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Lesson Introduction
Imagine you are talking to someone who you have just met, and you realize that you have no idea what this person's name is! Forgetting someone's name is one of life's many embarrassing little moments. You can't run away and you can't hide, so you need some real English phrases to help you. In this lesson, learn how to tell someone, in English, that you can't remember her name.
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erica_k says
November 18, 2008
Hi Everyone!
I hope you enjoy this lesson. I’m really bad with names, so, I have a question for you: when you forget someone’s name, what do you do? How do you handle the situation?
EK
ikwaneu says
November 18, 2008
It's an interesting lesson, I often forget people's name too. I love this podcast!
lydia1986 says
November 18, 2008
it is really embarrassing if my classmate's name or colleague's name slips my mind.
i will take some actions, for example,i will firstly give him/her my name card and then maybe they will give me his/hers.
or, if we are not intimates, after the conversation, i will ask my other intimate classmate or colleague about his/her name. haha~
do you have any other methods?
shabbir says
November 18, 2008
Its an interesting lesson and also gives lot of tips for such a situation. Often I keep business cards and try to remember people with their names to avoid this kind of problems.
monica5 says
November 18, 2008
That happens to me ALL THE TIME. I`m starting to doubt if there´s someone worse than me remembering names !
ikwaneu says
November 18, 2008
When I forget my college friend's name, I prevent my sentence that has his/her name, until somebody says their name, I'll begin to talk with their name.
jovi0531 says
November 18, 2008
For me, maybe i will just find an excuse for this embrassing situation. I think more frankly will be much appreciated.
july001 says
November 19, 2008
It's really good of your lessons ,the dialogue is clearly and slowly and also very interesting ,and your explaination is also good ,very detailed. emm, when i forgot someone 's name ,i always told them directly ,though it's a little embarrassing ,haha
ruihao says
November 19, 2008
this is a really embarrassing thing,usually we say "hi,how are you doing?" to someone everyday,but we just dont know what his/her name is.
my method may be a little bit cunning.sometimes i pretend to know his/her name and,we give our phone numbers to each other,then i ask them how to write their names as i need to save their phone numbers in my cell.
may121001 says
November 19, 2008
when i meet someone whose name slipped my mind . that depend on the situation .if just a common coversation ,not big thing related ,just say how are you going ,something like this ,i will pretend i know her name . just not mention it during the coversation . if we need do a deal ,name is important . and i donot know her detail . i will ask her name directly ,then recall who she is or ask other pepole who she is .
i think remain friend's bussiness cards or contact details is really useful .even in a three-day conference .you know popel in a bit of hurry .but when you have something need to help ,just find their contact details , even their name have slipped you mind for a long time .just contact them , maybe some of them will give your big hand , it is also very embarrassing she donot know you also .that doesnot matter , remeber to try ,you will find a way .
lkhzb says
November 19, 2008
very well!
If I forget someone 's name , I usually tell him directly. At same time I will apologize to him.
marco_m says
November 19, 2008
All your stories are great! We are glad to see that Erica and I aren't the only ones who forget names.
On the other hand I am great at remembering a person's face. If I meet you once I will never forget a face. So sometimes I am walking down the street and I may recognize a person but he/she doesn't remember me!
MM
foroughyavari says
November 19, 2008
When i meet someone for the first i will never forgot her/his face but about her/ his name ,ofcourse, yes
manikandankv says
November 19, 2008
that would helpful for everyone.
monica5 says
November 19, 2008
Is there any difference between saying "we should meet again" and "we should meet up again" (as in today´s dialogue)?
monica5 says
November 19, 2008
Is there any difference between saying "we should meet again" and "we should meet up again" (as in today´s dialogue)?
vnn0903 says
November 19, 2008
Good Job Erica, i like it.
I am also really bad at remember my new friend's Name,
So, i did nothing and try to ask someone else about his/her name and again and again try to remember it.
hramzi says
November 19, 2008
hallo!and good morning i wanna just give to my new family a good advice "if you had one shot one apportinuty to seize everything you ever wanned one moment would you capture it or just let it slip";so time is very important in our life so that it should be not wasted.
concerning the lesson of meeting people we can use for exemple "i don't think we've met my name is x "or "how're you my name is x y but you can call me just x".th
ank you very much
macallus88 says
November 19, 2008
monica5,
"meet up" is used when you intend to meet.
