English at work: FALSE FRIENDS to avoid

In most cases, speaking and understanding English at work can become a real headache, especially if your ear is not trained to achieve it without difficulty.


As we already told you in our post on Business English or in our post on the importance of English in figures, more than 70% of job offers require a requirement to speak the language fluently. In other words, you have to be clear that even if you are the best in your professional field, to communicate your achievements and progress in your career, you need to speak English.


Not learning it can be a serious detriment. If someone asks you how a certain project is going and you answer that it is an exit, you better take the exit door yourself. At BrainLang we are very practical English, so we are going to summarize 10 common mistakes to avoid when speaking English at work.

You may Read also what does wtw mean in texting

English at work for beginners = Don't look for Mr. Best Regards

To begin, keep in mind that not mastering English can lead to significant skidding. Let's hope this is a fake and that, if it is not, they will manage to pick up the person who landed ...


"How is your level of English?"

-High.

—Okay, I'll send you an email from the client, go pick him up at the airport.

"Okay." pic.twitter.com/54BUtKT7H3


Any formal correspondence ends with Best regards. The thing about this tweet is as if we were sending an Englishman to look for Mr. Kind regards. It is not only a lack of level, it is a lack of English culture, which, fortunately, at BrainLang we have a good assortment.


English at work: Beware of False Friends

English False Friends at Work

False Friends, also called cognate in English, are words that are similar, by writing or pronunciation, but whose meaning has nothing to do with what we had imagined. That is why it is called "false friends", because when you think that everything is fine between you and you know them, they show their true face and give you a dirty stab. Pay attention!


💡Table of contents


1 Top 5 worst mistakes with English at work

2 English at Work: 10 False Friends to Avoid

Top 5 worst mistakes with English at work

Top 5 worst mistakes with English at work

Constipated

Saying you're constipated can be a good excuse for not going to work. However, if you tell your American boss, he will imagine that you have intestinal transit problems since it means "constipated." Instead, use I have got a cold to say you have a cold.


Annoying

At work we tend to "annoy" almost everyone, so be careful with the repercussions if you complain that someone does it and you are wrong, because annoy means " sexually harass" It... Better to use disturb, bother or upset.


Carpet

The same can happen to you if you talk about documents on the carpet. Carpet is not a "folder", it is a carpet. Do you really have those important documents lying around? Now you understand why the Red Carpet is so famous, right? ... For a folder his thing is to say file.


Carpet

Abstract

Its real meaning is "Summary." Be careful, this meaning only accepts abstract as a noun, as an adjective this term does mean abstract. Simply, the most common confusion, is that if you are asked for an abstract you do not have to rack your brains to make a surreal painting, you just have to be concise.


Date

If what you mean is data, use data. Of course, be careful with this. It's not the same thing that someone asks you to date, someone, you ask for a date.


Date

English at work: 10 false friends to avoid

Jam

Working breakfast abroad. Someone asks for jam and they bring him ham. Or vice versa. It is very easy to think that jam must be the ham in English. But no, it's the jam. Ham is ham. Keep that in mind.


Jam

Signature

No, you haven't been back to school. Although it seems subject ( Subject), its meaning is "Signature".


Advertise

Although it may seem that you are being warned, it means "advertise", a very common term especially if you are working on something related to advertising.


Billion

For us, a trillion is a million million. However, in English, a billion corresponds to a billion. They are three zeros of the difference! Watch out for balance sheets or this confusion won't be so much fun. In Oxford Dictionaries they tell us very clearly and with many zeros.



Envy

If you want to talk about sending an email, use sent. Don't say envy, as this false friend really means "Envy."


Career

This term refers to the professional career, not the degree completed at the university. It is very easy to fall into this trap, but it is not the same. If you want to talk about a career in the university, the correct thing is that you say degree.


Lecture

No, when they tell you that a lecture is scheduled, they are not inviting you to a reading ( Reading ) or to a poetry recital, but to a lecture.


Target

It is more common than it seems to confuse target with Card when what you mean is "Target".


Enter

Saying "I'm going to introduce you to someone" is not the same as "I'm going to introduce you to someone." Rest assured, the insert would be inserted. What they want is to introduce you to someone.


On the other hand, memorizing the conflicting words gives poor results. The best thing is to know them in their use, directly in English, as you will find them in our videos created by professional scriptwriters.

4 Tips to Learn Phrasal Verbs Faster

After having explained what Phrasal Verbs are in another article already here on the blog, now I will share other English tips that will help you learn Phrasal Verbs faster and without having to spend hours and hours trying to memorize lists of verbal phrases.

from my own experience, do not believe that memorizing Phrasal Verbs lists is the best way to learn and understand them, so I recommend that you read these tips I will give you, as you can be sure that if followed with effort and dedication, they will help you to have impressive results in their English language skills

Why Learn Phrasal Verbs?

If phrasal verbs are that complicated, why should I learn them? Perhaps you are asking yourself this question, but know that these verbs are used a lot by native English speakers. Furthermore, this is one of the reasons why people say they studied English, but when they arrive in the United States they cannot understand much, they get lost, they cannot communicate in English.

The Phrasal Verbs are used in the everyday life of native speakers as in more formal terms too, so because of its complexity is very important that you start to study and learn to identify them now, which can then be more difficult.

To get you started, let's look at some simple tips you can apply to your reading and studying English to learn Phrasal Verbs faster.

Watch the particles

The key to learning most Phrasal Verbs in many cases lies in looking at the particles that the verbs come with. Below I will give 2 examples so you can get an idea.

Global warming has been going up in recent years.– Global warming has been increasing in recent years.

After 3 days in the hospital, Steve got over.– After three days in the hospital, Steve recovered.

