5 English Idioms That Make You Sound Confident at Work

Hello awesome people! For today's lesson I prepared something very special. We are going to learn together five idioms that are very useful when you're at work. Yes, we're talking about get the hang of it. And some of them are also unexpected. If you put your nose onto a grindstone I don't think it's a very pleasurable experience. We're also going to take fragments of videos. I don't know, a good reminder that sometimes you have to put your nose to the grindstone. We're going to analyze those videos. Every time we think outside the box. And we're also going to practice the pronunciation. So today we're gonna learn so much and I can't wait to start. I prepared for you a nice and easy pdf you can download. You'll find the link down here in the description. And just as always at the end of this lesson we're going to have a final quiz to test your understanding. But in order to do all that this location is not enough. Let's change it. Ah way better now. To get the ball rolling let's begin with the first one which is get the ball rolling. That's right. And I'm hoping that once we you know get the ball rolling on the actual construction of it. But at the start it's incredibly difficult to get the ball rolling. But what does it actually mean? To get the ball rolling means to begin something. To make the first move. To start something that is difficult. It comes from the idea that once a ball is rolling it's easier to keep it moving no matter how heavy it is. All you need is a formula for you to get the ball rolling to write your caption easily and quickly. In this video the speaker is explaining a new formula to begin working with Instagram which is often very intimidating for a lot of people. And now let's listen again to practice how we can say that too. All you need is a formula for you to get the ball rolling to write your caption easily and quickly. As you can see she doesn't say to get the ball rolling. She actually joins this get and the into just one word. Get the ball. To get the ball rolling. To get the ball rolling. In English every time you have a similar sound the second one prevails and the first one kind of disappears. All you need is a formula for you to get the ball rolling to write your caption easily and quickly. So now practice with me. Get the ball. Get the ball. All together. Get the ball rolling. Get the ball rolling. Okay very well let's go with the second clip. When they feel like they have a voice it empowers them to to do more So this guy here is talking about a way to give the most unfortunate people a voice so they can have a place in society. So they can get the ball rolling. When they feel like they have a voice it empowers them to to do more and more and they get you get the ball rolling. This was more difficult to understand. I get that. The speaker has a very thick British accent which doesn't help at all. I know that. But at the same time for us it's very useful especially to practice our listening. When they feel like they have a voice it empowers them to to do more and more and they get you get the ball rolling. He goes one step further and he joins together ball and rolling. Because as we said before similar sounds get together and the second one prevails. Now this is something that you don't need to do but you need to be able to recognize when you listen to it so you are more prepared and you know how to deal with those kinds of pronunciations. Now before we go to the next one if you find value in these kind of videos if you like it if you think that you are learning a lot of content please subscribe to this channel. I make this kind of content every week because I have a lot of fun producing it. So if you like it too well this is your home my friend you're more than welcome to stay. Now that we got the ball rolling let's go ahead with the next one. Think outside the box. You know you just have to think outside the box sometimes. We're original we're fresh we think outside the box. This is a beautiful expression my friend probably you've already heard it somewhere. It talks about the idea of thinking outside your regular way of thinking. So many times we have to solve something an issue the customer that is not happy so of course we are required often to think outside the box. Why is it that every time we think outside the box we're told to wait until we're older? She wants to think outside the box and every time she does that she gets told not to do that and she has to do it when she's older. Why is it that every time we think outside the box we're told to wait until we're older? But the point is the way she says the words. So let's listen one more time. Every time we think outside the box. So her pronunciation is slow enough for us to really understand everything she says. Whenever there are similar sounds she only says one. Outside the box. Not only that my friend but she connects every word to each other like there's no space in between. We think outside the box. We think outside the box. So everything is connected there's no breaking between the words. There's only the rhythm that makes you emphasize the words that need to be emphasized. Think outside and box are all stressed in this word. We think outside the box. We think outside the box. Do it with me. We think outside the box. We think outside the box. But now let's watch the second one. I didn't have a whole lot of money so I really had to you know think outside the box for a lot of things. What's interesting is the very fast pace that he has when he talks. I didn't have a whole lot of money so I really had to you know think outside the box for a lot of things. So let's practice saying this phrase in the same way he says it. Repeat after me. Think outside the box. Think outside the box. Now let's go with the next one. Put your nose to the grindstone. Probably you haven't heard it before but it's very useful especially when it comes to a business setting. Circle the wagons and put your nose to the grindstone and work hard you know. If you're going to work put your nose down to the grindstone and start working. First of all let's understand what a grindstone is. A grindstone is basically this large rotating stone that's made to grind or to sharpen metal objects. So that if you put your nose onto a grindstone I don't think it's a very pleasurable experience isn't it? When you put your nose to the grindstone means that you have to do the work and you gotta feel uncomfortable. So basically if you have a task at work that you don't really like you can say I have to put the nose to the grindstone. You know we're raised with the kind of message that you just put your nose to the grindstone you know you work really hard. Right she also explained it herself yes you work really hard and she was explaining her life story probably