As in the lesson:
We should definitely meet up again...
He is suggesting that they both should make time to see each other again.
may121001 says
November 19, 2008
forgetting someone's name seems a common thing , it happen to everybody every where . i donot care somebody forget my name . i find it is very interesting , why poeple's name on this board is so strange , i have no clue to remeber them including our two great teachers' , why your name are these ? i am terrible with the names on this board . but i can remember real name quickly . i am great at remebering people's voice . speciely on the phone ,when she just says the first two words , i know who she is . i am voice person .
macallus88 says
November 19, 2008
That is why avatars are so useful, you can remember the face or picture easier than an awkward username.
bkl9733 says
November 19, 2008
I'm missing a lot of lessons already! Got to keep up.
bkl9733 says
November 19, 2008
I customarily remember people that i've met through their faces not names.Except for my crush!
monica5 says
November 19, 2008
Macallus88,
Thanks for your explanation! It´s clear now.
It´s sometimes difficult to know when to use all those "verb＋up/in" etc :(
87redrose says
November 19, 2008
i'm bad with names aswell, but faces are no problem for me. It really depends on my mood what I do. Most of the time I just don't use a name in the conversation, but sometimes I tell them that I'm bad with names.
It happened to my last Sunday. I couldn't remember the name of a colleague I already know for some weeks. (too much new colleagues in a short time, too much new names!) So I decided to ask her her name and told her that I'm bad with names. That's when she told me she had the same problem with names! (and she also told me she didn't remember mine)
immo says
November 19, 2008
I enjoy this lesson as all the others. I'm surprised to see that there are so much people who forget names. Those, who don't know this problem can't really understand. I'm very embarrassed. Very often I don't remember the name and also I forget faces. Erica gives me a good idea. Now I will ask for the e-mail address and take a picture of the person !
redyrj says
November 19, 2008
hehe nice lesson... things like this happen to me all the time
rorrarorra says
November 19, 2008
I 'm terrible with names too. when i forgot someone's name i call him/her honey ,sweet heart,habebe, habebteee
usually don't call someone with his/her name if you are terrible with names just used one words to all of people like honey ................
but it depend on country
in Egypt i used habebee or habebtee no problems
suzysaberfargtawadrous says
November 19, 2008
Really,Iam good in numbers but I`m terrible with names
louishutlick says
November 19, 2008
HOO~~~
I have a really embarrass situation also.One time i talk to with a nice ,elegant girl,almost half an hour ,suddenly she said to me:"oh it's really sorry ,your name slip mind~~~how can i call you~~~"when i listened to that ,oh my god i am really embarrassed.Even there are some people beside us ,laugh at me~~
Have your ever met this situation~~haha~~
cutemichelle says
November 19, 2008
Hi all,nice to see you guys,i am new here!
i am terrible with numbers,i hate math.and i also terrible with locations,i usually get lost on the street when i go to a new place,its a little bit embarrassing...but i am good at remembering a person's name and face.
erica_k says
November 19, 2008
Hi Everyone!
Thanks for sharing your fantastic stories about forgetting names….it makes me feel less alone to know that there are others out there who forget names also!
I’m also really happy to see so many of you using the new words and phrases in your comments. Great work everyone!
Hramzi,
Good advice, and great suggestions on how to find out someone’s name!
Rorrarorra,
What does habebee and habebtee mean? Sounds quite interesting!
egger says
November 19, 2008
Wich difference between 'way' and 'method'?
imstevenlee says
November 19, 2008
alfa_23 says
November 19, 2008
Hi EK,
This situation also happen to me all the time. it's really embarrassing when meet your old friends. since we don't get contact for ages, their's name slip my mind. but they always very kind remind me. i am really enjoy get together with my friends for old sake's sake
Thanks, good job.
alfa
marco_m says
November 19, 2008
Egger,
You can use bith of them. For example:
Englishpod is the best way to learn English.
Englishpod is the best method to learn English.
I hope that helped!
MM
davidtzau says
November 19, 2008
I jumped over from CPOD to see what was going on here. You definitely have the right folks working this language channel (Kudos to your hiring team).
