Common English mistakes Bengali speakers make, and how to fix them

If your first language is Bangla, whether you grew up in Bangladesh or in West Bengal, your English slips are rarely random. They follow Bangla grammar and Bangla sounds: one pronoun for "he" and "she", one verb for eating, drinking and taking medicine, and a standard pronunciation with no native "z", "v" or "th". That is transfer from your first language, not carelessness, and it means each slip has a clear fix.

The big ones. 1) "He" and "she" mixed up, because Bangla "se" means both: "My mother is a nurse. He works at night" → "She works at night". 2) "Z" said as "j", and "v" as "bh" or "b": "jero" for "zero", "bhery" for "very". 3) "Give an exam", from "porikkha deoa" → "take an exam". 4) "Eat" for everything that "khaoa" covers: "eat medicine", "eat a cigarette" → "take medicine", "smoke a cigarette". 5) "Close the light", because "bondho kora" means both to close and to stop → "turn off the light". 6) -ing on verbs that describe a state, a habit common in South Asian English generally: "I am having two brothers", "I am knowing him" → "I have two brothers", "I know him". 7) Questions in statement order, and one tag for every sentence: "What you are doing?", "You are coming, isn't it?" → "What are you doing?", "You are coming, aren't you?" 8) Words used mainly in South Asia: "cousin brother" (cousin), "passed out" (graduated; elsewhere it means fainted), "prepone" (bring forward). 9) For some speakers, "s" and "sh" trading places: "shame" for "same", "sip" for "ship". 10) Missing "a", "the" and plural -s: "I am teacher", "two book" → "I am a teacher", "two books".

Reading the list is the easy part. Habits shift when you say the new sentence yourself, in a real exchange, and see the fix while the sentence is still fresh. That is what Airi is for: you talk, she answers out loud, shows one small fix at a time and keeps the conversation moving. It is free to start, with no card.

Bangla sentence patterns that slip into a Bengali speaker's English

Each sentence on the left follows the Bangla word for word. Most of what goes missing is something Bangla does without: an -s on the verb, "is" and "are", an empty "there", the helper "do".

A, the and plural -s: what Bangla does with -ta and ekta instead

Bangla has no separate words for "a" and "the". An ending on the noun, usually -ta or -ti, makes it definite ("boi-ta", the book); "ekta" is the number one and also does the work of "a"; and a noun can stand with nothing at all. Four checks to run while you speak:

• A job takes "a". "Amar baba shikkhok" has no article and no verb. English needs both: "My father is a teacher."
• Where Bangla adds -ta, English usually wants "the". "Dorja-ta bondho koro" is "Close the door".
• "Ekta" is usually "a", not "one". "I bought one shirt" sounds like counting, as if someone expected two. Say "I bought a shirt".
• Keep the -s after a number or "many". In "duita boi" the noun does not change: word for word it is "two book". English marks the plural on the noun as well: "two books", "many tourists".

English sounds that are hard for Bengali speakers, and how to produce them

Standard Bangla has no "th" sounds, no native "v" or "z", and no long-short contrast between vowels, so the mouth reaches for the nearest Bangla sound. Not every speaker has all of these, and they differ from region to region.

Rhythm is the other half. Standard Bangla puts its stress mostly on the first syllable and gives each syllable about the same length. English moves the stress around and weakens the syllables beside it: "national" is "NA-shuh-nul", not "na-sho-nal". Learn the stress along with the word: hoTEL, eXAM, imPORtant, uniVERsity, engiNEER.

Bangla and South Asian words that puzzle listeners elsewhere

These are correct at home. Outside South Asia they can stall a conversation, so keep an international version ready.

• Lakh and crore. A lakh is 100,000 and a crore is ten million (Dictionary.com), and listeners outside South Asia often know neither word. Say "five hundred thousand" for five lakh and "twenty million" for two crore.
• "What is your good name?" "Bhalo nam" is the formal name that goes on documents, as opposed to the "dak nam" that family and close friends use. English has no such pair. Ask "What's your name?" or, when you need the one on the documents, "What's your full name?"
• "Hotel" for a place to eat. Elsewhere a hotel is where you stay the night. If you only ate there, call it a restaurant: "We had lunch at a small restaurant near the station."

Drilling Bangla-speaker habits out loud with Airi

Airi answers out loud and shows one small fix at a time, so give each session a single habit to work on. She does not score pronunciation. For the sound drill, all you get is a rough check: whether her answer shows she caught the word you meant. The 600 free credits cover about eight minutes of speaking, so begin with the first two or three steps.

1. Name the target: "Bangla is my first language. Please correct me when I drop 'a', 'the' or the -s on a verb."
2. Describe a relative's daily routine. Every sentence needs "he" or "she" and a verb with -s: "She teaches math. She leaves home at seven."
3. Describe your hometown with "There is" and "There are", and give its population in thousands or millions, not in lakh.
4. Ask her five questions that start with "Do you", "Does it" or "Where do you".
5. Put the hard sounds into one sentence: "I think it's very cold at the zoo on Thursdays." If her answer picks up a different word, slow down and say it again.

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Last updated: 2026-10-03