Hoddy Posted May 19, 2013 Share Posted May 19, 2013 An English friend of mine meets once a week with a group of French women who are trying to improve their English.Next week they are going to do an item on common mistakes and she has asked me to go along as a back up.I wonder if anyone can forewarn me about things that are likely to come up.All the French people I know speak to me in French and so I don't know which bits of English French speakers find difficult.Please does anyone have any ideas ?Hoddy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quillan Posted May 19, 2013 Share Posted May 19, 2013 My observation is that many (but not all) have a problem with anything that has a "th" in it, "w" is another as is "sh" and I am sure there are a couple of others. I use words with those letters in that on them just to show how difficult it is the other way round i.e. my French pronunciation, which I openly admit, is not that good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YCCMB Posted May 19, 2013 Share Posted May 19, 2013 Long and short vowel sounds: it's a common mistake and one of the most difficult things for non-native speakers to get right, leading occasionally to some amusement.Think about "ship" and "sheep".I'm sure I've recounted this anecdote before..at my last company the French interns asked for English lessons in the lunch break, which I organised through my language teaching supplier. After one lesson he came into my office, closed the door and burst into tears of laughter.One student (heavy French accent) said "Rob, every time I ask for a piece of paper, other English people laugh" so he was about to start explaining the long and short vowel sounds, when another student raised her hand."I had the same problem" she said, "but I solved it by asking for a sheet of paper instead"And our then MD had to be actively discouraged from making the comment "The board and I would like you to focus..." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoddy Posted May 19, 2013 Author Share Posted May 19, 2013 Thanks for the answers so far.I was wondering about sentence construction too.Any more ideas ?Hoddy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted May 19, 2013 Share Posted May 19, 2013 The "i"s are one of the most difficult, also for us in the opposite direction.Iron is one, most pronounce it like ironic (I, Ron) which of course they do correctlyIon is another which they tend to pronounce eonAnd then of course there is the prenom IanNo problem with Brian though!!I once made up a text as an exercise to show the differences, it ended up being a tongue twister, it was something along the lines of:Is it ironic that styling hair using an ionic flat iron works due to negative ions?You could do a similar Ian and Brian thing.The incorrect use of moreover (en plus) when speaking English is another good one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quillan Posted May 19, 2013 Share Posted May 19, 2013 When I first joined our Fete commitee there was one chap called Jill which I thought a strange name for a chap but then it's France so perhaps Jill is K for a male here. When I got the minutes of the first meeting his name was there at the top amonst those attending, Giles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YCCMB Posted May 19, 2013 Share Posted May 19, 2013 Sentence construction generally isn't too bad (I may be a bit out of touch now as I mainly teach advanced level students), but another thing - and good luck with this one, 'cos there aren't any good rules - is correct use of prepositions of place, especially "to", "in", "at", "on".Another common mistake is the (mis) use of "will" , when most English speakers use "going to" and the confusion of "make" and "do" because most other European (and other) languages have the one verb for both. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loiseau Posted May 19, 2013 Share Posted May 19, 2013 A couple of problems I have noticed among those of my French friends who otherwise speak excellent English:"guardian" in English comes out as "gwardian"; same with "guard".andconfusion between pronunciation of "angry" and "hungry"; they always seem to say one when they mean the other.Angela Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YCCMB Posted May 19, 2013 Share Posted May 19, 2013 OOh, and another thing...."for" and "since" . "I am in England since three months" is a favourite. It's a direct translation, of course, but so very wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinabee Posted May 19, 2013 Share Posted May 19, 2013 where to use "of", "from" "by" or "about" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loiseau Posted May 19, 2013 Share Posted May 19, 2013 Oh yes, and "Welcome IN Vendee/Paris/Bordeaux" or wherever instead of "Welcome TO..."That's always appearing in tourism brochures.EDIT:sorry YCCMBetty, I see you had preceded me with that one on the earlier page! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted May 19, 2013 Share Posted May 19, 2013 All very good points, ones I have heard many many times before, the from/to and since/for are a must IMHO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted May 19, 2013 Share Posted May 19, 2013 While I think of it, count and accountant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patf Posted May 19, 2013 Share Posted May 19, 2013 I've noticed that the french tend to emphasise the last syllable in english words, when we usually emphasise the first one.eg the BeTELLS = the BeatlesMcdonALDS =MacDOnalds.The other day on the phone someone asked for my email address and I had to ask him to spell it because he kept saying u-MYal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Ceour de Lion II Posted May 19, 2013 Share Posted May 19, 2013 I will never forget the time my French friend's 15 yo daughter said in English, "I would like a Coke".I think you all know how the French say Coke... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cendrillon Posted May 19, 2013 Share Posted May 19, 2013 Pat, shouldn't that be MacDo' ? A friend tried to help her (Fr) neighbour's daughter with her English singing "old Macdonald had a farm" etc. The little girl said everyone at school sang " old MacDo' because of course that's what the restaurant is called!edit: just corrected my typos[:$] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted May 19, 2013 Share Posted May 19, 2013 Hard to do more than scratch the surface in a short post, but here goes for a few:As Betty says the future is a frequent one. No surprising when you see bad examples of "will" in French textbooks.A frequent problem is that can and must in English don't have future forms, but change to 'will be able to' and 'will have to'His and hers, because in French those words depend on the gender of the object but in English on the gender of the person who possesses the objectFrench sa chaise can mean his chair, and son pantalon can mean her trousers which brings up also the question of words which are singular in one language but plural in the otherForming questions with who what when how(far/long/often etcThe sentence construction is very different in the two languages and at school they have always answered the teacher rather than asked the question (very revealing that ) so they have difficultiesAgo "I did it two hours ago". if you combine this with the above and get 'how long ago did you move here' there is confusion..Continuous tensesThey often say I am working/living etc for I work/liveTo have something done in French the verb faire is usedThere are also the faux amisA few common ones where the French get it wrong:Actually meaning 'at the moment' (from French actuellement) this page isn't bad for those:http://french.about.com/cs/vocabulary/a/falsecognates.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judith Posted May 19, 2013 Share Posted May 19, 2013 Sentence construction and different word order ... adverbs in the wrong place (French before, English after verb),Irregular English verbs (example given by French choir member - begin, begun, began) (I tried to say they were much less difficult than the French irregular ones - as well as being fewer of them but didn't her to agree on that one!!)Different pronunciations of words spelt the same (eg bow (decoration) bow (verb)) and same pronunciation of words spelt differently (wait, weight) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine Animal Posted May 19, 2013 Share Posted May 19, 2013 J-P can't understand how anyone can be fast asleep. [:D] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted May 20, 2013 Share Posted May 20, 2013 I left out the most difficult, which is our use of verbs such as 'get' or 'put' 'take' with lots of separated bits such as 'on' off' 'up' 'out' away' etc.Ironically English people regard these as simple, and so tend to use them to be helpful whereas it is much easier for a French person to understand Latin-based words which seem harder or even pompous to our earsConsider: 'Come down' descend'Get over' (an illness) recuperate 'Give away' donate'take after' resemble Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericd Posted May 20, 2013 Share Posted May 20, 2013 Very difficult to answer your question. A few here have tried to respond using experience gained with French locals but this won't be true representation of your task ahead.Talking about personal experience, I still have problems with:- Ship / Sheep ... Paper / Pepper .... Shit / Sheet and when I am tired I hear myself say " .....She His..." instead of " ...She is ...But all students being different, you will have to assess them individually and correct accordingly. Good luck ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoddy Posted May 20, 2013 Author Share Posted May 20, 2013 Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to reply.I've started to make notes in readiness.As a result of something Norman wrote I'm wondering if I ought to think about common mistakes that English people make to give examples of what not to say.Hoddy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YCCMB Posted May 20, 2013 Share Posted May 20, 2013 [quote user="NormanH"]I left out the most difficult, which is our use of verbs such as 'get' or 'put' 'take' with lots of separated bits such as 'on' off' 'up' 'out' away' etc.Ironically English people regard these as simple, and so tend to use them to be helpful whereas it is much easier for a French person to understand Latin-based words which seem harder or even pompous to our earsConsider: 'Come down' descend'Get over' (an illness) recuperate 'Give away' donate'take after' resemble[/quote]Phrasal verbs are a bit of a minefield, though, Norman. After all, many have two or more meanings, sometimes abstract, sometimes more literal. The average Brit (including me, when I first started teaching) has no clue that phrasal verbs exist, and due to their very randomness, there are no rules governing their makeup, so all you can do is learn them as they crop up. As you say, one of the most difficult, not only to learn but to teach, as you can only teach them by categorising them according to theme, or according to preposition. The tip of a Titanic-stopping iceberg! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted May 20, 2013 Share Posted May 20, 2013 Hi there, Betty! You've tempted me out of Forum retirement!"Titanic-stopping iceberg"......hmmm....I'd have said "Tatanic-sinking iceberg" myself.......[:P]Don't you just love splitting hairs?[:D] I know I do......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted May 20, 2013 Share Posted May 20, 2013 And as the smart ship grewIn stature, grace, and hue,In shadowy silent distance grew the Iceberg too.IXAlien they seemed to be;No mortal eye could seeThe intimate welding of their later history,XOr sign that they were bentBy paths coincidentOn being anon twin halves of one august event,XITill the Spinner of the YearsSaid "Now!" And each one hears,And consummation comes, and jars two hemispheres Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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