A Few Common English Mistakes Made by Native Czech Speakers AND How to Fix Them.

By Derek Patterson.

Introduction

This book was written with the intention of helping out the many Czechs currently involved in the plight of learning English, many of whom Ive had the pleasure of meeting, and indeed teaching, over my years in their country. In my time here I have had the opportunity to engage with a large number of Czechs and have helped them grapple with their various mistakes in spoken and written English in an attempt to help them out in whatever small way that I can. Like many teachers who spend a certain amount of time in one place, I have a rather acute understanding of common Czech mistakes when using English, and have invested considerable effort in trying to help my students finally get rid of their troublesome errors. The book was never intended to be highly technical, as many such texts are, but to simply nudge the reader in the right direction. My hope is that Czechs reading this short book will feel more confident that their English is free from common mistakes and be able to produce communicative language that serves them in whatever purpose they need it for. I also wish to say that despite this book focusing on mistakes, they are not something to worry about or to lose sleep over. English is a flexible language and the typical errors produced by native Czech speakers are not the kind that will scuttle any chance of an effective conversation. Czechs, in my experience, often think they are worse than they truly are. My advice, as it has always been to my students, is to believe in yourself, dont worry too much about the grammar (although do study!) and just get on with using English. Studying more and more grammar (as is the common method of studying the Czech language in Czech high-school) can hinder rather than help, and so speaking, even with some errors (which I hope will soon reduce in number!) is the way forward for many students who already know a fair amount of grammar. Finally, I do sincerely hope that this book will be helpful to those that read it and encourage them to speak with more confidence. Derek Patterson. In Pilsen, March 2012.

How the book is organised

The book doesnt need to be read from cover to cover, but can, instead, be read in whatever order the reader chooses. Each section will cover a number of common mistakes as well as how to fix them and my own ruminations on why they exist, especially in relation to the differences between the Czech and English languages. The book is VERY informal and is meant more as a rough guide than a full grammar text. To the student: Use the book in any way you desire. Read it cover to cover, read sections of it whatever suits you best. Perhaps in the future I will add exercises, but at the moment I simply invite you to attempt to recognise the mistake and employ the correct usage next time it raises its head. To the teacher: While this book is primarily intended for students to read for themselves, the material within may, of course, be useful for those with Czech students of all levels. I encourage you to use the book in whatever way you think will most help the learners you work with.

Common mistakes:

Articles and forgetting to use them. The Czech language is not a big fan of articles (which is to say they dont exist) and so they are often a huge hurdle for Czechs to get over. The first stage in fixing article usage is to accept that they are an essential part of the language and they must be used. Using them is the next stage. The basic rules are as follows: If a noun is singular and countable (apple is countable, but knowledge is not, for example) then you simply must use an article. The article modifies the noun in a way similar to an adjective. The definite article (THE) means the noun is a specific, which is to say its is the only one, or those listening already know about it. The indefinite article (A, AN) are used to mean one of a group or class. To illustrate the difference: I would like AN apple. (One of the group of apples, but not one in particular). I would like THE apple. (There is a specific apple we are all aware of, for example the one on the kitchen table, and I want that exact one). Just to illustrate the difference between Czech and English once again, let us take the singular, countable noun pen. The noun pen cannot exist in the English language without an article, except when the article his replaced with a personal pronoun (his, mine, their etc). It is never, ever alone. Article usage is essential in using the language effectively and in communicating at a high level. Its better to think about articles and make some mistakes than to not use them at all. English sounds very strange if they are omitted. One final anecdote: A man cant find his favourite t-shirt, so he asks his wife: hey, honey, where is my favourite t-shirt? she replies: its in a wardrobe to which he says: which one!?. In this case using the indefinite article a with wardrobe means it could be in any wardrobe, and so the man is understandably confused. It should, of course, be the wardrobe, which is to say the one we both know about and is in our bedroom. Much clearer! THE nature. As Czechs generally love being outdoors, a common mistake is to refer to the nature, which is to say I love being in the nature, but it is incorrect. Nature is an uncountable noun and therefore rarely appears with an article. To express this idea it is better to say the countryside or the country.

