COMMON ERROR FROM OUR SKYPE ENGLISH CLASSES: PROBLEMS TRANSLATING 'BAR'

Most of our Skype English students translate 'bar' with 'pub'. Most of the time this is wrong since a 'bar' in a non-English speaking country is rarely similar to a 'pub' in appearance and ambience. So you want to translate the word 'bar' with 'bar' unless the establishment in question is actually an 'Irish/Scottish/Australian/English... pub', in which case you can use the word 'pub' as a translation of 'bar'. To help understanding, the first image in this post is a 'pub', the second would be typical of a 'bar'.

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ERROR COMÚN DE LOS ESPAÑOLES CUANDO HABLAN INGLÉS: ‘FACTURA DE LUZ’ NO ES ‘LIGHT BILL’

En una clase de inglés vía skype con Raquel en Madrid, España, hemos visto que ‘la luz’ en tu casa es ‘power’ o ‘electricity’ en inglés cuando estás hablando de toda la electricidad que usas en una casa. Entonces, ‘una factura de luz’ sería ‘an electricity bill’.

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COMMON ERROR BY STUDENTS IN OUR SKYPE ENGLISH CLASSES: WHEN YOU WANT TO SAY 'PUEDE SER' DON'T SAY 'CAN/COULD BE'

Our Skype English students at Clasesinglesonline.com in Spain make this error a lot. If you just want to say 'puede ser' by itself in response to an affirmation, it is much better to say 'perhaps', 'maybe' or 'possibly'.

For example, if I say 'creo que la economia esta creciendo' and my partner says 'puede ser', it is much better to 'perhaps', 'maybe' or 'possibly' since we are expressing doubt. 'can/could be' are OK and while you will be understood, it is not very natural. Hope this helps!

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COMMON ERROR BY STUDENTS IN OUR SKYPE ENGLISH CLASSES: PLEASE SAY ‘WHITE COFFEE’ AND NOT ‘COFFEE WITH MILK’!

Translating ‘café con leche’ or ‘té con leche’ literally should be avoided. We would say ‘white coffee/tea’. These drinks without milk would be ‘black coffee/tea’.

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COMMON ERROR BY STUDENTS IN OUR SKYPE ENGLISH CLASSES: COMMON VERBS WITH A PREPOSITION IN SPANISH BUT NOT IN ENGLISH:

This group of verbs is very problematic for our students because you have a preposition after the verb in most, if not all cases, in Spanish. In English a preposition is not employed. So with the literal translation which students use at lower levels they nearly always get it wrong. So the phrase ‘he llamado a mi cuñada’ must not be translated by ‘I have called/phoned to my sister in law’. It should be ‘I have called/phoned my sister in law’. So there is no preposition after the verbs ‘phone/call’ neither after the verbs ‘access’, ‘attend’, ‘contact’, ‘trust’, ‘enter’, ‘influence’ ‘threaten’ or ‘ask’. However, be careful. Sometimes the verb can have a preposition switching the meaning of the verb. For example, when ‘attend’ means ‘asistir’ no preposition is used but when it means less commonly ’to deal with or help something or someone’ then we use the preposition ‘to’. For example, ‘the staff will attend to any problems you may have’.

Also, ‘to ask’ is a special case like ‘to attend’ as it can take a preposition in one context. This changes the meaning. For example, when you ‘ask for something or someone’ then the verb does in fact have a preposition and as you might have guessed, the preposition ‘for’ should be employed. An example would be when you ‘ask for a return ticket to Oslo’ or ‘she asked for 2 beers’. This can be roughly translated by ‘pedir algo’ in the sense of ‘to request something’. However, when you ‘preguntar a alguien’, ‘to enquire’ or ‘ask somebody’ then the preposition ‘for’ should be omitted. There should be no preposition directly after ‘to ask’ in this instance. For example, ‘I asked Jim to help’ or ‘she asked the police officer about the crime’. Another example is with the phrase ‘he preguntado a mi jefe’. It must not be translated by ‘I have asked to my boss’. It should be ‘I have asked my boss’.

A list of some of the most common verbs (along with their meanings in Spanish) that don´t take a preposition in English but can in Spanish, can be found below.

