Nick in Shanghai / 黄克汉在上海 / Nick a Shanghai

There has been a shift in the English education system in China in the last decade. Until just a few years ago, Chinese people were hammered in English grammar from primary school on, but never had a chance to actually use it. Most English classes were taught in Chinese; unfortunately, this is still the case in many schools today. The result is that you have Chinese students able to explain aspects of grammar that native English speakers are unaware they’re even using. On the other hand, the same Chinese students have trouble putting together more than a couple of sentences without breaking the exact same grammatical rule they were just explaining.

Why is that? Well, as the saying goes, practice makes perfect. Most English language schools in China have now embraced this approach. They’re focusing on mimicking and practice rather than learning rules. Practice with native speakers is the quickest way to improve once you have a basic understanding of the language. This is why total emersion is so effective. The more time you spend with native speakers, the more you understand how they think and why they say what they say. The greatest advantage, however, is that you learn to speak in a way that native speakers understand, even if it’s not “proper” grammar.

This practice is crucial for native Chinese speakers studying English, and vice versa. These two languages cannot simply be translated; they also require the speaker to use different patterns of thinking. For example, in Mandarin, you “drink” (喝) your soup, while in English, we “eat” (吃) ours. In China, a person will say they are “not comfortable” (不舒服) when they’re feeling under the weather, while native English speakers will say, “they’re not feeling well”. Some phrases such as “taking a rest” (休息一下) just don’t sound right when you want to “take a break” for a few minutes or when you want to “relax”, “take it easy”, or “do nothing” for a few days.

So, here they are, the top 10 mistakes native Mandarin speakers do when speaking English:

1. Verb tense: Verbs only have one form in Chinese (as if we spoke English only using the infinitive). This is why you will often hear Chinese speakers say something like, “Last year, I go travel”.
2. Prepositions: in, on, at, over, under, etc. Try to explain to a native Chinese speaker why you’ll meet them “on” Monday and not “in” Monday. Why you’ll call them again sometime “in” March or “on” March 15^th. I remember calling a Chinese friend asking him where he was at that moment. To my amazement, he told me he was “on” his car (在车上) driving to work, when he was clearly “in” his car.
3. Gender: “I have a wife; he is beautiful”. Well, unless his wife is from Thailand, you might notice a little problem with gender here. The reason is that he or she (他/她) have different characters but are spoken the same way in Mandarin (“ta”, first tone)
4. Forgetting the verb “to be”: “He very handsome!” As you might have noticed, a lot of native Chinese speakers often forget to use the verb “to be”. This is because you don’t need it as much in Chinese, especially before an adjective. They use “very” (很) instead.
5. Very + verb: In Mandarin, you can “very hate” your boss (很讨厌), “very miss” your lover (很想念), and “very like” English class (很喜欢). The easiest way to change this is by replacing the “very” for a “really”.
6. “How to say”: Native Chinese speakers will always mumble “how to say” (怎么说) to themselves when trying to express something they’re having a hard time formulating. Most of them have been doing this since they first started learning English so it’s one of the toughest patterns to break. It is easy to tell them to replace it by “How can / should I say this?” but they’ll forget a few minutes later. The only way to change this is by constant immediate correction from an outsider.
7. “I think” / “maybe”: “I think I went shopping yesterday. Maybe I bought two shirts.” When talking with a native Chinese speaker, it can sometimes sound like they have a bad memory or that they’re uncertain about what they did. The terms “I think” (我想) and “maybe” (也许) are used quite loosely in Mandarin.
8. To “play” with your friends: Quite often in class, students will tell me that they “went out and played” (出去玩) last weekend. When I ask them what sports they were playing, they get a puzzled look on their faces. The reason is that to “play” in Chinese really means to go out and do something non-work related. It can be translated in a variety of ways in English. The English phrase “to go out and play” is usually reserved for children.
9. “Of course!”: “Of course” (当然) is not used quite the same way in English and it is in Chinese. In English, it states a fact or certainty that everybody knows or should already be aware of. Native Chinese speakers tend to use it more freely which can lead to some native English speakers feeling quite insulted when asking a question to which they have absolutely no information and being answered, “Of course,…”
10. Yes or “Lo”?: In some part of China, especially Sichuan province, Chinese people tend to use the “L” sound when they should be using the “N”. This has more to do with their local dialects than speaking English. I have been called “Lick” on more than one occasion. The foolproof way to see if someone has this problem is by asking them to say the word “lightning”. They won’t be able to hear the difference but you surely will.

Just remember that most people speaking a foreign language, especially Chinese people, tend to focus on what they cannot say rather than what they already know. The result is that they’ll often end up making mistakes that are rather obvious, even to them, because they’re already thinking about what to say next.

Learning from native speakers is still a novelty in China. Chinese people have been teaching each other how to speak English for a few decades now, and mistakes have been passed on giving the impression that they are correct English. But Chinese people aren’t the only ones doing this. There’s a very funny scene in the movie “Casablanca” where two Germans are practicing English with each other before leaving for America. One asks the other, “What watch?” (meaning “What time is it?”), to which the other replies, “Ten watch”. It is quite easy to pass on mistakes when everyone around you is making them. Practice does make perfect, but it sure helps if you’re practicing with the right people.