Spanish

Factors
Ways to overcome

Italian
Factors
Ways to overcome

Problem faced by NNS Spanish

POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS
The first problem is possessive pronoun. In Spanish, the possessive
pronoun refers to (and agrees with) both the person as well as the object. The
pronoun must agree with the object in number. For example, Mi ta (My aunt)
and Mis tas (My aunts). In English, the possessive pronoun only refers to the
person who possesses something. The possessive pronoun does not agree with
the object. This can be highlighted through sentences such as My brother and
My brothers.
Spanish students may have trouble understanding that pronouns do not
change depending on plural objects. Learners may attempt to pluralize pronouns
when appearing with plural object. For example, These crayons are mines.
SUBJECT PRONOUNS
The second problem is subject pronouns. Unlike English, Spanish can
drop the subject pronoun. In Spanish, the verb carries the person and number.
Es unamujer (verb + noun) is acceptable. Students may produce sentences
such as Is a woman. Therefore, subject pronouns, like he, she, I and you, need
to be taught as obligatory elements towards the Spanish learners.
ADJECTIVES
Besides that, adjectives is also one of the problems. In English, adjectives
appear before the noun that is being modified. For example, The red car.
However, the Spanish equivalent shows the adjective after the noun it modifies.
They translate the sentences as El carro rojo. This difference can cause Spanish
learners to produce sentences such as The house big, The car red and The
woman tall.
POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES
Su is used for his, her, its, their and your (formal)

This difference produces utterances such as:

She is making his bed when the speaker actually means She is making her bed
Teach all the forms of possessive adjectives
Highlight the different contexts of his, her, their and your
Show the relationship between the subject pronoun and the possessive adjective
PLURAL OVERGENERALIZATION
Spanish adjectives agree in both gender and number with the noun being
modified
Las chicas lindas
Los gatos gordos
Los carros rojos
This difference between the two languages may cause learners to produce:
The pretties girls
The fats cats
The reds cars
ARTICLES: INDEFINITE
Indefinite article usage differs from English to Spanish
Spanish speakers omit indefinite articles before professions.
l es abogado He is a lawyer
When learning English, this native language rule may transfer to English,
creating errors.
She is teacher
He is lawyer
ARTICLES : DEFINITE
Spanish speakers have trouble with overuse and underuse of the indefinite
article
In many situations where English speakers use a possessive pronoun, Spanish
speakers will use a definite article
With body parts, speakers will often say
She brushes the hair

When used in cultural contexts, where the noun being referred to is a well known
or unique landmark, speakers include a definite article when unnecessary
He swam in the Lake Michigan
We went hiking in the Lake District last autumn
SUMMARY
Looking at this overview of common errors for Spanish speakers learning English,
it is obvious that native language plays a large role in second language learning.
In the classroom, the teacher will, undoubtedly, encounter many more errors
than the few presented here. However, it is always important to understand how
grammatical differences, among others, influence the language learning process.