by Olivia Augustin | Aug 24, 2026 | Confidence & Fluency
Did you know that the word “language” comes from the French word for tongue? “A foreign tongue” still means “a foreign language” today. Turns out, people have always known that speaking clearly is basically the whole job....
by Olivia Augustin | Aug 14, 2026 | Technical English
I was taught proper German grammar at home. By the time I got to primary school in Tyrol, I knew some of the rules better than my teacher did. I corrected her. More than once. It annoyed her (also more than once). What I didn’t realise growing up was that...
by Olivia Augustin | Aug 10, 2026 | Technical English
Quick answer: skip the passive voice in technical English. It’s harder to interpret for non-native readers, and in engineering, a misread instruction isn’t just an awkward sentence. It’s a safety risk. You probably learned the opposite at school....
by Olivia Augustin | Aug 3, 2026 | Guest Interview
A few weeks ago I was scrolling through LinkedIn and came across a post that stopped me. Not because it said something new but because someone had written down something I say to engineers every single week, almost word for word. The only difference? This person...
by Olivia Augustin | Jul 31, 2026 | Communication at Work
Clients ask me to translate their documents all the time. A tender specification, a contract, a technical manual. The logic makes sense to them: I already work with their team on their English, so why not hand me the German or Dutch version too? I always say no. Not...
by Olivia Augustin | Jul 17, 2026 | Confidence & Fluency
Your accent is not the problem. If you’re a non-native English speaker working in international engineering, chances are you’ve worried about it at least once. In a meeting, on a call with stakeholders, maybe right before you have to present. The thought...
by Olivia Augustin | Jul 1, 2026 | Confidence & Fluency
You already know you should practise your English more. You also know that opening a grammar textbook after a full day of engineering work is not going to happen. So here is a more honest approach: watch TV. Not instead of studying. Not as a guilty pleasure you have...
by Olivia Augustin | Jun 29, 2026 | Confidence & Fluency
I once had a teacher who only gave out the highest mark or the lowest. Nothing in between. No middle ground. No room for “fine.” His reasoning was blunt: if your bridge collapses, you cannot say your calculation was average. That kind of thinking builds...
by Olivia Augustin | Jun 25, 2026 | Communication at Work
There is a joke that engineers are not people persons. That they prefer systems over conversations, data over feelings, and a good spreadsheet over a difficult meeting. It is a funny stereotype. It is also completely wrong. I have been working with engineers for...
by Olivia Augustin | Jun 15, 2026 | Confidence & Fluency
You’re a skilled engineer. Your ideas are sharp. But somewhere between your brain and your mouth, your English gets… stuck. Maybe your boss is tired of proofreading your emails. Maybe you freeze when a client asks a question in a meeting. Maybe you just...
by Olivia Augustin | Jun 15, 2026 | Technical English
You know your engineering work inside out. You can solve complex problems, manage tight project timelines, and navigate technical specifications that would make most people’s eyes glaze over. But the moment you have to explain all of that in English — to a...
by Olivia Augustin | Jun 1, 2026 | Technical English
If you’re an engineer who works internationally, you’ve probably run into this problem: You understand your work. You know your process, your tools, your specs. But the second you have to explain all that in English? Things slow down. You hesitate. You search for...