Pronunciation of TH.

This is an especially hard part of English pronunciation for many Czech speakers, and is very much the equivalent of the Czech , which is rather difficult for non-Czechs learning the language. As with the case of , English speakers often have to practice the pronunciation of Th and it doesnt come naturally to everyone. The first thing to do is accept that your English will sound FAR better if you can confidently use TH and so you should try to use it. Czechs commonly replace it with a Z or D sound, which whille understandable, does sound a little strange. My usual advice is to place just the end of the tongue between the teeth with the mouth almost only open a little and the teeth touching the tongue but not too much. Now try to make the TH sound. If the tongue is in the right position then the only sound which can be made is the correct one. This can feel a bit strange at the beginning, but practice makes it feel more natural. I learned the Czech when travelling on the tram. It took several months and felt rather strange at the beginning, but is very normal now! TH is divided into two slightly different sounds. One has a slight Z sound, and occurs at the beginning of words like The and the second one has no Z sound and occurs in the middle or at the end of words like myth, for example. Lose and Loose. These two words are frequently mixed up, owing to their pronunciation, I believe. Its even a common mistake made by native English speakers, so Czechs have no need to feel guilty about it! LOSE is a verb which is the opposite of the verb to win. I dont want my football team to LOSE the game and in its past form: we LOST the game, sadly. The pronunciation, if we were to imagine it was a Czech word, is something like LUZ. LOOSE is an adjective with has various meanings, but the primary one means the opposite of tight. Its often used to describe clothing with doesnt fit well because its too big. Your shirt is loose, have you lost weight? It is pronounced something like, again if it was a Czech word, LUS. The words are really rather different and important to distinguish. The following mistake: We are going to LOOSE this game! is common, even amongst native English speakers, but is incorrect! A few confusing prepositions of place. Most of these errors arise from differences between Czech and English, but are errors nevertheless! In Czech it is IN television and ON a picture/painting, however English is the complete opposite, which is to say ON television and In a picture/painting.

I saw on T.V yesterday... NOT in T.V. You look so thin in this picture NOT on this picture. A simple mnemonic is to simply remember that English is the opposite from Czech, so ON and IN switch places. A reasonably good rule for such occasions is that ON is typically used with digital/electronic forms of media (T.V, radio, internet etc) and IN is used with print forms of media (newspapers, books, leaflet etc). Interesting ON. ON occurs again as a confusing preposition in relation to the way certain phrases are said in Czech. The most frequent example is with interesting. In Czech the expression is generally what is interesting ON that is... but this is incorrect in English where ABOUT is used instead. The lexical function of the word is directional and means something like in relation to the thing being discussed. It works similarly with many expressions, such as: What I dont like about that is... What is scary about that?... What is boring about that is?...

Using the present continuous too often. The Czech language doesnt have a continuous form, and one form of the Czech verb can be the equivalent in English of many different verb forms, for example: I do, I am doing and I have been doing. As a result, Czechs often over compensate by using the present continuous too often, when in fact the present simple is all that is required. The present simple is used to habits, recurring events or true facts (absolutes), while the present continuous is to talk about the state of certain actions being in progress at a certain time (usually to talk about something else which happened during that period). An example I have heard: Were having no milk in the fridge. This is incorrect because the state of being without milk is a true fact, and so should be expressed via the present simple we have no milk. To highlight the difference a little more, consider these two forms Were not having milk and We dont have milk. The former means were not having milk right NOW, i.e. in our coffee, while the later means in the house, and therefore we need to buy some. The general rule present simple for recurring events, habits and true facts and the present continuous for events in progress.

