This week's mistake was made by a student who wasn't even in class. As well as tailored business courses, I lecture at a local university. It's fun having a younger group of clients and being able to work in jeans rather than smart business clothes! However, 8am on a Monday morning is a tough time to do all the grammar and writing needed for an academic writing course and just sometimes, a couple of the 30 registered students are missing from class.

As I checked my phone at 09:30 after class, there were a few apology e-mails already waiting for me. Some students were on a university field trip, a couple of others were ill. Heino, however, had a completely different excuse.

"Dear Ms Martin, I'm sorry I can't come to class today. I have a date with my doctor and I'm waiting for him".

How dare he go on a date instead of coming to my class! Dates are for the weekend or for the evening. They are part of your private life.

And is a doctor allowed to have a relationship with his patient?

Heino was confusing words. A date is between two lovers, or at least two people who may become lovers. A professional meeting, however, is an appointment. Heino had an appointment with me, but also had a doctor's appointment. As there was a clash, he couldn't keep my appointment.

What about other types of meetings, though? In business and in a professional setting you have an appointment. If you want to get to know a nice man or lady better, you have a date. However, what about plans with people who are in between?

English prefers to use verbs than nouns. Therefore, you might say "I'm meeting up with my friend Winifred" or "I'm going to the pub with James" or "I'm seeing Susan tonight". These are all in the present continuous (progressive) because this is the tense we use to describe future plans. When you talk about what you did the next day, you may say "I met up with Winifred last night, we went to the pub with James".

So Heino, your lecturer doesn't want to know about your private life, but I hope your doctor's appointment went well and you can make our appointment next week!

At a PR agency, words and accusations were flying around the room. The quick, mainly female participants were deep in a roleplay which involved a politician being interviewed about her shady past by a group of unforgiving journalists. Equally attentive participants were listening in and making notes on how to rescue the politician's career after this disastrous interview.

"Do you not believe in equal opportunities?" a tough journalist asked the poor home secretary - the politician responsible for politics in his or her own country.

The home secretary thought a while and smiled slightly.

"That's an interesting question", she said. "Do you have anything in particular in mind when you talk about equal opportunities?"

Excellent response.

"It is rumoured that you said that women couldn't survive prison", the journlist replied, glaring at the politician.

Pause

"Well", the politican replied. "It is a well-documented fact that men are stranger than women"

Deep in debate, the female participants nodded before continuing to give the politician a hard time.

But, stranger? Strange means weird, crazy, peculiar, odd, mad. It means funny in a negative sense.

If you wanted to describe a strange person with an idiom, you may say "he is not all there", or, one step up: "he is off his trolley".

She meant 'stronger' of course, the comparative of 'strong'. The vowel has this sound /ɒ/, just like 'on'. The vowel in strange has this sound /eɪ/, like in 'day'.

My student was probably confusing the sounds with the noun which comes from strong - strength. The vowel sound here is an /e/, just like in "bed" or "head". A strong person has great strength.

"Ms Martin", a relatively new client said, "how long are you in Germany?"

"About 175cm" I answered.

That isn't strictly true. I'm 175cm tall; something is long if it is lying down, or at least has its longest side on the ground. A race track can be long for example, as can the horizontal measurement of a building. I, despite the long day, was standing nice and straight at the flipchart.

My client didn't seem happy with the answer either.

"No, how many years are you in Germany?"

Interesting. He was now asking about my age. In English, you do say "I am 21", not "I have 21 years". That was logical. However, your age doesn't depend on where you are, does it?

"Waldemar, a gentleman does not ask a lady her age".

"No, no!", a red Waldemar answered. "I mean how many years since you first came to Germany!"

So, he was asking how long I have lived in Germany; for how many years I have been here.

In German, when you want this information, you use a present tense. You ask "Seit wann sind Sie in Deutschland" ("since when are you in Germany").

In English, to get the same information, you have to use a tense called the present perfect. For most non-native English speakers, it looks like a past tense because it is made up of has/have and the third form (past participle) of the verb.

However, it is not a past tense, at all. In fact, it is always connected to the present - now - in some way. That's why it is called the present perfect.

Waldemar knew that I live in Germany. He wanted to know how many years it was since I had come to Germany.

Well, I have lived in Germany for 7 years.
I have lived in Germany since 2006.

Have you noticed that there are two translations of the German word "seit"? What's the difference?

If you talk about a period of time (e.g. how many years), you use 'for'.

If you reference a point in time, you use 'since' There's even a point on the second letter of 'since' to help you remember.

What about you, how long have you lived in your current town or city? How long have you worked at your current company or studied at your uni? And how long have you learnt English?

This week's mistake is not from one of my own students, rather was something I heard on the radio.

Driving to one of my classes, I was listening to the a chart show where listeners had voted for their favourite songs. According to the presenter, one of the top songs was "You can leave your head on" by Tom Jones.

I didn't know this song. I knew a lot of sayings with 'head' though.

If you are very forgetful, you may say "I would forget my head, if it wasn't screwed on!".

If you are very stressed and confused, you may "run around like a headless chicken".

If, however, you have a mature, practical personality, somebody might say that you "have your head screwed on".

But these didn't sound like topics a charmer like Tom Jones would sing about.

The presenter meant, of course, his song "You can leave your hat on".

German speakers often have a problem hearing and pronouncing the difference between a 'd' and a 't' at the end of the word, and this topic may be covered in a later blog post. However, the problem here was the vowel sound.

The 'ea' in 'head' is this sound /e/ . It is said very quickly with your teeth almost closed. You can hear the same sound in words like "bed"  and "better". It is a sound used a lot in German and you can hear it in the German word "endlich".

The sound in "hat" is /æ/, which is a long, open sound. It is formed deeper in your mouth, so you have to open your mouth quite wide to say it. You don't have it in German, but you can hear it in English words like "apple".

Listen to the difference:

My thirty business students at a local university were busy discussing management styles. The conversation - in English, of course! - became very animated as they looked through the 10 statements they had been given and considered whether or not each one represented good management behaviour.

Feedback time:

"Gundula, what do you think about the seventh statement on the list? 'A manager should always comment on an employee's personal appearance?'"

Gundula thinks for a second.

"Well, when it is a woman, yes, she should, but when it is a man, no he shouldn't", she says.

"When it is a woman?" I question, images running through my head.

"Yes, but only when it is a woman. When it is a man, he shouldn't".

We had already discussed equal opportunity employers, but this was a very interesting concept! A boss who sometimes came to work as a man and sometimes came as a woman. I started thinking how this could work...maybe 'it' decided spontaneously when getting up in the morning. Maybe 'it' was female Monday to Wednesday and male on Thursday and Friday. This person could have an ambiguous first name like Ashley, but how did it deal with the German convention of using 'Mr' and 'Ms' at work instead of first names.

"Ms Martin? Ms Martin?"

She meant 'if', of course. Both 'if' and 'when' are translated by the German word 'wenn'. In English, though, 'when' is connected to a time. If you ask 'when' something will happen, you are asking for a time. If you say 'when it is a woman', you are talking about a specific situation.

If, however, you want to talk about an option or a hypothetical situation, please use if!