Imagine a world without limits! Well, fortunately learning a new language is the gateway to that dream. A great Austrian-British sage named Ludwig Wittgenstein said almost a century ago: “The limits of my language are the limits of my world,” and it is true. English is now constituted as the universal language in terms of science and cultural exchange, therefore it is necessary to learn it as best as possible, taking into account some mistakes to avoid when speaking English.
Below is a list of the 10 most common errors when learning English,organized into 3 groups.
Group 1: Mistakes in English attitude and learning planning
1. Time management
It has been proven that the best way to learn the English language is to have a total immersion experience in the language, that is, trying to live 100% of the time immersed in the language. To do this, many people choose to take courses as tourists in some English-speaking country.
2. Lack of constancy and discipline
A mistake often made by English learners is a lack of constancy. Commonly you hear testimonies from students who chose to leave a course in half, especially to listen to those inner voices of disability such as “this is definitely not my thing”, “it is very difficult”, “I’d better do it later”, etc. Consistency and discipline are the most important variables that determine success in learning a language.
3. Wanting immediate results without sufficient dedication
The process of learning a language is complex. Modern neuroscientists have contributed to the pedagogy of languages, with theories and experiments that teach us the arduous and complex path to which you venture when you decide to learn a language, and transiting that route requires patience. It’s useless to despair when you don’t get the expected results quickly. Especially in the early stages, learning a second language is a process that takes while the brain adapts to the new language code.
Group 2: Errors in the study methodology
4. Learn without the necessary company
Language is the main feature that makes us human, and is constituted as a fundamental tool for establishing social bonds; therefore, to think that it is possible to “learn alone” is a serious mistake.
Learning in children is given by imitation and by interaction with the environment. Similarly, learning a second language in the adult stage requires accompaniment and interaction with people with the same language interest.
5. Avoidance of the language you want to learn
It seems a contradiction in itself, but many times when we decide to learn a new language, we avoid it simultaneously. For example, feeling overwhelmed when listening to music or watching English movies, or avoid setting up your smartphone or personal computer in English is part of this unconscious avoidance that delays the process of learning a language. Likewise, many times the novice student makes the mistake of doing the automatic translation through the internet of any text that we could well make the effort to understand, avoiding exercising in the use of the new language.
Do you feel identified? Maybe it’s time change your mindset and learn how to really do learning a second language, jumping fully into the possibility of being in touch with English using the personal use tools you use continuously, and taking every possible opportunity to stay in touch with the language.
6. Fear of ridicule
When you start learning English, the fear of making a fool of yourself can seriously snever you. The English student should get rid of shame and prejudice, knowing that all, absolutely all students in a language who have reached the expert level, were not the best Anglo-Saxon speakers when they started. They lost the fear of ridicule and, for this reason, were able to access correction by their teachers and advanced students.
Group 3: Specific errors in literacy and speaking exercises
7. Linguistic interference
Your brain is used to the language-specific grammar you acquire in your earliest childhood. Therefore, it is absolutely normal that when you undertake the task of learning a new language, you still order the words incorrectly. It’s a mistake that disappears over time, when you’re already adapting to a different grammar.
8. Pronunciation
Pronunciation skills are often seen as the most difficult, but this concept comes mostly from students who have focused a lot on the formal aspect of grammar since the beginning of their study, and have set aside interaction through speech with other students.
9. Misuse of words
Once Learning the English language has been undertaken, incorrect uses of words and phrases often appear. Within this point we can mention exaggeration in the use of articles, pronouns and verbal forms (such as the, you, is, are, etc.), incorrect use of apostrophes, etc.
10. Errors in verbal times, phrasal verbs,and use of similar words
English has particularities and idioms that must be taken into account in order not to make mistakes. The I have / I am, to refer to age; borrow / lend, to refer to loan, and the so-called false friends: words that sound similar, but with different meanings, such as constipated and constipated, they are very similar words in their form, but constipated means constipated and constipated is cold or flu.
With regard to frasal verbs or phrasal verbs, which do not have an exact translation in Spanish, usually several errors occur. put, up (above) or with are an example of this. Put up with, for example, would mis-translate as put up with… but its correct translation is tolerate.
This way, you can check that there are multiple errors to avoid when speaking English. Still, don’t worry, because with Ynsitu language courses,your Foreign Language Course Booking, you’re going to learn English correctly and you’re not going to commit them.