Since so many CPodders have helped me out with my broken Chinese, I thought I'd offer some help here. Sometimes it is useful to be on the other side and detect when someone doesn't know your name to save them the embarassment and keep the conversation going.
A common signal:
"Hhhheeeyy....so how's it going?"
If they don't drop your name, that's a tell-tale sign, at which point you can re-introduce yourself.
I forgot, this is Englishpod. Here are some vocabulary items from this post:
"Kudos" - A job performed well. Giving credit to someone. I don't think this is used much outside the US.
"tell-tale sign" - a very clear signal about something
"drop your name" - mentioning someone's name. Another common term "name dropping", which refers to someone who continues to mention names of very important people in their conversations to make themselves look very important. example, "You know the othe day I was having some drinks with Obama and... blah blah blah. Then we hit it up on the town and bumped into Pasden and Zhu... word"
lydia1986 says
November 19, 2008
as per the comments from so many guys, i have an idea.
i can make a record for the persons i have contacted each other. And once i am available, i will take a look at the records in order not to make the names slip my mind. so the embarrassing situation will happen less than before. what's more, if there is something needed help from others, we can contact them and they can contact us.
so, with time going,we can become good friends and our relationship will become better.
mayor_bombolini says
November 19, 2008
yunli333,
Don't worry so much about everybody's name.
Just say: "Hi, how are you today?"
Then smile.
(Personally, I can't remember anybody's name. I just say: "Hi how ah yah?")
cassielin says
November 19, 2008
Great lesson Arica and Marco,
"slip my mind"
it's cool! Let's give it a shot.
"Your telephone number slip my mind"=I forget your telephone number.
My question is "slip my mind" and "i forget" ,which one is more polite?
I found that you use "meet up" more often than "meet". same as "wait up" is more often than "wait". So, why you add "up"? I know there is mild difference, but I just curious and wanna know!Thank you!
Cassie
opelpitt says
November 19, 2008
thank you i love englishpod
lydia1986 says
November 19, 2008
Billm,
that sounds more easier. haha:)
erica_k says
November 19, 2008
Hi Cassie,
I think in this case, both "slipped my mind" and "forgot" are polite, but to say, "your phone number slipped my mind" sounds a little less bad than "I forgot your phone number".
This phrase is suggesting that you do remember the phone number, but it just "jumped out of" your mind for a moment.
Also, be careful that you use this phrase in the past tense -- it slipped my mind.
Great question!
EK
ruihao says
November 20, 2008
hey
i have a question not related to this lesson.
what is the difference between 'department' and 'faculty' in universities?
kuklakukla says
November 20, 2008
Yeah. The lesson is perfect. I really enjoyed it. Thank you guys. I don't know how it sounds in English but in Russian we say "You've risen my mood")
kuklakukla says
November 20, 2008
in fact i'm also terrible with names. In that case I usually ask the person how he wants me to write him in my phone. When he gives me his name i say: "no, i mean do you have any nicknames to differ from others "))) That's my technique)
thedonmakaveli says
November 20, 2008
Hi everybody ( ladies and gentleman )
Before , to bring any comments to this podcats let first of all greet the ENGLISHPOD Team,by telling them: good job ;they didn't know ,how much they're helping mankind improving,practicing, and more becoming fluent in english ; Thank u so much ;
Hope it will grow up ; hhhhh
Well ,as for this podcats it's really interesting while it's habitual or usual ;
Names most of the time used to slip our mind;
So i think there is no need to worry while we all 're human beings ,i mean we all imperfect ; reason why we forget a lot ; unfortunately it's really embarassing; hhhhhh
Hope we won't forget in the futur the name we already had known ; hhhhhhh
vivaaraa says
November 20, 2008
I know that it is important to remembering names and faces but in during my life sometimes I really wished to forgot some names and faces. And you know … it is too difficult
zxjulia says
November 20, 2008
I am also bad with name,even with my students'
I just say "you" , during the talking I would manage to let him/her speak of his name without his/her notice.
If I didn't remember the name of the greeter, I would try to know his/her name and repeat his name for ten times or more.
Next time when I met him again and
sebire says
November 20, 2008
Cassie, there isn't a huge difference between "meet up" and "meet". "Meet up" is colloquial, and "meet" is more formal. If you say "I'll meet up with you later", it sounds quite sociable and friendly, whereas if you say "I'll meet with you later", it sounds more formal, and could be something like arranging to pick something up, which isn't overwhelmingly social.
