Learning English in your spare time is really helping you, but what happens when you need to use it at work? We’ve been studying for ages and yet do not speak fluently. Time to speak more English if we want to speak better English.

Here are some easy ways to practice your English at work:

Try to use English at work every day: you can start slowly but steadily, do something in English as part of your work, send a mail, make a phone call, book an appointment, etc. Start with easy tasks and increase difficulty gradually. Have some of your colleagues help you when preparing and/or to check your message.

Interact on social networks in English, especially in professional ones, where you get to practice vocabulary related to your field. Interacting means to get actively involved, not just read and share, so follow specialised/professional blogs, news, media and write comments, participate in groups, report news, express your point of view, etc.

Do you have a foreign co-worker? Make friends with him/her. Take advantage and try to have casual conversations first, before moving into more professional ones.

Or just do it the other way around, some people feel more confident when they know the subject they are talking about. Do whatever feels right for you.

You don’t have a multicultural work environment where you get the chance to practice your English skills? Create one!! agree on a day/time and try to get your team involved in communicating in English for that time span. Or do a regular progress meeting in English, to get used to speaking it in a “safe” environment at the work place. Certainly, you don’t want to start on it with that very important meeting at the client, but you’ll be better prepared and more confident if you’ve already had some practice.

Probably some days you just won’t feel like it, or you’ll have too much workload to focus on English but keep it mind and create a habit. The most important thing is that it becomes a regular practice and not something that feels awkward.

Easy, peasy!

Hey buddies!, a veces cosas tan sencillas como hablar sobre nuestras preferencias puede resultar un poco lioso cuando empezamos a mezclar expresiones con los verbos prefer, like better y would rather. Hoy os damos las claves (y muchos ejemplos) para saber cómo utilizar cada uno de ellos de manera correcta.

En inglés hay varias estructuras que podemos usar para expresar preferencias:

Which do you prefer tea or coffee? I prefer tea to coffee.
Which do you like better coke or pepsi? I like coke better than pepsi.
Do you prefer beer drinking beer or wine? I prefer drinking beer to wine.
Would you prefer to live in a big city or in a small town? I’d prefer living in a big city to living in a small town.
Would you rather take a nap? I‘d rather take a nap than go for a walk.

Vamos a ver estas estructuras una por una:

Prefer (something) to (something)

E.g.
I prefer tea to coffee.
I prefer beer to wine.
Which do you prefer coffee or tea?
Do you prefer coffee or hot chocolate?

Prefer (doing something) to (doing something)

E.g.
I prefer drinking beer to (drinking) wine.
I prefer reading a book to going for a walk.
I prefer watching series to reading books.
Do you prefer watching series or reading books?

Like (something) better than (something)

E.g.
I like coke better than pepsi.
I like the beach better than the mountain.
Which do you like better the beach or the mountain?
Which do you like better beer or wine?

Like (doing something) better than (doing something)
E.g.
I like living in a city better than (living) in the countryside.
I like reading a book better than going for a walk.
Which do you like better going for a walk or reading a book?
Which do you like better visiting monuments or museums?

Would prefer (something) to (something)

E.g.
I’d prefer a big city to a small town. > I’d (I would)
I’d prefer a bicycle to an electric scooter.
I’d prefer an ice cream to a pizza.
Would you prefer a pizza to an ice cream?

Would prefer (doing something) to (doing something)

E.g.
I’d prefer going for a walk to watching series.
I’d prefer eating out to cooking.
I’d prefer having more time to having more money.
Would you prefer eating out or cooking dinner tonight?
Would you prefer watching series or going for a walk?

Would rather (do something) than (do something)

E.g.
I’d rather stay at home than go out.
I’d rather take a nap than go for a walk.
I’d rather have more time than (have) more money.
Would rather take a nap than go for a walk?
Would you rather have more time than money?
Would you rather visit a big city than live there?

Para expresar preferencias podeis utilizar cualquiera de ellas, pero prestad atención a las diversas variantes con to or con than / better than y el uso de los verbos en infinitivo con / sin «to» o bien en gerundio «-ing».

Un breve resumen

Prefer (something) to (something)
Prefer (doing something) to (doing something)
Like (something) better than (something)
Like (doing something) better than (doing something)
Would prefer (something) to (something)
Would prefer (doing something) to (doing something)
Would rather (do something) than (do something)

Esperamos que todos estos ejemplos te hayan ayudado a ver las diferencias de uso y que a partir de ahora utilices algunas de estas expresiones para hablar sobre tus gustos y preferencias en inglés.