Labyrinth of language learning

We all have our favourite words and phrases, sometimes to the extent that people can identify us by the things we always say. In the same way languages have what I call resonance words and phrases - they come up all the time and evoke a response in the hearers . This is about more than the plain meaning of words. To use another metaphor, these are words and phrases which native speakers will gravitate towards, go-to vocabulary and constructions. Let me give you some examples so you know what I am talking about. If I say, "That is the same as what I am talking about," it sounds stilted, foreign, doesn't it? But if I say, " That's what I am talking about ," it immediately connects. Or if, in the present context, I were to say, "We are paying attention to the curve," it would be understandable, but if I said, " We are keeping our eye on the curve," it just sounds more English. I recently translated a text which spoke, literally, of a c...

I am pretty sure we have all faced it. You want to say something in a foreign language and then you realise you don't know a crucial word or phrase - or just cannot express what you want to say. I call this the road block .   Here are some examples of English words and phrases which may be difficult to convey in a foreign language (if you are a non-native speaker of English, maybe you find these difficult to understand): - I relish a challenge. - Integrity - To heckle - Faced with this problem.... - To patronise (i.e. an unwelcome condescending attitude) - A brief (i.e. a short description of a task to complete) - To overstate a case - To embrace the future This list is potentially endless. I have just shared my latest list of words and phrases - which in this case are fairly abstract - to be able to translate into my foreign languages. (If you have any ideas or thoughts about these you could Facebook message me www.facebook.com/russelljamesphillips) Any...