January 10, 2024

[Emilie Zuniga, Ph.D.](https://blog.duolingo.com/author/emilie/)

# 5 mistakes a professional language learner still makes

Make no mistake—everyone makes language mistakes, even a hyperpolyglot!

Over the last 25 years, I have studied [more than 20 languages](https://blog.duolingo.com/language-tips-from-a-hyperpolyglot/) and have made languages my career— **but I still make mistakes and sometimes mix my languages**.

And that’s a good thing! I learn a lot from reflecting on my errors—there is [a reason behind each of them](https://blog.duolingo.com/common-mistakes-language-learners/)—and becoming aware of that reason makes me excited to continue learning.

Here are 5 mistakes I still make:

## 1. English vowels

My native language is French, and English was the next language I learned—and even after 30 years, I still occasionally mix up English vowels **.** This is especially true for vowels you make in the center and back of the mouth, like the vowels in _but_, _boat,_ and _bought._ For example, I may say _collar_ when I mean _color_, or I may accidentally pronounce the “o” in _posture_ like the “o” in _post._ This is because French doesn’t have [as many vowels in these parts of the mouth](https://blog.duolingo.com/why-are-some-accents-easier-than-others/#us-english-vowel-diagram) as American English. After working on this actively for years, I now get it right most of the time, but I still don’t [make these sounds as consistently](https://blog.duolingo.com/why-is-pronunciation-hard/) as someone who grew up speaking English… and I’m OK with that!

## 2. Spanish tens

One of my most prominent blunders these days is mispronouncing the tens (20, 30, 40, etc, to 90) when I speak Spanish. Instead of saying the _‑enta_ ending (as in _cuar **enta**_ for “forty”), I use _‑anta_ as the ending. It can be frustrating that I have to focus so much to only *sometimes* get this right, but it’s just my brain applying another rule it learned years before I spoke Spanish: _‑anta_ is indeed the correct ending for tens… in Italian, another language I speak! This is a [classic case of language interference](https://blog.duolingo.com/transfer-from-first-language/).

## 3. Italian _stare_

The Italian verb _stare_ literally means “to be,” and it is usually restricted to asking how someone is doing ( _Come **stai**?_ for “How are you?”) and describing an action that is happening right now ( _**Sto** scrivendo un articolo_ for “I’m writing an article”). But over the past few years, I’ve found myself wanting to use _stare_ all over the place, especially to ask where things are. So instead of _Dov’ **è** il libro?_ (Where is the book) with the verb _essere_(another way to say “to be”), I want to ask _Dove **sta** il libro?_ This would be fine in some dialects of Italian, but in standard Italian—the only variety I’ve studied—you use _essere_ and not _stare_.

So why do I do this? Some of you may have already guessed it: It’s due to [the influence of Spanish](https://blog.duolingo.com/ser-vs-estar/) and [Portuguese](https://blog.duolingo.com/portuguese-around-the-world/)! Both of them have a verb _estar_ ( [a cognate](https://blog.duolingo.com/cognates-in-spanish/) of Italian _stare_), which is typically used to ask where things are located. Another perfectly normal case of language interference!

## 4. Basque _ni_ vs. _nik_

I started learning Basque a few months ago and it has been a blast! It’s spoken in northern Spain and southwestern France and isn’t related to any other language. One thing I did not expect to struggle with when I first started is how to say “I”… Basque uses different words for “I” depending on the sentence! Basque is an _ergative_ language: It treats the subjects of transitive verbs (like “to want”) differently from intransitive verbs (like “to go”), so in Basque, the subject of _**I** go to the beach every day_ is _ni,_ and the subject of _**I** want to eat pintxos_ is _nik_. Basque is the first ergative language I’ve studied, and I can feel my brain working hard not only to create these new categories but also to [retrieve that information](https://blog.duolingo.com/what-is-memory/) instantly when I form sentences. [Thank you, brain](https://blog.duolingo.com/bilingual-brain-changes/)!

## 5. Maltese verbs

Maltese is a fascinating language: It’s spoken in Malta (located between Sicily and Tunisia), and evolved from contact between [Arabic](https://blog.duolingo.com/what-makes-arabic-hard-and-why-that-shouldnt-stop-you-from-learning-it/) and [Romance languages](https://blog.duolingo.com/what-are-romance-languages/), as well as English. I’ve studied Maltese for a couple of years now, and it’s been a huge help to know [multiple varieties of Arabic](https://blog.duolingo.com/arabic-dialects/), in addition to Italian and English. One of the biggest challenges for me is using the correct vowels in verbs. There are different vowels in different verbs—it’s an “a” in _j **a** għmlu_ (they do) but an “e” in _j **e** għlbu_ (they overcome)—and some verbs need a _helping vowel_ in the middle of the word (like in _jit **i** lfu_ for “they lose”), whereas most other verbs don’t.

Some of the patterns make sense for historical reasons, but not all of it makes sense *to me* yet! What my brain still needs is [lots and lots of exposure](https://blog.duolingo.com/language-learning-acquisition/). In the meantime, I’ll proudly speak this new (to me) language and embrace my mistakes while I do!

## Now, go make some mistakes!

Making mistakes is a natural part of learning—it’s just how our brains work!—and they contribute to an exciting language adventure, complete with [amusing mistakes](https://blog.duolingo.com/funny-duolingo-language-mistakes/) along the way. For me, taking the time to understand a mistake makes it easier to accept it _and_ to appreciate all the unseen work my brain is doing to make this learning possible. 🧠