language-coach

name: language-coach description: Language reference and coaching for non-native speakers user_invocable: true auto_trigger: true trigger_description: Load when drafting text, reviewing writing, or coaching vocabulary

Language Coach

Passive reference library and active coaching system. Auto-loaded when drafting messages or reviewing writing.

Setup

If this skill has not been configured yet, guide the user through setup:

1. Ask: What is your native language? (e.g. Russian, Spanish, Mandarin, etc.)
2. Ask: What is your target language? (default: English)
3. Ask: What register do you need most? (casual/business/both)
4. Generate a "Common [Native]-Speaker Mistakes" section based on known interference patterns
5. Rewrite this SKILL.md with the personalized content, keeping the generic reference sections

After setup, update the trigger_description to mention the specific language pair.

Configuration

• Native language: Russian
• Target language: English
• Active coaching: Yes (correct errors inline, flag patterns)
• Coaching rules (Top 5 errors, correction format) are in CLAUDE.md

SF Tech Culture - How Founders Talk in DMs

Greetings & Openers

• yo / yoo / yo sir - hello (DM, casual)
• hey - universal opener, works everywhere
• sup - what's up (very casual)
• gm - good morning (crypto/web3 culture, also used ironically)
• gn - good night

Core Abbreviations

• rn - right now
• btw - by the way
• ty / tysm - thank you / thank you so much
• ur / u - your / you
• ngl - not gonna lie
• fr - for real
• tbh - to be honest
• imo / imho - in my opinion / in my humble opinion
• wdyt - what do you think
• wdym - what do you mean
• iykyk - if you know, you know (insider knowledge flex)
• fwiw - for what it's worth (softener: "not sure if useful but...")
• afaik - as far as I know
• icymi - in case you missed it
• tl;dr - too long, here's the summary
• eta? - when will it be done?
• omw - on my way
• fyi - for your information
• tbd - to be determined
• til - today I learned
• ama - ask me anything
• eli5 - explain like I'm 5

Agreement & Confirmation

• bet - agreed / deal / let's go ("can you send the deck?" "bet")
• fs / for sure - of course
• sg / sounds good - ok cool
• valid - that makes sense, good point
• that tracks - makes sense, consistent with what I know. BETTER than "that makes sense"
• fair enough - ok I accept that
• copy that - understood (slightly more serious)
• +1 - I agree
• word - agreed / ok / I hear you
• say less - I understand, no need to explain more, I'm on it
• period / periodt - end of discussion, strong agreement

Disagreement & Rejection

• hard pass - definitely no
• no shot - impossible / no way
• no cap - I'm serious / not lying (also used for emphasis)
• cap - lie / bullshit ("that's cap")
• I'm good - polite no ("want to join?" "I'm good")
• nah - no (casual)
• mid take - mediocre opinion

Work & Shipping

• ship - launch / release / make it real ("we shipped v2 yesterday")
• ship it - just release it, stop overthinking
• cooking - working on something good ("we're cooking rn")
• grinding - working hard, long hours
• locked in - deeply focused, not available
• in the zone - same as locked in
• heads down - focused on work, don't disturb
• dogfooding - using your own product
• gatekeeping - hoarding info / access
• poached - stole someone's employee
• flakey / flaky - unreliable person, cancels plans
• scope creep - project growing beyond original plan
• bike-shedding - debating trivial stuff instead of important things
• yak shaving - doing pointless prerequisite tasks
• rubber-ducking - explaining problem out loud to find the answer

Fundraising & Business

• raise - fundraising round ("we're raising a seed")
• deck - pitch deck
• termsheet - offer from investor
• cap table - ownership breakdown
• burn rate - monthly spending
• runway - months until out of money
• ARR / MRR - annual / monthly recurring revenue
• PMF - product-market fit
• GTM - go-to-market strategy
• TAM / SAM / SOM - total / serviceable / obtainable market
• warm intro - introduction through mutual contact (THE way deals happen in SF)
• cold outreach - contacting someone you don't know
• double opt-in intro - ask both sides before introducing (SF etiquette, very important)
• deal flow - pipeline of investment opportunities
• dry powder - capital ready to deploy
• bridge round - small raise to survive until next big round
• down round - raising at lower valuation than before (bad signal)
• unicorn - $1B+ valuation company
• paper returns - unrealized gains (not real money yet)

