English for Engineers

Arnold Schwarzenegger has 3 lessons for every engineer learning English, and none of them involve grammar.

Before he was Terminator, Governor, or bodybuilding's most quoted man, Arnold was an Austrian immigrant. People mocked his accent, his body, and his ambitions.

In this quick chalk talk, Olivia pulls three lessons from his story for your English.

1. Ask anyone for help — he even took notes from a ballet teacher.
2. Build a circle of people who pull you forward.
3. And stop letting one bad teacher decide what you're capable of.

Resources and Links:

Read more about why engineers are naturally good at learning English

Click here for free learning resources.

Connect with Olivia Augustin

Olivia Augustin is a civil engineer and certified English as a second language teacher. With her one-on-one lessons and group courses, she teaches non-native English-speaking engineers the kind of English that gets the job done.

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Your English teacher is not your translator. Olivia says no every time a client asks her to "just quickly translate" a contract or a manual — and in this episode you'll hear exactly why those are two different jobs.

She sits down with Anthoinette Međjedović-van Winkoop and Chelsea Janssen from HTT – Helena Technical Translations to open up a profession most engineers never think about, until a deadline forces them to. What actually happens to your document after you hand it over? Why is a mistranslated warning label genuinely dangerous? And what's the "four-eyes principle" that keeps professional translations from going out wrong?

You'll hear how technical translators work behind the scenes — the analysis, the translation memory, the review, the quality assessment — and the three things you can give them to get a better result: time, context, and terminology.

Fair warning: you'll never look at a manual the same way again.

Prefer to read the takeaways? The companion article is on the blog: What engineers can learn from translators.

CONNECT WITH HTT – HELENA TECHNICAL TRANSLATIONSISO 17100-certified technical translation agency, all languages, since 1991.

Go to the HTT Website | Instagram

CONNECT WITH OLIVIA AUGUSTIN

Olivia Augustin is a civil engineer and certified English as a second language teacher. With her one-on-one lessons and group courses, she teaches non-native English-speaking engineers the kind of English that gets the job done.

Work with me | Get the newsletter | LinkedIn | Instagram

Natalie Peart swapped rainy Scotland for sunny Australia — and now she helps international engineers land the Australian career they came for. In this episode, she and Olivia get into what actually gets engineers hired down under: why Australia is crying out for civil engineers right now, how Aussie workplaces are "relaxed but traditional" (and why that trips people up), why the IELTS test isn't real English, and what it really means to communicate authentically instead of perfectly.

If you're eyeing a move to Australia — or already there and still decoding the unwritten rules — this one's for you.

In this episode:
• Why engineers are in high demand in Australia right now
• The IELTS test: when you actually need it (and when you don't)
• "Use the English you have" — authenticity over perfect grammar
• Relaxed vs. traditional: reading the Australian workplace
• The STAR method for interview answers that land

Connect with Natalie: Jobspeak Academy | Instagram

Connect with Olivia Augustin

Olivia Augustin is a civil engineer and certified English as a second language teacher. With her one-on-one lessons and group courses, she teaches non-native English-speaking engineers the kind of English that gets the job done. Work with me | Get the newsletter | LinkedIn | Instagram

Meetings? Fine. Technical skills? No problem. It's the blank email, alone in your office, that sends most non-native engineers over the edge.

In this episode, Olivia shares eight practical tips for writing work emails in English — from studying how native speakers actually structure their messages, to knowing when a well-placed "please" does more work than perfect grammar, to finally building your own reusable templates instead of starting from zero every time. She also tells the real story behind Emails for Engineers: two client requests, twelve years apart, that showed her how many engineers were quietly stuck on the exact same problem.

Want the full system behind these tips? Read How to Write Business Emails Faster (As an Engineer). Ready to stop starting from a blank page? Check out the Emails for Engineers template package.

CONNECT WITH OLIVIA AUGUSTINOlivia is a civil engineer and certified English as a second language teacher. With her one-on-one lessons and group courses, she teaches non-native English-speaking engineers the kind of English that gets the job done.Work with me | Get the newsletter | LinkedIn | Instagram

Buying a home is stressful enough in your own language. Now imagine doing it in your second, third, or fourth — while also trying to figure out what your realtor means when she tells you to get "all your ducks in a row."

In this episode, I sit down with my friend Candice Lee, a realtor and relocation specialist who's helped executives and specialists from companies like BMW, Google, Richemont, and PwC move to a new country — and communicate through the whole process. We talk about why language anxiety hits even the most senior, most capable people, why idioms can actually build trust with international clients instead of confusing them, and what really happens during a home inspection (short answer: sometimes there's a buried car involved).

IN THIS EPISODE, YOU'LL LEARN:

• Why even highly experienced professionals get anxious speaking a foreign language — and how to make them feel comfortable anyway
• How asking "do you have this saying in your country?" turns idioms into connection instead of confusion
• Why tone (not grammar) is what actually reads as rude across cultures
• What a home inspection covers — and doesn't — plus why you might want a sewer line or oil tank "surface sweep" before buying
• What "getting your ducks in a row" really means when you're buying property as an international buyer

RESOURCES AND LINKS:

• Check out the Emails for Engineers template package to streamline your email writing — 30+ templates, formal/informal switching, and a built-in mistake-check process.
• For more on the language side of this conversation, read International Team Communication: What Non-Native English Speakers Need to Know on the blog.

CONNECT WITH CANDICE LEE

Candice is an experienced realtor and relocation specialist who works with corporate clients relocating internationally, helping them feel comfortable through the entire process.

LinkedIn: Candice Lee | Website: Property Connections

CONNECT WITH OLIVIA AUGUSTIN

Olivia is a civil engineer and certified English as a second language teacher. With her one-on-one lessons and group courses, she teaches non-native English-speaking engineers the kind of English that gets the job done.

