Which is the most common mistake Spanish language learners make?
Learning the Spanish language provides you with great career, travel, and other opportunities. It is a world language that will allow you to communicate with people for business and for pleasure practically anywhere you are.
Learning the Spanish language is also not that hard. It is a beautiful language and learning it is very enjoyable. However, it still requires some time, effort, and patience, like any foreign language.
This article will make learning Spanish a little easier for you. Here are some of the most common mistakes Spanish language learners make. If you know about them in advance, you will be able to avoid them, learn more effectively, and make even faster progress in mastering Spanish.
1. False friends
There are words in the Spanish language that seem to look almost exactly like certain English words – but they have a totally different meaning! One of the most common examples is the word ‘embarazada’ that seems to look like the word ‘embarrassed’, but it actually means ‘pregnant’. Such words are called ‘false friends’ and they can create misunderstanding when you speak Spanish. Next time you see a new word in Spanish that seems to be exactly the same as a word in English, look it up in the dictionary.
2. The verb ‘to be’
Various phrases and grammatical constructions with the verb ‘to be’ are very common in English. Similar constructions exist in the Spanish language with the verbs ‘ser’ and ‘estar’, roughly speaking. Spanish equivalents of the verb ‘to be’. However, there are also quite a few Spanish phrases that use the verb ‘to have’ where the verb ‘to be’ is used in English: tener 20 años (to be 20 years old), tener calor (to be hot), tener sed (to be thirsty), and others. Next time you are translating an English sentence with ‘to be’, make sure you use the correct Spanish equivalent.
3. Overusing pronouns
In English sentences, a subject is required. But this is often not true in Spanish. Where it is clear from the context, the subject of a sentence (which would often be a pronoun in English) can and should generally be omitted. Using the pronoun may not be grammatically wrong, but it can make your Spanish sound more awkward and draw unnecessary attention to the pronoun.
Final thoughts
Making mistakes when learning foreign languages is a natural part of the process and nothing to be ashamed of. However, if you know of some of the most common mistakes Spanish language learners make in advance, you will be able to avoid them, use your effort on something else, and thus learn more effectively.