language distance

In many ways, we can see why English is so different from other languages. It's a mixture of other languages and its grammar has been greatly simplified

It can be very interesting to compare English with, say, Chinese. Do you see any similarities with your langauge? Language differences: English - Chinese

From an English-speakers perspective, there are 'difficult' languages. How do these compare with yours Most Difficult Language To Learn

... And there are the 'easy' languages: Easiest Foreign Languages To Learn - Business Insider

This is what we can 'language distance' - and there is a useful guide from Gill Ragsdale on how language distance shapes fluency in the E L Gazette:

The ‘language distance’ between English and a language learner’s first language affects reading fluency, but not comprehension according to a study by Victor Kuperman at McMaster University, Canada. Gill Ragsdale reports.

Clearly it is easier for someone to learn a language that is more like their native language than one that is more distant: learning English is generally easier for Italian than for Japanese speakers. What is less clear is which processes in language learning are affected and how to quantify those effects.

Kuperman set out to clarify the effect of language distance on reading fluency and comprehension. Past studies have given mixed results, possibly because the focus has been on comprehension, which is relatively easy to measure.

Data for this study was taken from the Multilingual Eye-movement Corpus. This database has measures of reading fluency and comprehension from 1,105 students and staff from 24 universities having 18 distinct first languages.

For more, see: How does language distance affect reading fluency and comprehension in English as second language? by Victor Kuperman.

And: Linguistic distance - Wikipedia

Plus the discussions on Language distance in Europe : r/languagelearning

Working Groups | Townsend Center for the Humanities

Worldwide map or data for linguistic distance? - Linguistics Stack Exchange

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readability in the esl/esol/tefl classroom

When it comes to how easy/difficult a text is to read, we call that readability - and according to Wikipedia:

In natural language, the readability of text depends on its content (the complexity of its vocabulary and syntax) and its presentation (such as typographic aspects that affect legibility, like font size, line height, character spacing, and line length).

Higher readability in a text eases reading effort and speed for the general population of readers. For those who do not have high reading comprehension, readability is necessary for understanding and applying a given text. Techniques to simplify readability are essential to communicate a set of information to the intended audience.

There are websites devoted to this: What is readability? – Readable

And there are ways to test the readability of your website: Readability Test - WebFX Or any text: Free Readability Checker App | Check readability score of your text

But what about in the esl/esol/tefl classroom?

We can adapt authentic material for the language classroom: Adapting texts for use in the English language classroom – Nathan Hall

We can go a little deeper and get an overall difficulty score for our English content: Text Inspector: Analyse the Difficulty Level of English Texts

We can consider the students who have to work with the texts:  seminar-1-empathy-and-readability-2016.pdf

We can work on texts with a view to a particular test: Adapting Authentic Materials to Teach Listening and Reading IELTS Tests

And we can make use of ready-made texts which are made readable: Free Online Reading and Listening Resources for ESL Learners | Literacy Minnesota

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the huge variety of films in english

This evening at the BBC Proms ["the world's greatest classical music festival"], the music of the "classic period" of Hollywood is being celebrated - including that of what has been voted the best film ever [Vertigo] and certainly the most iconic horror-thriller [Psycho] by composer Bernard Herman: BBC Radio 3 - BBC Proms, 2025, Classic Thriller Soundtracks

Vertigo - official 60th anniversary trailer - YouTube

Psycho Official Trailer 1960 HD - YouTube [or the full trailer: Psycho (1960) Theatrical Trailer - Alfred Hitchcock Movie - YouTube]

Psycho is part of the film genre film noir

Top 10 Film Noirs - YouTube

There are many different kinds of film out there: what's your favourite film genre?

And, yes, it can be difficult to put a film into one compartment: Fight Club: how many film genres in one film?

