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Problems for english language learners in SpainSince I moved to Spain, the thing I have heard the most often from people trying to learn english is what an incredible burden phrasal verbs are. I?ve spoken with more than a few who have endless lists of flashcards of phrasal verbs, how to use them, and their definitions. They weren?t the biggest problem I thought that people would have; as spanish has at least one verb tense that simply doesn?t exist in english, I assumed that any severe problems would be reciprocal. But no?the problem with english, at least in that case, is nothing structural, but its endless quirkiness. Phrasal verbs can make it very difficult for spanish speakers to understand what they are listening to (FIS). The shared Latin roots of both languages also mean that there are many ?false friends?, or pairs of words that appear to be cognates but in fact have nothing to do with each other. spanish is different from english phonetically, so spanish speakers will frequently have trouble with pronunciation, and some aspects especially with sound alien to them. For example, words that end in ?ed? have a variety of different pronunciations, and the vowel ?I? doesn?t have the same long/short disparity in spanish as it does in english. For example, for the word ?bike?, a native spanish speaker could easily say ?beek-ehd? (ESL Tutor). spanish also doesn?t have the ?th? dipthong like english does, so instead of that sound many native spanish speakers will pronounce it like ?d? or ?t?. Native spanish speakers also are entirely unfamiliar with the idea of beginning a word with the letter ?s?, and require incredible amounts of practice to drop the preceding ?eh? sound. For example, a spanish speaker will naturally say ?ehspoon (Ehow). Also, spanish in Spain is different from spanish in Latin America; not only must they accept that their ?vosotros? verb tense does not exist in english, but they must grapple with the sounds made by ?c? and ?z?, both of which they pronounce ?th?. There are also differences in grammatical structure. As spanish verbs contain the subject, it?s different for them to have to add in the subject with a whole other word?for example, in english we say ?I run? or ?he runs?, but in spanish one would say ?Corro? or ?Corre?, due to the variety of conjugations available. spanish also has no concept of ?helping verbs?, so the requirement of the word ?do? while forming a question can cause problems for students. In spanish, questions are often simply formed by changing the intonation of the sentence. Further grammar problems include spelling, as in english a wider variety of combinations can create the same sounds, like ?blue?, ?hew?, and ?two?. In spanish, there is also only one third person singular possessive, so instead of ?him?, ?her?, or ?it?s? they simply have ?su?, so learning how to differentiate between the different types is a problem that they won?t have anticipated having to deal with?it?s not just how to phrase the same ideas in a foreign language, it?s that the way that language works forces you to phrase the idea in a different way. A Guide to Learning english. Frankfurt International School, 2012. Web. 19/01/2012. http://esl.fis.edu/grammar/langdiff/spanish.htm ESL Resources and Lessons for Native spanish Speakers. ?ESL Tutor? 2012. Web. 19/01/2012 http://www.private-english-tutor.com/2008/07/esl-resources-and-lessons-for-native.html Common Difficulties for ESL spanish Students ?Ehow? 2012. Web. 20/01/2012 http://www.ehow.com/list_7444659_common-difficulties-esl-spanish-students.html
