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

If your first language is Japanese, many of your English mistakes follow Japanese sounds, Japanese grammar and katakana loanwords. They are transfer from a first language, not carelessness, and each one has a clear fix.

The best known are about sounds and small grammar words. 1) /l/ and /r/: "rice" and "lice", "light" and "right" come out the same. 2) Extra vowels after consonants: "desuku" for "desk", "sutoppu" for "stop". End on the consonant. 3) /v/ said as /b/, and the "th" of "think" said as /s/: "bery" for "very", "sink" for "think". 4) Missing articles and plurals: "I bought book" instead of "I bought a book" or "I bought some books". 5) Dropped subjects: "Is delicious" instead of "It's delicious".

Then come words and habits. 6) Katakana words used with their Japanese meaning: "mansion" for an apartment, "claim" for a complaint, "smart" for slim, "naive" for sensitive, "cunning" for cheating on a test. 7) "I will challenge the exam" (挑戦する) instead of "I'm going to take the exam"; for something new, say "I want to try surfing". 8) "Yes" to a negative question: はい agrees with what the other person said, so "Don't you like it?" gets "Yes" when the meaning is "No, I don't". 9) "Maybe" for たぶん and "I think" for と思います on sentence after sentence: in English they make a speaker sound unsure, so leave them out when you are sure. 10) "I played with my friends" (遊ぶ) where an adult would say "I hung out with my friends", and "almost people" (ほとんどの人) instead of "most people".

A list will not fix these. What helps is saying the sentences out loud and seeing the fix at the moment you slip. That is what Airi is for: she answers out loud, shows one small fix at a time and keeps the conversation going. Free to start, no card needed.

Japanese phrases translated word for word, and the natural English

A sentence built in Japanese and translated one word at a time often arrives with the wrong verb or an extra preposition. Learn the natural version of each as a whole phrase.

Japanese grammar habits that do not carry over into English

• One form for present and future. A Japanese verb has a past form and a non-past form, and the non-past covers both now and later, so "I go to Kyoto tomorrow" feels complete. For a plan, English says "I'm going to Kyoto tomorrow."
• 住んでいます is not "I live ... for". 大阪に10年住んでいます is a present form, which leads to "I live in Osaka for ten years." For something that started in the past and is still true, English says "I've lived in Osaka for ten years."
• The topic is not always the subject. は marks what the sentence is about, not who does the action. 明日は雨です turns into "Tomorrow is rain", and 私はコーヒーです into "I am coffee." English needs a subject and a verb that belong together: "It's going to rain tomorrow" and "I'll have a coffee."
• One particle, three prepositions. に serves in 7時に, 月曜日に and 4月に. English changes each time: "at seven", "on Monday", "in April".
• The passive for bad luck. 財布を盗まれた keeps the person as the subject, which gives "I was stolen my wallet." In English the thing that was taken is the subject: "My wallet was stolen." To keep yourself as the subject, say "I had my wallet stolen."

English sounds that Japanese does not separate, and how to make them

Japanese has five vowels, a single r-like sound made with a quick tap of the tongue, and words that end in a vowel or ん. English needs more than that, and each contrast below turns one word into another.

Katakana also changes the rhythm of a word. It gives every beat the same weight, so "McDonald's" becomes マクドナルド, six beats; in English it has three syllables with the stress on "DON". One Japanese habit helps here: in Tokyo-style speech the final "u" of です is usually whispered, so the word ends close to "des". End "bus" and "desk" the same way.

Katakana words that mean something else in English

Many katakana loanwords took on a new meaning in Japan, or were coined there (和製英語, wasei-eigo). An English listener hears the English meaning, not the Japanese one.

コンセント is said to come from "concentric plug", and ホーム is the end of プラットホーム, but an English listener hears "consent", which means permission, and "home". "Tension" means strain or nervousness, so "high tension" sounds like an argument, not a party.

How to drill Japanese transfer mistakes with Airi

Airi answers out loud, in English only, and shows one small fix at a time. She does not score pronunciation, so treat her as a listener, not a judge. The free credits last about eight minutes, so pick two or three of these steps for a first session.

1. Set the target: "Japanese is my first language. Please point out katakana English and any missing 'a' or 'the'."
2. Ask her to play a hotel receptionist, then ask where the outlets are and what time the breakfast buffet opens.
3. Tell her what you did last weekend, then what you are doing next weekend, and listen for "I'm going to" in your own answer.
4. Ask for her opinion three times, starting with "What do you think of ...?"
5. Put a sound pair into real sentences: "I collect old cameras" and "Is that correct?" If her reply shows she understood the other word, say the sentence again more slowly.
6. Each time a small fix appears, repeat the corrected sentence aloud before you answer her next question. Airi remembers your name and your last topic, so the next session can start where this one stopped.

How to get the most from it

Frequently asked questions

Last updated: 2026-10-03