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simon_porter00 · Joined: 09 Nov 2005 Posts: 505 Location: Warsaw, Poland

Following on from the idea of beating students to correct them in another thread, I thought a thread which highlights the particular mistakes Polish students make could be useful as a resource for us who use this forum and for anyone who wants to easily plagiarise this thread and make a book about this.

Rules:
Basic grammar errors do no count.
Repeated mistakes (most commonly direct Polish translations) and similar only.

This thread will either die on its ass or could be quite useful/funny.

simon_porter00 · Joined: 09 Nov 2005 Posts: 505 Location: Warsaw, Poland

And I shall start the ball rolling:

Misuse of before and after i.e:
I am now after lunch - I have finished lunch
I am before lunch - I haven't had lunch yet

Age:
He has 13 - He is 13 years old

NilSatis82 · Joined: 03 May 2009 Posts: 110

Blimey, where to start.

Confusing words such as learn and teach, borrow and lend, remember and remind, make and do, say and tell.

Lots of prepositional mistakes such as in the internet, depends from, angry on, go to home etc.

Using small letters for country adjectives, polish instead of Polish, english instead of English etc. Using a capital letter for You instead of you.

My own personal pet peeve is the misplacement of the first quotation mark. I haven't got a Polish keyboard so I can't type it, but I'm sure most people teaching in Poland know what I'm on about.

dynow · Joined: 07 Nov 2006 Posts: 1080

what does means....?

OR

what it means......?

regardless of level, i correct that crap EVERY WEEK.

double will. if i will have money, i will...........

"I like Italian kitchen"

THE Poland. THE Warsaw.

I am going TO home.

the constant misuse of "should".

TwinCentre · Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 273 Location: Mokotow

spiral78 · Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 11534 Location: On a Short Leash

Very cool, TwinCentres. I think you should consider a series for other European native languages. I'll co-author the Dutch/German edition with you. Seriously.... Cool

spiral78 · Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 11534 Location: On a Short Leash

Following on from the idea of beating students to correct them in another thread

by the way, simonporter, do the beatings work? I could probably market this to our Economics student if so Shocked

TwinCentre · Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 273 Location: Mokotow

Good idea Spiral. Can I think about it...have to think if it would work in Western Europe. You see the Poles speak a firm brand of Polish-English which they think is native but is not, this is because of the lack of travel and exposure to English during the communist era...which meant that the teachers taught a 'conditioned' form of English to the population. I think Germans simply make mistakes...and they know it. Any thoughts?

spiral78 · Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 11534 Location: On a Short Leash

Yes. Lots. We should move this to pms, because it's honestly a potential gold mine Cool

Scawie · Joined: 24 Apr 2006 Posts: 44

Learner English

http://www.cambridge.org/elt/elt_projectpage.asp?id=2500393

Has a decent chapter on Polish learners.

dynow · Joined: 07 Nov 2006 Posts: 1080

The "How English is your English" book........it points out their flaws, but does it teach them how to correct them? I'm just thinking that me personally, if I'm going to read a book about 101 ways I mess up in Polish, i'd want a tutorial on how to avoid it in the future, exercises, etc.

Now THAT might be worth a read.

spiral78 · Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 11534 Location: On a Short Leash

Consciousness-raising is a valid goal Very Happy

TwinCentre · Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 273 Location: Mokotow

BenKrakow · Joined: 20 Feb 2010 Posts: 11 Location: Krakow

Modals!!

"He must to come"

"He should to listen more"

Object pronouns seem to be a problem too. "He likes we"

And, I don't know why but he / she are constantly confused by my students. Even high level ones.

I can understand the first mistake, the second too but the third one! It is strange.

I believe that conscious raising is very important.

Jack Walker · Joined: 23 Oct 2008 Posts: 412

What about the infamous............

1) "I have 25 years"!

2) "John is very specific"( meaning unique)

3) Using nervous instead of angry eg."My boss made me nervous today"!!!!

4) Calling bosses chefs(szefs)...eg...."My chef is a very nice person".

5) Using power instead of energy....eg..."I have no power today"

.....these are but a few of the more common ones!