"Wait" and "wait up" is similar, with "wait up" being very colloquial, in the context of waiting for someone to catch up with you. However, there is a slightly different use of "wait up", which is if you are crawling home from a bar at 3 am and discover that your Dad is still up fretting about whether you got home safely, he is "waiting up" for you, as in "staying awake" or "staying up". I think the second usage here is more common in the UK than the first one.
(One of my friends has just claimed he never uses "meet up". I think "meet up" and "wait up" are both Americanisms that you'll hear every now and then over in the UK. I definitely use "meet up" from time to time, but then I probably watch too much TV).
faustfisher1 says
November 20, 2008
Great lesson! Love it!
Waiting for new lessons :-)
sebire says
November 20, 2008
Cassie, I'm not convinced I was very clear before: "meet" isn't only used in formal situations, it is used in all situations. It is just that "meet up" is more colloquial. The difference is so small, it's probably not worth thinking about in speech.
asztella says
November 20, 2008
It is rarely happen to me, to forget someone's name. But if it's happen, I just ask "Excuse me what is yor name?" And if some people are debut one time, I don't notice nobodys name, that is sure.
sebire says
November 20, 2008
I still remain unconvinced that I am not confusing the whole meet/meet up issue, so I found this instead
http://download.uol.com.br/licaodecasa/bbc/grammar/grammar03_script.pdf
louishutlick says
November 20, 2008
I can't stay here now,i'ii go to work~~
it's really nice lesson ,however i'm in a bit of a hurry~
byebye guys~~
wish your happy~~
joyful699 says
November 20, 2008
i have the experience of forget someone's name, i skip talk about her/his name, it's so strange, so i know how to deal with this situation. The usage is very indispensable.
erica_k says
November 20, 2008
ruihao,
Great question about department vs. faculty. In American English, department is a group of professors, researchers, and students who study / teach a particular subject. For example, the History Department, or the Department of Biology. Faculty means university staff.
So I could say, I studied in the History Department at Mount Allison University, but I was not a professor, so I was not a faculty member.
EK
Hope this helps!
lilyli says
November 20, 2008
Hi there,
My computer acted up yesterday. But now it tures to be all right. Strange, ha!
It happens to me when my boyfriend and I went to register our marriage certificates. Someone called my name, but I couldn't recognize him, so I said to him," Hello, good seeing you here, but what's your name?" It embarrassed me very much. After he told me his name, and he was my middle schoolmate. I pretended to let him convince that I know him. Actually, I really couldn't recognize him at all. His name slipped my mind completely. However, I can't be blamed because it's fourteen years that we haven't met each other.
I have a piece of advice: Why don't we talk about internet online chatting software in the future lessons? It's our fashion to surf the net and chatting with people from all around the world. For example: how to say get online, off line, hide online, away, such status of chatting software like icq, oicq, msn, skype and so on.
87redrose says
November 21, 2008
I also had a situation a couple of weeks ago. A woman started talking to me acting like she knew me. But I had no idea who she was! After the conversation I finally remembered that she was my teacher at primary school! oops!
87redrose says
November 21, 2008
but i did remember her name when I found out who she was!
edword says
November 21, 2008
This is a very interesting topic. we often met this situation in life.so how to deal with it that i think is very important.if not maybe will influence something.
peret3 says
November 21, 2008
Congratulations this lesson is perfect. Nice expressions or phrases as you name them and lots of examples. However, although I understand what you mean by saying "language take a way" I must confess I have neither been able to find this nor "fluency builder" in any dictionary, English idioms or idioms expressions. These two must be really American expressions which for a qualified CELTA English Teacher are very rewarding. Thanks a lot for the enrichment.
ruihao says
November 21, 2008
thanks erica! that helps!
hbhgshirley says
November 21, 2008
It is really embarrassing when someone says Hello to you but you can not remember his name!So I'd love to remember people's names!
light487 says
November 22, 2008
"sorry" is a very good word for any situation involving forgetfulness. "I'm sorry, I forgot your name...", "I'm really sorry, I lost your phone number...", "Sorry, it completely slipped my mind...".. all of these are going to seem more polite and courteous than saying them without the "sorry".
cassielin says
November 22, 2008
Hi Erica,
thank you for your explanation, I got it !
