Dream team English

We haven't had the time to talk about the methods and topics for future meetings and I would like to encourage you to share your ideas in the comment section of this blog entry.

Remember that the methods have to be compatible with the main characteristics of our meetings, which have to be:
1) interactive (so that everyone gets some opportunity to talk and engage with each other),
2) work-related (so that you end up feeling more comfortable speaking English in all sorts of working situations),
3) based on your initiative (so that you put in some effort into preparations and after-lesson activity.

What do you suggest?

Strong start

I enjoyed our first class today and found doing a lesson in your natural working environment a very good idea.

A few things either escaped my mind or I simply didn't know them.

The opposite of thick or dense is sparse or light. For example:

This area is densly populated. This area is sparsely populated.

When something becomes denser and denser it thickens.

Przysposobienie ochronne = civil defense training

To prevent tilt in the melioration unit, you are building a self-leveling system or, more precisely, a self-leveling suspension. Can you check me on that?

In air-conditioning or wastewater treatment machines, an important part is an evaporator (= parownik). Can you have a look at the photo?

Strange but true

Strange, unusual, unbelievable, amazing? These two stories took place for real and both are closely connected to engineering.

Here's a British graduate who did a bungee jump in Thailand and was waiting for the elastic rope to pull him back but, unfortunately, it never did. If you're a strong personality, you may watch the video, but for me this is too frightening. Here is a short but fascinating article about different forces that work on a bungee jumper - a kind of physics for extreme sports.

Here's Larry Walters from North Hollywood, California, on American television after his incredible balloon trip in 1982. And you won't believe it - he really went up 16,000 feet. Interested in some cluster ballooning after work?

cutting extras

This was Przemek's question when we talked about welding. He didn't know how to say "elektroda" and here in English it's practically the same expression as in Polish. It's an electrode.

By the way, can you briefly explain what the difference between welding and soldering (two very similar joining techniques) is?

A bit of electricity

It was Paweł again asking difficult questions. This time it was electricity.

Here is a classic problem for all electricians - a short circuit (spięcie, zwarcie, but the word-to-word translation is krótki obwód, can you comment why?). Here is how English speakers understand different types of circuits.

I think that when the circuit is overloaded, the fuse may blow. I remember when once a fuse blew in my house in the middle of the Champions League final - that was terrible.

geometry for technical drawing

Here are a few answers for Pawel's questions, most of them connected to technical drawing. When he said "geometria wykreślna" I thought he was joking, but there is really such a thing. As I learned, it's the basic engineering skill needed for technical drawing and allows to present objects in 3D. In English, it's called descriptive geometry (can you have a look at this video to check if this is what you wanted?) and here's one example of its application.

To practice descriptive geometry, you need a set of drawing tools. First, you need a compass (cyrkiel) to create circles and arcs. Another useful instrument is a set square (ekierka) that helps draw angles. For straight lines you may use a ruler (with measurements) or a straightedge (without measurements). To measure angles, circles and semicircles engineers make use of protractors.

Another key geometry expression you often ask about is a cross section (przekrój poprzeczny), here a cross section of a pistol, but I couldn't find an easy translation for "przekrój podłużny". Can you help me understand the difference by commenting?

Machining processes

Teaching engineering English is a frustrating job for me because all too often I feel incompetent and it weakens my position as a language expert. For example, when we started a series of lessons on machining operations, I could hardly understand the difference between a milling machine (= frezarka) and a lathe (= tokarka) in Polish, so how could I teach it in English with any confidence?

Well, I try not to compete with you and always take your questions and doubts seriously. But sometimes I'm right. For example, Paweł and Sylwester disagreed with my definition of sanding (= szlifowanie) that is connected with the use of sandpaper to make surfaces smoother and suggested that it's actually a technology for cleaning buildings with a stream of sand (something you've seen at the ZAMEK Culture Centre in Poznań). In fact, the technique Paweł and Sylwester were talking about is called sandblasting (or abrasive blasting).

By the way, here's a definition for shearing which I can't translate into Polish. What the hell is it? Can anyone have a look?