Problematic areas of English

What I’m relating here are all from my own personal experience only, not an academic study that carries any authority.

Apart from the definite article (“the”) and indefinite article (“a”), another problematic area for learners of English is which nouns are countable or not.

With the definite and indefinite articles, it’s often because the concept doesn’t exist in their own language.  From my own experience, Slavic and Oriental language speakers have trouble with the articles for this reason.

It can be the opposite with countable nouns: they turn what are uncountable nouns into countable because in their own language, they are countable.

From my friend Valerio: 

Quote

advice and information in Italian are countable 

Give me 2 advices and 3 informations

Unquote

The MA Bi-lingual Translation (BLT) course I’d taught was open only to native-speakers of Chinese.  One year, we’d put on a Christmas buffet party for the BLT students (from all language groups). The teachers had gone on ahead to the room to make the preparations: move the tables to the edge of the room, set out the food.  

At one point in all this, my Chinese students turned up, as soon as they’d finished a class, to see if they could help. (Such nice students: ever ready to help.  The Chinese are very strong on 公德心 gōng dé xīn / “public virtue heart”, often translated as “civic-mindedness”, can also be “socially responsible” and “unselfish”.  This is drilled into their children from a young age: always try to help other people, don’t just think of yourself, don’t be selfish.)

Representing the group, one of them said: “Can we give you some hands?”

Note:  

countable: (grammar) (of a noun) that can form a plural or be used with the indefinite article: ‘carton’ and ‘refrigerator’ are countable nouns.

PS:  Haha, inserting BLT has just made me realise it also stands for “bacon, lettuce and tomato (sandwich)”!