hello hola my name is Emma may amo Emma
and in today's video we are going to
look at ten common mistakes Spanish
speakers make now if you are not a
Spanish speaker don't worry you can
still watch this video because some of
these mistakes you might be making as
well okay so there are ten common
mistakes especially for Spanish speakers
now before I get started some of our
Spanish audience has asked questions
Emma can you speak Spanish
the answer is yo hablo of on a poco a
little I think it's it's that I'm
learning Spanish but my Spanish is not
perfect so if I mispronounce any words
in this video any Spanish words I'm
sorry I apologize now so let's get
started so we have ten in total alright
let's look at number one
a common mistake I see my Spanish
students make is they often forget the
subject of the sentence so they often
forget it at the beginning or I at the
beginning for example in Spanish I think
you can say soy Canadian say I'm
Canadian
in English you can't do this you always
need the subject so make sure you don't
make this mistake remember you need
either it I he she we they you you
always need a subject problem number two
I see is the pronunciation of e and the
I sound especially when it comes to this
and these when I hear my Spanish
speakers or my Spanish students sorry
when I hear them use this sometimes it
sounds like these to me I hear these
these they don't always pronounce the
difference so this is a common mistake
it's very important to
practice the I found versus the e sound
how do we do this with E you smile these
you see the big smile these with the eye
you don't really smile this you have the
serious face this this and these I want
you to practice saying this and these
you see how different my mouth looks
when I say this in these okay now this
is very important not just for this in
these but many words in English students
mistake the e sound and the sound what
are some other examples well this is a
bad example but and sheet okay
is Meredith Neerja sheet I don't know
what it is but it's a it's like a piece
of paper or a bed sheet so notice you
have two E's than e sheet this one
okay so serious um is very
important also there are many bad words
in English and they usually have the
if sound another bad word and I'm
only saying these words to teach you not
to make this mistake another bad word
verses beach beach you see it's
very important to be able to pronounce
the difference between e smile and a no
smile okay number three false friends
what's a false friend when we talk about
false friends we talk about where we're
talking about words in both Spanish and
English that look the same when you read
them maybe they even sound the same but
they have totally different meanings
okay this is a big problem also for me
learning Spanish this is a big problem
for me too
an example library ax and I know my our
pronunciation the r can't do it like
bread for area library ax it does not
mean library ok they look the same
Liberia is a bookstore library is a
place you go to borrow books so this is
one example of a false friend another
example a probe are a lot of people see
the word approve and they think oh they
look the same they mean the same thing
they don't upper bar in English means to
pass like to pass an exam ok there are
many of these when I first started
learning Spanish I think that the one I
had the most difficulty with was
embarrassing and embarrassed embarrassed
means you feel uncomfortable you feel
awkward embarrass are amines you're
pregnant so it's a very very common
mistake English speakers make when
they're learning Spanish so keep an eye
out for false friends ok number 4 this
is a pronunciation problem when we're
talking about numbers ok you might hear
thirteen thirty fourteen forty fifteen
fifty they sound very similar don't they
and maybe when you say these numbers
people write down the wrong number so
how do we correct this if you want to
say thirteen the best thing to do is say
thir quiet so the first part third teen
teen should be loud and it should be
long so let's say it together
third teen okay whereas if I'm saying
thirty thirty you'll notice thir is loud
and long and the last part T or D is
quiet so thirteen thirty okay
you can use the same trick for 14 and 40
15 and 50 16 and 60 okay very important
trick number five I think this is one of
the ones a lot of students have trouble
with in Spanish you have this verb
that's there I think in English it has
two meanings it can be to make something
or to do something all right so what
often happens is Spanish students use
make when they should use do or they use
do when they should use make the best
thing is when you learn a new word with
make or do you should memorize it if you
visit our website at wwlp.com we have a
great resource for looking at make and
do so come visit us you can see the
difference you know there's a really
good list practice that list okay so now
let's look at five more common mistakes
Spanish speakers make number six su okay
in Spanish you use su in English we use
him or her the problem is because in
English we have to him for boy her for
girls in Spanish you have one many times
Spanish speakers mix up him and her when
they're talking about girls sometimes
they'll say him when they're talking
about boys sometimes they'll say her so
it's very important to know him is for
boys and her is for girls because for
example maybe you like someone and if
you say I like him when you mean I like
her that might be confusing or you might
like someone else and say I like her but
you want to say I like
okay so careful with this one number
seven adjectives so to remind you an
adjective is a word that describes
another word okay the problem Spanish
speakers often have when they're
learning English is the order for
example in English here is the noun
house the adjective comes before the
noun
I like the big house in Spanish it's the
opposite big comes oh sorry this is the
adjective the noun comes first and then
the adjective okay I hope that sentence
is correct
me gusta casa grande let me know if I
made a mistake here but again many
Spanish speakers make a mistake with the
order they might want to say I have or
my blue eyes are beautiful maybe they
say my eyes blue are beautiful another
common problem with adjectives not just
for Spanish speakers but many students
make this is in English we have a very
special order where if you have two or
three adjectives before a noun they have
to go in a special order in Spanish I
don't know if you have this I don't
think so so what you can do is to learn
about this again check out our website
we have some great videos about the
order of adjectives and there's tests on
it too on our website so you can
practice that number 8 my his her when
we're talking about body parts I've
heard many Spanish speakers say I brush
the hair I washed the face I break the
arm in English you need to use if you're
talking about your hair
I brush
my hair he brushes his hair she brushes
her hair okay you can't just use that
same with um you know I broke what
should this be my arm she broke her arm
he broke his arm so when you're talking
about body parts you can't use that in
English
for these examples when you're doing
something to yourself you need to use my
his her
number nine sometimes my students say I
am agree I think it's because it's the
exact sentence in Spanish I am agree in
English we don't need the M you can just
say I agree
number ten contractions al versus I will
I don't I don't I'm I many times Spanish
speakers they have difficulty saying
contractions such as all I often hear my
students say I will I will I will but it
oftentimes in English we say all okay so
you need to practice saying oh I'll go
to the market today I'll go shopping
today practice that you don't always
have to say I will same with I don't I
don't like coffee sometimes I hear
Spanish students not pronounce the T
they say I don't like coffee okay
they don't pronounce the T you need to
pronounce the T I don't so let's do that
oh sorry can you say that
I don't good another mistake I commonly
see when students want to say like I'm
angry I'm hungry
I'm tired they don't pronounce the M
they say
I hungry I tired I scared but you really
need to pronounce the M so let's
practice I'm ma I'm I'm hungry I'm tired
I'm scared okay so we've just looked at
10 common mistakes Spanish speakers and
other speakers make what I would like to
do now is invite you to take our quiz to
double-check that you understood
everything in this video and to practice
so you don't make these mistakes in your
conversations or writing so come visit
us at WWE video M there you can take our
quiz and you can check out some other
resources especially on adjectives order
we have a great video on that so until
next time take care