Hello, I’m Silvia! I’m a Canadian online English teacher, editor, content writer, and copywriter, roaming the planet and always striving to grow.
Here you’ll find some more information about me and this blog:
My vision with this blog:
A community of growth for deep thinkers and language learners.
What are Linguistic Musings?
Musings are thoughts or comments that you have on something you have been thinking about carefully and for a long time (Cambridge Dictionary).
I tend to think a lot, and this blog is the product of that. I also add linguistic notes to each post to help advanced English learners improve their English language skills.
What is ESL?
English as a Second Language. Also referred to as English as a Foreign Language (EFL).
What do I write about?
Predominantly about self-development and the field of languages, but also anything that comes to mind.
What makes this blog special?
For native English speakers:
If you are here only for the article content, I think a lot about basically everything. You might find some new perspectives here, or simply some food for thought to fuel your next dinner-table conversation 🙂
For English as a Second Language (ESL) learners:
As an online English teacher, I know that many students love to use reading as a way to practice and learn English.
However, I also realize it’s often difficult: authentic articles use lots of advanced expressions, and it takes a long time to read the articles when you have to constantly stop and search for the new words in the dictionary.
Even if you look up the words, how will you remember them? You’ve probably read lots of new words by now, but forgotten them immediately. There are websites that teach vocabulary (and some of them are great!), but many of them just give long lists of words without natural context to make the learning interesting or show you how the expressions are used.
To that end, I made this blog in order to provide intermediate/advanced ESL learners with interesting (I hope!) and authentic content to learn from. My goal is to help you easily learn and remember useful advanced words and structures to improve your English.
I write freely, then I go through my text and find the advanced expressions (I don’t artificially insert them, they are all used naturally). Therefore, you can see the expressions used in natural context in the article.
You will also find explanations, examples, and often exercises related to the advanced expressions at the bottom of the article (they are hyperlinked to the words for your convenience), so you can easily practice and make sure you don’t just forget them.
A bit more about me:
I grew up in Ottawa, Canada, where I also completed my Bachelor in Translation at the University of Ottawa. As part of my degree, I did three internships in Europe (related to translation, editing, and English teaching). I then moved to Europe permanently and started working as an independent English teacher, editor and translator. Recently, I have also joined Berlitz, one of the leading language-teaching schools in the world. I love learning languages, I love the work I do, I love growing as a professional and as a person, and I especially love being able to connect with so many amazing people all over the world and helping you through your personal journeys 🙂
I’ve traveled quite often and moved countries many times, but at other times I like to stay in one place and set some roots. I’ve lived (short or long-term) in Ottawa, Milan, Madrid, Barcelona, Bremen, Valencia, Bologna, Genoa, and Bratislava. Personally, I don’t consider travel to be an integral part of my identity or life: rather, I value freedom, experience, and learning, no matter where you have it. Humans can be a wonderful force of good on the planet if we choose to be so, and connecting with each other is one of the best ways to make that happen, no matter where you are.
I try to be a minimalist and a power of good for the planet, and I hope to gradually transition into a zero-waste lifestyle.
I absolutely love music and dance. I’m also a sucker for Gioacchino Rossini’s operas.
I love stories in all forms: books, movies, TV series, plays, ballets, campfire tales, or just chats about life with the person next to you on the bus. I also love to think a lot about everything interesting I find out and discuss it with friends and other like-minded people. I believe we are all made to help each other and grow together!
I love to read: I have about 1500 kindle books and 300 audio books, as well as a bookcase full of paper books. I also listen to podcasts and watch lots of TV series and movies. I consider all of these mediums to be points of departure for inspiration, learning, and hours of careful thought or vivid discussion.
I hope you enjoy my blog!
Want more content like this? Find me on Instagram @sadamyova for photos from my rambles[1], and rambles[2] on my photos 🙂
[1] – long walks
[2] – writing in a confused way, often for a long time
LINGUISTIC MUSINGS 