Language Transfer: Ten Languages

Research shows that transfer from the native language is not the most common cause of error, at least in written English. However, when it occurs, it is often the most baffling to readers and the most intractable for writing instructors. It is helpful both for student writers and their instructors to consider the linguistic complexities that writing in English demands of ESL students. The lists below give details of ten languages and the features that may transfer to English and thus cause errors for the ESL writers who are native speakers of those languages. Some of the error types may be more common at beginning levels of language learning; however, when writers grapple with challenging new ideas and difficult reading material, their command over syntax and grammar may lapse as they fall back on their native language while making sense of new material.

For each of the ten languages discussed below (Arabic, Chinese languages, Farsi, French and Haitian Creole, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Spanish, Thai, Vietnamese), significant features of difference from English are noted. Examples, marked with an asterisk (*), show the types of error that can result in English because of language transfer and section numbers provide cross-references to the handbook. This is a highly selective, not exhaustive, list. It comes from more than thirty years of teaching experience, backed up by three useful reference books (Swan and Smith; Comrie; Connor and Kaplan).