Say or tell? Confusing these two words can be traced back to the Czech language because it uses just one word. In general, the two words are explained as follows: Say is a just a general word to describe the act of speaking. Tell is when some specific information is being given to another person. The easiest way to decide which one is correct is this rule: Tell is followed by a personal pronoun, for example: I told HIM, she told ME, they told THEM. Say, on the other hand, is NEVER followed by a personal pronoun. So, if you wish to use a personal pronoun, choose TELL and if not choose SAY. It should help.

By and Until. These two are often mixed up by Czech speakers, and its understandable because from the outside they look rather difficult to tell apart. The mnemonic for remembering is as follows: By = On or before, but not after AND Until = how long a situation continues. To illustrate: I will finish the project BY Friday. Which means: I will finish the project ON Friday or BEFORE Friday but NOT AFTER Friday. I will not have finished the project UNTIL Friday. Which means: The state of the project being unfinished continues from now to Friday at the latest. More examples: Please let me know BY Monday (on or before but not after), or I cant let you know UNTIL Friday (the situation of me not being able to tell you continues from now to Friday). BY is about deadlines and UNTIL is about how long a state will continue for. Noun/verb swaps. Sentence order in statements and Q. Beer/Beard/Bear. Three words with different pronunciations and different meanings, but which are often confused. Beer, is, as every Czech knows, pivo. The pronunciation of the double E is long and if it were a Czech word, would be something like br.

A beard is the hair a man grows on his face (vous) and its pronunciation is similar to beer expect a final sound and it is something like b rd. Finally, bear is the forest animal and the pronunciation of the vowel sound is the same as the capital letter A, which is to say that bear sounds similar to air, fair and chair. One of my colleague. Another common problem. In this situation, the expression one of means that there must be MORE than one (i.e. plural) of the following noun. This means that when you use the expression one of then the following noun must be plural. In this case, the correct form would be one of my colleagues. Dress. Often Czechs use the term dress when they should using clothes or clothing. These are the general word of the items which people wear. A dress is a particular item of clothing worn only by women, for example a party dress or a wedding dress. Confusing dress with clothes can lead to many laughs, but its important to be correct. Control and Check. This problem arises from a false-friend between Czech and English, the world control. On the surface it seems like its the English version of the Czech verb kontrolovat, but it is not. The Czech verb kontrolovat translates into English as check. Can you check the fridge for milk?, NOT can you control the fridge for milk?. Control in English means to somehow command or be in charge of something. For example: He is a terrible parent and he cannot control his children. V/W The pronunciation of these two letters often cause problems because the Czech alphabet doesnt have a W in it, but it is imported into Czech from other languages, where its often pronounced in a way similar to the more common V or, vice-versa, where the V is pronounced like a W. The English V is the same as the Czech one in terms of pronunciation. For example in the word village the V sound should be exactly the same as the word sound of the V in the Czech word vlak, NOT a more open sound like in the English word work. On the other hand, the W sound should NOT sound similar to the V and should be sounded with a more open mouth with the lips pouted and the tongue on the floor of the mouth, as the same sound made in the W of work, which is a common word I would expect most Czechs to know. Essentially, its important to distinguish between the two sounds and make the V and W sounds clear but distinct.

Fun/Funny. While both of these words can be adjectives (although fun is a noun too), they are used in slightly different ways. Something which is FUNNY is something which makes you laugh, such as a joke or a comedy movie. Something which is FUN is something which is enjoyable. The best way to remember is that FUNNY means something makes you laugh. When someone says something was funny, then it means that it would somehow cause laughter, and so it can be strange to hear of a trip to the mountains which was funny yet nothing seems to have happened which would cause someone to laugh. In that cause, the word required is fun, because the trip was enjoyable. gel, target, answer PRON. Pronunciation troublesome words. In terms of pronunciation, Czechs often mispronounce the following words frequently. Parents. The incorrect pronunciation is when the PA sounds more like the PA in PAT. It should, in fact, sound more similar to PAY, which means PAY-RENTS is the easiest way to pronounce it. Suit. This word is often pronounced like sweet, which is incorrect. It is more like Soot (if it were a Czech word, it would be like /sut/. War. The A sound is the problematic one. The correct sound should be more like the Awe in awesome, meaning something like W-AWE-R. Desert. Desert and dessert are often confused in pronunciation. The spelling is obviously different, but in pronunciation it is the stress which is important. In the former one (a large sandy area, like the Sahara) the stress is at the beginning of the word DE-sert, while in the latter (a sweet meal after a main course) is on the second part of the word, which is like De-ZERT. Experiment with moving the stress from the beginning to the end of the world and try to hear the difference. Hotel. A similar case as above. The stress should be on the second syllable, ho-TEL. The world is essentially the same as the Czech version of the word, and should not be pronounced HOtel.