To discuss (discutir sobre)
To assist/help (asistir a)
To approach (acercar a)
To appreciate (apreciar a)
To stop (dejar de)
To invite (invitar a)
To remember (acordarse de)
To regret (arrepentirse de)
To cease (cesar de)
To leave (salir de, dejar de)
To pay (pagar a)
To affect (afectar a)
To visit (visitor a)
To contact (contactar con)
To convince (convencer a)
To impact (impactar a)
To control (controlar a)
To teach (enseñar a)


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COMMON ERROR FROM OUR SKYPE ENGLISH CLASSES: 'BEFORE', 'AFTER' AND 'WITHOUT' MUST BE FOLLOWED BY THE GERUND:

If you want to use a verb after 'before', 'after' or 'without' it must be in the gerund form (ing) and not in infinitive. Thus, to say 'antes de ir al evento necesito comer' would be 'before going to the event, I need to eat'. Definately don't say 'before to go...'. Similarly, we'd say 'without/after going to the event...'. Hope that helps. Have a great day.

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COMMON ERROR FROM OUR SKYPE ENGLISH CLASSES: TRANSLATING 'YO TAMPOCO':

If you want to say in English'yo tampoco!' by itself we use the expression 'me neither!' Followed by an affirmation such as 'yo tampoco quiero ir' or 'nosotros tampoco comemos gluten’, we cannot use 'neither'. We have to introduce the positive form 'either'. So for the aforementioned examples we'd say: 'I don't want to go either' and 'we don't eat gluten either'. We cannot use 'neither' when there is already a negation (not) in the sentence since 'neither' is a negation and we must not employ a double negative in a sentence in English. Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any doubts!

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COMMON ERROR FROM OUR SKYPE ENGLISH CLASSES: PREPOSITION OF TIME 'ON' USED WITH INDIVUDUAL DAYS SUCH AS HALLOWEEN

Many students in our Skype English classes say 'in Halloween' but we must use the preposition of time 'on' for single days such as Halloween, all saints day, Easter Monday, New Year's Eve or individual days such as the 13th of March or Friday. So for instance we could say 'many children knock on my door on Halloween' or 'on Friday I will go to a fireworks display'. Remember, 'on' is for single or individual days. Please do not use 'in' for individual days. As a time preposition 'in' is used with months (e.g. March), seasons (winter...) and years (1978...). Please feel free to ask about this if you have any doubts. Thanks!

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ARE YOU DOING YOUR BEST TO INCREASE YOUR ENGLISH LEVEL?

Learning a language such as English to your desired level doesn't have to be as hard as you may think. Like most significant goals discipline, patience and determination is required. What also assists enormously, what makes it a whole lot easier... is 'having fun'. If you are enjoying the learning experience then it becomes far easier to maintain the upward process. Have fun learning by going to language exchanges, watching your favourite films or documentaries in English, playing video games in English, reading articles of your interest in English, taking Skype classes etc. When I started studying Spanish whilst unemployed in the south of France, I bought the same 400 page book in Spanish that I had already read several times in French. I was fluent in French at the time. The subject of this book was one of my passions. So with my low level of Spanish at that time (A2), it didn't matter if it took me 20 minutes to read each page initially. I stayed motivated because I was having fun. So making progress was really quite easy despite my low level at that time.

Also, remember before it was much more difficult to learn a language compared to nowadays. You know, a generation ago people learning languages did not have all these technological resources at their fingertips like you do! I'm talking about resources online. There are so many options and free options to make learning English such an enjoyable past time online... So come on! Make learning English as fun as it possibly can be and the inevitable significant advance will happen!


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COMMON ERROR FROM OUR SKYPE ENGLISH CLASSES: 'UN POLITICO' IS NOT 'A POLITIC'

Many students in our Skype English classes translate 'un  politico' wrong. The correct word would be 'a politician'. For example, 'the politician was forced to resign due to the corruption scandal'.  Remember, 'politics' is the subject, a noun. The adjective is 'political'. Hope this helps.

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COMMON MISTAKE FROM OUR SKYPE ENGLISH CLASSES: TRANSLATING 'HACER LA PRUEBA DE ALCOHOLEMIA':

For this we use a verb 'to breathalyse'. This is a transitive verb. So we can say 'the police breathalysed me' or 'at the police checkpoint, I was breathalysed'. I hope this helps.

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COMMON ERROR - DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SHADE AND SHADOW:

Shadow is used to describe specific areas of darkness that are produced when objects or people are blocking any source of light. If you lift your hand up towards the light you create a shadow. It can be indoors or outdoors. A shadow can be cast by any light source such as a candle, a flashlight, an overhead light, a spotlight or the sun.

Shade, commonly used in a more general sense, is the darkness created by only the sun. Unlike shadow, it is an uncountable noun. The darkness underneath a tree or a parasol on a sunny day would be the shade. Shade is what one typically seeks on a hot sunny day in order to avoid too much sun exposure.


