Bài 18 - Common errors in English usage (Những lỗi thường gặp trong cách dùng tiếng Anh)

Common errors in English usage  

Pre-listening

1. Vocabulary

mistake	/mɪˈsteɪk/	(n)		lỗi, sai lầm
cute	/kjuːt/	(adj)		dễ thương
phrase	/freɪz/	(n)		cụm từ
else	/els/	(adv)		khác
explain	/ɪkˈspleɪn/	(v)		giải thích
singular	/ˈsɪŋ.gjʊ.ləʳ/	(adj)		số ít
intermediate	/ˌɪn.təˈmiː.di.ət/	(adj)		mức chuyển tiếp
pronunciation	/prəˌnʌnt.siˈeɪ.ʃən/	(n)		cách phát âm
pronounce	/prəˈnaʊnts/	(v)		phát âm
error	/ˈer.əʳ/	(n)		lỗi sai
reluctant	/rɪˈlʌk.tənt/	(adj)		miễn cưỡng, bất đắc dĩ
accent	/ˈæk.sənt/	(n)		ngữ điệu
gorgeous	/ˈgɔː.dʒəs/	(adj)		lộng lẫy, quyến rũ
emphasize	/ˈemp.fə.saɪz/	(v)		nhấn mạnh
forward	/ˈfɔː.wəd/	(v/adv)		phía trước
cheery	/ˈtʃɪə.ri	(adj)		vui vẻ, chia vui, chào hỏi
compound	/ˈkɒm.paʊnd/	(n)		khu (nhà...)
jump	/dʒʌmp/	(v)		nhảy
gun	/gʌn/	(n)		súng
common	/ˈkɒm.ən/	(adj)		chung chung
alternative	/ɒlˈtɜː.nə.tɪv/	(adj)		thay thế, thay đổi
noncommittal	/ˌnɒn.kəˈmɪt.əl/	(adj)		không có chính kiến, nhàn nhạt
care	/keəʳ/	(v)		quan tâm, để ý
opinion	/əˈpɪn.jən/	(n)		ý kiến

Expression

1. Mean to do something định làm gì
Eg. I think it means to describe something as being the same as something else.

2. Spend + 1 khoảng thời gian + doing something dành thời gian làm gì
Eg. I spend five - ten minutes talking to a student explaining that instead of using “same same”, she should use "the same as".

3. Sticking my tongue out of my mouth thè lưỡi ra khỏi miệng
Eg. I was always in France sticking my tongue out of my mouth to emphasize to them that there tongue needed to be forward to their teeth to make the correct sound.

4. Jumping the gun quá vội vàng
Eg. I thought they were jumping the gun by answering their own question. 

Geographical names

Hungary		Hung ga ri
Thailand		Thái Lan
Spain		Tây Ban Nha
France		Pháp
Libya		Li bi a
Japan		Nhật
Arab		Ả Rập

2. Brainstorm

Nói về lỗi dùng tiếng Anh ở các nước, người ta sẽ có xu hướng nhắc đến các lỗi phổ biến như phát âm (pronunciation), lỗi về ngữ pháp (grammar), về cách dùng (usage)...

Listening
 

Tom: Jess, you were talking before about mistakes that your Hungarian students always made, and how some students from the same country all make the same mistakes again and again and again.

Well, I work here in Thailand and they have a very cute phrase, "same, same" which I think means to describe something as being the same as something else, I spend five - ten minutes talking to a student explaining that instead of using “same same”, she should use "the same as" 

and I was trying to get this phrase over to her and finally she understood what I meant and she looked at me and said, "Ah, same as same same same same".

Jess: In Spain I think the most common mistake was that in Spanish the noun people is a singular noun. You would say "le gente es" so when my Spanish speakers would use this noun they would always say, "Oh the people is very hungry" or "the people is very quiet"  

and I spent most of my time in Spain going "are - are -are" after these, the people even upper intermediate, advanced learners will still making that mistake. In France, one very common mistake was the pronunciation error.

The sound "Th" at the beginning words, for example, "there" or "those" that the French would pronounce with a “z” sound, so "zere" or "zose" and I was very reluctant to correct it because it's such a sexy accent and it sounds so much more gorgeous with the French "ZZ" but I did have to correct it  

and I was always in France sticking my tongue out of my mouth to emphasize to them that there tongue needed to be forward to their teeth to make the correct sound. You said you worked in Libya. What were the common mistakes for Libyan students?
 

Tom: One that always made me smile was when a cheery student or the security guard at the school or people that I met around the compound where I was living would give me a cheery wave and say "How are you? I'm fine" and it took me a good month or two before I realized that in Arabic the question and answer to go together. 

It just sounds strange in English. I thought they were jumping the gun by answering their own question.

Jess: Sounds like they were talking to themselves. And how about in Japan?

Tom: Now, Japanese have another common phrase which I think it used both in Japanese and because it comes from English they use it in English too. It's "so-so". I'm not quite sure when you might use it. It's when things are not quite good, not quite bad,

so if you say, "hey, how are you doing?", they will say "so-so" or if you say, "Hey, how's your food?" they'll say, "so-so".  It's not English and the first few months I had of hearing that, I really couldn't quite work out.

I understood the meaning, but I knew that it was not something I would ever say, but the difficulty there is trying to think of a good alternative. It's that kind of non-committal, I don't really care answer. I like strong opinions. I love it. I hate it. Let's leave this so-so.

Jess: I agree. It's like over use of the adjective nice. It just sounds really bland.  

