Speak Global English Video Series
Part 18 of 22:
Idiotic Idioms
Every language has idioms — fixed expressions whose meaning is not immediately obvious from looking at the words used.
Idioms have become so common in business communication that we often don’t even know that we’re using them.
Some great examples are:
Get the ball rolling
a fish out of water
take a rain check
Bang for the buck and
the home stretch
Some of these might be familiar to you — others, maybe not.
Idioms rarely cross languages, and quite often don’t even cross cultures. English is spoken in the US and the UK, but there are idioms on each side of the Atlantic that are not used on the other side, or the same idioms can mean very different things in each culture.
This is why I say that idioms are idiotic. If you want to communicate in international environments, try to eliminate idioms from your speech. It’s harder than you think, but your listeners will thank you for it.
If you’d like to improve the way people in your company speak Global English, or for information on training opportunities, please visit:
http://bit.ly/free8-partproncourse
http://facebook.com/globalspeechacademy
http://facebook.com/englishpronunciationlab
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Watch more TV to improve your speech – Part 19
Hi Heather,I think your videos are very helpful
Hahahaha….Americans aren’t even sure about “The whole nine yards…”