Top 3 Common Business English Expressions

Top 3 Common Business English Expressions
A few months ago, I had the pleasure to have a conversation with the ESL teacher, Business English Coach, and Ph.D. in Germanic Languages Uliana Tykha. We talked about her Instagram blog, business English, ESL, methods of improving English, useful English expressions, and teaching English online.
In this abstract, I would like to share with you 3 English business expressions which we discussed with Uliana. 
– Uliana, I know that you are a business English teacher, so could you share with us the top three business English expressions? 
– There are so many of them that I really like, but the ones that I would like to share with you today will be the first one:
<ol style="text-align: justify;">
<li>To make a killing, which means to get great financial success, so we can say that the company made a killing on this retail project.</li>
</ol>
– I heard this expression. It's probably like “to break the bank”. 
– Yes, to have a breakthrough in business, yes, to have great financial success.
– Unfortunately, I didn't make a killing because I was afraid and withdrew my money from Bitcoin, and Bitcoin skyrocketed. How stupid I was. I didn't make a killing.
– Yes, this is a risky business to invest yes all your savings in some digital currency.
– Yes, but we say: “who doesn't take a risk, that doesn't drink champagne”.
– It would be nice to know how it sounds in English, maybe they have some good alternative to this expression.
– Yeah, that's right, maybe the similar expression is “hit or miss”.
– So another one is rather informal, but I really like it.
<ol style="text-align: justify;" start="2">
<li>To go belly up means you can imagine when something goes belly up. So basically it fails, or the company goes bankrupt. You can imagine it like an animal is dying, they're going belly up. So this is the origin of this expression. It means to fail or to go bankrupt. </li>
</ol>
– This expression is when some fish can go belly up, a fish or turtle, but this is associated with the kind of cockroaches. 
– You can say that a lot of businesses have gone belly up during this pandemic, maybe some restaurant chains.
– Yes, and things like catering businesses went belly up. However, delivery businesses are making a killing.
– Yes, for sure, definitely yes. Okay, and number three is to talk shop. 
<ol style="text-align: justify;" start="3">
<li>To talk shop means to discuss something related to your work, some matters related to your work when it is not quite appropriate when you're outside your work where you're not in the office. So you can be talking about your job when people are not interested in that and say, Mark, stop talking shop, we are not in the office. </li>
</ol>
– Yeah, something like that, and we would say: “oh, good for you” (laughing).
– It means to annoy a person by always discussing your business-related matters, maybe at home, maybe among your friends. This is to talk shop. These are the expressions that I really like, but there are so many of them, you can check them up on my Instagram page of course. 
– As far as I know, you are a business English coach for some successful international companies. What are your methods of teaching business English, and what does your business English class look like?
– So I would say at the beginning that I'm trying to focus on the specific needs of my clients or students and some learning outcomes because there are so many requests from them: some people speak English, but they need English as a means to achieve some specific career-related goals, for example, they need to communicate in English in their work environment.  Someone is looking for a job and needs to have an interview in English. Some people are traveling and having these business trips, and they need to be able to communicate in this international business environment, to have this business small talk, things like that. Some people, like managers at some companies, need English to get some customers or clients from abroad. I tried to design our recessions, basically to customize the sessions to meet these specific needs and, of course, apart from this, functional language and this specific business vocabulary we're also trying to develop the awareness of different communication strategies in business, to develop an awareness of some communication issues like building rapport, some customer service communication managing conversations and so on, and also we are developing some important business skills like negotiating, presenting ideas resolving some conflicts, things like that, so English as a means of communication in an international business environment. And on top of this, we are also discussing a lot of realistic business cases, so with all these things integrated into our sessions, these business people have excellent results, and I'm very happy when they give me their feedback and say to me that I was abroad, and I'm extremely happy when they give me this feedback and um tell me that, for example, they managed to get some clients from abroad that they were extremely difficult to reach out to because of some lack of you know professional business communication and our recessions really brought them a lot of value. So this is basically how it works, and I'm really enjoying it.
– Thanks a lot, Uliana. It was nice to talk to you! 
– It was nice to talk to you, too, Mark! You are welcome!

Mark T.