and how she became the person she is right now. You know we're raised with the kind of message that you just put your nose to the grindstone you know you work really hard. Once again our T is the culprit because she is not gonna pronounce it. Put your nose to the grindstone put your nose to the grindstone. As you can see she doesn't actually say put your nose right every time the T sound is very close to a sound which is the sound of your this T will turn into a sound put your nose put your nose to the grindstone. Put your nose to the grindstone. But let me ask you now which of these words you feel that are the most stressed ones. Put your nose to the grindstone put your nose to the grindstone. You might have heard the word nose and the word grindstone which are the ones that are there to explain the idiom to the person that's listening to you. All right time for the second one. So sometimes I think it's a good uh I don't know a good reminder that sometimes you have to put your nose to the That's it. So these people here are discussing the fact that success is not reached in one day and you have to put your nose to the grindstone to reach whatever you want to reach. So sometimes I think it's a good uh I don't know a good reminder that sometimes you have to put your nose to the grindstone and push through a lot of stuff. All right so he speaks very fast doesn't it? You have to put your nose to the grindstone. The word to is not important is this phrase for this reason it's left behind. Instead of put your nose to the grindstone you just say put your nose to the grindstone. I have to put your nose to the grindstone. I have to put your nose to the grindstone. Once again my friend this is very hard you don't have to speak this way but you have to know this so that then you're able to recognize it when you listen to it. Okay time for the next one because once you get the hang of it listening to the English language is not that hard. Yes we're talking about get the hang of it. But once you do this a few times you'll get the hang of it. You'll start to get the hang of it after you play around with it. To understand this one we really want to understand the word hang which is very used in English for a lot of phrasal verbs and idioms like this one. To hang is when you for example take a pizza you attach it on the wall with the help of a nail. The hang is basically the right position of the pizza. So if you get the hang of it you're able to position the pizza in the right way so that it doesn't bend from one side or the other. I know that maintaining dry and damaged hair can seem really really daunting but once you get the hang of it and figure out the process for your unique hair type you'll never look back. So as you can see here this lady is talking about a new way to treat very dry and damaged hair. It's not my case I know but at the same time she says that it can be a pretty difficult process but if you get the hang of it so if you learn the right way if you get the habit in place it'll be easier and easier with time. I know that maintaining dry and damaged hair can seem really really daunting but once you get the hang of it and figure out the process for your unique hair type you'll never look back. In this particular case the word hang is the most important one. If you don't say the h sound the rest of the word it gets blended and you don't really understand what you're talking about. Once you get the hang of it then then you don't understand it If you say the h sound then it's very different. Once you get the hang of it it's all connected once again there are no breaks in between. Once you get the hang of it Once you get the hang of it. Okay now let's go a little faster. Once you get the hang of it Once you get the hang of it. I actually started a Twitter account as well but then I was just like If you couldn't understand it I don't blame you it wasn't easy. What she's basically saying here is that she can't get used to whatever she's talking about. I actually started a Twitter account as well but then I was just like can't really get the hang of it. So she said can't really get the hang of it. Of course now that I pronounced every word you probably understood me So if you want to be that fast you want to go a little slower first. Can't really get the hang of it Can't really get the hang of it. Can't really get the hang of it. Can't really get the hang of it It takes practice and once again as I'm telling you you don't have to speak this fast but you want to be able to recognize it when you listen to it. Now I saved the best for last my friend because this one is very very particular. Hit the ground running. I expected to hit the ground running on day one. They hit the ground running when they enter the profession. So this one comes from the military. It explains the energy that has a soldier when he's sent to the battlefield with a plane and as soon as he hits the ground he immediately starts running where he has to go. So if you say that you hit the ground running you started a project and you immediately had good results. They are really able to hit the ground running from the very first day they start working. This man here is really proud of his company and there's a pretty solid training so that as soon as the new employee starts working he's able to hit the ground running and produce good results straight away. They are really able to hit the ground running from the very first day they start working. Hit ground running. He only emphasizes the words that he needs to use. The rest of them are just there because they have to. Hit the ground running. Hit the ground running. Back to us my friend. It's time for the final test. Number one. You're about to start a new project and you want to say that you feel confident that you'll get results as soon as the answer was that you hit the ground running because this is exactly what you want to say when you feel confident that as soon as you start something as soon as you hit the ground you will start running. All right. Number two. You've just started a new job and you know that it'll take a while before you actually get any good consistent results. The answer was that you put your nose to the grindstone which really means to work hard to get where you want to go. All right. Number three. You want to communicate that you have a problem to solve and maybe the answer is not exactly where you are at the moment. The answer here was that you want to think outside the box because the box is another way to represent the comfort zone and many times to find your answers you gotta think a little bit outside of it. So how many answers did you get? I'm sure that you got at least one correct answer and if you did well done my friend. Congratulations. At least now you are a little more fluent than before. See you in the next one. Cheers.