#115 Our favourite mistakes: Vocabulary

▶️ Please translate the following sentence:
O’qituvchi, bugungi mavzu nima?

❌ Perhaps you think it is:
Teacher, what is today’s theme?

✅ Well, it should be:
Sir/Madam, what is today’s topic?

❓Why?

❗️ Teacher is not a form of address in English. Students call their teacher either by Sir or Madam/Ma’am or Mr/Mrs/Miss plus family name. This varies between different cultures, however.

❗️ Theme is a mistranslation from Russian тема. The word theme exists in English but means something different: a) the main subject or idea in a piece of writing, speech or film, b) a music tune that keeps coming up, or c) a particular style. This is different from a topic which can be discussed in class.

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#117 Our favourite mistakes: Vocabulary

▶️ Please translate the following sentence:
Boshliq kabinetidami yoki ko’chadami?

❌ Perhaps you think it is:
Is the boss in his cabinet or on the street?

✅ Well, it should be:
Is the boss in his office or outside?

❓Why?

❗️ Cabinet exists in English but doesn’t have the meaning of room. The main meaning is group of ministers in a government and a secondary meaning is a slightly old and formal word for cupboard, especially one in which important things are stored.

❗️ On the street means literally on the street and nothing else. From the Uzbek sentence it’s not clear where exactly the boss is, the correct translation is therefore outside.

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#119 Our favourite mistakes: Vocabulary

▶️ Please translate the following sentence:
Men ro’zaman. Ro’za tutdingizmi? Og’izni nechada ochamiz?

❌ Perhaps you think it is:
I’m roza. Did you fast? What time do we open our mouth?

✅ Well, it should be:
I’m fasting. Are you fasting? What time do we break the fast?

❓Why?

❗️ There is no such word as roza in English. Some people insist on talking about Islamic concepts like masjid or reading namoz in the original words or sense. There is no arguing about that, just adapt to the person listening to you. If you talk to foreign Muslims, use them, if not then find more established words like mosque or praying.

❗️ There’s no reason why fast should be in the past tense when you’re still doing it. The right tense is present continuous, i.e. Are you fasting?

❗️ Open one’s mouth sounds rather strange in English. Use break the fast instead.

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#121 Our favourite mistakes: Vocabulary

▶️ Please translate the following sentence:
Avval registratsiya qilishingiz kerak. Shu yo’l bilan kursga qatnashingiz mumkin.

❌ Perhaps you think it is:
First you should registrate. By this way you can attend to / join to the course.

✅ Well, it should be:
First you should register. In this way you can attend / join the course.

❓Why?

❗️ There is no such word as registrate. The noun is registration and the verb is register. Both are pronounced with [дж], not [г].

❗️ By this way is a non-existing mixture of by the way and in this way. The two phrases mean different things. By the way means darvoqe.

❗️ Both attend and join do not need any preposition.

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#126 Our favourite mistakes: Vocabulary & Grammar

▶️ Please translate the following sentence:
Imtihon paytida shovqin o’quvchilarga xalaqit berishi mumkin.

❌ Perhaps you think it is:
While exams noise can effect on students.

✅ Well, it should be:
During exams noise can affect students.

❓Why?

❗️ Students often confuse the synonyms while and during. Generally while is followed by a verb, e.g.: While students take exams … or While taking exams …. During is followed by a noun.

❗️ The two words effect and affect are synonyms, too, but not completely. While effect can be positive or negative, affect is always negative.

❗️ Effect is a noun, not a verb. The usage is have an effect on sb/sth.

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#128 Our favourite mistakes: Grammar & Vocabulary

▶️ Please translate the following sentence:
O’qituvchi o’quvchilarni gapirishiga yo’l qo’yib berishi kerak.

❌ Perhaps you think it is:
Teacher should let the students to speak.

✅ Well, it should be:
The teacher should let the students speak.

❓Why?

❗️ A definite article is needed before teacher. Although we don’t know which teacher exactly the teacher is, he/she is representative of any one teacher in the same situation, i.e. the teacher of any class.

❗️ The verb phrase let somebody do something does not need to. Same is true for make somebody do something.

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#129 Our favourite mistakes: Vocabulary

▶️ Please translate the following sentence:
Ko'z oynak taqishning bazi afzal tomonlari bor.

❌ Perhaps you think it is:
There are some advantage sides of wearing eye glasses.

✅ Well, it should be:
There are some advantages of wearing glasses.

❓Why?

❗️ Glasses and advantages are perfectly clear as one word in English. Do not translate word for word from Uzbek!

❗️ Another example is Islom dini in Uzbek, the translation of which is just Islam, not Islam religion as it is clear enough that Islam is a religion.

❗️ Language is another example, see this post.

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#132 Our favourite mistakes: Vocabulary

▶️ Please translate the following sentence:
Adashmasam London Angliyaning poytaxti.

❌ Perhaps you think it is:
If I’m not mistaken London is the capital of England.

✅ Well, it should be:
London is the capital of England.

❓Why?

❗️ The phrase “If I’m not mistaken” is totally overused by Uzbek speakers of English. Such a basic and well-known fact like London being the capital of England does not need “If I’m not mistaken”. Saying that sounds like you’re so dumb that you’re not 100% sure. Don’t use this phrase as decoration, it actually means that you’re not sure.