Especially those 'big films': blockbusters don't have to be stupid

If we really want to improve our English language, perhaps we need to go for quality: Shakespeare

Four Versions of the Witches from Macbeth - YouTube

But there is more than American and British film when it comes to the English language:

Australia: Picnic at Hanging Rock is just as unsettling and relevant 50 years on - ABC News

PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK - 4K Restoration Trailer - YouTube 

Nigeria: the English-speaking world: West Africa and Jay Doubleyou: Nigeria making an impact on America

MAID OF LOVE TRAILER - (Showing 5TH of September by 6:00 pm WAT) NIGERIAN MOVIES 2025 - YouTube [plus subtitles!]

India: English-language Indian films - Wikipedia

Gandhi (1982) Trailer - YouTube and SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE - Trailer - YouTube and Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011) Movie Trailer HD - YouTube

Finally, yes we can improve our English through film! how to learn english from movies

But be careful with those subtitles! how watching films can help your english

Here are some personal recommendations: 20 Great Films That Will LEVEL UP Your English — Podcast for Learners - YouTube and My 5 Favorite Movies for English Fluency - YouTube and 10 Great MOVIES To Learn English - YouTube

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focussed listening for business english

How can we improve our listening skills for Business English?

Here's a good overview of the best business English listening strategies & exercises, including this list:

To help you improve your business English listening skills, we’ve compiled some practical tips and strategies that you can incorporate into your daily routine.

1. Practice active listening

Active listening involves hearing what is being said and paying attention to the speaker’s body language, tone of voice, and context. To practice active listening, engage with the speaker by asking clarifying questions, summarizing their main points, and providing feedback. You must also avoid distractions. No checking your phone or daydreaming! Focus on the conversation at hand.

2. Take plenty of notes

Another effective way to improve your business English listening skills is by practicing note-taking techniques. You can enhance your comprehension and retention of the information by jotting down key ideas, main points, and unfamiliar words. Some note-taking techniques include mind mapping and creating a database of useful phrases.

3. Record virtual meetings

Much like note-taking, recording virtual meetings is a great way of practicing your listening skills. You’ll have the video to refer back to if you miss something, and you can also relisten to the recording to pick up phrases your colleagues or clients use. You can also combine recordings with transcription software like Otter or Descript. This allows you to listen to the recording whilst reading along.

4. Attend English networking events

Networking events in English allow you to connect with like-minded professionals while gaining exposure to different accents and language styles. There are plenty of events worldwide, giving you a chance to practice and build your confidence outside of the office where the pressure’s off.

5. Listen to podcasts and YouTube videos

Try online resources, such as YouTube channels and podcasts, to supplement your learning. There’s plenty of content that focuses on business English, offering you an engaging way to practice your listening. More advanced learners might enjoy TED Talks, whilst beginners can find practice lessons like the one below...

When you build your listening routine, it’s important to ensure you’re listening to authentic materials. That way, you’ll be able to understand different accents and vocabulary used in a business context.
 Again, search for suitable content for your field. Entrepreneurs might enjoy the Diary of a CEO podcast, while the Dear HBR podcast is perfect for HR staff. If you’re a streaming junkie, shows like Succession and The Office can also provide light-hearted business English practice.

VIDEOS AND PODCASTS:

The British Council has some good lessons in B2 listening at LearnEnglish [as well as other levels]

And BBC Learning English - Business English is full of good quality courses and exercises.

Lectures from experienced business people can be found on the business pages of TED Talks.

And there are some fantastic YouTube videos - for example, Listening Practice to Improve Your Business English in 80 Minutes, where we hear lots of business phrases at normal and slower speeds.

But for authentic listening, you need to search for specific material, for example VAT and Financial Services and Sales Tax Vs. VAT. How they both work!

The question is how to listen, as there are many ways of listening - but using subtitles and slowing down the speed are very good ways to help focus on the language.

SHADOWING:

All the above audio material can be used to practice the shadowing technique - which is all about careful, focussed listening and which can be done on your own.

