Mistake commonly by English learners

Even though English has become the global language, there are still many mistakes people make when speaking it. I've researched the mistakes that Germans and Pakistanis commonly make when speaking English.

Q: What did the German clockmaker say to the clock that only went "tick tick tick"?
A: Vee haf vays to make you tock
Why is it that when people are telling a German joke or trying a German accent, they always pronounce /z/ instead of /th/ or /v/ instead of /w/? The German alphabet has the same 26 letters as the English alphabet and additionally it has the four umlauted letters: ä, ö, ü, and the ß. However, the German phonetic alphabet doesn't contain the /th/ sound, therefore, Germans say 'zis' instead of 'this'. Another mistake commonly made is the mispronunciation of Englsh words with the /w/ sound. The /w/ sound is often exchanged with a /v/ sound, eg 'vine' instead of 'wine. The /w/ sound is in German phonology but is used differently than in English. There are several words beginning with /w/ in German, such as 'Wald' (woods/forest) or 'Waschmaschine' (washing machine), however, these words are pronounced with a /v/ sound instead of the /w/ sound. German words that begin with /v/ are often pronounced with an /f/.
The link below is more detail on the exchange of sounds in different words. http://german.stackexchange.com/questions/1754/w-%E2%86%92-v-v-%E2%86%92-f-why-do-german-speakers-wrongly-transpose-rather-than-shift-when-sp

English has an extensive vocabulary, especially compared to the German language. In English, people tend to be more specific about nouns. For example, in English people might refer to a pillow as the pillow on the bed and refer to a cushion as the cushion on the sofa/armchair. However, German only has one word for both things. So they would refer to them both as 'das Kissen' (literal translation: pillow). Germans will often find it difficult to choose the right noun.

Germans will often make the mistake of using the wrong preposition. For example, Germans might say, "I work by the post office", instead of "I work at the post office". Germans use the English 'by' as a homophone to the word they would choose in German. Another example is "I make my homework every day".  Instead of saying I do my homework, they use the literal translation from German (Ich mache meine Hausaufgaben = I make my homework).
Another mistake similar to this is that, in English, the word visit is only used to visit people. It is wrong to use the verb to say 'I visit the museum' or 'I visit the cinema'. The Germans use 'besuchen' (to visit) for people and places, unlike the English, which is why they commonly make the mistake of saying "I visit the cinema".

People from Pakistan also make mistakes when speaking English. Even though one of the official languages of Pakistan is English, along with Urdu.
A mistake that is commonly heard is the misuse of pronouns. A Pakistani might accidently call someone a he or a she no matter of their gender. For example, when referring to a male cat, they might call it a she without realising their mistake. This is because in Urdu the same pronoun is used for he, she, it and they (woh).

"Yesterday I have to go to work"
This is another mistake that some Pakistanis will do. There are very few words in Urdu, which have two different meanings in English. For example, 'kal', can mean both yesterday and tomorrow. When used in Urdu, other Urdu speakers will know which 'kal' they mean because of the tense they use. However, when speaking English, they often choose the wrong one 'kal' translation while using the right tense.

A Akhtar

 

References:
http://german.stackexchange.com/questions/1754/w-%E2%86%92-v-v-%E2%86%92-f-why-do-german-speakers-wrongly-transpose-rather-than-shift-when-sp
http://londonschool.de/top-english-mistakes-made-german-learners-volume-1 http://www.urduword.com/lessons.php?lesson=pronouns_and_possession
Brinkmann, Hans   Practise Avoiding Mistakes, Part 2: Choice of Words (Diesterweg)