Lingoda Group Class Notes 67

Topic: Expressing empathy
Related skill: Communication
Date: 04 March 2025
Teacher: Suzette

What I've learned

Idioms

to put yourself in somebody’s shoes

Meaning: to imagine that you are in another person’s (difficult or unpleasant) situation
Example: Well, what would you do? Put yourself in my shoes!

Vocabularies & Phrases

V&P	Definiation	Note
empathy	the ability to share someone else's feelings or experiences by imagining what it would be like to be in that person's situation	Empathy involves understanding and recognising another person's feelings.
sympathy	(an expression of) understanding and care for someone else's suffering	We show sympathy for someone when a relative of theirs dies.
to leave someone	to give someone the responsibility for dealing with something	I decided to leave my partner as I was no longer happy with him.
to drive	to provide the power to keep a machine working, or to make something happen	It's claimed that empathy fuels connection, whereas sympathy drives disconnection.
unwilling	If you are unwilling to do something, you do not want to do it and will not agree to do it	My brother is often unwilling to help me around the house.
magic response	/	Sometimes people need someone to listen and not offer a magic response to their issues.
you must be feeling	/	You must be feeling so stressed out with all that work to do!
I would definitely feel ... too	/	I would definitely feel exhausted too if I had this much work.
I can understand why you're feeling	/	I can understand why you're feeling frustrated by this decision.
I can relate to what you're saying	/	I can relate to what you're saying about finding things challenging.
I bet that's left you feeling	/	I bet that's left you feeling sad and confused about what to do.
to talk freely	/	It's important to talk freely to those we care about.
body language	/	Our body language can often send its own message about how we feel.
to focus on feelings	/	If we focus on feelings, we can avoid judging another person.
judgment	the ability to form valuable opinions and make good decisions	Nobody likes to be on the receiving end of a negative judgment.
sincerely	honestly and without pretending or lying	When we open up to someone, we should explain our thoughts and feelings sincerely.

Expressions

Here are some tips for putting empathy into practice while speaking to someone:

Let the person talk freely, meaning you listenactively and don't interrupt them.
Keep your body language in mind: hold eye contactand move your eyebrows up while they're speaking.
Put your viewpoints aside and focus onunderstanding how the person must have felt in thatsituation.
Try to express yourself sincerely and avoid givingfalse hope or ‘magic solutions’ to their problems!

An idiom you'll often hear to refer to empathy is to putyourself in someone else's shoes.