Tips to help you speak better English. Practice makes perfect, so use it or lose it!
I often hear these mistakes made by German speakers who are learning English.
They say: The answer is on the backside.
The problem here is with the word backside. In this sentence it is a mistranslation of the word ‘Rückseite’.
Correction: The answer is on the back.
Remember, in English the word backside translates as ‘Hintern’.
Have fun learning English!
Louise
Let’s be honest, sometimes English can be confusing. Sometimes when learning English it is easy to mix up words or be unsure when to use them.
I often hear German speakers who are learning English make mistakes with the words ‘make’ and ‘do’. Often (but not always) it is because the German word ‘machen’ is mistranslated.
There are many phrases and expressions that exist in English where there is no real rule to help you remember the difference between ‘make’ and ‘do’. You just have to learn them. Sorry!
Take a look at the examples below. Hopefully they will make things clearer for you.
Make a complaint.
E.g. The food took ages to arrive and it tasted really bad. I had to make a complaint to the restaurant manager.
Make an effort.
E.g. Come on, you have to try harder than that. If you want to get good results, you have to make an effort.
Do research.
E.g. I’m going to do as much research as possible before I start writing my thesis.
Have fun learning English!
Louise
Let’s be honest, sometimes English can be confusing. Sometimes when learning English it is easy to mix up words and phrases or be unsure when to use them.
I often hear German speakers who are learning English make mistakes with the phrases ‘to last’ and ‘to take’ when talking about time and duration.
Take a look at the examples below. Hopefully they will make things clearer for you.
We use ‘to last’ when we are talking about fixed durations. The process, activity or state of things continues for a specific amount of time.
E.g. The game lasts 90 minutes.
E.g. The meeting is scheduled to last 2 hours.
We use ‘to take’ when the length of time can vary (due to external factors). We specify how much time was needed or used up in completing the activity.
E.g. There was a traffic jam so it took me over an hour to get to work.
E.g. The jury took just over 5 hours to find the defendant guilty.
Here is an example to combine both verbs:
The exam lasted 3 hours but it took me 10 minutes to understand the first question!
Have fun learning English!
Louise
I often hear these mistakes made by German speakers who are learning English.
They say: I already do this for several weeks.
The problem here is the tense. There are a couple of key words / phrases in the sentence which can help us to identify which tense we need. The key words / phrases are ‘already’ and ‘for several weeks’.
The sense here is of a repeated action which started in the past, is still being done now and will probably continue in the future.
Correction: I have already been doing this for several weeks.
Have fun learning English!
Louise
Let’s be honest, sometimes English can be confusing. Sometimes when learning English it is easy to mix up words or be unsure when to use them.
I often hear German speakers who are learning English make mistakes with the words ‘make’ and ‘do’. Often (but not always) it is because the German word ‘machen’ is mistranslated.
There are many phrases and expressions that exist in English where there is no real rule to help you remember the difference between ‘make’ and ‘do’. You just have to learn them. Sorry!
Take a look at the examples below. Hopefully they will make things clearer for you.
Do homework.
E.g. He makes sure the kids do their homework as soon as they get home from school.
Do housework.
E.g. I don’t really like doing housework. Ironing is particularly boring.
Make a mess.
E.g. Look at the mess you’ve made in the kitchen! Tidy it up!
Have fun learning English!
Louise
I often hear these mistakes made by German speakers who are learning English.
They say: Is this the actual presentation or the old one?
The problem here is the word actual. It is a mistranslation of the German word ‘aktuell’. What you mean to say is ‘current’.
Correction: Is this the current presentation or the old one?
Alternatively we can say:
Is this the latest version of the presentation?
Is this the most up-to-date version of the presentation?
Have fun learning English!
Louise
Let’s be honest, sometimes English can be confusing. Sometimes when learning English it is easy to mix up words or be unsure when to use them.
I often hear German speakers who are learning English make mistakes with the words ‘make’ and ‘do’. Often (but not always) it is because the German word ‘machen’ is mistranslated.
There are many phrases and expressions that exist in English where there is no real rule to help you remember the difference between ‘make’ and ‘do’. You just have to learn them. Sorry!
Take a look at the examples below. Hopefully they will make things clearer for you.
Do 200 kilometres per hour.
E.g. Some people do over 200 kph on this stretch of motorway. It’s very dangerous.
Make an appointment.
E.g. I’d like to make an appointment, please. Do you have time on Wednesday next week?
Make arrangements.
E.g. We have a conference in Berlin in September. Let’s make some arrangements. I’ll book the hotel. Can you book the flights?
Have fun learning English!
Louise
Let’s be honest, sometimes English can be confusing. Sometimes when learning English it is easy to mix up words or be unsure when to use them.
I often hear German speakers who are learning English make mistakes with the words ‘overtake’, ‘take over’ and ‘takeover’.
Take a look at the examples below. Hopefully they will make things clearer for you.
To overtake is a verb and it means to catch up with something or someone in front of you and to pass them or get ahead of them. It can also have the sense of being more successful than someone else.
E.g. He was driving faster than me so he overtook me on the motorway.
Last year we overtook our biggest rival in the rankings so we are now number one in our field.
To take over is a phrasal verb and it means to take control of something or to become responsible for something.
E.g. He is taking over the running of the department from the start of next month.
It is also the verb used when one company buys another company.
E.g. By taking over a rival company they were able to expand their brand portfolio.
Takeover is the noun used when one company buys another.
E.g. The takeover is due to be fully completed by the end of the year.
Have fun learning English!
Louise
I often hear these mistakes made by German speakers who are learning English.
They say: I explained her the problem.
Remember, in English we explain something to someone. Therefore the ‘to’ is missing in this sentence.
There is also a problem with the word order.
Correction: I explained the problem to her.
Further examples:
He explained the situation to me.
They explained the rules of the game to him.
We explained the reasons for our decision to them.
Have fun learning English!
Louise
Let’s be honest, sometimes English can be confusing. Sometimes when learning English it is easy to mix up words or be unsure when to use them.
I often hear German speakers who are learning English make mistakes with the words ‘make’ and ‘do’. Often (but not always) it is because the German word ‘machen’ is mistranslated.
There are many phrases and expressions that exist in English where there is no real rule to help you remember the difference between ‘make’ and ‘do’. You just have to learn them. Sorry!
Take a look at the examples below. Hopefully they will make things clearer for you.
Make progress.
E.g. Things were quite slow for a while but we are finally making some progress and we should be finished by the end of the day.
Do a course.
E.g. I do several training courses a year to make sure I stay up-to-date with the latest developments in my field.
Do a job.
E.g. I’ve been doing this job for the last five years.
Have fun learning English!
Louise