High-quality language input produces high-quality output — if you want to improve your spoken and written English, you need to consume it first, in written or spoken form. Podcasts fit into a busy engineer's day in a way that a textbook doesn't: you can listen in the car, between meetings, or on-site.

The same English words can mean different things depending on where you learned them. "How are you doing?" is a simple hello in the US, but a genuine question in Turkey — and mixing those up can feel jarring on both sides. Recognizing these gaps before you're in the room means you walk into international meetings prepared, not blindsided.

You don't need every word in the English language — you need the words that show up again and again in your meetings, your emails, your job site. Build that list first, with help from a teacher if you can, and center your practice around it rather than trying to learn everything at once.

No — most people are patient with someone learning a language on the job, and letting a colleague know you're struggling to find a word or follow a conversation is how you build the skill faster, not a weakness. Working with a language coach is simply a structured version of the same thing.

Reality TV might be fun, but it's rarely useful for professional English — it's often too casual, too fast, or just not relevant to your work. Look for shows closer to your world instead; Olivia's own picks are Star Trek and Sherlock, both good for picking up different accents.

Leverage what's already available before assuming you need something new — a newsletter, a course, or a well-written blog post can get you most of the way there, even without a weekly coaching call.