Learing

 Few experiences offer as many learning opportunities as spending time abroad. However, close your eyes, and you’ll find those weeks and months disappear like sand through a sieve. A much better plan? Dig in and rule your time overseas with these ten ways to get the most out of your study abroad trip.   1. Get organized before leaving Leaving paperwork to the last minute equals major headaches! Before you go, quiz your study advisor, professors, or former study abroad students on what is required of you in the preparation stage. Important things to consider include health insurance, budget planning, homestay arrangements, weather, and airport pickup. 2. Set goals for yourself Whether you want to master a foreign language, dive into a new major, or work toward your dream degree, don’t take the “study” out of “study abroad.” This isn’t to say you can’t have fun while overseas – no doubt, there will be loads of it – but remember that your program is, above all, a ch...

 English words that sound different around the world (2) We’re back with another comparison of English words from around the globe. In case you missed our last edition of the megabattle, here’s how it works: We take a word and find out how you say it English dialects from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. Let the battle continue! First, let’s welcome back our contenders: From the UK: Tom From the USA: Martinique From Australia: Erin From New Zealand: Fiona From South Africa: Christine   1. A party Tom: Everyone I know calls a party a do . So, you could say a birthday do , a wedding do, an anniversary do, and so on. A do usually implies the party is formal to some degree, which makes sense because British people are totally classy all the time. Martinique: We just say party , which you can hear in all the most popular songs ranging from Miley Cyrus to Kendrick Lamar. If a party is insane, you call it a rager . Or, if you ...

 Having a tandem partner is the best. And no, by “tandem partner” I’m not talking about two people who share a bike. I mean tandem language learning – when two people get together to practice languages: Person A practices language B with person B for 30 minutes, and person B practices language A with person A for the remainder of the hour. (I guess, they could technically do this on a bike, but let’s just focus on the languages for now.) Tandem works best if you take language classes at the same time  – that way, you can use the time together to practice conversational skills and really put all of the theoretical knowledge to the test. Without wanting to rain on your parade: It’s probably not possible to learn a language only with tandeming, as you will usually only meet and talk for about an hour each week. But it’s a great way to complement language classes or to help retain your language skills after a study abroad trip.   Benefit 1: Boost your langua...

 It’s time for another vocabulary update – the Oxford Dictionary leads the way and we happily follow along with all kinds of new words that can perfectly prepare you for your next mic drop moment. So, ignore all those butthurt, manspreading randos who look like they hangrily just rage-quit their video games and focus on all the awesomsauce words in this snackable post – use them when butt-dialing your friend Mx. Smith, MacGyvering your broken bike or inviting your friends to join beer o’clock.   1. Awesomesauce (adjective) Sauces are the new thumbs: When something is extremely good, feel free to call it awesomesauce. The opposite, something extremely bad or disappointing, would be weak sauce. Don’t ask me why strong sauce hasn’t made the cut. “My new bike is awesomesauce!” “His latest movie is total weak sauce.” 2. Manspreading (noun) If you use public transportation, you’ve probably been exposed to or even engaged in manspreading: Male commuters whose legs commit the...

 For decades, the hustle and bustle of New York City has been providing the perfect backdrop for movies, no matter the topic or the budget. We selected a few gems that make the city look like a true silver-screen superstar: some of them want to make you book a ticket immediately, others inspire you to follow your passion no matter where you are or gently remind you to not mess with ghosts and monsters. All of them will give you a glimpse into the hopes, dreams and fears of New York’s inhabitants (and help you improve your English skills in the process!).   1. Do the Right Thing It’s the hottest day of summer in Brooklyn, and an argument in a pizza parlor ends with racial tensions and tragedy. Do the Right Thing is continuously ranked among the best movies, and it has all kinds of awards to prove it. The film definitely hasn’t lost its power: sadly, racial tension and police brutality continue to be a relevant topic – in New York City and beyond. 2. Manhattan Every ...

 Part of every student’s TOEFL preparation is taking practice tests. TOEFL practice tests familiarize you with the types of questions you’ll see on the TOEFL, as well as the response rules and time constraints for each question type. There are five ways to get TOEFL test practice:     Official test bundles: ETS, the company that makes the TOEFL, sells bundles of practice tests with same-day correction included. Those are the closest you can get to the real thing without signing up to take the TOEFL. If you can only afford to buy an official practice test bundle once, do it at the end of your test preparation period, just before signing up to take the real TOEFL. That way, you’ll get a nearly authentic TOEFL experience right before the truly authentic one, as well as an accurate score that tells you what you can expect to get on the real test. If your score on this official practice test isn’t high enough, there’s no point signing up to take the TOEFL. Y...

 Learning a new language takes motivation, determination and time. It can be confusing and intimidating. Sometimes, it’s also very boring because verbs don’t conjugate themselves. But you know, sometimes verbs don’t have to be conjugated at all. But we’ll get to that in a minute.   Learning a language is like skating Languages are considered difficult when they are particularly complex and are not closely related to your native language. It’s like skating: If you know how to roller-skate, ice-skating will be easy. Considering how ‘removed’ from western languages and how complex they are, mastering Chinese, Japanese, Korean or Arabic is like getting a perfect score in an Olympic skating event. Well, not quite. It really only has to do with how many hours you spend learning the language, the resources you have available and how motivated you are. Any of these difficult languages can be learned. They just take a little more time and effort. But nothing is impossi...

 If you want to do something good for yourself, learn another language. I admit, posting this here might come across as biased, but scientists are on my side: Speaking more than one language doesn’t just give you more choices when applying for jobs or when diving into the dating pool, it can actually alter your brain structure and even increase your brain size: It’s almost as if your brain suddenly had a sixpack and killer biceps! These pumped up mental muscles help you focus, make you more creative and a better analytical thinker who has exceptional memory and excels at planning and reasoning. In short: language learning can turn you and your brain from average Joe’s to superstars! Here are four impressive facts about your brain when it learns a new language:   Multitasking becomes easy as pie Being able to speak two languages can help you focus and filter out information that is irrelevant. Switching between languages makes your brain more flexible and it can...

 Football is a national obsession in Britain and it’s full of weird and wonderful phrases. From screamers, walls and buses – here are the most common football expressions explained to help you understand the local lingo when watching a match in the UK. And whatever you do, don’t call it soccer!   What a howler! If you find yourself watching the English national team play- this phrase will likely come in handy. This expression is used after someone has made a comical mistake. It is usually attributed to red-faced goalkeepers after failing to stop a shot and sullen-looking players who’ve scored an own goal. Ref!!! Who’d be a referee?! Almost every decision is met with unrelenting cries of ‘you don’t know what you’re doing,’ and ‘get your eyes tested.’ Disagreeing with the officials is constant in most sports across the world and simply shouting ‘ref’ in disbelief at a dubious decision is commonplace in football. What a screamer! Usually reserved for the likes of Me...