Most engineers accept that international projects run in English. Then they meet a project that runs in three...
TAG ARCHIVE
podcast episode
Blog articles based on episodes of the English for Engineers podcast — real conversations with engineers and experts on communication, international work, and Technical English.
How to Choose a Technical Translator: What Engineers Should Look For
Your specification goes out for translation. It comes back in French. You cannot check it, so you sign it off and...
What ‘Global Mindset’ Actually Means (And Why Every Engineer Needs One)
"Global mindset" shows up in job postings, training programmes, and LinkedIn posts so often that it's almost stopped...
Career Advice for Engineers Moving to Denmark (and Beyond)
If you're an engineer thinking about a move to Denmark, or you're already there and confused about why interviews keep...
The Austrian Oak: What Arnold Schwarzenegger Can Teach You About Learning English
Before Arnold Schwarzenegger was the Terminator, he was an Austrian immigrant. People mocked his accent, his body, and...
How Technical Translators Work: The Unsung Heroes of Engineering
Clients ask Olivia to translate their documents all the time — a tender spec, a contract, a manual. She always says...
Authentically Aussie: How Engineers Get Hired in Australia
Thinking about moving to Australia as an engineer? The timing might be better than you think. Australia is short on...
Writing Work Emails in English (Without the Panic)
You can hold a technical conversation, defend your work in a meeting, and handle the hard parts of your job in a...
All Your Ducks in a Row: Language Barriers & Home Buying Abroad
Highly educated, highly capable professionals still freeze up mid-sentence in a foreign language. That's the starting...
Clear Is Kind: A Crossover Episode with Aimee Arsenault
Engineers are trained to communicate in steps. Step 1, step 2, step 3. Read the diagram, follow the procedure, done....
Vienna Waits for You: Reinventing an Engineering Career
In this episode of English for Engineers, I sit down with Andrea Zimmerl, a fellow Viennese and a fellow engineer, who...
Junk the Jargon: Why Engineering Jargon Isn’t Clear
In this episode of English for Engineers, I sit down with Becky Paroz, a 30-year veteran of the Australian...
007: License to Talk
In this episode of English for Engineers, I share why I started this podcast in the first place, then walk through...
Why Logic Alone Can’t Hold Your Team Together
In this episode of English for Engineers, I sit down with Catherine Stagg-Macey, executive coach, team coach, and...
Do You Want to Be Right, or Do You Want a Relationship?
That is not a trick question. And for engineers on international projects, it might be the most important one you ask...
Let the Drawings Speak: How Engineering Culture Changes Across Borders
In this episode of English for Engineers, I catch up with an old schoolmate, Christian Urich, a civil and...
Lost in Translation: How Culture Shapes Business Communication
You can have perfect grammar and still get completely misread. That's the whole premise of these two episodes — one...
Why International Teams Misread Each Other’s Response Times
A Japanese engineer emails a question to his German counterpart. The German technician knows the answer and replies...
Rubber, Pants, and “My Fault”: The British and American English Mix-Ups That Actually Matter
A senior lawyer, the head of an entire legal department, turned bright red on a train. He was escorting a 19-year-old...
Technical English vs Business English
What I Mean by "English for Engineers" In this episode of English for Engineers, I take on three terms that get thrown...