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 3, 2026 | Solo Session
An engineer emailed me before a €20 million construction project. Stakeholder meetings, negotiations, contracts, all coming at him fast. His English wasn’t quite where it needed to be. He had two options in front of him. One was a 12-week one-on-one course built...
