The specifics of English for landscape architects by English Teachers online

by Albert Orozco

There is a specific vocabulary used in landscape architecture. We need to understand a lot about materials, plants, horticulture, conservation, and the environment in addition to the terminology we use to describe public and private places and how we utilize them.

Our everyday lexicon might include terms like varied planting typologies, playspaces, passive recreation spaces, transitional spaces, recreation spaces, as well as terms like various materials and furniture kinds.

It's annoying to have to learn all these terms and phrases again when you already know them from your own tongue. Exposure in the appropriate setting is the rapid solution.

In this blog article, we'll look at how to raise your level of English proficiency as a landscape architect, from intermediate to advanced grammar and vocabulary. The end also includes some recommended reading material and novels.

It is frequently necessary for landscape architects to interact with customers, contractors, and other experts in order to express their ideas succinctly and simply using words and visuals. Understanding how to utilize the language to help you connect with those you deal with more readily is crucial if you want to succeed as a landscape architect and English is your second language.

Here are my top seven suggestions for enhancing your English in fascinating contexts.

1. Brainstorm ideas on what matters to you in terms of public places and design

What would you consider public areas?

What qualities define good public spaces?

What kinds of places are there in public areas? Playgrounds, recreation areas, etc.

What potential issues and difficulties may you encounter in public areas?

Examining Jan Gehl's work and the 12 Quality Criteria is an excellent place to begin in order to study this in further detail. It is a method for studying how people interact with public environments. More precisely, it's used to assess how safe, pleasant, and pleasurable certain public space characteristics are.

Knowing a bit more about this enables you to better express your ideas and understand what you value as a designer.

2. View numerous movies and podcasts created by architects and landscape architects.

You have a justification for responding to what you observe by watching these films and thinking about the content. Listed here are some of my favorites:

  • The landscape architect Walter Hood
  • How urban areas may foster community and preserve history
  • Kotchakorn Voraakhom is an architect for landscapes.
  • How to turn sinking towns into flood-resistant environments
  • Considering the Climate When Creating Urban Spaces

3. English teachers online recommend maintain separate journals for each type of terminology.

You almost certainly pick up new information every day as an English language student. I advise maintaining a journal for a variety of reasons:

  1. A new language for leading and taking part in meetings, including inquiries and expressions for interacting with clients and coworkers. 
  2. Technical vocabulary, where you may draw examples and add facts, terms, and pictures of the actual materials. Use the strategies you've learned to help you retain key language since you'll be generating diagrams all the time.
  3. A plant diary allows you to keep track of plant names and broaden the scope of your journal beyond the usual assortment of plants. The following components should be divided into distinct planting typologies: climbers, groundcover, grasses/tufting plants, shade planting, screen planting, accent planting, wetland planting, rain garden planting, drought tolerant planting, and native planting.

4. Check websites like Arch Daily, World Landscape Architecture, Dezeen, and Land8 often.

Keep up with design initiatives and publications in your area or a topic of interest that may not be close to your home. You will gain fresh insights into the many kinds of materials, plants, soils, building techniques, and industry-related problems as a result.

To accomplish this online, Notion is a fantastic tool. To store links to photographs, documents, and prior images, I've been combining Notion and Pinterest lately.

Finding a brief paragraph from a website or online journal for a landscape architect is a task I like doing with many of clients. We look for intriguing verbs, adjectives, idioms, and jargon. By consistently doing this, you may expand your vocabulary and stay abreast of current industry developments. It's an excellent approach to identifying  your values as a designer, too.

5. What would you do?

It's crucial, in my opinion, to consistently practice describing what you would do if you were in charge of this project. You may better express your ideas on how you would approach a design by putting yourself in the position of a customer or seeing a specific park or open area in your project.

You might also compile a list of materials that intrigue you or have been creatively used into a materials palette or mood board. Refer to this while describing your decisions and their advantages and disadvantages.

6. Practice describing your designs to English teacher as though she were the target audience.

You can more easily gain confidence by simplifying your vocabulary, but it can also lead to fewer misunderstandings.

When we overcomplicate the structure because we feel like we need to use large words, we might get disorganized and forget what we were trying to express. The urge to be the most clever, as opposed to the most easily understood, prevents you from feeling overwhelmed when you stop doubting yourself and begin believing your objective is to communicate as simply as possible.

For training, you may get in touch with the LiveXP English teachers online. Based on your interests, such as architecture, you may pick a teacher here. You may begin online sessions and improve your English with an emphasis on architecture after completing a brief registration.

You can attempt to explain architecture to a person who is unfamiliar with it. While this doesn't imply you have to completely avoid using strong verbs and adjectives, it does suggest that you should start with simple sentence structures and progress to more complex ones as you gain confidence.

7. Consider your opinions on several issues that are strongly connected to landscape architecture.

Architecture and landscape design are interdisciplinary and cross many fields. It's crucial to investigate related issues and other subjects:

Examples comprise:

  • Impact of climate change on urban development
  • Playgrounds and Instruction
  • Agriculture Ecology and Urban Agriculture
  • Built-in architecture
  • Software, visualization, and AI tool innovation
  • 3D modeling and BIM software
  • How do art, public art, street art, and land art connect to one another?

Additional References:

Six books for landscape architects include:

  • by Ian McHarg, "Design with Nature."
  • images of the outdoors, Grant Reid
  • Drawing for Landscape Architecture: Edward Hutchinson's Sketch to Screen to Site
  • 30:30 Phaidon's Landscape Architecture
  • Landscape Architecture: The Big Asian Book, John Wallis and Heike Rahmann
  • Visual Design Elements in the Landscape Peter Bell

Last words

Studying topics that are irrelevant to you or that are so generic that they don't truly help you better in the circumstances where you need to have an effect is not necessary if you want to enhance your English. If you're a landscape architect who has been attempting to improve your English and speaks English as a second language, please get in touch with me. What has been effective?