Common Mistakes Made by Chinese Students When Using English

In this article, you will learn about the most common mistakes committed by native Chinese speakers when they are writing and speaking in English. Having the knowledge of the main differences between English and Chinese grammar, you will be in a better position to teach your Chinese students more effectively. In Birmy International English in China, learning this is part of every ESL teacher’s training to become a better teacher.

1. Gender Pronouns

In the Chinese language, they don’t have separate gender pronouns – he and she, his and her. And so, when a Chinese student speaks English, he or she is likely forget to use the right gender pronouns. What they do is use the masculine pronouns.

2. Singular and Plural Noun 

The Chinese language also doesn’t have singular and plural forms for nouns. They instead use the context of a sentence to determine whether it’s a singular or a plural noun. For instance, they might correctly say ‘one dog’, but when they make it plural, they say ‘many dog’. That’s why Chinese students tend to forget to turn nouns into plural forms.

3. Subject and Verb Agreement

In Chinese language, they don’t need to change verb forms to correspond to the subject. Unlike in English where the verb should match the subject, like ‘we like apple’ and ‘he likes apple’, the Chinese language uses the same form of verb irrespective of the subject. Thus, they would say ‘he like apple’.

4. Verb Tenses

The verbs used in Chinese sentences do not denote any tenses. They use the context of sentences to determine if it’s a past, present or future tense. As a result, Chinese people consider the English tenses as one of the most difficult parts to learn and master.

5. Articles

The Chinese language does not use any articles – a, an, the. They learn that in English, articles need to be used in front of nouns. And so most of the time, they insert articles where they shouldn’t be inserted. For instance, your student at Birmy International English might say ‘you seem to gain the weight’.

6. Prepositions

Prepositions are very difficult for Chinese students to master. For these learners, it is quite hard to distinguish the differences between the many prepositions, so they tend to use them in a wrong way.

If you are thinking of sending your resume for Birmy School review to teach in China, you need to be prepared for the challenges that will come your way. The good thing, however, is that at Birmy school, you can expect to receive a lot of help and assistance from the Birmy head office so you could be an effective English teacher.