As an English teacher, let me be the first to tell you: English mistakes are not universal. Your native language influences what you try to do with a second language, no matter what country you're from. Here are three English mistakes that I've seen in Arabic-speaking learners:

Let's start with the most common issue. Even if your native language isn't Arabic, you've no doubt come across the dreaded English 'R' sound.

The 'R' sound is unique to English, in that it tends to merge with the letters surrounding it. Take 'friend', for example. Here, the R creates the sound 'fruh' with the letter F. In another word like 'far', the R alters the sound of the letter A.

Yet, in Arabic, the R is a very strong sound. When pronouncing it in Arabic, the tongue flicks against the roof of the mouth, creating a sound that's like the 'D' in English. This is a noticeable error for students who seek a more native English accent.

To make the English 'R' sound, it's important to keep the tongue 'dead' in the mouth. Here is a video on the American English 'R' sound that I like to show my students. I like to recommend this video for two reasons. One, the speaker is fun and engaging; and two, students don't need to understand everything he says to gain something from the video!

Most of my Arabic-speaking students have struggled with English sentence structure. Often, they will write incomplete phrases, with no articles or prepositions in sight. I didn't understand why until a student of mine demonstrated a sentence in both English and Arabic on the board. This showed me how unrelated the two languages are when it comes to the order in which we express ideas.

Arabic is also written right-to-left and has its own complete writing system. When I say complete, I mean complete. As an example, let's take something you might think is universal across modern languages: the numbering system. Sure, we all have different ways to express counting, time, and money, but we all know what a 2 is, right? Sorry, no. Make sure to include extra writing practice when teaching Arabic-speaking students! It can be easy for these learners to progress in speaking while struggling with writing.

Arabic and English being so different from each other on paper can make conversation feel like a breeze by comparison. If a learner doesn't try to keep up with both their speaking and writing, the gap between the two skills widens over time. This third error happens with English learners who are excellent speakers but weak writers. These learners will try to write as they speak, and spell words as they believe they sound. Unfortunately, phonetic spelling only works some of the time with English—and it rarely works for non-native learners.

I've had students write sentences I can't comprehend, but when I asked them what they wrote, I would hear a clear, accurate English expression. They didn't know how to spell any of the words they knew how to say, so they interpreted the sounds as best they could. For example, I've seen "durybnk" for "driving"; "cast" for "cost"; and "tishr" for "teacher".

Learning basic English phonics can feel silly or even patronizing, but it can also help learners start to visualize English. Websites like Starfall are an easy way to get into phonics. Although these sites are for children, it doesn't mean they aren't useful for adults!

What are some problems you've encountered while learning a language?