Countable and uncountable nouns. English nouns can be divided as countable and uncountable. The latter means that the word is not typically pluralised. A problem arises because Czech often does pluralise these words. The following words are always in the singular (uncountable) form: Information, data, training, data, advice and finally (a vulgar word) shit. To express quantity they can be used in the following expression a lot of info/data/training. To express one piece of such a thing use that very phrase a piece of data or many pieces of data. Note that the noun itself stays singular. Arm vs Hand. In Czech the word ruka often translates into both arm and hand. In English they are different. Hand refers only to the body part which you will find your fingers attached to. The hand stops at the wrist (where you can often find a watch). Arm is everything else up until the shoulder and contains the upper-arm and forearm.

Cook/cooker, boss/chef and recipe/receipt. A cook is a person who cooks (not necessarily professionally) while a cooker is the machine used for cooking. A chef is a person who cooks professionally. A boss is the person above you at work who tells you what to do. The word chief is often used for someone at the head of an organisation but NOT typically refer to the person directly above you. A recipe is a set of instructions which tell you how to cook something and a receipt is a small piece of paper you get from a shop after you buy something (which you need to use if you want to return something). To summarise: A chef or cook uses a recipe and a cooker to cook a meal. Your boss tells you what to do at work. You get a receipt when you buy a television.

Much more better.

This is a common mistake which is actually a tautology. Better is a comparative (good, better, best) and it contains the notion of more. Therefore the use of more is not required. You can simply say he is better than her.

Lend/borrow. Come/go. Learn/teach. These words are problematic because they are directional. In Czech they are often the same word and the direction is expressed in a different way. To lend something is to give something to someone else for a short period of time. I am lending my pen to John (John is using my pen for a little while and will give it back to me soon). To borrow is to receive something from someone for a little while. In this case John is borrowing my pen. Lending is giving and borrowing receiving. Choosing depends on the direction and the subject. If you want my pen you can use me as the subject and ask can you lend me a pen? but you can also make yourself the subject and ask can I borrow a pen?. In both cases direction is the important factor. Come and go is similar. You come to a place you already are and go to somewhere where you currently are not. If you are in the same location you are speaking about you can say I came here (where I am now) at 10am. However if your current location is DIFFERENT from the place you are speaking about you must use go and can say I went there (the place I am talking about) at 10am. In both cases consider your current location and the place you are talking about. If they are the same then use come and if different then use go. Learn and teach are directional once again. The teacher TEACHES and the student LEARNS. Teaching goes out and learning goes in. If you are at home looking at notes for an exam then you are studying not learning. You learn in class because the teacher teaches you.

Popular/favourite. As Czech uses just one word for these two terms, they are often confused. Popular means that a large number of people like the particular thing, while favourite means that the particular thing is the best of its class for a particular person or group. For example: Red jeans are very popular right now (many people are wearing them). Red jeans are my favourite right now (I have many pairs of jeans and I like the red ones the best).

Final Word. As you can now probably see, this text is highly informal and meant more as a helping hand than a true grammar text. Any mistakes herein (of which there inevitably will be) are entirely my own. Feel free to share the text as you see fit, but please do not edit it. I forbid this text to be used for any commercial purposes without my express permission. Copyright belongs to the author, Derek Patterson.