Common English Mistakes in Motivational Speeches by Cantonese Speakers

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

Mistake Example #1

Overuse of 'very' to emphasize adjectives

Ladies and gentlemen, today I want to tell you that you are all verycapable of achieving your dreams. It isvery important to believe in yourself and to work veryhard every day. Remember, the journey may be verychallenging, but the rewards arevery worth it. Keep pushing forward, and you will be verysuccessful in your endeavors.

Text corrected by:
Jennifer, Detroit, Michigan USA

"The word "very" doesn't really add anything to this text, so I took them all out."

Ladies and gentlemen, today I want to tell you that you are all capable of achieving your dreams. It is important to believe in yourself and to work hard every day. Remember, the journey may be challenging, but the rewards are worth it. Keep pushing forward, and you will be successful in your endeavors.

Ladies and gentlemen, today I want to tell you that you are all very capable of achieving your dreams. It is very important to believe in yourself and to work very hard every day. Remember, the journey may be very challenging, but the rewards are very worth it. Keep pushing forward, and you will be very successful in your endeavors.

Mistake Example #2

Overuse of direct translations from Cantonese

Ladies and gentlemen, today I want to share with youaveryn important message. Life is like a cup of tea, it depends on how you make it. We must add sugar and milk to make it sweet and smooth, just likehow we add effort and passion to make our dreams come true. Remember, if you have heart, you can move mountains. Let's work hard together and create a future that isfull of happiness and success.

Text corrected by:
Camille, Maryland, USA

"I have made some of the expressions sound more natural."

Ladies and gentlemen, today I want to share an important message. Life is like a cup of tea. We must add sugar and milk to make it sweet and smooth, just like we add effort and passion to make our dreams come true. Remember, if you have heart, you can move mountains. Let's work hard together and create a future full of happiness and success.

Ladies and gentlemen, today I want to share with you a very important message. Life is like a cup of tea, it depends on how you make it. We must add sugar and milk to make it sweet and smooth, just like how we add effort and passion to make our dreams come true. Remember, if you have heart, you can move mountain. Let's work hard together and create a future that is full of happiness and success.

Mistake Example #3

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

Ladies and gentlemen, tToday I want to remind you that each of us haves so much potential to achieve our dreams. In life, we face many challenges, but it is important to have mucha degree of courage and determination. Remember, success is not about having muchlots of money or beingfame, bous—it's about findingmuch happiness and fulfillment in what we do.

Text corrected by:
Gregg, Los Angeles, CA

"This needed some tweaking for countable vs. uncountable nouns."

Ladies and gentlemen, Today I want to remind you that each of us has so much potential to achieve our dreams. In life, we face many challenges, but it is important to have a degree of courage and determination. Remember, success is not about having lots of money or being famous—it's about finding happiness and fulfillment in what we do.

Ladies and gentlemen, today I want to remind you that each of us have much potential to achieve our dreams. In life, we face many challenges, but it is important to have much courage and determination. Remember, success is not about having much money or fame, but about finding much happiness and fulfillment in what we do.