Great English Mistakes: made by Spanish-speakers with a few Catalan specials
Litherland, Alison ; Harvey, Peter
Synopsis "Great English Mistakes: made by Spanish-speakers with a few Catalan specials"
A light-hearted, yet thoroughly professional, description of typical mistakes made by Spanish speakers of English with explanations of how to avoid and correct them. In 24 years of teaching English in Barcelona, I have a heard and read a great number of mistakes. The purpose of this compilation is to present them in a way that will make an impact on the reader, who will then learn to avoid them. Clearly, mistakes must be identified and corrected. This book is written in English, but it does not require a high language level to be understood. It is intended for a general public. Technical terminology has been kept to a minimum (though standard phonetic symbols are used to show pronunciation) and the style is light and humorous, with anecdotes that are a true reflection of mistakes that are made by Spanish-speakers. There are two pages of the typical mistakes made by Catalan-speakers. In almost 30 years of teaching English in Barcelona, I have a heard and read a great number of mistakes. The purpose of this compilation is to present them in a way that will make an impact on the reader, who will then learn to avoid them. Clearly, mistakes must be identified and corrected. This book is written in English, but it does not require a high language level to be understood. It is intended for a general public. Technical terminology has been kept to a minimum (though standard phonetic symbols are used to show pronunciation) and the style is light and humorous, with anecdotes that are a true reflection of mistakes that are made by Spanish-speakers. There are two pages of the typical mistakes made by Catalan-speakers. REVIEWS An easy-to-read and user-friendly book ... grammar receives careful attention ... may benefit both intermediate and advanced students of English ... Teachers of English may also find it useful. TESOL Spain Newsletter While [this book] is clearly aimed at the Spanish-speaking learner of English it is also valuable for the teacher of English working in a Spanish-speaking environment ... [it highlights] many of the false friends which exist ... Translations show the learner what words do, and, equally importantly, do not mean ... with a wealth of real-life examples which are sometimes humorous, the book is very readable ... There is certainly a gap in the market for such a book ... of all the many English language books I have on my bookshelf, this is the only one that has a long waiting list of Spanish-speaking friends wanting to borrow it. Modern English Teacher Full reviews are available on the Lavengro Books website.