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COMMON MISTAKE: 'PROBABLY' CONFUSED WITH 'PROBABLE'

This is often confused with our Spanish EFL students. Many students wrongly say ‘it’s probably that they will score’ (‘es probable que van a marcar’) when it should be ‘it’s probable that they will score’. Remember, ‘probable’ in Spanish should be ‘probable’ in English, not ‘probably’ which is ‘probablemente’ or ‘seguramente’. It should be noted that in the UK ‘likely’ is more used than ‘probable’. Indeed, ‘likely’ is very rarely utilised among Spanish EFL students (students normally find it easier to use ‘probable’ rather than ‘likely’) but it is used a lot more in common conversation among native speakers.

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COMMON MISTAKE: TRANSLATING 'TENER GANAS'

'Tener ganas' is complicated to translate for our Spanish speaking students in our Skype English classes. The important thing is to use phrases or words that demonstrate enthusiasm. For example, 'I want to go on holiday' or 'I wish to see you' or 'he can't wait to finish these exams' or 'We feel like eating chocolate' or 'She is looking forward to the meal' or 'they fancy eating fish and chips'. In summary, the key is to use a phrase portraying enthusiasm. Hope that helps.

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COMMON ERROR: 'TAN + ADJECTIVO + COMO' IN ENGLISH:

This structure is sometimes problematic for pupils in our English Skype classes. Students often say 'as + adjective + like'. For example, 'Oslo is as big like Helsinki'. This is inaccurate. 'Tan + adjective + como’ is 'as + adjective + as'. Therefore, to correct the inaccurate sentence above we'd say 'Oslo is as big as Helsinki'. This structure works no matter what adjective or nouns you employ. Hope that helps. Have a great day.



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COMMON VOCABULARY - 'TO TURN AN AGE':

In English when we have birthdays we use the verb 'to turn + age’. For example, one can say 'I will turn 39 next week' or 'she turned 16 a fortnight ago' when one becomes older. Hoping that helps. Have a great day.

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‘CARRERA’ IS A FALSE FRIEND:

In our Skype English online classes Spanish students often wrongly translate ‘carrera’. One of the meanings of ‘carrera’ in Spanish refers to studies which are done at university whilst this is not the case in English. ‘Career’ refers to your professional working life which is normally carried out after university, school or college is finished. It does not refer to studies done at university in English. When you study at university this is often called in the UK a ‘degree course’ a ‘degree’ or simply your ‘studies’. Happy New Year!
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¿POR QUÉ TE FALLAS CON TU INGLÉS?

Aquí está un consejo para aprender el inglés más facilmente que damos a los alumnos de nuestros clases de inglés online (vía skype).

Minimice su esfuerzo estudiando menos gramática:

Teniendo una base de gramática, la mejor y más divertida forma de mejorarla es conversando y conversando mientras alguien corrige tus errores gramaticales como en nuestras clases de inglés online. Hablar correctamente de temas entretenidos e interesantes es mucho más divertido que estudiar solo con los libros de gramática.
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MODAL VERBS SHOULDN'T HAVE A PREPOSITION AFTER THEM:

In our Skype English classes many students incorrectly say ‘he can to come at 8’ or ‘they must to go running this evening’. However, all modals except for ‘ought to’ are followed by the base form of a verb (or infinitive) with no preposition after it. Some examples:

• I should go to visit them.
• I think it will rain tomorrow.
• Things could have been better.
• Someone may have seen them.
• They might be home tomorrow.
• They may be late.
• They would have known if they had gone to the seminar.
• He can come by anytime.
• You must get that project finished.
• I shall hand-in the paper on time.

Remember that modal verbs can’t be switched from tense to tense like normal verbs. For example, we cannot say ‘we musted do the homework’ or ‘I will must to study Norwegian’.

Also, modal verbs cannot appear together in the same sentence. Many people say ‘I will can go out tonight’. This is very incorrect. Since ‘will’ and ‘can’ are both modal verbs we need to use ‘to be able to’ after ‘will’. So the correct sentence would be ‘I will be able to go out tonight’. This would translate as ‘Yo podré salir esta noche’.
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WHEN IS THE 'H' SOUND NOT PRONOUNCED IN ENGLISH:

 In general, there is no rule in English to tell you when to pronounce the 'h', but it is rarely silent. So you have to learn the exceptions as they come along. Usually they turn out to borrowings from French, like 'honest', 'honour', 'heir', 'exhaustion', 'Thailand', 'vehicle', 'ghost', 'ghetto' and 'hour'.
The words starting with a silent 'h', if preceded by the indefinate article must have the 'an' version. For example, we'd say 'an honest fellow'. Hope that helps.
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