Most common mistakes beginners make when learning to speak Spanish

All of us would surely not want to sound like an idiot. However, this is what happens most of the time when we are trying to learn a new language. Intentionally or innocently we tend to make frequent mistakes, which more often than not lead to unwanted misunderstandings, this usually happens in a professional environment where communication is the key.

Mentioned below are some of the frequent mistakes people make when they are learning Spanish. They obviously are not the mistakes made by all, but they reflect in quite a detail as to how the speech can be derailed. The ones below should surely help you to avoid some mistakes.

• People assume that the words shared by English and Spanish both mean the same thing: This is quite a vague assumption and is not true most of the time. Those words that are similar in both the languages are called as cognates. Since both English and Spanish are both derived from the same language, which is Latin, we stumble upon words that sound the same. But most of these words have a different meaning in English and Spanish.
• People tend to use unnecessary pronouns: Most of the time, sentences in English require a subject, but in Spanish it’s not necessarily true. The context of the sentence, which is the pronoun, is usually omitted in Spanish. Though it won’t be grammatically wrong to include one, it would make a Spanish sentence look weird and draw undue attention.
• People forget to learn how to use the prepositions properly: Although this task looks simple, it is not. It is notoriously misleading in Spanish when it comes to using prepositions. It would be very helpful if you can think about the prepositions in Spanish itself, than to do it in English and then translate it.
• Forgetting to use appropriate articles: It has always been a problem for non-native speakers to use articles in Spanish such as: un, una, los etc. Trying to use them incorrectly can actually be more confusing than not using them at all. In that way, if you can actually communicate most of the sentences without using them. Please do it.
• Ignoring subjunctive mood: Non-native speakers, especially those who speak English avoid the subjunctive mood for verbs. But this would more or less turn out to be disastrous in Spanish. It is very important to use verbs with subjunctive moods to ask simple questions and facts in Spanish.
• Mistake in pronunciation: Pronunciations in Spanish is not that difficult. You can try to mimic the native speakers of Spanish till you get accustomed to the language. But try to avoid making mistakes while using simple sentences.

Lastly it is important to be confidant while you are speaking to others. Try not to think much before you speak, mistakes usually happen only when people try to be extra cautious.