Sometimes errors in writing a new language can occur when you are grappling with new subject matter and difficult topics. You concentrate on ideas and clarity-- and because no writer can do everything at once, you fail to concentrate on editing.

The following language guide sets out several problem areas for multilingual/ESL writers. It shows grammatical features (column 1) of specific languages (column 2) that when transferred to English lead to an error (column 3). The guide covers neither all linguistic problem areas nor all languages; that would take volumes. Rather, it lists a selection, with the aim of being useful and practical. Use the guide to raise your awareness about your own and other languages.

LANGUAGE FEATURES	LANGUAGE	SAMPLE TRANSFER ERROR IN ENGLISH
ARTICLES
No Articles	Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Farsi, Urdu, Swahili	Sun is hot. I bought book. Computer has changed our lives.
No indefinite article with profession	Arabic, French, Haitian Creole, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese	He is student. She lawyer.
Definite article with days, months, places, idioms	Arabic	She is in the bed. He lives in the Peru.
Definite article used for generalization	German, Spanish, Greek, French, Portuguese	The photography is an art. The books are more expensive than the disks.
No article used for generalization	Haitian Creole	Bird can fly.
Definite article with proper noun	German, Spanish, Greek, French, Portuguese	The Professor Brackert teaches in Frankfurt.
No definite article	Hindi, Turkish	Store on corner is closed.
No indefinite article	Korean (uses one for a and depends on context)	He ran into one tree.
VERBS AND VERBALS
Be can be omitted	Russian, Arabic, Haitian Creole, Chinese	India more than religious than Britain. She working now. He always cheerful.
No progressive forms	French, German, Russian, Greek	They still discuss the problem. When I walked in, she slept.
No tense inflections	Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese	He have a good time yesterday. When I was little, I always walk to school.
No inflection for person or number	Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Russian, Thai	The singer have big band.
Past perfect form with be	Arabic	They were arrived.
Different tense boundaries from English	Arabic, Farsi, Chinese, Haitian Creole, French	I study here fro a year. He has left yesterday.
Different limits for passive	Japanese, Korean, Russian	They were stolen their luggage.
Voice	Thai, Vietnamese	My name based on Chinese characters. A miracle was happened.
No-ing (gerund)/infinitive distinction	Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, French, Spanish, Greek, Vietnamese, Portuguese	She avoids to go. I enjoy to play tennis.
Infinitive not used to express purpose	Korean	I go out for having my dinner.
Overuse of progressive nouns	Hindi, Urdu	I am wanting to leave now.
WORD ORDER AND SENTENCE STRUCTURE
Verb precedes subject.	Hebrew, Russian, Spanish (optional), Tagalog, classical Arabic	Good grades received every student in the class.
Verb-subject order in dependent clause.	French, Haitian Creole	I knew what would decide the committee.
Verb last	Korean, Japanese, Turkish, German (in dependent clause), Bengali, Hindi	...(when) the teacher the money collected.
Coordination favored over subordination	Arabic	Frequent use of and and so
Relative clause or restrictive phrase precedes noun it modifies	Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Russian	The enrolled in community college student... A nine-meter high impressive monument to Lenin... He game a too difficult for me book.
Adverb can occur between verb and object or before verb	French, Haitian Creole, Urdu (before verb)	I like very much clam chowder. They efficiently organized the work.
That clause rather than infinitive	Arabic, French, Haitian Creole, Spanish, Hindi, Russian	I want that you stay. I want that they try harder.
Inversion of subject and verb rare	Chinese	She is leaving and so am I.
Conjunctions occur in pairs	Chinese, Farsi, Vietnamese	Although, she is rich but she wears simple clothes. Even if I had money, I would also not buy that car.
Subject can be omitted (especially pronoun)	Chinese, Spanish, Thai, Japanese	Is raining.
Commas set off a dependent clause.	Russian, German	He knows, that we are right.
No equivalent of there is/there are	Russian, Korean, Japanese, Spanish, Portuguese, Thai (uses adverb of place and have)	This article says four reasons to eat bananas. In the garden has many trees.
NOUNS, PRONOUNS, ADJECTIVES, ADVERBS
Personal pronouns restate subject	Arabic, Spanish, Gujarati	My father he lives in California.
No human/nonhuman distinction for relative pronoun (who/which)	Arabic, Farsi, French, Russian, Spanish, Thai	Here is the student which you met her last week. The people which arrived...
Pronoun object added at end of relative clause	Arabic, Farsi, Hebrew	The house that I used to live in it is big.
No distinction between subject and object forms of pronouns	Chinese, Spanish, Thai, Korean, Gujarti	I gave the forms to she.
Nouns and adjectives have same form	Chinese, Japanese	She is very beauty woman. They felt very safety on the train.
No distinction between he/she, his/her	Farsi, Thai, Bengali, Gujarti	My sister dropped his purse.
No plural form after a number	Farsi, Chinese, Korean	Four new lamp...
No plural (or optional) forms of nouns	Japanese, Thai, Chinese, Korean	Several good book...
No relative pronouns	Korean	The book is on the table is mine.
Adjectives show number	Spanish	I have helpfuls friends
Double negatives are routinely used	Spanish	They don't know nothing.
Pronoun subjects can be omitted.	Thai, Spanish	My boss complained when she saw the mess.