Do you confuse words?
Mix them up?
Say X when you want to say Y?
For example…
You say “borrow” instead of “lend”?
“Tell” instead of “say”?
“Push” instead of “pull”?
Relax, you’re normal.
It’s a common problem, especially with aduts who first learned English in school.
And it’s not your fault.
Interference
According to research, if you learn two similar words at the same time, you have a 25% chance of confusing them forever.
(similar = the meaning is similar, the sound is similar)
It’s called “interference.”
Unfortunately, it’s not an easy problem to fix.
Fortunately, it’s a simple problem to prevent.
All you do is learn new words either:
- when you need them
- in random order (if you’re learning from a list)
But what does every language school do?
They give you a text book with a list of the days of the week.
And now, do you confuse Saturday and Sunday?
And what does every YouTube teacher do?
They teach you a list of phrasal verbs wth “take.”
And now, do you confuse “take up” and “take over”?
If you do, it’s not your fault.
But if you keep returning to the language schools and keep watching those boring YouTube vides, that is your fault!
When you ask speak to repeat something that is not clear instead of saying repeat or come again you would say “pardon”
I beg your pardon
😂i always mixed word and world
I knau they are different words, I think it is problem with me😂🥺
I often confuse words: Sunday- Saturday, tell- say.
I don’t mix up. I just can’t remember them. Probably there is no one like me…a person who has been learning English for…I don’t know…40 years and still doesn’t know to use it in real life.
But there is other person like you, and that’s me !
For me content and contest get confused. Also the words he and she get messed up when I talk because there are no genders in my language.
Me too.
I say She when I want to say He.
I know perfectly de difference but my mouth doesn’t.
Content in container, contest just test your ability.
So common!
I confuse sometime to teach and to learn, I don’t know when “to teach” has the sense of learning something.
“Above” and “below”
Hi Ryan,
contest, content, concept – crazy stuff!!! Although I haven´t studied with You Tubers or even at school either but still…and it bother me a lot..
But it calms me down when you say it´s not my fault. Thanks for the kind words!
For me is very difficult:Tuesday/ Thursday, and word/world…
For me too.
Appropriate attire v.s. Appropriated attire.
I often confuse DESSERT and DESERT
And I still confuse the spelling!
Which difference is there in the pronouncietion ?
I confuse all the phrasal verbs in general
What’s the prepositions, and what are the phrasal verbs ? I’ve never learned English in school… I just have read English books for years and tried to converse when possible
The most I confuse are prepositions
But what is the difference between “tell” and ”say”?
I used confuse,tuesday and thursday
Right! That’s interference!
Sometimes I confuse words, but more often I use incorrectly the False Friends between english and italian.
:-), interesting – interested, Tuesday – Thursday, barely – cause
Oh yeah, it’s embarrassing me all the time likewise knowing the word and forgetting it exactly when you need it. Push and pull is over I hope, but several and severe or delay and decay and many others are still annoying me.
Hello, I mixed big and huge, probably and perhaps… and a lot of words from British and American language. But my problems are, when I can`t remember words….
HI Ryan !
It’s human to make mistakes in a foreign language that you do not master.But some of the mistakes can be eliminated by a better knowledge of the grammar of the respective language.The rest is about learning: alphabet with phonetic writing and pronunciation, verbs and their tenses, words ,expressions.
Month of year ,weeks and that’s enough.
Wrong the word weeks.
Days of the week.
I don’t know why but I mixed these words: temporarily, permanently 🫣
everything you said here is true. I have been studying English for few years at school and yet here i am with you now, which means it wasn’t enough good for me
I confuse prepositions, the days of the week, similar verbs … etc.
If you use the similar words very often you avoid mistakes and the interference . It needs practise and according research if you learn similar words at the same time you have 25% chance to confuse these
yes its usually to confuse the words with the same meaning .Its not our fault but we are stressfull to learn the language . Finally its better to prevent learn words from a random order like a list and dont leram similar words the same time and avoid the interference