It did really happen that something or someone's name "jump out of " mind for a moment in our daily life! Very useful phrase, thank you again!
cassielin says
November 22, 2008
Hey sebire,
Great to meet you here on Englishpod!
Thank you for your detail explanation! I see how hard you had worked on answering my question, I really appreciate it! 谢谢:-D
sebire says
November 23, 2008
不客气 Cassie! I never think about stuff like that normally, so it is interesting for me too.
louishutlick says
i always can't remember my teacher's name,Everytime i meet them in a street or in compus,i have to call :"hi teacher ,how ara you or how's going~~it's really embarrass. haha ~~~did that suitation happen to you? 祝你们天天快乐November 23, 2008
chenshoujun says
November 23, 2008
Forgetting someone's name really often happen around us.
Interesting lesson.
faell1 says
November 24, 2008
great lesson, thank you so much
jerry_cyj says
November 24, 2008
Hi, Marco, Erica:
Well done. It's a interesting lesson.
It's so embarrassing if I cannot remember my friends' names when we meet together sometime. From this lesson I learn a lot of things about that.
BTW, I have two questions when listening this lession.
1. In this lession, you offered three examples to explain how to use the phrase "in bit of a hurry". But I don't fully understand what the last two persons said. Can you help me figure it out?
2. When you talk about the phrase "slipped my mind", you said "slipped my mind" it sounds very /wi
/. What does the /wi
/ mean and how to spell it.
Thanks!
light487 says
November 25, 2008
jerry_rui
The second example was: I can't talk right now, I'm in a bit of a hurry.
The third example was: I'm in a bit of hurry... so I'll check these files later.
The word with which she describes the phrase was "weird". Weird means strange.
jerry_cyj says
November 25, 2008
light487
I got it. Thank you so much!
panorama2008 says
HiNovember 25, 2008
panorama2008 says
HiNovember 25, 2008
panorama2008 says
Hi Is there a deference between " that splis my mind " and "i forget it " thanks for helpNovember 25, 2008
macallus88 says
November 25, 2008
panorama2008,
Both "slipped my mind" and "forgot" mean: to not remember.
If you say you've "forgotten", people may feel that you didn't think it was important enough to remember.
If you say it's "slipped my mind", this suggests that you know it, but only temporarily forgot. Therefore, it sounds nicer.
panorama2008 says
November 25, 2008
macallus88,
thanks for your hepl
erica_k says
November 25, 2008
Peret3,
I’m really glad that you enjoyed this lesson. Marco and I certainly had fun making it. You asked a few questions about some of the terms that Marco and I use to describe different sections of the show. Language Takeaway and Fluency Builder are terms we’ve chosen to describe different sections of the show have been made up by the EnglishPod team, and I’d like to share some of our thinking on this here.
Part of our core mission at EnglishPod, is to teach users English that is current, that is natural, and that is native-sounding; we want to help our users to speak in English as naturally as possible. We’ve organized our entire show with these thoughts in mind.
Language Takeaway, is a term we use to describe some of the key words and phrases that we hope our users will “take away”, or remember, from the lesson. This title is based on the HR term, Key Takeaways. In this section of the show, we aim to make the key language very memorable though the use of mnemonics and though a cognitive approach to explaining meaning. Typically, we repeat words several times to make them more “sticky”. We also try to use memorable or emotional situations to help the user remember the words. To make our instruction more cognitive, we try to allow the user to figure out or guess the meaning of a word. Sound effects are a great way of achieving this.
The Fluency Builder term, also has been created by EnglishPod. This tool is inspired by two things: first, the fact that many learners often use expressions that are grammatically correct, but sound somewhat natural. Second, the fact that learners benefit from being taught pre-fabricated chunks of language. So, with Fluency Builder, we take a typically phrase that learners use, and then show them an alternate way of expressing that idea that sounds very natural.
This is just some of the thinking that has influenced the development of our show. I hope it helps to clarify the terms Language Takeaway, and Fluency Builder. I love getting questions about our teaching philosophy – this is something that I’m really passionate about, so keep the questions coming!
