DevGlish Blog

Tips, insights, and updates for developers improving their English.

My Team Switched to English-Only Meetings — Here's How I Survived the First Month

When a Taipei startup hired international developers, all meetings switched to English overnight. A frontend developer shares what helped.

How Reading Pull Request Descriptions Improved My English More Than Any Course

A Japanese developer explains how open-source pull requests became the most effective English learning resource.

Why I Kept Saying 'I Have a Doubt' and Confusing Everyone

An Indian developer explains L1 interference — how direct translations from Hindi create confusing English phrases in tech communication.

The Commit Message That Got Me Noticed by My Tech Lead

How improving commit messages from 'fixed bug' to descriptive, conventional messages changed how the team perceived my work.

From Copy-Pasting Error Messages to Actually Reading Them

How a developer went from blindly Googling every error message to understanding them directly — and why it made debugging twice as fast.

I Thought 'LGTM' Was a Typo for Two Months

A developer's story of silently not understanding code review acronyms like LGTM, PTAL, and WIP — and how learning them changed the way they worked.

The Slack Message That Made My Manager Think I Was Angry

How a Brazilian developer learned that tone in async communication is invisible — and why directness in English doesn't mean what it means in Portuguese.

My First English Standup Lasted 3 Minutes of Awkward Silence

A Korean developer's honest account of struggling through daily standups in English and the phrases that eventually made it feel natural.

How I Stopped Writing 'Please Kindly Review' in Every Pull Request

A developer's journey from overly formal PR descriptions to natural, effective code review communication in English.

I Said 'Char' Like 'Car' in a Job Interview — And Got Corrected on the Spot

A backend developer shares the story of mispronouncing 'char' during a technical interview and what it taught him about developer English pronunciation.

20 Tech Terms Chinese Developers Often Mispronounce (中国开发者常读错的技术术语)

Chinese developers frequently mispronounce cache, daemon, and OAuth. Here are 20 tech terms with correct IPA, common mistakes, and tips from DevGlish.

20 Tech Terms Japanese Engineers Often Mispronounce (エンジニアが間違えやすい技術用語)

Japanese engineers often rely on katakana approximations for tech terms. Here are 20 words with correct English pronunciation and tips from DevGlish.

20 Tech Terms Korean Developers Often Mispronounce (한국 개발자가 자주 틀리는 기술 용어)

Korean developers often mispronounce cache, daemon, and queue due to hangul approximations. 20 tech terms with correct pronunciation and tips.

How to Pronounce PostgreSQL: The Complete Guide for Developers

Master PostgreSQL pronunciation: from Ingres to Postgres to PostgreSQL. The official stance and what the community actually says.

Cache, Char, and Daemon: Programming Words Everyone Mispronounces

Common programming terms that confuse even experienced developers. Learn the correct IPA, etymology, and why you've probably been saying them wrong.

How to Pronounce Kubernetes, nginx, and 10 More DevOps Terms Developers Get Wrong

Master the pronunciation of Kubernetes, nginx, Terraform, and other critical DevOps tools. Includes audio guide and common mistakes.

SQL: 'Sequel' or 'S-Q-L'? Both Are Correct — Here's the Full Story

The SQL pronunciation debate explained: IBM's 'SEQUEL', Oracle's 'sequel', and why MySQL decided differently.

GIF Pronunciation: Is It /dʒɪf/ or /ɡɪf/? The Definitive Developer Guide

GIF pronunciation has sparked debates for decades. Here's the definitive answer — and why both sides have a point.

Why Developers Need Purpose-Built English Learning Tools

Generic language apps miss what developers actually need. Here's why DevGlish exists.