Each year more and more Spaniards are seriously considering learning English, or taking a course to brush up on their current skills. English language knowledge has become essential to most European and Latin American countries, as it is almost always the language used for communication with other countries, international business, high level university study, and is also necessary for the tourism industry. Even though Spanish and English have a lot of similarities, Spanish speakers repeatedly make the same mistakes when learning English.
Today we’re looking at 10 common English mistakes that Spanish speakers make when trying to learn English. So next time if you say or hear “She has eyes blues” instead of “She has blue eyes” you know why that mistake is being made!
TOP 10 English mistakes that Spanish speakers make
1. DIRECTLY TRANSLATING A PREPOSITION
Prepositions are tricky because they often change a lot between English and Spanish. Here are some specific examples of confusing prepositions.
- A Spanish speaker may say, “It depends of” instead of “It depends on”
- A Spanish student might say, “Call to someone” instead of “Call someone” (in English there is no preposition in such phrases).
- Spaniards often incorrectly say, “Marry with somebody” instead of “Marry somebody” (in English there is no preposition in such phrases).
2. OMISSION OF THE SUBJECT
In Spanish, the verb tenses change with the subject, so actually saying “I” or “he” or “it” isn’t necessary. So learners sometimes forget that the subject is always necessary in English, leading to sentences like “is always a good idea to eat spinach.” The “it,” because it doesn’t refer to anything in particular, can be easy for a learner to forget.
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3. FALSE COGNATES
Also known as false friends, false cognates are words that appear to have the same meaning in both English and Spanish, but in reality are quite different. Here are three well-known false friends between English and Spanish:
- Embarazada: Looks like “embarrassed” but means “pregnant”.
- Actualmente: Looks like “actually” but means “currently”.
- Carpeta: Looks like “carpet” but means “folder”.
- Librero: Looks like “library” but means “bookcase”.
- familiar: Looks like “something known” but means “having to do with one’s family”.
- Aprobar : Looks like “approve” but means “to pass, as in an exam”.
4. GENDER CONFUSION
Not that kind of gender confusion. While it’s more common for English speaking learners of Spanish to confuse of forget the genders of Spanish nouns, native Spanish speakers often get confused when it comes to words like him, her, because the Spanish pronoun “su” represents both the masculine and the feminine.
There are 70+ lessons which includes a lesson on how the gender pronouns differ in English and Spanish. English speaking learners of Spanish can learn it by taking up free lessons on http://new.culturealley.com/index.jsp?courseId=5.
Spanish speakers make a lot of errors with pronunciation. Some advanced students know English grammar quite well, but can barely hold a conversation due to their incorrect pronunciation of key words. The following are some of the most common pronunciation errors that Spanish speakers make in English:
- Adding an “e” sound before words that begin with “s”. For example, a Spanish speaker would pronounce “special” as “especial”.
- Pronouncing a “y” as a “j”. For example, a Spaniard may say “jam” when reading the word “yam”.
- Pronouncing a “j” as an “h”. For examples, a student might pronounce the name “Jerry” as “Herry”.
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6. SHORTENED CONTRACTIONS
Shortened contractions present another common pronunciation challenge. Native Spanish speakers will often forget to finish a contraction, resulting in “don” for “don’t” or “won” for “won’t.” What might at first sound like an accent difference will become more pronounced over time, so native Spanish speakers should be on the lookout for this one!
Ofcourse, the biggest mistake to avoid is using “your” instead of “you’re” and vice versa. You’re is short for “you are” but a lot of time non native speakers of English use “your” instead
7. CONFUSION BETWEEN “TO DO” AND “TO MAKE”
In Spanish “hacer” is the verb that represents both “to do” and “to make” in English. It is often difficult for native Spanish speakers to remember which verb to use when speaking English. Some common mistakes include:
- “I need to do my bed” instead of “I need to make my bed”.
- “Can I do a suggestion?” instead of “Can I make a suggestion?”
- “Could you make me a favor?” instead of “Could you do me a favor?”
8. ORDER OF ADJECTIVES AND NOUNS
In Spanish, the noun generally comes before the adjective, while in English it is usually the opposite. In English that sentence construction would look something like “He had a dog brown.” So don’t be surprised when native Spanish speakers add the adjective as an afterthought.
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9. CONFUSION BETWEEN “THIS” AND “THESE”
Native Spanish speakers often pronounce these two words the same so, in writing, tend to stick with “this,” leaving poor “these” for advanced learners.
10. SPELLING MISTAKES
In Spanish, words are spelled exactly how they sound. They don’t have any of this “silent letter” found in English, nor do they have words that sound exactly the same but can be spelled three different ways. (We’re looking at you “buy/bye/by”).
You will definitely not make spelling mistakes after learning with CultureAlley as after each lesson, rigorous practice exercises through fun games have been scheduled for the users to master what they have learnt.