It's become much more mainstream recently - and many online tutors are giving tips on how to get the shadowing technique right

DICTATION:

Exactly the same audio material can be made use of at home - through practical dictation, with online texts and audio

And here's an extra place to go: Breaking News English Lessons at different levels and speeds to help you also with Business English Lessons.

USING AI BOTS:

Finally, we can do lots of practising your english speaking with chatgpt - and set things up to ask for all sorts of listening and conversation sessions.

Have fun!

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nigeria making an impact on america

Nigerians are doing well - especially in the United States:

... it is not just in music and entertainment that Nigerians are, for want of a better word, tearing up the dance floor. The runaway success of the country’s diaspora has been documented. For example, in the United States, Nigerian-Americans are among the most successful immigrant groups, topping the charts in a wide array of fields. According to the Washington-based Migration Policy Institute (MPI), Nigerians in the United States are the most educated immigrant group, with 61 percent holding at least a bachelor’s degree, “compared with 31 percent of the total foreign-born population and 32 percent of the US-born population.”  

This, however, has created The Nigerian Conundrum:

Accordingly, the Nigerian conundrum consists precisely in the discrepancy between the demonstrated success of Nigerians, resulting in an unmistakable cultural confidence, and the country’s notorious political sclerosis. Nigerian entertainers may be redefining the global soundscape, giving American entertainment a run for its money; yet, Nigeria as a country cannot seem to get out of its own way. Not only is it one of the world’s most corrupt countries, ranking 150 out of 180 countries in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) for 2022, it is, perhaps deservedly, a global byword for dysfunction and infrastructural decay.

Nevertheless, despite its political troubles, culturally Nigeria makes a huge impact - including on the United States - with the Nigerian prom dresses that have the wow factor for US teenagers:

Anita Konneh,17, from Worcester in Massachusetts, ordered her dress from Keerah's Fashion Cave Photo: Tom Boakye

When Brianna made a TikTok video of herself in her African prom gown, she did not expect the reaction she got - it went viral and her post now has more than 1.1 million views. This reflects a growing interest that has driven demand for custom-made outfits with bold designs and unique embellishments. What began as a TikTok and Instagram trend - with people like Brianna flaunting their garments - has led to a booming business that links fashion designers in Africa to young people outside the continent.

The average price for an African-made prom dress ranges from $600 to $1,000 (£440 to £740), depending on the complexity of the design, fabric choice and added details. Custom luxury pieces can exceed $1,500. This may sound expensive but is much cheaper than having a garment custom made in the US - where the cost starts at around $3,500 and can go much higher depending on the designer and materials.

The BBC spoke to five fashion designers in Nigeria and Ghana who, in all, fulfilled more than 2,800 orders for prom dresses during the 2025 season, most of them bound for the US...

However, it's not all good news for the Nigerian economy: the US funding cuts have affected aid groups in Nigeria; when exporting to America under the new tariff regime, Nigeria now requires $80 Prepaid Duty each time; and Nigeria has been hit by US cuts to visa duration.

And yet, Nigeria tops South Africa as the Continent’s biggest economy - and culturally, the impact of Nigeria continues to grow, as Nigeria is the country that loves to overachieve.

And the cultural impact on the United States is particularly impressive, with Nigerian filmmakers at the Sundance film festival and Nigerian’s Afrobeat heavyweights at the Grammy awards.

Let's see how this develops!

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to debunk: "to disprove a myth that is a grossly exaggerated or foolish claim"

'to debunk' is an interesting verb:

to show that something is less important, less good, or less true than it has been made to appear: "debunk a myth": "The writer's aim was to debunk the myth that had grown up around the actress." DEBUNK | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary

If you debunk a widely held belief, you show that it is false. If you debunk something that is widely admired, you show that it is not as good as people think it is. DEBUNK definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary

To debunk something is to take the bunk out of it—that bunk being “nonsense.” (Bunk is short for the synonymous bunkum, which has political origins.) Debunk has been in use since at least the 1920s, and it contrasts with synonyms like disprove and rebut by suggesting that something is not merely untrue but is also a sham—a trick meant to deceive. One can simply disprove a myth, but if it is debunked, the implication is that the myth was a grossly exaggerated or foolish claim. DEBUNK Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

There's a lot of grossly exaggerated [over-the-top, blown out of all proportion, bigger than it really is] and foolish [very silly, not at all smart] claims being made...

In politics: 'All of us have a responsibility to debunk myths targeting refugees' | The National and Seven common tropes used to deny Gaza’s famine, debunked by an expert | The Telegraph

When it comes to conspiracy theories: 4 Ways Oncologists Use Social Media to Debunk Myths and Dispel Misinformation and Moon landing conspiracy theories, debunked | Royal Museums Greenwich

Even in sport: Debunking Outlandish Stances on Jaguars' Trevor Lawrence

The scientist, researcher and writer Emma Monk has been debunking since the Covid pandemic:  I now split my time between working as a Research Scientist in the Biotech industry and debunking spurious misinformation online.  Science — Emma Monk

For example, from 2022, she was interviewed by the BBC: Social media and some news outlets have spread claims this week that only around 17,000 people have actually died of Covid. We debunk. More or Less - BBC Sounds

Last year, four years on from Brexit, she debunked the myths around what happened since then in several iconic industries: How fishing was gutted by Brexit, Brexit and farming and It's time to face the music - four years on from Brexit - West Country Voices.

And lately, she's been looking at the hottest topic there is at the moment: immigration: Are small boat migrants really 24 times more likely to go to prison? Spoiler alert: no. But here’s how the media got suckered by bad data and worse assumptions. - West Country Voices

Here she is being interviewed this week by Ian Winwood in The New World: Emma Monk, the one-woman debunking machine:

On the last day of July, Emma Monk happened upon a story which claimed that asylum seekers are 24 times more likely to end up in prison than people who are born in Britain. Arching a quizzical eyebrow in the direction of this (ahem) arresting figure, Monk, a 46-year-old scientist from the New Forest, ran the numbers. Mining data and government statistics, with empirical certainty, she discovered the claim was hokum...

And for more:

Jay Doubleyou: brexit: and fishing rights... and selling fish

Jay Doubleyou: comparing: all sorts of categories

Jay Doubleyou: russia, ukraine and the war on culture

Jay Doubleyou: the psychology of lies and why we fall for them

Jay Doubleyou: fake news

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replacing teachers with ai

Is AI an opportunity or a threat for teachers of language?

There are general issues around ai and the future of education - and whether AI can be seen as the 'friend of enemy' of teachers. 

To give an example, we can simply ask AI if "you can give me a lesson plan!?"

The E L Gazette looks at ELT’s AI Future: Opportunities and challenges - E L Gazette

Will AI change how we learn languages? No, it will not. And that is the end of that. But let me explain why. We know, from loads of research, that we learn through comprehensible input, which forms in our subconscious as rules of the language. These rules include phonology, collocation, syntax, morphology, and loads of other elements of language. It is also consistently refined. This process is messy, difficult to measure, and non-linear. These rules are refined through interaction and, in essence, learning through doing. Teachers cannot change the path, but they can accelerate the speed with which learning and/or acquisition takes place. It is irrelevant how much AI or the internet changes, the way in which we learn languages are almost certainly not going to change. So, let’s address that first part. Can AI, if it adheres to second language acquisition theory, replace teachers?

See also:

Jay Doubleyou: the future of ai and english language teaching

Jay Doubleyou: chat gpt in teaching/learning/working with english

Jay Doubleyou: chat gpt in teaching/learning/working with english - the research

Jay Doubleyou: controlling ai - part one: the dangers of chatgpt

Jay Doubleyou: controlling ai - part two: the dangers of deep fake imagery

Jay Doubleyou: controlling ai - part three: china controlling ai

Jay Doubleyou: controlling ai - part four: "integrating it into teaching, learning, and assessment will require careful consideration"

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