LinkedIn: Olivia D. Augustin | Get the Newsletter: marcode.org/newsletter | Website: marcode.org

In this episode of English for Engineers, Olivia is talking about 5 strategies to improve your technical English. As a professional, you already know how important it is to communicate clearly with your co-workers, and that’s why Olivia put together 5 tips for helping you master technical English with an engineering focus. 

In this episode you'll learn:

• About mastering cultural differences
• How to focus on key vocabulary
• Why watching TV is a good thing
• How to leverage resources to solidify your skills

The English for Engineers podcast is here to help engineers and technicians from all backgrounds to improve their communication skills so Technical + Business English becomes their new superpower.

RESOURCES AND LINKS:

Top 13 TV shows to improve your Technical English.

Catch up with English for Engineers episode #010 to learn about ethical communication and why clear is always kind.

Connect with Olivia Augustin

Olivia Augustin is a civil engineer and certified English as a second language teacher. With her one-on-one lessons and group courses, she teaches non-native English-speaking engineers the kind of English that gets the job done. Work with me | Get the newsletter | LinkedIn | Instagram

Talk to you soon.

This episode is a crossover you didn't know you needed. Olivia sits down with Aimee Arsenault, founder of Transmit Safety, to talk about the skill that keeps engineers and safety pros out of trouble: being clear without losing the relationship. From holding your ethical line when a project manager pushes back, to the real difference between "engineering language" and "safety language" — this is a masterclass in saying no with confidence, and why clarity is a form of kindness.

CONNECT WITH AIMEE ARSENAULT

Aimee Arsenault is a CRSP and CHSC. She is the founder of Transmit Safety, a business that helps you simplify and streamline health & safety management systems.

LinkedIn: Aimee Arsenault

Instagram: @transmit.safety

Twitter: @transmitsafety

Website: transmitsafety.com

CONNECT WITH OLIVIA AUGUSTIN

Olivia Augustin is a civil engineer and certified English as a second language teacher. With her one-on-one lessons and group courses, she teaches non-native English-speaking engineers the kind of English that gets the job done.

⁠⁠⁠Work with me⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠Get the newsletter⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠Instagram

Andrea Zimmerl trained as a plastics engineer in Vienna in the 1990s. Then she became a communication coach, then a life coach, and then — after adopting a reactive rescue dog who barked, lunged, and destroyed half the apartment — a dog trainer.

Turns out she wasn't really training the dog. She was training the human on the other end of the leash. In this episode, Olivia catches up with a fellow Viennese engineer about reading body language on international video calls, why forgetting someone's title is a real insult in Austria, running a Women in STEM program, and building a career out of every single thing you're curious about instead of picking just one. Also covered: the line from a coach friend that Andrea can't stop repeating — your soul of genius is not doing the laundry, it's doing engineering.

CONNECT WITH ANDREA ZIMMERL

Andrea Zimmerl is a Vienna-trained plastics engineer turned communication trainer, career and life coach, and dog trainer, now working internationally with clients across Europe and Asia.

Instagram (and her very good rescue dog Happy): happy_simple_dog

CONNECT WITH OLIVIA AUGUSTIN

Olivia Augustin is a civil engineer and certified English as a second language teacher. With her one-on-one lessons and group courses, she teaches non-native English-speaking engineers the kind of English that gets the job done.

Work with me | Get the newsletter | LinkedIn | Instagram

Becky Paroz has spent 30 years in the Australian construction industry, and she's decoded more badly-translated technical documents than she can count. In this episode, Becky and Olivia talk about why engineering jargon works less like technical precision and more like a members-only badge — and why that becomes a real problem the moment your team includes anyone who didn't grow up inside your specific slice of the industry. They get into what a translated manual sounds like when a "tech person" writes it versus a "language person," why "no worries" can quietly derail a conversation, and Becky's two-part trick for building instant trust with colleagues from another culture: learn their stress word, and learn one word they actually love. Years of quality assurance work taught Becky that plain, clear communication isn't a soft skill — it's a safety issue.

CONNECT WITH BECKY PAROZ

Becky Paroz has spent 30 years in the Australian construction industry as an engineer, project manager, and director across three companies. She's also a professional mentor to the next generation of industry leaders and was named Fearless Educator of the Year in 2019. Becky runs Queen B Project Systems, a Brisbane-based consultancy. Company: Queen B Project Systems

CONNECT WITH OLIVIA AUGUSTIN

Olivia Augustin is a civil engineer and certified English as a second language teacher. With her one-on-one lessons and group courses, she teaches non-native English-speaking engineers the kind of English that gets the job done.

⁠⁠Work with me⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠Get the newsletter⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠Instagram

An engineer once asked Olivia if her fancy podcast microphone was for singing. It's not — it's for you.

In this solo episode, Olivia shares the real reason she started English for Engineers in the first place, then walks through five practical ways to master technical English on the job:

reading cultural differences correctly, focusing your vocabulary on what you actually need, asking for help without the shame spiral, watching English-language shows that are actually useful (Star Trek counts), and using the resources you already have access to.

For more on cultural differences at work, check out Lost in Translation, Olivia's two-part conversation with Ama Zbarcea about US and UK communication styles: marcode.org/lost-in-translation. Want the full list of the 15 best TV shows for engineers Olivia mentions? Find it at marcode.org/best-tv-shows-for-engineers.

And if you want these five tips as a quick-reference cheat sheet, grab the free PDF right here.

CONNECT WITH OLIVIA AUGUSTIN

Olivia Augustin is a civil engineer and certified English teacher turned corporate trainer. Her specialty is dissecting the intricate structures of the English language and putting back only the pieces engineers actually need to become skilled communicators.

⁠⁠Work with me⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠Get the newsletter⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠Instagram