Vocabulary on jobs and employment

Copy and paste this vocabulary list onto http://translate.google.com/ to translate it into your own language.

Job search

Unemployed. Out of work. Jobseeker.
Job site. Job offer. Vacant position. Job opening.
CV. Resume. Covering letter.
To apply for a job. Applicant. Application.
Recruitment agency. Recruitment process. Headhunter.
Job interview. Skills assessment. Screening.
Human Resources. HR department. Head of HR.
Employer and employee. Sign a contract. Signature. Clauses.
Turn down an offer. Reject an offer.

Working conditions

Part time job / Full time job.
Permanent contract / Temporary contract
Work overtime. Take days off.
Trainee/Junior/Senior operator/assistant/manager.
Self-unemployed. Freelance worker. Freelancer.
Training programme. Career plan. Get a promotion.
Be appointed to a managing position.
Board of directors. Management.
White-collar workers / Blue-collar workers.

Economic conditions

Income. Salary. Wages. Payslip. Pay rise. Salary cut.
Core salary. Work on a commission basis. Bonuses. Perks. Incentives.
Social benefits. Pension scheme. Health insurance. Share options.
Trade union. Worker's union. Collective bargaining agreement.
Industrial relations. Go on a strike. Industrial action. Industrial dispute.

Leaving a company

Resign. Quit a job. Resignation letter.
To retire. Retirement pension.
Get fired. Low performance. Meet expectations.
Get sacked. Be dismissed. Dismissal.
Layoffs. Be made redundant. Redundancy plan.

Vídeos para aprender inglés: The Flatmates

If you enjoy soap operas, or you are a Youtube addict, and need to improve your listening skills, you should start to watch The Flatmates, a series produced by BBC Learning English, which they dub as "the world's best ELT soap opera".

Videos to learn English: The Flatmates Playlist on Youtube

Every episode is about one minute long. Subtitles can be easily set on and off by pressing the settings icon at the bottom of the video screen. I recommend to listen to it twice with no subtitles, and turn them on again to check for words and expressions you didn't understand.

Pronunciation of consonants at the end of words

 

Many learners fail to pronounce well consonants or groups of consonants at the end of words, mostly speakers of languages with few combinations of consonant sounds (Japanese, Chinese or Spanish).   Here's a list with the most common combinations.

Remember: final D's sound almost as hard as T's (stopped > ssstop't)

One consonant	Consonant +s	Consonant + hard consonant	Two consonants + s
cat	cats
stop	stops	stopped
walk	walks	walked
god	gods
job	jobs	robbed
bag	bags	bagged
live	lives	lift	lifts
love	loves	loved
bath	baths	bathed
call	calls	adult	adults
teacher	teachers	work	works
name	names	named
coin	coins	point	points
house	houses /_sis/	list	lists
wash	washes /_shis/	washed
face	faces /_sis/	faced
watch	watches /_chis/	watched
change	changes /_dshis/	changed
freeze	freezes /_dsis/
tax	taxes /_ksis/	sixth	sixths

If you fail to pronounce them correctly, try these two tricks:
- Pronounce the words slowly, make the consonants very long, and a pause between hard consonants (stopped > ssstop'd). Then do it faster.
- Add a vowel sound at the end (stopped > ssstop'de). Then remove it.

'Most people' or 'Most OF THE people'? 'Most times' or 'most OF THE times'?

In these cases, 'most people' or 'most of the people' mean 'almost everybody'. They are used in different situations, and commonly mixed up by learners.

Most people - Without 'of the', people in general.

Most people like chocolate.
Most people work in the morning.
Most people try to improve their English.

Most of the people - With 'of the', specific group of people.

(Generally followed by that, who)
Most of the people who work at an office, have lunch at work.
Most of the people (that) I've met in this town are very kind.
Most of the people who work at Eurotech speak English as a second language.

The same pattern applies to other nouns:
Most times I only carry cabin luggage.
Most of the times (that) I travel by plane, I only carry cabin luggage.
Most learners pronounce this word wrong.
Most of the learners in this classroom pronounce this word wrong.

Exercise: 'most' or 'most of the'

Answers below, in the first comment.

Most _______ days I catch the tram.
Most_______  people work in the service sector.
Most _______ people who play rugby are really strong.
Most _______ times I talk to you, you just don't listen.
Most _______ internet users search information on Google.
Most _______ mobile phone service providers are a real headache.
Most _______ times I went to their office, I had to queue for long.
Most _______ companies I've worked for don't offer any career plan.

Interested, interesting y similares

 

Interested and Interesting.
Bored and Boring.
Tired and Tiring.
Shocked and Shocking.
Excited and Exciting.
Astonished and Astonishing.
Annoyed and Annoying.
Depressed and Depressing.

These pairs of adjectives are frequently confused. There's a pattern that can help you figure out whether to use the ones with the _ed or the _ing ending. (En español: _ed equivale al participio _ado/_ido, y _ing a menudo equivale a _ante/_ente: interesado e interesante, emocionado y emocionante, ...)

Adjectives with _ED ending

Adjectives with the _ed ending come before nouns receiving the action, so playing a passive role.  It's usually applied to people who are spectators or participants of an activity:

I left because I was getting borED (The situation is borING, so it bores ME).
We're interested in travelling to India (India is interestING, so it interests US).
I felt very tirED after doing sport (Sport is tirING, so it tires ME).

Adjectives with _ING ending

Adjectives with the _ing ending come before nouns doing the action, so playing an active role.  It's usually applied to activities or events, sometimes people doing something:

I stopped meeting these guys, they're really borING (I'm borED because THEY bore me).
Read this book, it's very interestING! (I'm interestED in it, because THE BOOK interests me).
I won't go surfing again, it's too tirING (I'm tirED, because SURFING tires me).

Verbos to say y to tell: No es "SAY TO me" si no "TELL me"

Errores con TELL y SAY: tell someone, say something

"Decir algo" es "say something" y "decirle a alguien" es "tell someone". Muchos hispano hablantes decís "SAY TO me" cuando deberías decir "TELL me". Lo mismo ocurre con cualquier persona que vaya justo detrás del verbo.

Ejemplos con Tell SOMEONE (a alguien):
Tell ME, I told YOU, I'll tell HER, Did you tell JOHNNY?, Don't tell ANYONE.

Ejemplos de Say SOMETHING (algo):
Say HELLO, Say IT again, What did you SAY?, Say WHAT you told me before.

Extra: La traducción literal de "Dímelo" es "SAY IT TO me", pero es incorrecta. De nuevo cambiaremos SAY IT TO por TELL. Ejemplos:
Díselo = No es "SAY IT TO him" si no "TELL him".
¿Se lo dijiste (a ellos)? = No es "Did you SAY IT TO them?" si no "Did you TELL them?"

Que sí y que no : That yes that no?

Sí y no son mucho más frecuentes en español que yes and no en inglés. En frases donde sí y no van al principio, se suelen traducir por sujeto + auxilar en afirmativo o negativo.

Ejemplos:
¿Viene? Creo que sí = Is he coming? I think HE IS
Hoy trabajo pero mañana no = Today I'm working but tomorrow I'M NOT

Exercicios:
¿Lo has entendido?, porque yo no. =
¿Has hablado con él? Te dije que sí. =
Aprobarás el examen. Seguro que sí. =
¿Te gusta el fútbol? La verdad es que no. =
Ahora no puedo traerlos, pero tu sí, ¿no? =