The Most Common Mistakes Spanish Speakers Make

Top Tips for increasing English fluency in ESL Spanish students. Most Spanish speakers make the same errors when communicating in English. After years of experience working with Spanish learners from all over the globe, I have identified the main errors and how to correct them.

Dealing with Common Errors in ESL Spanish Speakers

If I had one euro for every time I corrected my Spanish students who forgot the difference between ISLAND and ICELAND, I would be sitting on my own island somewhere instead of writing this blog post. Over the past decade I have been coaching English speaking development to Spanish learners from South America and Spain. In my experience they tend to all make exactly the same mistakes. In fact, they also tend to say 'DO a mistake' instead of 'MAKE a mistake'. So, let's take a look at some useful tips:

ERROR #1 - The little T

This is the most common error by far; even very proficient learners sometimes forget to stress the T in 'it's'. The reason for this is simple: In the Spanish language, we say 'es' as in 'Es fácil' (It's easy). This isn't a serious error and yet, once learners can master this, their accent immediately improves. My top tip for remembering that little T is to simply ask students to not use contractions at all for at least 6 months. I ask my ESL students to use the full form and say IT IS instead of using the contracted form IT'S. Once they become more aware of it, they eventually overcome this fossilized error.

TIP! Get learners to remember the little T in it's.

Ask them to repeat: It is, isn't it? Yes, It is what it is.

ERROR #2 - Falsos Amigos

False friends are words that sound similar or look similar but have very different meanings. There is a huge overlap of words between Spanish and English and this can cause not only confusion but embarrassment.

TIP! Ask your students to write 2 separate sentences with each of these words.

ERROR #3 - Pronunciation

One of the things I adore about Spanish is that there are few silent letters and what you see is what you get. Unfortunately, English can be a tricky language.

The H has little function in many words:

• HAM, HEAP, HOUSE, HAVE, HE, HIS, HER, HIM, HIS, HOUR HONEST

CH is often pronounced as K

• SCHEDULE. SCHOOL, CHEMIST, ANCHOR, TECHNOLOGY, CHAOS, CHRONIC

K is silent at the beginning of words when followed by N

• KNOCK, KNIFE, KNEE, KNIT, KNOWLEDGE, KNEEL, KNOW, KNIGHT

Some Spanish speakers have the tendency to insert an E-sound before words beginning with S.

• STRANGE, STRESS, STUDY, STOP, SPORT, SLEEP, SAVINGS, SAFETY, SPEAK

TIP! Ask students to create silly 'tongue twisters', using as many words as possible in one sentence.

Adding 'no' at the end of sentences for affirmation is another common trait that of most of my Spanish students have.

TIP! Instead of using NO, give them a list of words that can easily replace it:

Learning English is easy, yeah?

Learning English is easy, right?

Learning English is easy, don't you agree?

Learning English is easy, don't you think?

Error #4 - Word Order

Spanish adjectives follow nouns instead of the other way around. This is why Spanish learners say things like; 'The dress red' ('El vestido rojo') instead of 'The red dress'

TIP! Make students more aware of word order by teaching them set sentences with 2 adjectives and 2 nouns.

• The wooden table has a rectangular shape.

• The beautiful model has very long legs.

• Why does the old lady have purple hair?

Error #5 - Spanish Grammar

• The number one error I correct in my Spanish ESL speakers is confusion between the verbs TO BE and TO HAVE. Eg. 'I have 43 years old.'

• Basically, all Spanish nouns are masculine or feminine and adjectives or pronouns match the gender of the nouns they refer to. Quite often, Spanish learners assign gender to inanimate objects.

• Sometimes Spanish speakers have to be reminded that in English we don't use double negatives.

There many similarities between Spanish and English. Once students are made aware of these common errors, their self-confidence and English speaking skills will immediately improve. I have been using these worksheets for the past 3 years exclusively with my online ESL learners to boost their conversational fluency development skills. I would love to hear your opinions in the comments below.

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