Common Mistakes that English Speakers Make in Chinese

[Adam_CLO]

In this other thread, we discussed common mistakes that Chinese speakers make in English, owing to how things are said in Chinese. Let's now look at what common mistakes English speakers make in Chinese, owing to the differences between English and Chinese. This list could be very useful for new learners - common mistakes to avoid!

I know it's tough to look back at when we were beginners and what mistakes we made. I'll start off here with one I saw someone mention.

1. Using 是 more often than it needs to be used. Eg.

今天的天氣是很好。

我是三十嵗

[Kenny同志]

This post is a response to post #91 by Renshanrenhai under the topic “Common Mistakes that Chinese Speakers Make when Speaking English”.

2. 阅读是很难 come from ‘Reading is very difficult’.

Correction: 阅读很难or 阅读是很难的

Comment: The original is perfectly fine in itself but it doesn’t match with the English well. Usually, the 是+adjective structure is used to acknowledge or emphasise that something is true. A few examples:

甲：这几天天气不错。

乙：嗯，这几天天气是很不错。我打算待会儿骑自行车兜风去呢。你去吗？

甲：你觉不觉的他这个人挺讨厌？

乙：嗯，（他）是挺讨厌。我也不喜欢他。

甲：我最怕做阅读题了。太难了！

乙：阅读是很难。我每次丢分最多的地方就是阅读题。

“English is very difficult” can be put in Chinese as “阅读很难”. Though grammatically correct, we don’t usually say “阅读是很难的”. It sounds clumsy.

3. 用汉语表达自己 comes from 'express myself '.

Correction: 用汉语交流

Comment: The original is loosely fine. If you’re pedantic, you can say 用汉语表达自己的思想（想法）.

The correction, which means communicate in Chinese, diverges from the meaning of the English phrase.

4. 这个是正常 come from ‘This is normal.’

Correction: 这个很正常 or 这个是正常的 。

Comment: Please refer to the comment on the second sentence.

6 .我今天接到了一本學習文言文課本

Error: 接到了一本课本 comes from 'received a textbook'

Correction: 我今天拿到了一本课本。

Common collocation: 接电话(answer the telephone)，接见(give an interview to), 接触 （come into contact with...）, 接管 （take over the charge of ...）,接近 （approach）, 接纳/ 接受 （receive）

Comment: If one received a book from a courier, I’d say 收到一本书.

8. 我学习更多和更多天天。

Error 1: 更多和更多 comes from 'more and more'

Correction: 越来越多， 越来越+ adj/adv = more and more ...

Error 2 : put the time phrase at the end of a sentence.

Correction : 一天又一天，我要学习越来越多的东西。

Comment: I don’t understand what the original means.

9. 但有时我不有足够时间研究更多

Error : 不有

Correction : 没有

Error analysis: We usually have to negative particle in Chinese, ’不‘ and '没' ,

Common collocation: 不知道，不开心，不喜欢，没有，没事，没写，没去

Comment: The correction is valid. However, the original still doesn’t sound quite right because it is incomplete, well, at least to me. 更多what? Put it this way might be better: 但有时我没有足够时间去多研究这方面的问题.

10. 我把很多汉字写了本子上以前我做了听力练习。

Error : 以前

Correction : 之前

Analysis: ’before‘ can be translated as '以前' and ’之前‘.

"I was never late before." In this sentence 'before' means ’以前‘。

"I did some reading before I went to‘bed last night.'' In this sentence 'before' means ’之前‘, but in Chinese you have to read this sentence from the back to the front like ’Before I went to bed, I did some reading last night.‘

Comment: I don’t understand what the original means.

[renshanrenhai]

@kenny2006woo

Thanks for your further analysis on the original post, I guess it would benefit many intermediate or upper level learners much.

But I personally have a more loose attitude towards the inaccuracy and mistakes made by lower level learners. If i meet a beginner, I would just let some small mistakes pass if further instructions only cause confusion. It's good to have some discussion here anyway.

[renshanrenhai]

Quote

10. 我把很多汉字写了本子上以前我做了听力练习。

Error : 以前

Correction : 之前

Analysis: ’before‘ can be translated as '以前' and ’之前‘.

"I was never late before." In this sentence 'before' means ’以前‘。

"I did some reading before I went to‘bed last night.'' In this sentence 'before' means ’之前‘, but in Chinese you have to read this sentence from the back to the front like ’Before I went to bed, I did some reading last night.‘

Comment: I don’t understand what the original means.

I guess the speaker was trying to mean 'I did some listening practice before I wrote down many characters on the notebook.'

[renshanrenhai]

Quote

8. 我学习更多和更多天天。

Error 1: 更多和更多 comes from 'more and more'

Correction: 越来越多， 越来越+ adj/adv = more and more ...

Error 2 : put the time phrase at the end of a sentence.

Correction : 一天又一天，我要学习越来越多的东西。

Comment: I don’t understand what the original means.

I guess the speaker was trying to say 'I pick up more and more words everyday.'

[Kenny同志]

No problem, Renshanrenhai.

10. 我把很多汉字写了本子上以前我做了听力练习。

I did some listening practice before I wrote down many characters on the notebook.

Consider: 做完听力练习，我在本子上抄写了一些字。

做完听力练习，我又把一些字在本子上抄写了一遍（几遍）would be more preferable, however, if this is what the writer meant.

8. 我学习更多和更多天天。

I pick up more and more words every day.

Consider: 时间一天天过去(I don't think 每天 makes sense here because that would mean you pick up five words the first day, and eight the next, and thirteen the third, ..., and one thousand the two hundredth, a thing that would become increasingly difficult over the passage of time)，我学会的字也越来越多。

[mokushiroku]

How about the opposite? Not using 是 when it would emphasize your point. E.g., 我是因為...