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While even native English speakers can have trouble keeping track of the language’s grammatical rules (“don’t end a sentence in a preposition”?), it’s even more difficult for non-native speakers to wrap their heads around our expressions, idioms, and seemingly random rules. I recall a friend who was teaching ESL abroad a few years ago telling me that most of the questions his students came up with stumped him every time …MORE…

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George Bernard Shaw once said that “England and America are two countries separated by the same language.” Before I moved to London in September of 2008, I would have scoffed at such a sentiment: how can speaking the same language be divisive? Surely, of all the ways an American might need to adjust to living in a new country, speaking English would be the least hindrance.MORE…

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Communispace is in the business of listening; it’s what we do. The answers we get, and consequently give our clients aren’t always the answers they hoped for – but they are answers. Here’s the tricky (and at times sticky) part: ensuring a question is asked for an answer, not just a confirmation of a pre-existing thought. True listening means being brave enough to listen to the last thing you wanted to hear; no small task.
The converse of this phenomenon was exemplified (and amplified) by the 2009 Miss USA pageant. The typically benign ball reached a raucous level when a single question, offered by celebrity blogger and pageant judge Perez Hilton, sparked a national controversy.MORE…