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The mathematics of percentages is often simple. Understanding what those percentages actually describe is a different skill. By Tymur Levitin | Levitin Language School Two students improve their test scores by 20%. Two shops offer a 20% discount. Two companies report 20% growth. At first glance, these statements appear to describe equivalent changes. They do […]

Two students take two different mathematics examinations. Both receive 80%. Their parents are satisfied. Their teachers record the same percentage. The school reports that both students achieved an equally strong result. But what does 80% actually mean? The first examination consisted mainly of routine calculations. The second required unfamiliar problems, mathematical explanations, and the evaluation […]

A grammatical category tells us which words belong together. It does not automatically tell us what people believe about the things those words describe. — Tymur Levitin Imagine opening a grammar book and discovering that the words for woman, fire, water, sun, dog, and scorpion can belong to the same grammatical class. Your first reaction […]

A student receives 90% on a multiple-choice examination, 65% on a written test, and 75% during an oral assessment. The subject is the same. The student is the same. The underlying knowledge has not suddenly disappeared between examinations. So which score represents the student’s actual ability? The highest? The lowest? The average? Or is the […]

When Feedback Helps Learning — and When It Interrupts Thinking A student begins speaking in a foreign language. The first sentence contains an incorrect preposition. The teacher interrupts and corrects it. The student continues. A verb ending is wrong. Another correction. The student starts a third sentence, hesitates over word order and receives another explanation. […]

Why accepting a deliverable, settling financial obligations, transferring project materials, and formally closing an assignment are different events. The client reviews your work. Everything looks good. The client writes: “Approved. Thank you.” You consider the project finished. A week later, you discover that the invoice remains unpaid. Or the client asks for access to the […]

Why finishing a task, delivering its result, confirming receipt, and accepting the work are four different events in professional communication. You finish a translation. You check the terminology, review the formatting, save the final document, and close the file. The work is complete. The next morning, the client sends a message: “Where is my translation? […]

Why receiving information, understanding a request, agreeing to an action, and actually completing it are four different events. You send a message to a colleague. The colleague replies: “Understood.” You assume the matter is settled. Two days later, nothing has happened. You ask why. The colleague responds: “I understood what you said. I never said […]

Checking an answer, testing a machine, inspecting a process, investigating a problem and verifying a claim are not the same action. German makes these distinctions visible through different verbs. By Tymur Levitin | Levitin Language School 1. “I checked it.” What exactly did you do? Imagine six people reporting that they have checked something. A […]