GuruEAP
Academic English not only for Indonesians
One family
I have one wife, one child, one cat and one dog.
In the IELTS speaking test candidates often mention their families when talking about their homes. Sometimes they do this to justify only having a small home, or maybe they want to explain why they chose to live in a particular area. (more…)
Lost in translation
Instructions
The sentences below demonstrate some common misuses of English.
A flag (
) at the end of an example indicates that meaning has become distorted or even lost in translation from Bahasa Indonesia to English.
Clicking on opens posts that describe these problems in detail. Many such posts include activities to practice correct language use.
Commoners turn from opera to Oprah!
Common people watch television every night for six hours.
I don’t think the writer intended to be so negative, or worse – insulting! Let’s explore the meaning of common, first of all by looking inside an opera house. (more…)
Youths or young people?
These days youths are more challenged by the future because making decisions about the future is not easy.
This is grammatically correct but inappropriate. (more…)
My yard is wide
Of course I love my house. It has a yard. Actually it’s not a very wide yard.
Here an Indonesian candidate is translating ‘luas’ (lit. ‘wide’). (more…)
Labouring over ‘labourers’
Some people claim that working hours for labours in factories are too long.
Here an Indonesian student is trying to find a synonym for ‘worker‘. Unfortunately the hierarchy of ‘work‘ is labelled differently in English. (more…)
Humans are usually redundant
In conclusion, long working hours are necessary for human beings.
I’m guessing this may be a cultural issue. (more…)