EK
elmokhtari says
November 27, 2008
hello
in the fact ;we should ask about forgeting names. why?what is the reasonce?
futuristic says
November 29, 2008
These lessons are very interesting. I can hear English more clearly and i totally understand what they say.
Thanks Erica and Marco!
zjhjane says
November 30, 2008
It's a very useful lesson.
My office is right around the corner.
I am a little confused with the word 'right'. It doesn't mean the direction in this lesson, right? if not, what does it mean ?
By the way, I am terrible with names, numbers and faces. There is a manager who works in a company next to the company which I am working for. I had heard about him frequently before the first time I met him. Then one morning I met him and say hello to him, but when I met him again that afternoon, I was not sure if this guy was him. When he passed by me, I just smiled to him and didn't say hello , for I was afraid of making a mistake with his name and title. About the telephone number, I can remember my cell phone number, the telephone number of my home and the phone number of my office till now.
macallus88 says
November 30, 2008
Jane, "right" has many many meanings. The "right" makes it closer/sooner (more immediate).
In the same way that saying "I'll be right there" means to be there sooner than saying "I'll be there". The "right" makes the office closer to the corner. Without it, it's possible that the office is further away.
tracyjj says
December 10, 2008
Haha. So interesting.
And it's happened to me all the time to slip my mind with Names.
Generally speaking, once meet with such situation, I will pretend to say "hello, ~~~" and talked a lot. And until the conversation is over, then I will ask for him to tell me his contact details in order to meet in future.
Hehe. Actually, that is very embarrasing.
jeking says
December 11, 2008
Looks almost everybody is terrible with names.
You know that's really embarrassing when you run into a ex-coworker or schoolmate but his or her name just slipped your name.
I encountered this embarrassing situation several times.
pretyparis says
December 12, 2008
can explain me what is the"his wife was having a baby"and"i turn on the computer ,some thing happen!" mean please.
thank you
carolandkevin says
December 13, 2008
I am terrible with names and numbers ,too.It makes me feel better you know,We share the same feeling
bababardwan says
December 16, 2008
Aah;finally found it...Blast from the Past.I was looking for this on the internet when this lesson first came out but I couldn't find it at the time.Here in Australia ,there are a couple of radio guys called Hamish and Andy who do these prank phone calls.They have a segment sometimes called Blast from the Past.They call up people they've never met and pretend they know them.The joke is getting the person to believe they're old mates.They have had ones like where they get an "old mate" to store all their gear while they go overseas and other such capers where they put the poor old long lost mate on the spot with some big favour.Anyway,here's one which has been made into a podcast.Listen from about 10minutes for the blast from the past.Quite funny if you click here.
btw Someone was recently asking about other accents.Well this will also give you an example of Aussie accent.
berbog says
December 21, 2008
Hello! This is my first comment here. And I'll start from the question.
In the dialoge we heard, "Sure, you still have my contact details, right?"
Why did she say,".. you still have....?" instead of "sure, have you still my contact details?" or "Sure, do you still have my contact details?"..
Second question. Is there any synonime to "Instead of"? I mean, when you want to say "You shoud do in such way instead of another way (so but not another)".
Thanks a lot)))
hwangd01 says
December 21, 2008
Hi berbog,
"Sure, you still have my contact details?" and "Sure, do you still have my contact details?" The majority of people say one or the other. The first is a little more casual, second is more proper.
"Sure, have you still my contact details?" is completely understandable, but Americans don't say it this way. I've heard this type of construction in British movies depicting Victorian and Edwardian eras, but I don't know if the Brits still say it this way.
INSTEAD OF: The following sentences are equivalent.
You should do this instead of that - most common way
You should do this rather than that - #2
You should do this in place of that - #3
You should do this in lieu of that - least common but I still hear it on the radio, for example. Lieu is borrowed from French but we pronounce it "loo".
berbog says
December 21, 2008
Thank you for the aswer. ))) It was very usefull.
berbog says
December 21, 2008
And here is some pieces of advise of how to remember people's names.
When you meet anyone you've never seen before, just try to associate one's name with some animal\thing\action..OR Ask person to tell you what he\she like very much.
For example,
my name is Bogdan - on B letter we have "Bounty " - famous chocolate bar. )))
So if you met me somewhere, just keep in mind Bogdan - "Bounty".
