing up. Tearing up is not the same as full-on crying; tearing up is just when… a few tears start forming in your eyes. Some people tear up when they watch a touching commercial… What about you?

Here are a few movies that are generally thought of as tear-jerkers. What is a tear-jerker? A tear-jerker is something, usually a movie, that is guaranteed to make most people cry. Do you remember the movie Ghost, with Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze? That’s a tear-jerker. E.T. the Extraterrestrial is probably one of the best-known tear-jerkers in movie history. What is YOUR favorite tear-jerker? Do you even have a favorite tear-jerker?

So let’s say that… maybe you watched these movies and didn’t cry at all. Not a single tear. Or, maybe you teared up a little. Or maybe you were really touched by the story. You were so moved that you cried like a baby. That means you cried a lot, and you probably cried for a while. You cried like a baby. That’s a very common expression – someone might tell you “John and I went to see Xuxa e os Duendes and he cried like a baby! He was really moved.” You know… it happens.

We can also say that John cried his heart out. He cried his heart out. He was sobbing throughout the entire movie. He cried his heart out. So here are my questions for you: Have you watched these movies? Ghost, E.T. and Schindler’s List. These are all famous movies.  So if you have watched them, what was your crying situation by the end of each one of them? Did you not cry at all? Did you tear up a little? Or did you cry like a baby? Let us know in the comments.

Here’s one more expression that I find kinda funny: bored to tears. Let’s say you had class this morning, or read the first chapter of a new book last night, and it was so incredibly boring that you were almost sleeping with your eyes open. So you could say that the class bored you to tears, or that book bored you to tears. It was so boring, so boring, that you started tearing up. Of course that doesn’t usually happen, it’s an exaggeration, but.. it’s a good expression, bored to tears. OK, talk to you next time!

Link: Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!

Key expressions

• tear up
• a tear-jerker
• cry like a baby
• cry your heart out
• bored to tears

Glossary

full-on = de verdade, total

touching = comovente

are generally thought of as = são geralmente considerados

moved = comovido, emocionado

sobbing = soluçando

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Transcrição

Hi, how’s it going? This is Ana Luiza with a new episode of the
inglesonline podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and
download transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast
Inglesonline.

So today let’s talk about one very common verb, one that every English student, even a beginner, knows of: MAKE. And you may think this is a lesson for beginners, but bear with me… If these expressions are not coming out of your mouth automatically yet, you will likely get something out of this podcast.

I’m gonna use a few expressions with “make” and give you a few examples. Let’s get started with the title of this episode. Yeah, the title in Portuguese. You know the meaning of that title. So picture a little girl in front of you. She’s pretending she is someone famous. Let’s say she’s pretending she is Madonna, the singer. So the little girl is dancing and singing, and then she starts speaking as if she was being interviewed. She’s impersonating Madonna, which means, she’s imitating Madonna’s gestures, facial expressions, Madonna’s voice… She’s impersonating Madonna and you are truly impressed. You think this little girl has potential. Now she’s telling you about a school play she’s in, where she plays the lead role. She starts reciting her lines, and once again you’re impressed. You really think she’s talented. You tell her “You are going to make a great actress”. In Portuguese, we could say something like the title of the podcast. So again “You are going to make a great actress”.

Has anyone ever said something like that to you? When I was a kid someone told me “You’re gonna make a great cook”. That didn’t happen, so I have no idea where they got that from, although to be fair my cooking skills have advanced over the years. So here are a few more examples: you see someone practicing a song for an audition, and you know this person’s dream is to become a professional singer. You could say “You’re gonna make a great singer”. You bump into an old friend at a store and she’s pregnant. You have known her since childhood and she’s a very caring person. You could say “You’re gonna make an amazing mom”. You’re spending your Sunday afternoon at the park and you see a little boy playing soccer with his little friends. You think he’s very talented, so you could say “He’s gonna make a great player some day”.

That makes sense, right? There’s another expression with MAKE right here: “that makes sense”. OK, so it makes sense to say “He’s gonna make a great player”. We learn in school that ‘make’ has to do with creating, building something. So you’re gonna make a great actress, you’re gonna make a great mom. He’s gonna make a great player. It makes sense to use MAKE in these sentences. Would you agree?

Now listen to these sentences: the girl got a new doll on her birthday, and that made her happy. Getting a new doll made her happy. The boy missed his favorite TV show today, and that made him sad. Missing the TV show made him sad. Another one: it always makes me happy when my friends give me a call. Or, it always makes me sad when I watch the news on TV.

