DAYS OF EASTER:

In our Skype English classes online, students often don't know some terms related to Easter. So of course 'Easter' is the name we give for 'Semana Santa' or 'Pâques'. 'Viernes Santo' is called 'good Friday'. 2 days after is the culmination of lent (cuaresma/carême) called 'Easter Sunday' and then 'Easter Monday'. A popular tradition in the UK at Easter is chocolate egg hunting. Happy Easter!



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COMMON ERROR: WRONG POSITION OF 'ALL THE TIME':

A big mistake in our online English classes. 'All the time' phrase should go at the end of a sentence, not after the verb or participle. So it is wrong to say 'we have been all the time sleeping' or 'we are all the time watching TV'. We would need to say 'we have been sleeping all the time' or 'we are watching TV all the time'. Remember: put 'all the time' at the end.

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COMMON MISTAKE: TRANSLATING ‘OPERAR’ (TO OPERATE ON):

Unfortunately, in our Skype English classes online students have issues translating the verb ‘operar’. We don’t simply translate the word ‘operar’ just by the word ‘operate’ when we’re talking about getting some part of your body fixed. We have to add the preposition ‘on’. Thus the verb in English is ‘to operate on’. So we wouldn’t say ‘I will have my knee operated tomorrow’ but we would use the following phrase: ‘I will have my knee operated on tomorrow’.

In addition, and perhaps more simply, we have the option of not using the phrasal verb ‘to operate on’ and instead we can use ‘to have’. Thus: ‘I will have a knee operation tomorrow’.


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TRANSLATING THE SPANISH VERB 'BAJAR':

Many students in our online English classes of lower levels translate 'bajar' with the adjective, noun or adverb 'low'. The verb is actually 'to lower'. So we'd say 'we lower prices in the sales' NOT 'we low prices in the sales'. We can also apply other verbs such as 'decrease', 'move down', 'drop' or 'reduce'.

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COMMON VOCABULARY - 'TO TURN AN AGE':

In English when we have birthdays we use the verb 'to turn + age’. For example, one can say 'I will turn 39 next week' or 'she turned 16 a fortnight ago' when one becomes older. Hoping that helps. Have a great day.

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TRANSLATING 'AMANECER' AND 'ANOCHECER':

In our Skype English classes (online) Spanish students often forget the words to translate 'anochecer' and 'amanecer' into English. We can use 'dawn', 'daybreak' or 'sunrise' for 'amanecer' whilst 'dusk' or 'sundown' or 'sunset' or 'nightfall' are used for 'anochecer'. 'Twilight' is the soft glowing light when the sun is still below the horizon. Hope that helps.
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‘CARRERA’ IS A FALSE FRIEND:

In our Skype English online classes Spanish students often wrongly translate ‘carrera’. One of the meanings of ‘carrera’ in Spanish refers to studies which are done at university whilst this is not the case in English. ‘Career’ refers to your professional working life which is normally carried out after university, school or college is finished. It does not refer to studies done at university in English. When you study at university this is often called in the UK a ‘degree course’ a ‘degree’ or simply your ‘studies’. Happy New Year!
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