Confusing words: Big, Great, High, Large or Tall?

Word Explanation Example  big large in size, degree or amount  a big stone  great much bigger than average  a great success a great time  high measurement from the  bottom to the top; greater than normal  a high mountain a high level  large big in size and quantity  a large country a large number of people… Read More

Erros comuns em inglês de alunos brasileiros + 100 exercícios + gabarito

É absolutamente normal alunos traduzirem diretamente do seu idioma para o inglês. Isso acontece não somente no Brasil, mas em todos os países onde se aprende inglês. No caso de alunos brasileiros, é possível identificar alguns desses “portuguesismos”: Nós estávamos sem carro. O que os estudantes brasileiros costumam dizer: They were without a car. O correto é: They didn´t have a car. Eu estava com frio. O que os estudantes brasileiros costumam dizer: I was with cold. O correto é: I was cold. Eu fiquei esperando por ela durante uma… Read More

Good Night’s Sleep Improves Learning

Researchers from Royal Holloway, University of London have found that successful long-term learning happens after classroom teaching, after the learners have slept on the new material. Academics from the Department of Psychology at Royal Holloway taught a group of people new words from a fictional language, which unknown to them, was characterised by a rule… Read More

Ambiguity in Language: the Advantage

Cognitive scientists develop a new take on an old problem: why human language has so many words with multiple meanings. Why did language evolve? While the answer might seem obvious — as a way for individuals to exchange information — linguists and other students of communication have debated this question for years. Many prominent linguists,… Read More

When do you use i.e., and when do you use e.g. and what do they mean?

Question: When do you use i.e., and when do you use e.g., and what do they mean? Answer: The Latin abbreviations “i.e.” and “e.g.” come up very frequently in writing and would probably come up more often if people were more sure of when it is right to use “i.e.” and when “e.g.” is required.… Read More

Confusing words: Latter and Former

Former comes before latter. The word itself means “coming before in time” or “preceding in place or arrangement”. If you were to say George Bush is the “former” president of the United States, the word has the same meaning in that sentence… He came before the current president. If I say, “I like apples and oranges, but I prefer… Read More

BIRD GEI: Pesquisa de Proficiência em Inglês no Brasil – 2013

A BIRD GEI | Consultoria e Gestão de Idiomas está divulgando a 9ª Pesquisa de Produtividade no Aprendizado de Idiomas no Brasil. Acompanhamos anualmente o desempenho, indicadores e resultados de aproximadamente 3.000 funcionários patrocinados pelas mais diversas empresas, mapeando e quantificando o aproveitamento e a produtividade dos alunos. Na pesquisa atual, que abrange o ano de 2013,… Read More

Do infants judge others’ language proficiency?

Monolingual infants expect others to understand only one language, an assumption not held by bilingual infants, a study by researchers at New York University and McGill University has found. “Our results not only offer insight into infants’ perception of linguistic abilities, but, more importantly, may help us better understand whom they see as good communication… Read More

How information moves between cultures

  Networks that map strength of connections between languages predict global influence of their speakers. By analyzing data on multilingual Twitter users and Wikipedia editors and on 30 years’ worth of book translations in 150 countries, researchers at MIT, Harvard University, Northeastern University, and Aix Marseille University have developed network maps that they say represent… Read More