Post-listening

1. Linking sounds ( nối âm) thường là hiện tượng khiến bạn cảm thấy khó nghe và nghe nhầm.
Trong bài có nhiều chỗ nối âm, các bạn nên chú ý:
- The people is very quiet
- correct it
- where I was living
2. Nhắc lại một số chú ý giúp các bạn nghe tốt:
• Tập trung cao độ, cố gắng không để bị ảnh hưởng bởi những tác nhân xung quanh như: tiếng ồn, các luồng suy nghĩ khác hay cảm giác khó chịu đến từ bên ngoài, v.v.. nhưng đồng thời, bạn cũng phải thư giãn và thả lỏng, tạo cảm giác dễ chịu để lắng nghe được tỉnh táo hơn.

• Không nên đặt mục tiêu nghe và hiểu được tất cả những gì xuất hiện trương bài nghe. Chỉ chú ý những từ khóa trong bài. Thông thường những từ khóa này tồn tại dưới dạng: danh từ, động từ chính và đôi khi là cả tính từ nữa, và thông thường sẽ được người nói nhấn (phát âm rõ, to, lên cao giọng) để gây chú ý cho người nghe

• Không nên dịch sang tiếng Việt những gì bạn nghe được, điều đó chỉ càng cản trở và làm mất thời gian của bạn mà thôi.

• Bên cạnh việc để ý đến những từ khóa xuất hiện trong bài nghe, hãy tập trung tìm ra ý chính của cả bài, cho dù đó là 1 bài đọc, 1 bài giảng, 1 đoạn hội thoại hay 1 cuộc phỏng vấn. Một tiết lộ nho nhỏ là trong khi nghe, nếu bình tĩnh để ý thì bạn sẽ thấy rằng các ý chính luôn luôn được người nói lặp lại, có thể 2, 3 lần hoặc thậm chí nhiều hơn.

• Dựa vào văn cảnh để đoán nghĩa của từ có thể giúp ích rất nhiều cho bạn. Giả sử như có 1 từ mới trong khi nghe một câu khiến bạn không hiểu, dẫn tới cả câu nghe đó của bạn bị ảnh hưởng thì cũng đừng lo. Hãy dựa vào văn cảnh xung quanh để đoán ra nghĩa của từ mới đó.

Ví dụ như trong câu: “I live in a place where sanitation is really poor” có từ “sanitation” khiến bạn không hiểu, nhưng bạn hoàn toàn có thể căn cứ vào những câu trước, sau và xung quanh để đoán ra nghĩa của từ này. (Ví dụ: “I live in a place where sanitation is really poor. We never stop worrying if things we eat, drink, use everyday are clean enough” Nghe đến đây bạn hoàn toàn có thể đoán được sanitation mang nghĩa nào đó gần như là vệ sinh, sạch sẽ…).

• Một điều giúp ích nữa là thông thường:
- Những từ mới với bạn nhưng có thể không mới với nhiều người khác - hay nói cách khác là những từ thuộc nhóm từ vựng phổ biến nhưng bạn chỉ chưa kịp cập nhật - sẽ rất dễ đoán nghĩa.
- Những từ chuyên ngành, đa phần đều mới mẻ với phần đông mọi người, sẽ được giải thích ở ngay phía trước hoặc phía sau nó. 

Bài tập: Nghe lại và điền từ vào ô trống

Tom: Jess, you were talking before about that your Hungarian students always , and how some students from the same country all make the mistakes again and again and again.

Well, I work here in Thailand and they have a very phrase, "same, same" which I think to describe something as being the same as something else, I five - ten minutes talking to a student that instead of using “same same”, she should use "the same as"

and I was trying to get this over to her and finally she what I meant and she looked at me and said, "Ah, same as same same same same".

Jess: In Spain I think the most mistake was that in Spanish the noun people is a singular noun. You would say "le gente es" so when my Spanish would use this noun they would always say, "Oh the people is very " or "the people is very quiet"

and I spent of my time in Spain going "are - are -are" after these, the people upper intermediate, advanced learners will making that mistake. In France, one very common mistake was the pronunciation error.

The sound "Th" at the beginning words, for example, "there" or "those" that the French would pronounce with a “z” sound, so "zere" or "zose" and I was very reluctant to it because it's such a sexy accent and it so much more gorgeous with the French "ZZ" but I did have to correct it

and I was always in France sticking my out of my mouth to emphasize to them that there tongue needed to be to their teeth to make the correct . You said you worked in Libya. What were the common mistakes for Libyan students?

Tom: One that always made me was when a cheery student or the security guard at the school or people that I met the compound where I was would give me a cheery wave and say "How are you? I'm fine" and it took me a good month or two before I that in Arabic the question and answer to go together.

It just sounds in English. I thought they were jumping the gun by their own question.

Jess: Sounds like they were talking to themselves. And how about in ?

Tom: Now, Japanese have another common phrase which I think it used both in Japanese and because it comes from English they use it in English too. It's "so-so". I'm not quite sure when you use it. It's when things are not quite good, not quite bad,

so if you say, "hey, how are you doing?", they will say "so-so" or if you say, "Hey, how's your ?" they'll say, "so-so". It's not English and the first few months I had of that, I really couldn't quite work out.

I understood the meaning, but I knew that it was not something I would ever say, but the difficulty there is trying to think of a good . It's that kind of non-committal, I don't really care answer. I like strong . I love it. I hate it. Let's leave this so-so.

Jess: I agree. It's like use of the adjective nice. It just sounds really bland.

Nghe bài hát

Anyone Of Us