Dear anyone,
Your duolingo forum registration isn't automaticaly transferred to duome forum so in order to join duome forums you need to register with your existing or any other username and email; in any case it's advised that you choose a new password for the forum.
~ Duome Team

11 Common Mistakes Spanish Learners Make and How to Fix Them - Archived

Moderators: Stasia, xillegas

User avatar
justheaven

11 Common Mistakes Spanish Learners Make and How to Fix Them - Archived

Post by justheaven »

Original Post by: jefii87: https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/31389431 | Archived DL page: https://archive.ph/7zjEP


Image jefii87:

The Most Common Mistakes Spanish Students Make

Over the years of teaching my wife created a list of the most common mistakes students make when learning Spanish. To help you make sure you’re not making the same mistakes, today I am going to share the list with you. Are you guilty of any of these?

Cognates and False Friends

There are thousands of words in Spanish and English that not only look and sound the same, but also have the same meaning, which makes learning a little easier. These words are usually cognates. Words that have the same linguistic origin. Conversely, there are also dozens of words in Spanish that appear to be the same, but have very different meanings. These are called false friends. False friends can be frustrating and confusing, and may even put you in embarrassing situations where you think you know what someone is talking about, but later find out you misunderstood the whole conversation just because you didn’t know the right meaning of one simple word. We have all been there, feeling ashamed having to explain to someone that the other day when we went to the movies we were not actually “exitados de ver la película” but instead “emocionados de ver la película.” Awkward! So I’m going to help you win the battle against some of these horrible opponents we call false friends.

1. Realizar ≠ To realize:

The word “realizar” means “to do” or “to accomplish something.”

“Realize” in Spanish is “darse cuenta” (conjugation: Yo ME doy cuenta, Tú TE das cuenta, El/ Ella SE da cuenta, Nosotros NOS damos cuenta, Ustedes/ Ellos/ Ellas SE dan cuenta).


2. Embarazada ≠ Embarrassed

“Embarazada” means “pregnant.”

If you want to say “embarrassed” in Spanish, you’d say “avergonzado” or “avergonzada”


3. Parientes ≠ Parents

“Parientes” means “relatives”.

“Parents” is “padres” in Spanish.


4. Suceso ≠ Success:

“Suceso” means “event”.

If you want to say “success” in Spanish you’d say “éxito.”


5. Introducir ≠ To introduce

“Introducir” means “to put in,” “to insert,” or “to enter.”

“To introduce someone” is “presentar”.


6. Actualmente ≠ Actually

“Actualmente” means “nowadays,” “in this day and age,” “now”, and “at the moment”.

There’s no exact way to say “actually” in Spanish, but these are some options: “La verdad es que,” “de hecho,” “en realidad.”


7. Soportar ≠ Support:

“Soportar” means “to stand.”

“To support” is “apoyar”.


8. Sentencia ≠ Sentence

“Sentencia” in Spanish is the punishment given by the court or judge to a criminal.

The word in Spanish for “sentence” is “oración” or “frase.”


9. Colegio ≠ College

“Colegio” is any kind of private school (elementary school, highschool, any school that’s private).

The word for “college” in Spanish is “universidad”.


10. Buscando para ≠ Looking for:

This is not a false cognate, but a case of a literal translation gone wrong.

“Buscando para” is what many English Speakers say instead of “Looking for.”

“Buscando para” is wrong. It doesn’t exist. If you want to say “looking for” in Spanish say only “buscando”.


11. Ser vs Estar:

Ser and estar can get really complicated to learn since they seem to follow their own rules on how and when to use each of them. But the good news is that there is a very easy way to know when to use one or the other!

The main difference between these verbs is that:

-SER is most commonly used to talk about things that exists in a way that cannot be changed or that would be quite difficult to change.

  • Nationality
  • People’s physical appearance
  • People’s personality
  • Occupation

-On the other hand, ESTAR expresses a state, something that can change and/or varies from time to time.

  • Emotions
  • Locations
  • Weather
  • Temperature

Of course there are a few exceptions to this rule, but this is basically how SER and ESTAR work.

Knowing when to use ser or estar is not that complicated once you think about what you are describing. Just ask yourself “Is that permanent?” “Can that change at some point?” Then you will find it easier to know if you should go with one or the other.

