‘Asignatura’ is a false friend

When we are talking about studying Spanish speaking students, in our skype English classes, often translate ‘asignatura’ with ‘signature’. Unfortunately, we have a false friend here. A ‘signature’ is normally a ‘firma’ for example on contracts, cheques and other documents. ‘Asignatura’ would be ‘subject’ such as history, maths or linguistics.

Common error from our Spanish speakers when learning English: ‘En los ultimos meses/semanas’ etc should not be translated literally.

Students wrongly translate in our skype English classes ‘en los ultimos meses/años/semanas etc’ literally. So we would not say ‘in the last months’ or ‘in the last days’... what we can say is ‘in recent months/days etc’ or ‘in the last few years/minutes/weeks etc’, or even ‘in the last couple of years/months etc’. Pick out the phrase which you think is easier for you to remember.

http://www.clasesinglesonline.com/

Desayunar/comer/cenar: you need to add the verb ‘to have’ or ‘to eat

Many students say a sentence like this in our Skype English classes: ‘I will lunch at the hotel restaurant’. This is actually not correct. The verbs ‘desayunar’, ‘comer’ and ‘cenar’ can not be translated literally with one work. You need to put the verb ‘to have’ or ‘to eat’ before the literal translation. So the sentence above should be translated by: ‘I will have/eat lunch at the hotel restaurant’ or ‘I had/ate dinner at my Mum’s yesterday’. Granted, you may occasionally find sentences like ‘I dinnered at Harrod’s last night’, especially in poetic circles, but it’s very, very rare and may not be actually grammatically correct according to the dictionary.
http://www.clasesinglesonline.com/

Yo estoy deacuerdo/I agree:

Much confusion is prominent with these terms (Yo estoy deacuerdo/I agree) in our Skype English classes as the types of words are different. If we say ‘Yo estoy deacuerdo’ we have the subject, verb and adjective. The correct translation of ‘yo estoy deacuerdo’ would be ‘I agree’. Here in the English we have the subject and verb only. It is very common for most students to say ‘I am agree’ as they translate literally, word for word, from Spanish to English. As ‘agree’ is a verb and not an adjective, the same word order can’t work when translating from Spanish to English. In other words, we can never have the subject, the verb ‘to be’ followed by the infinitive of the word ‘agree’. If we consider the sentence ‘she (subject) is (verb ‘to be’) cry (infinitive)’, you can probably make out that this sentence is very wrong. The same goes with ‘I (subject) ‘am’ (verb ‘to be’) ‘agree’ (infinitive)’. It really doesn’t work. So now you can see more fully why ‘yo estoy deacuerdo’ should be translated by saying ‘I agree’.

Similarly, ‘no estoy deacuerdo’ would be ‘I don’t agree’. 

'Asignature' is not 'signature'

When we are talking about studying students in our Skype English lessons often translate ‘asignatura’ with ‘signature’. Unfortunately, we have a false friend here. A ‘signature’ is normally a ‘firma’ for example on contracts, cheques and other documents. ‘Asignatura’ would be ‘subject’ such as history, maths or linguistics.

To lend or to borrow?

To lend or to borrow:
Much confusion exists between the two verbs ‘to borrow’ and ‘to lend’ during our Skype English classes. You borrow from somebody or some organisation (ie you borrow when you receive for a temporary amount of time) and that person or organisation lends to you (you lend when you give temporarily). For example, with a mortgage, the bank lends or gives you money temporarily and the house buyer borrows or receives the money from the bank but in the majority of cases the money has to be returned. .
http://www.clasesinglesonline.com/

Be careful when translating 'lo suponía'!

Hi! Many Spanish speakers in our Skype English classes translate 'lo suponía' with 'I supposed it' or 'I supposed that'... we need to avoid these literal translations by using possibilities such as 'I guessed that' or 'I thought/expected that was/would be the case' or perhaps 'I figured that'... Have a great day. 

When you wait, study English!

Tip: when I studied French initially in Brussels, I would note down many new phrases in a pocket sized note book. So whenever I had a spare moment (waiting for a bus, in a queue at the bank, nothing to do at work), I'd take out the notebook and study those useful phrases. This helped me to advance more quickly. Granted, that was back in 1999 and perhaps doing the same on a smartphone is more practical. Anyway, we encourage our Skype English students to fill their spare time with activities like this so they can make good progress as quick as possible. Have a great start to the week.
http://www.clasesinglesonline.com/