Language/Multiple-languages/Grammar/Common-Mistakes

There are common mistakes made when learning almost whichever language. I have observed people mainly on HiNative, also with my own experience.

Wrong pronunciation

Words are being pronounced like in people's native languages.

Wrong meaning of a polysemic word

A word may have different meanings. That's very common. But people are taking the wrong one.

Wrong pronunciation of a polyphonic word

In English, it is known that "read" has two pronunciations, also many words are pronounced differently when they are applied as a verb or a noun. This also happens in other languages. Some people are making the wrong choice, and some even don't know such a thing.

Wrong word from many parasynonyms

Some words have similar meanings, and people are mixing them up without enough distinguishment.

Wrong usage of a cognate

There are cognates in different languages. When people see a word which is so familiar, then they assume their usages are all the same and use it as in the language they have learned.

Wrong usage of a phrase

A phrase, usually a verb phrase, is mistaken. There can be many phrases derived from a verb, and people are choosing the wrong one before knowing their correct meanings.

Wrong usage of an adposition

When it comes to adpositions, it becomes complicated. People don't understand how to use them correctly before hundreds of practice have been made. But before people know this, they just choose by intuition, with the help of their native languages.

Wrong sentence order

Words are being arranged in the order of people's native languages. It's quite common.

Wrong punctuation

This is usually forgotten. I see Chinese and Japanese often do not leave a space after a punctuation, because in their languages, punctuations are full-width and no need to leave a space. Also, there are big differences in quotation marks in different languages and regions.