Common English Mistakes in Social Media Posts by Cantonese Speakers

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

Mistake Example #1

Overuse of direct translations from Cantonese

Just finished eating lunch with my friends,. I'm so full—we ate until wecaouldnno't move! The weather today is very hot, like a blazingfire! burning.Later, Iwi'll go shopping with my sister,and buy things until we drop!

Text corrected by:
Gregg, Los Angeles, CA

"This needed some tweaking to sound more native and natural."

Just finished eating lunch with my friends. I'm so full—we ate until we couldn't move! The weather today is very hot, like a blazing fire! Later, I'll go shopping with my sister and buy things until we drop!

Just finished eat lunch with my friends, so full until cannot move! The weather today is very hot, like fire burning. Later, I will go shopping with my sister, buy things until we drop!

Mistake Example #2

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

Just finished a great day at the beach with muchany friends! We had so much fun playing volleyball and eating manylot of delicious food. Can't wait to do it again soon!

Text corrected by:
Jennifer, Detroit, Michigan USA

"Very good! I just fixed some issues with much/many."

Just finished a great day at the beach with many friends! We had so much fun playing volleyball and eating a lot of delicious food. Can't wait to do it again soon!

Just finished a great day at the beach with much friends! We had so much fun playing volleyball and eating many delicious food. Can't wait to do it again soon!

Mistake Example #3

Overuse of 'very' to emphasize adjectives

I am vethry very excitlled about the new cafe that opened in Central! The coffee there is very verydelicious, and the atmosphere is vsupery very cozy. If you are in the area, you should very verydefinitely check it out!

Text corrected by:
Vince, United States

"This post was well-written – I just made a few minor changes to make it sound a bit more natural :)"

I am thrilled about the new cafe that opened in Central! The coffee there is delicious, and the atmosphere is super cozy. If you are in the area, you should definitely check it out!

I am very very excited about the new cafe that opened in Central! The coffee there is very very delicious, and the atmosphere is very very cozy. If you are in the area, you should very very definitely check it out!