Common Errors for Native Spanish speakers learning English

In the four months I have assisted in classrooms of students learning English I have seen and heard students make many mistakes.  The most problematic issue is without a doubt pronunciation.  Not only are there many sounds in the English language that aren't used in the Spanish language but Spanish speakers also have to deal with the fact that many words are not pronounced in the way that they are spelled.  In Spanish, each letter has a distinct and definitive sound.  So when you hear someone say a word you can almost always spell it based on how it is pronounced.  There are two exceptions:  In Spanish the "b" and "v" have the same sound, which is the sound of a "b."  The other exception is that the "h" when placed alone without a "c" in front of it it is silent.  Of course there is an additional exception for Castellano (the most dominant dialect of Spain): the "c" and "z" have the same sound- they are pronounced like our "th" in the English language.

I definitely feel for Spanish speakers learning English.  I will often say a word and they will spell it according to how it SHOULD be spelled.  But as we all know, there are countless, countless words that have spellings with no relation to their pronunciations.  Words that contain letters that have nothing to do with the way they are pronounced, two words that have the same sounds but are spelled differently (ex. site and sight or ate and eight  ), words that contain silent letters that must be included in the spelling but are not pronounced and finally spelling rules that have lists and lists of exceptions- words that do not follow the rules and thus must be memorized separately.  This is the biggest challenge to overcome for Spanish speakers learning English.

Here are also a few other phrases or words that Spanish speakers tend to use incorrectly:

-They say, "lets take a coffee"  instead of saying, "lets have a coffee."  In Spanish the verb used to say drink/have a coffee is, "tomar" and tomar directly translated means "to take."

-They say "I am making a party" instead of "I am going to have a party."  In Spanish the verb used to say host/have is, "hacer" and hacer directly translated means "to make."

-They say something is, "funny" instead of fun to describe something that is fun.

-The word for date/appointment in Spanish is, "cita."  It is used interchangeably to describe a date with friends and a doctors appointment.  Therefore, many Spanish speakers will say "I have a date with the doctor" instead of "I have an appointment with the doctor."

-They say, "take care" instead of, "be careful."  In Spanish the verb for being careful/taking care of yourself is, "cuidarse" so they translate directly and use the phrase incorrectly.

Going back to pronunciation, Spanish speakers are used to "s" being preceded by an "e" when it falls at the beginning of a word.  For example: español, escuela and estupido.  These words in English are: Spanish, school and stupid.  The "e" when pronounced in a word phonetically sounds kind of like "eh" but more like "ey."  So I very, very often hear students say, I speak "ey-Spanish," or I go to "ey-school," or he is so "ey-stupid."  It is SO hard sometimes to make them break this habit of putting the "ey" sound in front of an "s."

I guess the biggest thing I have learned from all of this is that I simply understand WHY they make these mistakes.  I don't think in any way that they are stupid mistakes.  They are completely understandable and have logic behind them.  Learning a second language is very difficult.  If anything, when I hear them make these mistakes I think to myself that they really are thinking and simply saying what makes sense.