Common English Mistakes in Email Practices by Cantonese Speakers

This page focuses on errors typically made by native Cantonese speakers from Hong Kong when writing a Email Practice in English.

Mistake Example #1

Overuse of direct translations from Cantonese

Dear Mr. Lee,I hope you are well. I am writing to ask if you have anyfree time to meet next week. I want to discuss aboutthe new project and see how we can cooperatetogether. Please let me know your available time, and we can fscheduleix atime. Thank you for your attention.

Text corrected by:
Jennifer, Detroit, Michigan USA

"Good work overall! It just needed a few tweaks to make the English sound more natural."

Dear Mr. Lee, I hope you are well. I am writing to ask if you have any free time to meet next week. I want to discuss the new project and see how we can cooperate. Please let me know your available time, and we can schedule it. Thank you for your attention.

Dear Mr. Lee, I hope you are well. I am writing to ask if you have free time to meet next week. I want to discuss about the new project and see how we can cooperate together. Please let me know your available time, and we can fix a time. Thank you for your attention.

Mistake Example #2

Overuse of 'very' to emphasize adjectives

Dear Mr. Lee,I hope you are doingvery well. I am writing to inform you about thevery important meeting scheduled for next week. It is verycrucial that we preparevery thoroughly to ensure everything goesvery smoothly. Please let me know if you have any very urgent questions. Thank you very much for your attention.

Text corrected by:
Jennifer, Detroit, Michigan USA

"I only left one "very" at the end. The rest were redundant."

Dear Mr. Lee, I hope you are doing well. I am writing to inform you about the important meeting scheduled for next week. It is crucial that we prepare thoroughly to ensure everything goes smoothly. Please let me know if you have any urgent questions. Thank you very much for your attention.

Dear Mr. Lee, I hope you are doing very well. I am writing to inform you about the very important meeting scheduled for next week. It is very crucial that we prepare very thoroughly to ensure everything goes very smoothly. Please let me know if you have any very urgent questions. Thank you very much for your attention.

Mistake Example #3

Confusion with countable vs. uncountable nouns ('She has much friends')

Subject: Meeting Arrangement Dear Mr. Lee, I hope this email finds you well. I am writing to discuss the details of our upcoming project. There is mucha great deal of information we need to cover, and I have many questions regarding the timeline. Could you please let me know if you have muchany availability next week for a meeting? I look forward to your reply. Thank you.

Text corrected by:
Michele A., Boston, Massachusetts; United States

"I just replaced a word or two to make the English sound more natural. Otherwise, the ideas in this text are clearly expressed."

Subject: Meeting Arrangement Dear Mr. Lee, I hope this email finds you well. I am writing to discuss the details of our upcoming project. There is a great deal of information we need to cover, and I have many questions regarding the timeline. Could you please let me know if you have any availability next week for a meeting? I look forward to your reply. Thank you.

Subject: Meeting Arrangement Dear Mr. Lee, I hope this email finds you well. I am writing to discuss the details of our upcoming project. There is much information we need to cover, and I have many questions regarding the timeline. Could you please let me know if you have much availability next week for a meeting? I look forward to your reply. Thank you.