Here, we’re using MAKE to communicate that something changes your mood. The little girl felt happy after she got the doll. The doll made her happy. The boy felt sad because he missed the TV show. So, missing the show made him sad. Talking to my friends on the phone makes me happy. Watching the news on TV makes me sad. OK, I’m exaggerating but I think you know I mean…

So we use make to communicate that something is supposedly responsible for changing someone’s mood, like in the examples above. And you could also influence someone to change their mind. For example, let’s say your friend wants to drop out of college to become a ballerina. She says she hates ballet, but she heard ballerinas are all multimillionaires, so she’s made up her mind. She’s dropping out of college to join a ballet studio. You talk to her about what it takes to become a ballerina, in particular a successful one. You explain that it takes a lot of really hard work, and she finally realizes that being a ballerina is not for her. She says “Thank you! You made me realize that being a ballerina is not for me”. Again, she says “You made me realize that this is not for me”.

What does that mean? That means you helped her realize, you helped her see the situation more clearly because you gave her additional information, you shared your experience, you explained something she didn’t know much about… you made her see, you made her realize that being a ballerina wasn’t for her. So someone else could say “John made me realize that teaching isn’t as easy as it seems”. Or “Jane told me about her life abroad and she made me realize I’m not ready to leave the country yet”.

So tell us about a moment in your life when someone made you realize something really important. Also, what makes you really happy? I guess it makes us Brazilians really happy when Brazil wins the World Cup, which hasn’t happened in a while, but anyway… Talk to you next time.

Key expressions

• you’re gonna make a great mom
• makes me sad, makes me happy
• you made me realize…

Glossary

bear with me = guenta mão/ fica por aqui

pretending = fingindo

the lead role = o papel principal

caring person = pessoa afetuosa/atenciosa

supposedly = supostamente

isn’t as easy as it seems = não é tão fácil quanto parece

abroad = em um país estrangeiro

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Hi, how’s it going? This is Ana Luiza with a new episode of the inglesonline podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and download transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast Inglesonline.

Today I’m going to talk about a few expressions with the word catch. Catch, c-a-t-c-h. I’m also gonna use the past forms of catch: caught and caught. That’s it: catch, caught, caught. I’ve already used an expression with caught in a previous podcast, “caught me off guard”. So today let’s start with “get caught”.

If you’ve ever been in school, you know that during any given exam there’s always someone cheating. Right? That means, there’s always someone looking at a little piece of paper that has stuff written on it that you were supposed to have memorized for the test. Or there’s someone looking for information in a book while the teacher is not looking. Now, some people are really good at that. They cheat on every test, and they never get caught!

Some criminals never get caught. There was a movie starring Leonardo diCaprio where he played a thief, I think, and the guy went on for years without getting caught. I can’t remember if he ever got caught in real life. I think he did, and nowadays he works as a security consultant or something like that… I’m not sure.

So let me give you an example: let’s say John just arrived at school after a great weekend at the beach and when he gets to the classroom, all his classmates are getting ready for an exam. They’re all sitting at their desks quietly, leafing through their books trying to quickly recap parts of the subject. John senses that something’s up and he asks Mary what’s going on. Mary looks at him, surprised, and says “We’re having an exam in five minutes”. Now, I have to say, this happened to me once when I was in college. I got to school and there was an exam going on which I knew nothing about, but that’s a story for another day. OK, so John forgot all about the exam, he didn’t prepare at all and now he thinks his only chance to do well is to leave the book open under his desk and try to look for the answers during the exam.

But John is not an experienced cheater. Up to now he has never cheated, so, guess what? His first attempt at cheating fails miserably. He’s looking at the first chapter of the book, trying to find the answer to question 1, and all of a sudden he sees his teacher standing right beside him. The teacher says “John, please hand me your exam and head straight to the Principal’s office”. So… John was caught red-handed. In Portuguese we could say “O John foi pego no flagra”. His teacher saw the book under John’s desk, and he saw John looking at the book. John was caught red-handed.

Other examples of being caught red-handed? Let’s say you left your wallet in a room, and left. After a while you come back and you open the door in the exact moment someone is taking money from your wallet. There’s no denying it – you saw it, you saw this guy holding your wallet in one hand and taking money from the wallet with the other had. You caught him red-handed.

Why do we say red-handed? It has to do with catching someone with blood in their hands, which might prove that this person committed a murder, or a crime. So John was cheating and he was caught red-handed, and that guy was taking money from your wallet and you caught him red-handed. And here’s another great way of saying that: John was caught in the act. He was caught in the act (ele foi pego no flagra). John was caught in the act, and you caught that guy in the act when he was trying to steal your money.