Communication & Networking

• lmk - let me know
• hmu / hit me up - contact me, reach out
• bump / bumping - following up / reminding
• circling back - returning to a previous topic
• hop on a call - let's do a quick call
• jam on this - work through this together, brainstorm
• brain dump - share all thoughts unstructured
• sanity check - quick validation that idea isn't crazy
• bandwidth - available time/capacity ("do you have bandwidth for this?")
• ping - send a message, check in
• loop in - add someone to conversation ("let me loop in our CTO")
• double-click on that - go deeper into this topic
• unpack that - explain in more detail
• parking lot - save for later, not now
• take it offline - discuss privately / outside this meeting
• sliding into DMs - messaging someone directly (slightly playful)
• ghosting - ignoring / not responding
• left on read - saw the message but didn't reply
• the ask - what you're requesting ("what's the ask here?")

Evaluation & Description

• fire / it's fire - amazing, excellent
• goated - legendary, the greatest (GOAT = Greatest Of All Time)
• cracked - insanely good at something ("that engineer is cracked")
• based - having strong independent opinions, not caring what others think
• unhinged - crazy (can be compliment in right context)
• spot on - exactly right
• mid - mediocre, average
• lowkey - a little bit / subtly ("I lowkey think we should pivot")
• highkey - very much / obviously
• sus - suspicious
• sketch / sketchy - questionable, not trustworthy
• legit - genuine, real, good
• it's giving... - it resembles... / it has the vibe of...
• the vibe - the feeling, atmosphere
• dialed in - perfectly tuned / optimized
• clutch - came through at a critical moment

Problems & Negative

• cooked - screwed, it's over ("if we miss this deadline, we're cooked")
• cooking me - destroying me, roasting me
• fumbled - missed an opportunity ("he fumbled that deal")
• lowballed - offered way less than fair
• pulling weird shit - acting strangely, being sketchy
• kicking the ball around - stalling, not making decisions
• ratio'd - got more negative engagement than positive
• L / taking an L - loss, failure
• F - paying respects to something that died/failed
• rug pull - sudden betrayal / scam (from crypto)
• getting rekt - getting destroyed / losing badly
• copium / hopium - coping with false hope
• touch grass - go outside, you're too online

Crypto/Web3

• degen - degenerate trader / risk-taker (badge of honor)
• ape in - invest aggressively without research
• WAGMI - we're all gonna make it (community optimism)
• NGMI - not gonna make it (doomer)
• HODL - hold, don't sell
• diamond hands - holding through volatility
• paper hands - selling at first dip
• DYOR - do your own research
• NFA - not financial advice
• LFG - let's fucking go
• FOMO - fear of missing out
• alpha - exclusive profitable information
• CT - crypto twitter
• maxis - maximalists (bitcoin maxis, eth maxis)
• normie - mainstream person, not crypto-native

Speed & Time

• gimme 7 - give me 7 minutes
• lemme - let me
• asap - as soon as possible
• eod / eow - end of day / end of week
• async - not in real-time ("let's handle this async")

Fillers & Transitions (use sparingly)

• no worries - it's fine, don't stress
• all good - everything's ok
• for context - here's background info (useful opener)
• long story short - summarizing
• at the end of the day - ultimately
• the thing is - introducing a complication (WARNING: overused by non-natives)
• I mean - clarifying / softening ("I mean, it could work")
• like - filler word, don't overuse but some is natural
• low-key / not gonna lie - softeners before honest opinion

Misc

• LGTM - looks good to me (code review)
• YOLO - you only live once, just do it
• W / dub - win
• tea - gossip, the real story ("spill the tea")
• vibing - relaxing, enjoying
• founder mode - working 24/7 as a founder (also used ironically for self-care)
• main character energy - acting like the protagonist
• rent-free - living in someone's head, can't stop thinking about it
• understood the assignment - did exactly the right thing
• galaxy brain - overcomplicated thinking (usually ironic)

Business English - Enterprise Register

Phrases for proposals, emails, and calls with enterprise clients.