Or ask me what is my favourite animal(etc).
For example, Bogdan - Lion. Just repeat it in mind for 5-6 times. )
It's not such a big deal.)))
One more way to memorize names for me is to associate the name of my new acquaintance with the name of my friend I already know.
For example, I have a good friend Michael. Your new acquaintance will be Michael 2. ))))
That's all.
klebercacossi says
January 3, 2009
Hi Firends, How's it going?
Very nice subject again.
I have the same problem and sometimes worst, I change the names often! It's so embarrassing!
Erica, Marco, I have some question please.
How is the good way to ask for the personal card from someone? What is the correct term of the card? Is it personal card? Business? Just card? or other name?
Thanks again.
stevestr says
January 3, 2009
Klebercacossi
One small correction. Your question should be
How What is the good way to ask for the personal card from someone?
Or
How can I ask for the personal card from someone?
We call them business cards but very often we will just say card.
You can simply ask
“Can I have your card” or
“Do you have a card/ business card”
The first is the most common.
klebercacossi says
January 3, 2009
Thanks a lot stevestrv !
I appreciate your help.
stevestr says
January 4, 2009
Klebercacossi
You’re welcome.
np36 says
January 4, 2009
I couldn't catch what example 1 and 3 of "terrible with" is. In example 1, it seems like "You're terrible with numbers. You always ..........own telephone numbers" and example 3 "I'm terrible with faces. I can never ..... what people look like".It is at around 5:55 min of the tape. I tried to listen many times but I still could not catch all. Thank you very much.
marco_m says
January 4, 2009
np36,
The examples are:
"You're terrible with numbers. You always forget your own telephone number"
"I'm terrible with faces. I can never remember what people look like"
MM
princessaysha30 says
January 13, 2009
hello everyone!
this is aysha, & really very thank full to english pod and Marco and Erica, i have learn't so many thing from this pod.
well, i want to ask a question
is it necessary to speak English in the same accent and pronunciation as the native speakers speak?
bcoz i'm not an english speaker, so sometimes i'm so much terrible at pronunciation
thanks!!
AE
jeking says
January 13, 2009
princessaysha30, I believe you have to do that. The reason why English calls English is because it is spoken by English. :P (seems nonsense) So that means you have to learn speaking from native speaker including accent, pronunciation, even motion and action. If you don't do that, your meaning might be misunderstand. I heard two jokes about pronunciation.
One is about FLY and FRY, the other is about SINK and THINK.
I cannot descrbie these two jokes well by writing here. But I believe it's funny if you can hear that. :P
Maybe someone knows it, and can witer them by funny language.
princessaysha30 says
January 13, 2009
thanks jeking, but i have a problem too
that is
is it necessary to use proverbs and idioms in ur sentence while speaking in english? someone said to me it is necessary bcoz it shows how i have command on that language.
jeking says
January 14, 2009
Yea, that's true.
If you can use proberbs or slangs. But I'm sure that not to abuse them until you know them well. I think to understand proverbs or idioms or slangs come first. Just like what we do here, listening Enlgish spoken by native speaker and then to learn and use them like native speaker.
At present, listening and wirting are more important than speaking.
JP
123456liu says
March 5, 2009
wonderfull
valdecyr says
March 8, 2009
Hi everybody! How's it going?
I've just finished this lesson now and enjoyed it so much. Many useful phrasal verbs and idioms. I'm so impressed on the liveliness of this community.
Thanks so much to our hosts Erica and Marco and to the other EPOD users. I really appreciated the contributions and comments here. Great thanks to jeking (JP), stevestrv, berbog, hwangd01, macallus88, light487, peret3 and sebire.
VR
marco_m says
March 8, 2009
VR
Great to have you with us! We hope that you will find our lessons fun and useful and if you ever have any questions, please let us know!
MM
elisabeth_yuan says
June 9, 2009
hehe, it is so obvious that Nick has totally forgotten the lady's name, no matter how hard he's been trying to avoid telling her the truth untill there is no way in the end.
I used to have good memory. It was not that difficult for me to remember whatever names, faces or numbers. But now I am terrible with all of them. I even couldn't get Will Smith's name out of my mouth last time, although I was able to give the titles of his five movies.