Top 4 Common IT Terms in English

Top 4 Common IT Terms in English
Not so long time ago, I had an exciting talk with Mykhailo Seniutovych who is a professional Ukrainian programmer, great traveler, and dancer. 
I kindly asked him to share with us some common IT terminology programmers use at work. 
– Mykhailo, since you are a professional programmer, could you give us some useful words or collocations or maybe idioms that would be helpful for English learners and for programmers as well?
– I guess the first thing, probably you heard about it, it's called a bug. 
<ol style="text-align: justify;">
<li>Bug. So if the program doesn't work properly right, if its functionality is broken, we call that a program has a bug. So this program is so hard to use because it has so many bugs. There are many meanings of the word “bug” but probably this is not the primary meaning here. That's why I want to give you a story about why it's called the box, so a bug is this small insect that we probably all know of beetle. I think it's a synonym. So why is it called the bug? Back in the 1950s when those first computers were created, those first computers were huge, they took up whole rooms that were taken by computers and once one of those computers didn't work, and they didn't understand what was going on they started to look inside the computer, and they've literally found a bug in the inside like this insect little animal. From that point on they started to call like when some malfunction happens, they would say it's a bug, but that's where it came from, which is an interesting story. </li>
</ol>
– There is another meaning to the word “bug”. Probably someone is bugging us. It means they have a bug and if it's our private conversation and someone can be bugging us. So, it’s the third meaning of the word “bug”.
– Yeah, that's good to know. Well, I am talking about the context of programming, and if we talk about this word bug, you can there is also another word to debug. 
<ol style="text-align: justify;" start="2">
<li>Debug. I need to debug a program and usually, it means that you sort of need to examine the code you sort of run the program slowly kind of line by line, and just see where the problem is where this bug is, so you debug your program. </li>
</ol>
– Well, maybe the explanation would be to identify a bug?
– It's more or less a good explanation, but sometimes you debug a program just to understand how it works better. So it can be used in this context, but “debug” is like the thing that every programmer does and everyone knows.
– Alright, so what’s the next one?
– The next one is a feature. 
<ol style="text-align: justify;" start="3">
<li>Feature. You probably know this word, but in the context of programming, we say that if the program has some rich functionality, like on Facebook, let's say you can send messages to many people at once. So we can say Facebook has a feature to send more multiple messages to multiple users. It's a piece of functionality that the program has and usually when we, as programmers, create our programs, we create a list of these features that the program should have. So in the context of Facebook that would be like you can send messages to one user, send messages to many users, can add friends, and all of these things. These all would be features. </li>
</ol>
– What about in everyday life because I think that the feature has a lot of other meanings?
– Yes, you tell me, you're the English teacher here (laughing). 
– Well, I'm an English teacher with a feature, with many features. So I can talk, I can hear, I can read, I can listen, I can write. It can also be facial features. Probably in this context, everybody knows the word “feature”.
– Yeah, so it's pretty much similar in the context of programs, but it's just something that we use all the time when we write our programs. There is always work like what features this program should have. So it's a very commonly used word among programmers. 
<ol style="text-align: justify;" start="4">
<li> Deploy it to production. And the last one that I've got is what you do when you write your code, you write a program, and then it's ready to go live and for users to use it. When that happens, we say we deploy it to production. So “to deploy” means to kind of like place it somewhere. That's what the word “deploy” means: to place it at some place, and we say “to production” because this is a production environment so usually when we write programs there are different environments. There is a test environment, so the test environment is where the program is being tested. So if I just created some program, but I'm not sure if it works well or badly, I usually give it to testers, but it would not be available for every user, it would be available only for people who will test this program and once they test this program, it's good it works fine. Only then do we release it. So we deploy the program to production, and again that's a thing that is used very often if your program can be deployed.</li>
</ol>
– Thank you, Mykhailo, for such a fruitful conversation!
– You are welcome!

