Actually means “na verdade.”

Atualmente means “currently, today.”

We say, “Where are you currently employed?” or “Where are you currently working?”

We do not say, “Where are you actually working?”

That would mean the the speaker does not believe that you are working where you said you work. He is asking where you really work (na verdade).

When people spell (soletrar) words with two letters the same, like dollar, they can say D-O-L-L-A-R, but many people say D-O-double L-A-R.

Meu nome se soletra “M- A-R-Y- Z-I-double L-E-R.”

Alguém tem problemas para soletrar palavras em inglês? (Does anyone have problems spelling in English?). Quando se dobra as letras? (When do you double the letters?)

Vamos ver alguns exemplos:

Let’s look at a couple (a few) examples:

1.balloon: inflatable rubber bag

*A balloon is a ball.

2. balance: to bring to equilibrium

* It’s hard to balance a lance.

See you!

Mary Ziller from USA

Hello, everyone. How are you? Alessandro and I were talking about whether English students should learn Grammar or not… Well, I think that when you first start learning a language, you should concentrate on learning communicative sentences.

I suggest that you go to sharedtalk to talk with native speakers in the English room. Notice the sentences they use to talk to each other. Then write down the sentences that you want to use yourself in a chat. Since native speakers said them, they will be grammatically correct and you can just plug them in to your own conversation. We can learn a new language like a child learns.

If a child makes a mistake and says , “Mommie, I goed outside!” the mother does not say, “No, sweetheart, you can’t say, “I goed outside because the verb “to go” is irregular and the past tense of ‘to go’ is I went”. Mommie will just correct her and say, “No, honey, you went outside.” “Oh yeah, I went outside, Mommie.” Using grammar can come later, when you reach an intermediate stage. Native speakers at sharedtalk will correct you if you want, and if they do not understand you, they will try to help you be clearer. For beginners, it may be helpful for the speaker to translate the sentences you do not understand, typing bilingually.

I hope this helps.

People who are learning English like to pronounce the word ‘course’ like ‘curse’ probably because of the Portuguese word ‘curso’.

Course rhymes with horse, and curse rhymes with worse.

(Course rima com horse, e curse rima com worse. )

Course (aula) sounds exactly like coarse (grosso).

The vowel in ‘course’ has the same sound as in the word ‘or’ .

To have an English course is a good thing.

To have an English curse (maldição) would be a bad thing.

Hi guys, how have you been? I know I’ve been off for a while… So, I thought today we should learn 2 phrases to make it up and I picked up “Friends” again, because it’s what I consider a “classic” TV series, and I’m sure most of you have enjoyed their episodes. So, let’s cut the chase.

GO COMMANDO
On the second episode of the third season (The One Where No One’s Ready), Chandler hides Joey’s underwear. So, Joey decides to wear ALL of Chandler’s clothes instead. And to bother him, he explains he is “going commando”. To go commando is a humorous American slang for “wear no underpants”. According to Wikipedia, , this phenomenon is also referred to as “going Indian”, “freeballing” (in the case of men not wearing underwear), and “freebuffing” (in the case of women).

STEAL SOMEONE’S THUNDER
On the third episode of the fifth season (The One Hundredth also known as The One With the Triplets), Phoebe is in the hospital, about to deliver her brother’s triplets, whom she is carrying as a surrogate mom. Suddenly, Joey doubles over in pain. Phoebe thought at first that it was nice that Joey had “sympathy pains”, but then she became upset because he was trying to “steal her thunder”. In this case, to “steal someone’s thunder” means to do something that takes attention away from what someone else has done. Depending on the context, this phrase can also mean that someone is taking the credit and praise for something you did or winning praise for themselves by preempting your attempt to impress.