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In this week’s post, we’re going to talk about the correct way to use “is it” and “isn’t it”.

If you’ve been reading my posts for a while, you may know that I’m also a translator for Malay and English shows.

The other day, I was translating a Malay show into English. I realised that in the Malay language, we frequently end questions with “kan”.

In Malay conversations, “kan” can be used in almost any situation. For example:

“Mesti kakak mimpi tentang lelaki yang jahat tu, kan?”
“Saya comel, kan?”
“Makanan ni sedap, kan?”

So when Malaysians speak English, we tend to use the words “is it” or “isn’t it” to replace “kan” at the end of questions.

These are called question tags. For example:

This is delicious, isn’t it?
The parcel isn’t arriving today, is it?

However, they should not be used all the time!

Continue reading “The correct way to say “is it?””

Today I’m going to share with you how I helped a friend write a better email.

For as long as I can remember, people have always asked me to help with their English.

The other day, I received a nice comment on Facebook from an old friend:

“Amnah, I still remember that you always used to help me with my assignments back in university. You corrected my English, and sometimes you even translated my sentences. Thanks. I still remember it till today.”

It was nice to read that, because I didn’t remember that particular incident! SO many friends have asked for my help, especially in their writing.

I’ve always loved writing. I used to write stories as a kid, and now I continue to write emails for you here at My English Matters.

And it’s something I will share more of in our online course, Communicate with Confidence (CWC), as a bonus! We can’t wait to have you join us when we open registration again in 2020.

Now, if you enjoy reading the emails I send, I’m going to share with you one VERY important tip to help you write better emails.

Continue reading “How I helped my friend write a better email”

We’ve had a lot of people ask us to share what we read, watch or listen to. So I thought I’d share some resources to help you improve your English here!

Continue reading “Resources to help you improve your English”

Today, we’re going to talk about the difference between these two words: “famous” and “infamous”.

We see many people make the mistake of using these words interchangeably. However, the meanings are different!

Continue reading “The difference between “famous” and “infamous””

In this week’s post, I want to talk about why it’s important for you to express your true self and speak fluent English if you’re working in an English-speaking environment.

If your work requires you to speak English every day, you NEED to be a fluent speaker.

Because if you don’t, it’s going to be frustrating to not be able to express your TRUE self at work. And we spend eight hours a day there (sometimes even more)!

Continue reading “Here’s why you need to express your true self”

Do you want to be more decisive? About two weeks ago, I wrote about habits and how forming good habits can make achieving our goals easier. You can read the post here:

Start being more confident through your habits

From that post, we received an email from one of our subscribers. She asked us what habits she could start so that she could become a more decisive person.

Before we begin, let’s get you on the same page here. Decisive in this context means “having or showing the ability to make decisions quickly and effectively”. 

Continue reading “How to be more decisive”

If you’ve been reading our posts for a while, you would know that we don’t just talk about English.

We also talk about working on our personal development so that we have better self-confidence. From that self-confidence, we can, in turn, become more confident in speaking.

If you know me well, I LOVE learning about personal development and listening to podcasts and videos about it. So I thought I’d share what I’ve learnt from all my hours of learning.

It’s about habits.

Continue reading “Start being more confident through your habits”