Saturday, March 28, 2015

Common English Mistakes That Vietnamese Make

I love Vietnam! In fact, I want to work and live there (I hope I can do it next year). I have quite a lot of Vietnamese friends, some of whom I have already met in person. I've been to Ho Chi Minh City twice and now I still feel the wonder of it. Well, since I can't communicate in Vietnamese well (I'm learning it, though), I interact with my Vietnamese friends in English. Here are some common mistakes made by Vietnamese, based on my experience. I hope this list will be useful for Vietnamese who want to learn/are learning English and for other people too!


Note: I will keep this post updated.

1. "have" instead of "there is/are"
To talk about existence, Vietnamese often use "have", not "there is/are".

Examples:
• Have one teacher here. (should be There is one teacher here.)
• Have five people in my office. (should be There are five people in my office.)

2. no be
Vietnamese tend to omit be forms (am, is, are, etc.).

Examples:
• My friend beautiful. (should be My friend is beautiful.)
• My father at home (last week). (should be My father was at home.)

3. no articles
Vietnamese tend to leave out articles (a/an and the).

Examples:
• I in office. (should be I am in the office.)
• Yesterday my sister went to bookstore. (should be Yesterday my sister went to a bookstore.)

4. infinitives with third person singular subjects in the simple present
When using the simple present, Vietnamese tend to use infinitives with third person singular subjects (he, she, and it).

Examples:
• My mother cook for me. (should be My mother cooks for me.)
• My brother go to school every day. (should be My brother goes to school every day.)

5. no -s or -es in plural forms
Vietnamese tend to use singular forms where plural forms should be used instead.

Examples:
• I want to buy two apple. (should be I want to buy two apples.)
• She have a lot of friend. (should be She has a lot of friends.)

6. no prepositions
Vietnamese often leave out prepositions.

Examples:
• I listening music. (should be I'm listening to music.)
• Wait me. (should be Wait for me.)

7. ending sounds
Vietnamese have difficulty in pronouncing ending sounds.

Examples:
• "Ll" in "will" and "kill" is pronounced like the second 'u' in "usual". (the /u/ sound is pronounced instead of the /l/ sound)
• "Rice" is pronounced like "ry" in "cry". (the /s/ sound is not pronounced)
• "Always" is pronounced like "alway". (the /z/ sound is not pronounced)
• "D" in "seaweed" is pronounced like "sh" in "wish". (the /ʃ/ sound is pronounced instead of the /d/ sound)

4 comments:

  1. I am usually make this mistakes

    ReplyDelete
  2. great job Klins.
    I'm very happy that you love my country and our language as well .and hope we can meet someday.
    you sang very well on skype btw. :)))))))

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks so much, Cuong! Hope to meet you too someday! ^_^

      Delete