So when you catch someone in the act, when you catch someone red-handed… there’s no denying it, right? There’s nothing the person can really say to deny what they were doing. You saw them, you saw what they were doing with your own eyes. You caught them in the act. You caught them red-handed.

So give us your examples. Have you ever been caught in the act of doing something you were not supposed to be doing? Come on, let us know. And before I say good-bye today I’d like to mention two reviews for this podcast at the iTunes store – I saw them the other day and they were both great. One of them was left by Fmcp and it says “Nice English tips specially designed for Brazilian natives learning American English”. The other one was left by E4fun and it says “It’s absolutely the best podcast of English for Brazilian learners. Ana Luiza is a wonderful teacher! Thanks Ana!” Well, it’s my pleasure, thank you guys for the reviews; I appreciate that. And if you’re listening via iTunes, feel free to leave a review, that’s always cool. 

Alright, so talk to you next time!

Key expressions

• get caught
• caught red-handed
• caught in the act

Glossary

during any given exam = em qualquer exame/teste

without getting caught = sem ser pego

leafing through their books = folheando seus livros

senses that = sente que

something’s up = tem algo no ar, algo acontecendo

he’s not an experienced cheater = ele não tem prática em colar (cheater = pessoa que cola)

first attempt at cheating = primeira tentativa de colar

head straight to the Principal’s office = vá diretamente à sala do diretor/a

there’s no denying it = não tem como negar

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Hi, how’s it going? This is Ana Luiza with a new episode of the
inglesonline podcast. To download or just listen to other episodes and
download transcripts, go to inglesonline.com.br and click Podcast
Inglesonline.

Today I was inspired by a sketch I watched on Saturday Night Live the other day. Saturday Night Live is a long-running sketch comedy show that has been on TV for several years. Sketch comedy show is… well, Casseta e Planeta is a sketch comedy show, TV Pirata was a sketch comedy show. I think some sketches are funny and some aren’t, but overall I like Saturday Night Live. OK, so from now on, I’m gonna say only SNL, OK? SNL stands for Saturday Night Live.

So the other day I saw an old SNL sketch where one of the actors played George W. Bush, back when he was President of the US, and a journalist asked President Bush what his plans were for Iraq. Bush basically said that he didn’t know, but was considering the possibility of restoring Saddam Hussein into power. And remember, this is a comedy show and this sketch is old! So Bush said he was considering putting Saddam Hussein in charge again. After all, he said, Saddam is experienced and he would hit the ground running.

Listen again: Saddam is an experienced guy, and he would hit the ground running. Hit the ground running… what does that mean? When someone hits the ground running, let’s say, on their first day at a new job, it means this person is ready! For example, let’s say today is Jack’s first day on his new job as a sales director for an insurance company. Jack is a very experienced manager and he’s worked in the insurance industry for two decades. So he doesn’t need any training because he knows everything there is to know about the business. He knows the ins and outs of this job. He knows the ropes. Again: he knows the ins and outs of this job. He knows the ropes. That means he knows what the job is, he knows what he has to do, he knows how it works, he knows the details, the secrets, the mechanics of the job.

So what happened to Jack on his first day at the new job? He hit the ground running. He got there at 8 o’clock, called a meeting with all his new employees and one hour later he was on the phone talking to some big clients. After that he had a private meeting with each and every one of his employees where they discussed what was being done and how they could improve their work. Jack definitely hit the ground running, right? He hit the ground running.

Jack knows the ropes. He didn’t need anyone to show him the ropes. When someone starts a new job, usually they need a more experienced person to show them the ropes. This is a very common expression. Every time you start in a new position, even if it’s a volunteer position, it’s great when there’s someone to show you the ropes. You know, every office, every organization has their own way of doing things. You have to know where they keep important documents, how to use the software system, how to use the company intranet… the ropes.

So if you get hired by a company where everyone speaks English, someone may tell you on your first day: Hi, I’d like to introduce you to Silvia. She’s gonna be your mentor in your first two moths. She’s very experienced and she’s been with us for eight years. She will show you the ropes.

So what are your examples? When you started in your current job… Who showed you the ropes? Do you know all the ins and outs of your activity? Are you an expert? Let us know in the comments. Talk
to you next time!

Key expressions

• hit the ground running
• ins and outs
• the ropes

Glossary

long-running = já dura há muito tempo

back when he was = lá quando ele era