Origins of English Idioms

As you already know, there are over 15,000 idioms in the English language and you’d better learn at least some of them. But as you encounter an idiom after idiom, you have to be at least slightly curious how they were originated and became widely used. Some of them were coined by the great writers, others came from the Bible, and a lot of them came from French and Latin.

Shakespeare alone is credited with adding over a hundred idioms, many of which you definitely know. Phrases like “a fool’s paradise” and “a sorry sight” date back to the 17th century and yet, they are still used in the everyday speech. He was also the first to compare envy to a green-eyed monster and the first to capture the essence of love in now immortal expression “love is blind.” If you want to learn more about phrases like “good riddance” and “wild goose chase” - and yes, they also belong to Shakespeare - follow this link.

Throughout the centuries, English been greatly influenced by other languages. English, as we know it today, has a lot of words of French, Latin and Greek origin. The Gallic language, French, brought many unmistakably graceful and sophisticated expressions, and phrases like a la mode, a la carte and double-entendre are very widely used in written and spoken English. You can find a comprehensive list of the most common idioms of French origin here.

There is a lot of idiomatic expressions of Latin origin in the contemporary English. Most of them pertain to law, medicine and politics, but others like status quo, et cetera and alter ego are more universal. See how many of the Latin expressions you know at the link - we bet you will be pleasantly surprised!

English Learning Videos For ESL Students

Watching movies and videos in English is a great way to improve your ability to understand spoken English and pick up the pronunciation. Since it might be difficult for you to understand most movies and TV series, you can start with watching videos made specifically for the ESL Students. You can find them everywhere: on YouTube, on Facebook, and on the websites designated to Learning English. To save you some much needed time, we did a search for you. (You are welcome!) Watch these videos and learn.

Real English has a lot of free videos, featuring real people and most common topics you’ll definitely encounter in your daily communication, from social introductions to talking about your family and friends. All videos are available with and without subtitles, but as the site owners suggest - and we second that opinion - try watching them first without captions, even a few times if needed. It will really help you in the long-run. Do not miss the video from Lesson 58 - not only it features a very handsome guy, but also you can gain a lot from his insights on learning the language, since he’s done it himself, and amazingly well at that! These videos come with exercises aimed at listening comprehension and better understanding of English grammar rules and nuances.

Elllo.org, English Listening Lesson Library Online, is another great source of free videos in English. The topics covered range from politics and economics (video#572) to sports (video#1028) and business practices in different countries (video#1037). The videos feature native and non-native speakers of English from around the world and listening to them will help you get used to the variety of accents and dialects which you will inevitably encounter in New York, the city of immigrants. If you have problems with understanding the dialogue in the videos, refer to the transcripts provided for each topic. The videos could be viewed as audio slides with captions which you can turn off whenever you want. For your reference, the detailed explanation of the phrasal verbs, idioms and industry-specific terms is also provided in the audio notes section. This site is a great collection of English videos and a must-visit for any ESL student.

Do you know of other online video resources? Share with us in comments!

English Idioms: A Piece of Cake or A Can of Worms?

English idioms are one of the most difficult topics for any ESL student to master since they are not translated literally and cannot be understood from the individual meanings of their elements. If your new smart phone cost you an arm and a leg, it does not mean that you actually had to amputate your limbs in exchange for a high-tech gadget. There are over 15,000 idioms in the English Language so it’s understandable why it might be quite a challenge for a non-native speaker to know them through and through. Yet, there is no need to look for a shoulder to cry on. If you happen to stumble upon an expression you don’t know, you can refer to one of the many online idiom dictionaries.

A good place to start is The Free Dictionary. With over 12,000 idioms, it’s one of the most comprehensive resources on the web. You can browse through a list of random idioms and pick up a couple of new expressions. If you want to see the idioms containing a specific word, enter it in a search field and see what you get.

Online Idiom Dictionary is another must-see website. Similar to The Free Dictionary, it also provides you with a list of most common idioms and expressions picked at random. For every idiom, there is an example of its use in the sentence. The dictionary is significantly smaller – it contains about 5,000 expressions – but it’s less crowded and more pleasing to the eye.

If money is no object, you should consider investing in the Cambridge Idioms Dictionary. It has up-to-date content, a section on the most commonly used idioms and the option to search for an idiom by different topics. Click on the picture to learn more about pricing and availability.

Should English be Standardized?

Today we are all part of a “Global Village”. The Internet continues to have exponential growth, as even more people are becoming aware of this “Global Village” on a personal level. People correspond with others from around the globe on a regular basis, products are bought and sold with increasing ease from all over the word and real time coverage of major news events is taken for granted. English plays a central role in this globalization and it has become the de facto language of choice for communication between the various people that live on this planet.

Many English speakers do not speak English as their first language. In fact, they often use English as a sort of backup language in order to communicate with other people who also speak English as a foreign language. At this point students often wonder what kind of English they are learning. Are they learning English as it is spoken in England? Are they learning English as it is spoken in the United States or Australia? One of the most important questions seems to be left out: Do all students really need to learn English as it is spoken in any one country? Would it not be better to strive towards a global English? Let me put this into perspective. If a business person from China wants to close a deal with a business person from Germany, what difference does it make if they speak either US or UK English? In this situation, it does not matter what version of English they use to communicate, as both parties are likely to understand each other.

Communication enabled by the Internet is even less tied to standard forms of English as communication in English is exchanged between partners in both English speaking and non-English speaking countries. I feel that two important ramifications of this trend are as follows:

• Teachers need to evaluate just how important learning “standard” and/or idiomatic usage is for their students.
• Native speakers need to become more tolerant and perceptive when communicating with non-native speakers of English.

Teachers need to carefully take into consideration the needs of their students before deciding on a syllabus. They need to ask themselves questions such as: Do my students need to read about US or UK cultural traditions? Does this serve their objectives for learning English? Should idiomatic usage be included in my lesson plan? What are my students going to do with their English? And, with whom are my students going to be communicating with in English?

These questions and more should be addressed in order to give ESL students the education they need in the English language so it will be affective in their lives.