After having explained what Phrasal Verbs are in another article already here on the blog, now I will share other English tips that will help you learn Phrasal Verbs faster and without having to spend hours and hours trying to memorize lists of verbal phrases.

I, from my own experience, do not believe that memorizing Phrasal Verbs lists is the best way to learn and understand them, so I recommend that you read these tips I will give you, as you can be sure that if followed with effort and dedication, they will help you to have impressive results in their English language skills.

4 Tips to Learn Phrasal Verbs Faster

Are you studying phrasal verbs correctly?

Why Learn Phrasal Verbs?

If phrasal verbs are that complicated, why should I learn them? Perhaps you are asking yourself this question, but know that these verbs are used a lot by native English speakers. Furthermore, this is one of the reasons why people say they studied English, but when they arrive in the United States they cannot understand much, they get lost, they cannot communicate in English.

The Phrasal Verbs are used in the everyday life of native speakers as in more formal terms too, so because of its complexity is very important that you start to study and learn to identify them now, which can then be more difficult.


To get you started, let's look at some simple tips you can apply to your reading and studying English to learn Phrasal Verbs faster.

Watch the particles

The key to learning most Phrasal Verbs in many cases lies in looking at the particles that the verbs come with. Below I will give 2 examples so you can get an idea.

Global warming has been going up in recent years.– Global warming has been increasing in recent years.

After 3 days in the hospital, Steve got over.– After three days in the hospital, Steve recovered.

Explanation: You could understand the Phrasal Verbs of the above two examples just by their particles. In fact, if you have the basic knowledge of certain particles, then it's much easier to understand Phrasal Verbs.

Note the verb too

Sooner or later you will notice that in some Phrasal Verbs the particles are just for decoration, not representing any meaning to the verb. In these cases, only the verb has the full meaning. For example, look at these two sentences below and try to figure out the meaning of the Phrasal Verbs in each one.


The coffee machine broke down yesterday.

The children were running about the park.

In the above sentences, you can identify the meaning of Phrasal Verbs just by looking at the verbs. The particles are only there for decoration (I usually think they are there to make English more natural and interesting). Now see your translations.


The coffee machine stopped working yesterday.

Children were running/playing in the park.

After having explained what Phrasal Verbs are in another article already here on the blog, now I will share other English tips that will help you learn Phrasal Verbs faster and without having to spend hours and hours trying to memorize lists of verbal phrases.

I, from my own experience, do not believe that memorizing Phrasal Verbs lists is the best way to learn and understand them, so I recommend that you read these tips I will give you, as you can be sure that if followed with effort and dedication, they will help you to have impressive results in their English language skills.

4 Tips to Learn Phrasal Verbs Faster

Are you studying phrasal verbs correctly?

Why Learn Phrasal Verbs?

If phrasal verbs are that complicated, why should I learn them? Perhaps you are asking yourself this question, but know that these verbs are used a lot by native English speakers. Furthermore, this is one of the reasons why people say they studied English, but when they arrive in the United States they cannot understand much, they get lost, they cannot communicate in English.

The Phrasal Verbs are used in the everyday life of native speakers as in more formal terms too, so because of its complexity is very important that you start to study and learn to identify them now, which can then be more difficult.

To get you started, let's look at some simple tips you can apply to your reading and studying English to learn Phrasal Verbs faster.

Watch the particles

The key to learning most Phrasal Verbs in many cases lies in looking at the particles that the verbs come with. Below I will give 2 examples so you can get an idea.

Global warming has been going up in recent years.– Global warming has been increasing in recent years.

After 3 days in the hospital, Steve got over.– After three days in the hospital, Steve recovered.

Explanation: You could understand the Phrasal Verbs of the above two examples just by their particles. In fact, if you have the basic knowledge of certain particles, then it's much easier to understand Phrasal Verbs.

Note the verb too

Sooner or later you will notice that in some Phrasal Verbs the particles are just for decoration, not representing any meaning to the verb. In these cases, only the verb has the full meaning. For example, look at these two sentences below and try to figure out the meaning of the Phrasal Verbs in each one.

The coffee machine broke down yesterday.

The children were running about the park.

In the above sentences, you can identify the meaning of Phrasal Verbs just by looking at the verbs. The particles are only there for decoration (I usually think they are there to make English more natural and interesting). Now see your translations.

The coffee machine stopped working yesterday.

Children were running/playing in the park.

note the context

One of the most important points that I always like to emphasize, whether in Phrasal Verbs or idioms, is related to the context of the sentence.

When reading a text or listening to a dialogue in English, try to ask yourself what is being said, ask what the main topic is, what are people talking about? What is being discussed?

Once you understand what the main theme of a given text is, it will be much easier for you to understand the Phrasal Verbs that are being used. Let's see how this works in practice.

You may also be interested to learn about English irregular verbs

Write a synonym beside

Once you understand how Phrasal Verbs are structured, knowing how to observe their meaning both by their particles and in their context, it is ideal that you write down the synonyms of the verbal sentences you have learned.

This makes it easier for you to understand when reading in English, helps you remember faster, and also increases your vocabulary even more.

Here's how you can write it down in your vocabulary notebook:
To do up - Renovate, modernize

Synonym - To refurbish, to improve

Our neighbors have just finished doing up their flat and it looks so much nicer!- Our neighbors just renovated their apartment and it is much prettier.

Conclusion

As you may have noticed in these 4 tips above, none of them tells you that you should make a list of Phrasal Verbs English – Portuguese and try to memorize everything, thinking that you will learn or improve your English that way.

The best thing is to go little by little, a language should not be something for yesterday, but something that, although it requires a lot of effort and dedication, can be done with patience and good use.