Learning a new language is difficult, the grammar and syntax are different and there are sounds that may not exist in your native language. It’s a struggle for anyone, no matter which language you have decided to learn. However, one way you can improve your communication skills in a foreign language is by identifying common mistakes in that language made by people who speak your native language.
For example, French, like many Romance languages, has a specific sentence structure and grammatical rules that don’t necessarily apply to English. For someone who is just starting to learn, these differences can be challenging to grasp in the beginning. Let’s look at some of the common mistakes that French speakers make while learning English.
Sentence Structure
In French, adjectives come after the noun, which can surely be an adjustment when speaking English. It’s not easy to change the order of the words in your sentence when you’ve been saying it differently throughout your life!
Look at this phrase, “la voiture rouge” means “the red car,” but the word “voiture” means car, and “rouge” is red. As you can see, you must change the word order. Even though an English speaker would understand someone who said, “the car red,” it would certainly sound weird to their ears!
Infinitives After Modal Verbs
As English speakers, we may not notice that we are doing this, but the infinitives after modal verbs should not include the word “to.” In French, infinitives are only one word, not two, so there is no need to change the infinitive when it comes after a modal verb. Therefore, French speakers oftentimes forget to eliminate the word “to” in their sentences.
An example would be: “I must finish my homework tonight.” A French speaker may say, “I must to finish my homework tonight.” This is because in French it would be written as, “Je dois finir mes devoirs ce soir.” As you can see, the word dois, or must, is followed directly by finir, or to finish. The verb finir is already in its infinitive form, there are no changes to be made. This can be a complicated concept for French speakers to understand at first.
Pronunciation Mistakes
French is a very specific language because there are many sounds that are either pronounced differently or that don’t exist in English or French at all.
The most common one, as most people know, is TH. This is a sound that does not exist in French, so many French speakers struggle to make the sound. It often ends up being pronounced more like a Z or S sound, turning “this” into “zis,” or “think” into “sink.”
Another pronunciation error is the omission of the letter H. In French, Hs are silent, so it is very common for a French speaker to forget that the letter H must be aspirated in English. Instead of saying, “I am happy,” you may hear them say, “I am appy.”
How to Improve
The first step to mastering a foreign language is learning about the common mistakes are and how to fix them. Once you learn which grammatical notions you struggle with, you can find exercises to correct them, or read books in the language you are studying. Reading is one of the best tools when learning a foreign language. As for pronunciation, find native speakers that you can chat with not only to listen to how certain sounds are pronounced, but also to practice them yourself! If you don’t have the opportunity to speak with someone, then you can use videos or recordings to listen to native pronunciation. Don’t be discouraged when you make a mistake. Instead, use it to your advantage and learn from it!