Practice reading the above examples out loud, or even writing them down again. This will help make what you just learned stick. Keep a steady practice regimen, and you will make significant progress. You can even download the PDF with all of these phrases here:

https://spanishandgo.com/learn/the-most ... dents-make

Watch the video to hear the correct pronunciations:

Do you identify with this list? What did she miss?

The Most Common Mistakes Spanish Students Make

N🇧🇬 A2:es: C1:us:
"That youngster's naturalness is impressive."Duolingo

gaywizard27
Great Britain

Re: 11 Common Mistakes Spanish Learners Make and How to Fix Them - Archived

Post by gaywizard27 »

ser:

Description
Origin
Character
Time
Occupation
Relations

estar:

Position
Location
Action
Condition
Emotion

native: 🇬🇧
learning: 🇮🇹 🇪🇸 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

ElmerRamone
United States of America

Re: 11 Common Mistakes Spanish Learners Make and How to Fix Them - Archived

Post by ElmerRamone »

While I appreciate the actual list, I think the title of this post is a little confusing. There are really only two things on the list, false cognates and ser vs estar.

Deleted User 133

Re: 11 Common Mistakes Spanish Learners Make and How to Fix Them - Archived

Post by Deleted User 133 »

Number 8, sentence, is also "the punishment given by the court or judge to a criminal" in English, so it's not really a false friend. No?

User avatar
Julian_L.
Argentina

Re: 11 Common Mistakes Spanish Learners Make and How to Fix Them - Archived

Post by Julian_L. »

Alivated wrote: Tue May 03, 2022 1:51 pm

Number 8, sentence, is also "the punishment given by the court or judge to a criminal" in English, so it's not really a false friend. No?

That's what Wiktionary says, so it's partially a false friend. I remember someone once called these kinds of words "frenemies" on the Italian forum for English speakers. The real problem is when English speakers use «sentencia» to mean a phrase, which is incorrect; while a Spanish speaker using "sentence" for «sentencia» would never be wrong.

:argentina:N :it: Image

User avatar
luo-ning

Re: 11 Common Mistakes Spanish Learners Make and How to Fix Them - Archived

Post by luo-ning »

justheaven wrote: Fri Mar 04, 2022 2:43 am

4. Suceso ≠ Success:

“Suceso” means “event”.

If you want to say “success” in Spanish you’d say “éxito.”

¡Este es un falso amigo doble!

- ¿Cómo se dice “event” en español?
- ¡Por supuesto, dices “suceso”!
- ¿Entonces, cómo se dice “success”?
- ¡Simplemente dices “éxito”!
- ¿Pues, que palabra se usa para “exit”?
- ¿“Salida”, no?
- No quiero una ensalada, gracias.

🦀 Pensando en la inmortalidad del cangrejo 🏴‍☠️ Flags Are Not Languages

Jimbo

Re: 11 Common Mistakes Spanish Learners Make and How to Fix Them - Archived

Post by Jimbo »

The fun part is that 'sentencia' and 'sentence' isn't the only one that actually does mean the same thing in English, but not in the most common way it's used. ('Frenemies' works as well as any other word to describe this - I hadn't even thought about what to call them before.)

To realise one's ambition is to fulfil it, not to work out what it is.

And,

To introduce an outside element doesn't typically mean going 'Hi, this is…'

With college it's the English that's the problem as the term isn't even consistent across England, never mind the entire anglosphere (other than perhaps in the phrase 'College of Cardinals'). The Spanish by comparison looks simple and easy to understand.

And I will admit to having got the 'buscando para' thing wrong the first time I came across it (actually I think it was 'buscan para' but same difference in this case).

Native language: 🇬🇧. Novice getting towards rookie: 🇪🇸. Beginner: 🇬🇷, 🇯🇵.

Chrisinom
Germany

Re: 11 Common Mistakes Spanish Learners Make and How to Fix Them - Archived

Post by Chrisinom »

You can also turn a false friend into a mnemotecnia to make it a real friend. Here's a German - Spanish/Italian example: Regal (estante) - regalo. To remember that, I invented a phenomenon of the Mediterranean everyday culture: Those people always give you shelves as a gift.
The gift false friend is even worse in English - German: The Germans give you poison (German: Gift), as Lady Macbeth did.

Post Reply

Return to “Language”