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#136 Our favourite mistakes: Vocabulary

▶️ Please translate the following sentence:
Prosto seni sevaman demoqchi edim.

❌ Perhaps you think it is:
Just I wanted to say I love you.

✅ Well, it should be:
I just wanted to say I love you.

❓Why?

❗️ Just I means only I – not somebody else. This is not the intended meaning here.

❗️ Just is a synonym of only and always describes the word behind it. Unlike the Russian просто it cannot be used for a whole phrase.

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#138 Our favourite mistakes: Vocabulary

▶️ Please translate the following sentence:
Xayrli kech! Ishlariz qaley bo’lyapti?

❌ Perhaps you think it is:
Good night! How is it going on?

✅ Well, it should be:
Good evening! How is it going?

❓Why?

❗️ Good night is a way of saying goodbye, not hello.

❗️ Go on is a phrasal verb and means continue. Asking how something is going on is strange in this greeting situation.

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#139 Our favourite mistakes: Vocabulary & Grammar

▶️ Please translate the following sentence:
U 25 yoshli programist, har oyda ikki ming topadi.

❌ Perhaps you think it is:
He’s a 25 years old programmist and earns two thousands per month.

✅ Well, it should be:
He’s a 25-year-old programmer and earns two thousand per month.

❓Why?

❗️ To turn 25 years old into an adjective it gets hyphenated (=with hyphens, short strokes to connect words) and the plural -s in years is dropped.

❗️ Programist is Russian, this job is called programmer in English.

❗️ As numbers, thousand and also million cannot be in the plural. You can say thousands and millions (meaning many thousand/million) but not with a number before it.

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#140 Our favourite mistakes: Vocabulary & Grammar

▶️ Please translate the following sentence:
Agar men ko’proq yangi so’zlar yodlasam IELTSdan balandroq ball olaman.

❌ Perhaps you think it is:
If I will learn by heart more new words I take a higher ball from IELTS.

✅ Well, it should be:
If I learn more new words by heart I will get a higher score in IELTS.

❓Why?

❗️ Do not use will in if-clauses.

❗️ Learn by heart is a complex verb. The three words may not stay together but get filled with other words.

❗️ We don’t take scores but get scores. The same applies to salary, visas and certificates.

❗️ Ball means something different in English.

⚠️ Learning new words by heart is stupid and outdated and it certainly won’t help you to get a high score in IELTS! Learn words in context, i.e. sentences and situations!

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#142 Our favourite mistakes: Vocabulary

▶️ Please translate the following sentence:
Men yaqinda chet elga chiqaman.

❌ Perhaps you think it is:
I will recently go to abroad.

✅ Well, it should be:
I will soon go abroad.

❓Why?

❗️ Recently refers only to the past, not the future. The Uzbek word yaqinda can be translated as either recently (in the past) or soon (in the future).

❗️ The word abroad is an adverb and doesn’t need a preposition, just like home.

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#143 Our favourite mistakes: Grammar & Vocabulary

▶️ Please translate the following sentence:

Qimmat bo’lsa ham sotib olmoqchiman.


❌ Perhaps you think it is:
Even it’s expensive I want to buy it.

✅ Well, it should be:
Even if/though it’s expensive I want to buy it.

❓Why?

❗️ Even cannot stand on it’s own here. There is no difference in meaning between if and though that follows it but you have to use one of them.

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▶️ Afandi English is over 4 years old now and there’s a ton of stuff you’ve missed. Here are some hashtags for posts about language learning:

#correct
Check if you can spot some common mistakes.

#grammar
Brush up your grammar.

#ielts
Get the DOs and DON’Ts of preparing for IELTS.

#learn2learn
Take advice on how to learn a foreign language.

#mistakes
The biggest collection of Uzbek learners’ typical mistakes in English – at your fingertips.

#oddmanout
See if you can find the mistake.

#pronunciation
Fix your pronunciation problems, one at a time.

#self_study
Sit down and help yourself. Interesting videos plus script plus activities.

#tongue_twisters
Work on your pronunciation and fluency in one go.

#uni_vocab
Understand university-related vocabulary.

#vocabulary
Learn about lexical problems and pick the right words next time.

#world_englishes
Realise that English is a world language and prepare for the worst. Or the best?

#writing
Say goodbye to your most common and unnecessary writing mistakes.

Our favourite mistakes #153: Vocabulary & Grammar

▶️ Please translate the following:
Hamma odamlar ham tabiat haqida qayg’urishmaydi. Shuning uchun, ifloslanish bor.

❌ Perhaps you think it is:
All of people don’t care about the environment. In this case, there is pollution.

✅ Well, it should be:
Nobody cares about the environment. That’s why there is pollution.

❓Why❓

❗️All is affirmative and doesn’t go with negation (don’t).

❗️After all of there must be a determiner, like all of the cake or all of these students or all of my money.

❗️In this case means if that is so (agar shunday bo’lsa).

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Odd Man Out #7

▶️ Uzbekistan’s education system is haunted (=visited by ghosts) by some “false friends” – foreign words that look easy to translate but actually mean different things. Find the true friend among the words below!

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