25 Common Collocations with "Go" without Prepositions

25 Common Collocations with "Go" without Prepositions
The collocation is a group of 2 or more words that usually go together.
Today, let’s have a look at 25 collocations with “go” without prepositions:
<ol>
<li> Go bald – lose one’s hair</li>
</ol>
   E.g. He’ll probably go bald in his thirties, as his father did.
   Unfortunately, some of my friends started going bald at 25 and were completely bald by 35.
   I think nobody wants to go bald at a young age.
<ol start="2">
<li> Go insane – become mentally ill; to go crazy – often used in an exaggerated way.</li>
</ol>
   E.g. If he doesn’t stop yelling like that, I’m going to go completely
   insane/crazy!
   I sometimes think I’m going insane (= I feel very confused)
<ol start="3">
<li> Go missing – run away, disappear, vanish, become lost or absent</li>
</ol>
   E.g. The train went missing in the smog.
   My jewelry has gone missing, and I want to call the police!
   – How did the cat go missing? – I have no idea!
<ol start="4">
<li> Go overseas – go abroad</li>
</ol>
   E.g. You have to be over 18 to go overseas in this country.
   Internships allow bright students to go overseas and gain experience
   In leading universities.
   We don’t need to go overseas to meet people who don’t care about
   The environment.
<ol start="5">
<li> Go bankrupt – be unable to pay one’s debts; have no money</li>
</ol>
   E.g. That company went bankrupt/went broke.
   Jack went bankrupt/broke after just 2 years in business.
   The lockdown has led to lots of businesses going bankrupt.
   I’ll go bankrupt with such a wife like you are!
<ol start="6">
<li> Go out of business – stops doing business permanently, especially</li>
</ol>
   Because it has failed; not in working order, inoperative
   E.g. If you give everything for free, we’ll soon go out of business.
   John went out of business when he turned 35.
   The slot machine seems to be out of business tonight.
<ol start="7">
<li> Go astray – go away from the correct path or correct way of doing something; become lost</li>
</ol>
   E.g. The parcel might have gone astray in the mail.
   A lot of items of the post being sent to him have gone astray.
   I guess my suitcase has gone astray. Somebody might have taken it
   By mistake.
<ol start="8">
<li> Go bad – become spoiled; some food is not fresh enough to eat or drink; become unpleasant or unfavorable; begin to engage in some illegal matters.</li>
</ol>
   E.g. It seems that the jam has gone bad. You need to throw it away.
   They can’t speak with each other anymore. Their relationship has gone bad.
   They always seem so annoyed with each other. I bet their relationship
   Has gone bad.
   If that student continues being a friend of those criminals, he will go bad.
<ol start="9">
<li> Go home – go to your place</li>
</ol>
   E.g. If you have nothing to do, just go home.
   I’m so tired. Let’s go home.
   One can’t travel so long. Sooner or later they’d like to go home.
<ol start="10">
<li> Go downtown – go to the central part of the city; be arrested or go to jail.</li>
</ol>
   E.g. You might want to go downtown with me. I’m bored staying at home.
   If I were you, I’d go downtown to watch an interesting gig.
   George went downtown after being caught robbing the bank.
<ol start="11">
<li>Go north, go south, go west, go east</li>
</ol>
    Would you rather go north or go south?
   You’d better go west than go east. 
   “Go west” is a good song by “Pet Show Boys”.
<ol start="12">
<li> Go viral </li>
</ol>
   If a video, image, or story goes viral. It spreads quickly and widely on the internet through social media and email.
   E.g. His video went viral with 100 million views. 
   What should he do to make his video viral? 
   I can’t believe that the video with the fluffy cat went viral. 
<ol start="13">
<li>Go straight – Literally, to move forward in the direction one is facing.</li>
</ol>
   E.g. Just go straight, turn left, and you’ll see the shop. 
   Slang To begin to respect the law after a period of crime.
   At last, he started to go straight after spending 10 years in prison. 
   Slang To stop taking drugs.
   If you don’t go straight, you’ll get addicted to those kinds of drugs really fast. 
<ol start="14">
<li>Go left – go to the left side,</li>
<li>Go right – go to the right side</li>
</ol>
   E.g. Go left, then go straight, and then go right, and you’ll see me standing near the University. 
<ol start="16">
<li>Go up  1. To increase.</li>
</ol>
   E.g. Car prices have gone up abruptly, so probably we’ll sell our car.
   If the temperature goes up to 30 degrees Celsius, we’ll have to buy an AC. 
<ol start="2">
<li>To walk over or up to something.</li>
</ol>
    E.g. Please go up to me, and I’ll show you how to fix your device. 
    I'll just go up to the salesman and ask how much this vacuum costs.
<ol start="3">
<li>To climb or ascend something.</li>
</ol>
    E.g. His dad went up the ladder, wasn’t careful, and fell down.
<ol start="17">
<li>Go down. 1. To lower, sink, or fall.</li>
</ol>
    E.g. After the sun goes down, we should throw a party!
    Shares in the company went down after Chinese sanctions. 
<ol start="2">
<li>To occur, happen, or unfold, as an event or action.</li>
</ol>
    E.g. We need to clarify what went down there before we change our strategy. 
<ol start="18">
<li>Go shopping means that your intentions are to buy things or purchase new versions of something. </li>
</ol>
   E.g. You need to go shopping for a new dress. 
   She likes to go shopping on the weekend. 
   We went shopping for some presents at the mall
<ol start="19">
<li>Go running – go jogging</li>
</ol>
   E.g. Let’s go running. The weather is awesome. 
<ol start="20">
<li>Go swimming – to have intentions to swim </li>
</ol>
   E.g. If I were you, I’d definitely go swimming.
<ol start="21">
<li> Go snowboarding – to ride on the snowboard</li>
</ol>
   E.g. I would rather go snowboarding than staying at home.
<ol start="22">
<li>Go skating – to ride on skates</li>
</ol>
   E.g. When I was younger, I would go skating.
<ol start="23">
<li> Go dancing – to dance with someone</li>
</ol>
   E.g. I’d like to go dancing with you. 
<ol start="24">
<li>Go skiing – to hit the slopes</li>
</ol>
   E.g. Going skiing is often dangerous.
<ol start="25">
<li> Go fishing – to go somewhere to catch fish</li>
</ol>
 E.g. When was the last time you went fishing? 
Write down your 5 examples with the collocations without prepositions in the comments below.

