Is “suggest” different from “recommend”?

Welcome. Have a seat, and relax your muscles. Relax your shoulders, take a deep breath, and unclench your jaw. This will be easy, I promise.

Hello. Happy to have you here. This is episode 11 of the second season of English Airs, the podcast that gives you effortless accuracy. My name is Parya, I teach English, and I’m currently based in Tokyo. I love languages. So much that I have self-studied a few. It’s not quite easy, but it’s a lot of fun. Well, for me at least. And it’s so enjoyable when you can understand people speaking and you can tell them your own ideas. My students always ask me how to improve, and I always recommend “being” with the language every day. That’s where you should start. Read something, listen to something, say something, or write something. Whatever is fun for you. Learning a language is like riding a bicycle up a hill: if you stop pedalling, you will slide down. That’s why when we went into a lockdown because of the pandemic and my students and I couldn’t meet, I suggested that we move our lessons online. And we did. I was happy that they will not forget what they have learned, and they were happy that they were continuing to improve. I always ask them to do something between our lessons. Something like thinking about a question, or preparing a story to tell me. I have a ton of ideas that take just a little time.

Well, another thing you can do is listen to podcasts, right? And today, we want to look at “recommend” and “suggest” and see if they are different. Do you know the answer? If not, this episode is for you. If you do, please come anyway. We are going to see their patterns and practice using them. So, come along!

First, I want to tell you about one-way streets. Take Mother and woman. Every mother is a woman, but not every woman is a mother. You see what I mean? Every house is a building, but not every building is a house. Can you think of a few examples? If you learn these in English, it becomes so much easier to remember meanings. Now, every recommendation is a suggestion, but not every suggestion is a recommendation. Let’s see how they are different.

If I come to your city, which restaurant do you recommend? Which places do you recommend visiting? How do you recommend that I move around in the city? I asked my friend, Arturo, who is from Guadalajara in Mexico, and here is what he said:

“I recommend Alcalde, which is listed as one of the 50 best restaurants in Latin America.

I recommend visiting Casa ITESO Clavigero, a house designed by architect Luis Barragán. 

I recommend that you either rent a car or take an Uber.”

Did you see how he was using “recommend”? You use recommend in 3 ways: You can recommend something or someone. You can recommend doing something, and you can recommend that I do something. It’s not necessary to say “I recommend you this restaurant.” Actually, it’s weird. Are you recommending me? Are you recommending the restaurant? It’s not clear. So, now, I’m going to give you some time, and you make your recommendations. Remember to speak out loud if you can.

Well done! I have so many ideas now about places to visit and things to do. But tell me, how did you know which restaurant to recommend? You have been to the restaurant yourself, haven’t you? Or maybe you have heard from your friends or family? From someone you trust, right? That’s the difference between “recommend” and “suggest”. When you recommend something, there is a personal element. You have tried it yourself, or maybe you are an expert in that area, like doctors. They recommend exercising three times a week, or not smoking. Why? How do they know? They know because they are experts in their area. So, what about “suggest”? Well, I thought it was a good idea to have online lessons, so I suggested it. And that’s all you need! You can suggest something when you, personally, think it’s a good idea. And that’s all there is to “suggesting”. You only need to think it’s a good idea, and you can have different reasons for your opinion. So you see? If you have personal experience or expertise, your suggestion becomes a recommendation. Now, if I want to visit a different city or town in your country, which place do you suggest? What do you suggest doing if I go there? And do you suggest that I go there by bus, or by train, or maybe rent a car? Think about it a bit, and give me your suggestions. If it’s your second time listening to this episode, remember to give new answers.

All right! Thanks! Great job everyone! And if it was difficult for you to answer the questions now, you can always listen again. Actually, that’s even a better idea! You can also watch the video on YouTube. If you do, and if you liked this episode, don’t forget to subscribe and hit the notification bell. This was episode 11, so pretty soon season 2 will end. We will have a break, and I will be working on making extra videos just for YouTube. Today, I want to say “thank you” to my friend, Arturo, who gave us recommendations, and thank you for introducing the podcast to anyone who might need it or enjoy it. You know why, don’t you?

Parya out!