Opening Emails

• "Following up on our conversation..." (after a call)
• "Hope you had a good weekend." (Monday opener, light)
• "Wanted to share a quick update on..." (proactive)
• "Circling back on..." (following up)
• DON'T: "I hope this email finds you well" (cringe, nobody means it)
• DON'T: "Dear Sir/Madam" (too formal for tech)

Making Your Point

• "The short version is..." (then give it in 1 sentence)
• "Here's where we are:" (status update opener)
• "A few things worth flagging:" (introducing concerns)
• "Net-net:" (bottom line, summary)
• "The upshot is..." (the conclusion / result)
• DON'T: "I would like to inform you that..." (robot voice)
• DON'T: "It should be noted that..." (passive, weak)

Proposing / Selling

• "We can have this ready by [date]" (confident commitment)
• "Based on what we've seen, the best approach is..." (data-backed recommendation)
• "Happy to walk you through the details" (offering without pushing)
• "Makes sense to start with [X] and expand from there" (land-and-expand framing)
• "We've done similar work for [comparable client]" (social proof)
• DON'T: "We would be very grateful for the opportunity" (desperate)
• DON'T: "If you would be so kind as to..." (too submissive)

Handling Objections

• "That's a fair concern." (validate, then redirect)
• "Here's how we've handled that before:" (experience-based)
• "The tradeoff is..." (honest framing)
• "What would make you comfortable moving forward?" (collaborative close)

Following Up (without being annoying)

• "Any updates on your end?" (neutral check-in)
• "Wanted to make sure this didn't get buried." (after silence)
• "Is there anything holding this up on your side?" (after long silence)
• "No rush, just want to keep this on your radar." (low-pressure)
• "Bumping this up - [reason it's time-sensitive]" (urgency + justification)

Closing Emails

• "Let me know how you'd like to proceed." (ball in their court)
• "Happy to jump on a call if easier." (offering call > email)
• "Best," / "Thanks," / "Cheers," (all fine, pick one and stick with it)
• DON'T: "Looking forward to hearing from you soon!" (needy)
• DON'T: "Thanking you in advance" (presumptuous)

Common Russian-Speaker Mistakes

Article Rules (the #1 giveaway for non-native speakers)

• a/an = any one of many ("a meeting", "an idea")
• the = specific one we both know about ("the deck I sent", "the deal")
• no article = general concept ("data is valuable", "money talks")

Sentence Surgery - Before & After

Before: "Taking into account the current market conditions and the fact that our competitors are already offering similar solutions, we have decided to accelerate the timeline for the delivery of the first batch of data." After: "Market's moving fast. Competitors already have similar offerings. We're accelerating delivery of the first batch." Rule: One idea per sentence. Context first only if absolutely needed.

Before: "I wanted to ask you whether it would be possible for us to schedule a meeting sometime next week in order to discuss the details of the proposal." After: "Can we meet next week to go over the proposal?" Rule: 12 words. Don't ask permission to ask a question.

Before: "As for the pricing, we are currently in the process of evaluating different options and will get back to you as soon as we have finalized our approach." After: "Still working on pricing. Will have numbers for you by Friday." Rule: Cut "as for", "in the process of", "as soon as". Just say when.

Phrases That Make You Sound Like You Belong

• "that tracks" - makes sense, consistent (better than "I understand")
• "that lands" - the message/argument is effective
• "I'm bullish on" - I'm optimistic about (from finance, now general)
• "bearish on" - pessimistic about
• "table stakes" - minimum requirement, not a differentiator
• "north star" - guiding metric or goal
• "move the needle" - make meaningful progress
• "skin in the game" - personal stake / risk
• "signal vs noise" - what matters vs what doesn't
• "the juice isn't worth the squeeze" - not worth the effort
• "on my radar" - I'm aware of it
• "at scale" - when it gets big
• "in the weeds" - deep in details
• "high-level" - overview, not detailed
• "run the numbers" - calculate / analyze the data
• "ballpark" - rough estimate ("what's the ballpark?")
• "back of the napkin" - rough calculation
• "take a stab at" - try, attempt
• "the real kicker" - the surprising/important part
• "lean into" - embrace, commit to
• "double down" - commit more resources to something
• "low-hanging fruit" - easy wins
• "whitespace" - untapped opportunity
• "unlock" - enable, make possible