Priceless Tips on Improving 4 Language Skills for the IELTS 

Priceless Tips on Improving 4 Language Skills for the IELTS 
Lately, I’ve had an interesting interview with one of the best English teachers in Pakistan, a TESOL Certified Instructor, M.A. in English language and literature in 2 universities: Arizona State University and the University of Karachi Kashif Hussein. We talked about how to master the English language quickly and how to prepare for the IELTS very well.
– Many people are leaving their countries and taking the IELTS (General or Academic). How do you study your students for the IELTS? What methods do you use? Do you teach English by the book or do you have your own program?
– I really appreciate this million-dollar question, and most IELTS students keep searching for that answer from experts. I would like to take your two minutes in order to give the answer to this question as this is something which I need to elaborate on right well. 
Concerning the IELTS, there are four skills that the British Council and other examination bodies take the test: reading writing, speaking, and listening:
<ol style="text-align: justify;">
<li>Reading If I talk about reading first, so in reading there are different materials that we have available in our surroundings. It’s also worth mentioning that if you want to improve your spoken skills, so you need to read different articles, newspapers, blogs magazines research papers, etc. right. This is one of the most significant things that you can do for the reading. Another one is that the reading should be for understanding. Reading should not be for the sake of reading. Reading should be for the sake of understanding, and in order to read some articles try to go for the plethora of reading. If you like novels, dramas, fiction or non-fiction stories, or you can say research papers, economic conditions, economical articles, whatever you want to read, just try to read it out.</li>
<li>Writing. Another one is writing, which is one of the most important things in which most people face difficulty in learning and preparing for the exam. So for the writing, I always suggest my students write an essay about their lives first. It has certain steps that they have to follow:</li>
</ol>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<li>the first step is to write about your daily routine to write about your friends family members your business, about your office colleague; </li>
<li>another one is if they want to get excellence in writing, so they must write, they must go for academic writing. There are certain topics that we have here like nowadays. COVID is very in, many writers are writing on it, and if you want to get a space in writing, so you can go for the burning topics that are very-very common in this era.</li>
</ul>
<ol style="text-align: justify;" start="3">
<li>Speaking. Another one is speaking. You must speak as much as you can. Don't worry about the grammar at the very first stage. At first, try to make yourself habitual of spoken English whether you're talking with natives or non-natives you're talking with your friends, colleagues, or anybody, just try to have a conversation with them on a daily basis, as this is something which requires high concentration. So you need to go for this thing.</li>
<li>Listening. In order to improve your listening skills, you can go for listening to clips. There are certain clips that are easily available on Google on different search engines, so you can quickly jump on that and try to find out the best listening audios for yourself, and side by side you can solve some exercises which can be helpful for you in order to practice listening skills. </li>
</ol>
So that's how I usually prepare my students for the IELTS exam. There are certain other steps that I take for the students' requirements because the students are not the same. Some students are good at writing, some are good at reading some are good at speaking, but there is room for improvement. So I just try to fill that gap which I personally believe that students must need it. 
– Do you give them any connectors or linking words for better writing or speaking better, or how can they enhance the level of their vocabulary, and how do you estimate uh like whether it's a fancy word or it is a low-lexis word or high-lexis word? How can you wait how to improve your vocabulary?
– Vocabulary. For the IELTS exam, in order to improve or enhance your vocabulary, first, you need to read. All four skills are interconnected with each other. If you start reading, you will come to know how the words are usually utilized in the sentences. You can see enhancing vocabulary. You must go through different reading passages because the best source of getting vocabulary is from the reading passages and yes, I want to mention here one important thing about vocabulary if you really want to learn vocabulary, so just start with one word and try to find out what is adjective of that word adverb, preposition, conjunction or interjection, what are the other parts of the speech of the same word. Furthermore, you just do not need to learn one single word and try to use it, rather you should go and try to check out what the other words are similar to the same family, some syllables, maybe we have to find some synonyms and attributes. For example, if it's “good”, so we have to understand the coloring of this word. Sometimes, this synonym can be in different contexts and the different connotations, for example, it could be “wonderful” but “good” can also be “delicious”, so we have to understand that some context as well as that you need to learn the different adjectives of the same thing. For example, if I talk about “big”, “enormous” and “massive” are giving you close meanings, so you can use them in different ways, but the sentence would give you the same sense.
– Thanks a lot, Kashif, for such professional tips.
– You’re welcome!

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