A major distinction between an intermediate and advanced speaker of any language is the person’s ability to communicate as a native speaker would. An advanced speaker is able to express her thoughts in the same way the native speaker does, while an intermediate speaker does not have the same “feel” for the language and thus relies on sentence structures and cognates of their first language to communicate in the foreign one. This intermediate speaker is normally still understood, but there is something unnatural and awkward about the way their phrasing.

This ability to think and communicate as a native speaker would, is only learned after much practice and many hours of listening to native speakers until one way just sounds more natural than the others. However, to help with the process, I have compiled a list of a 11 common errors I often hear intermediate Spanish speakers make, who are still making the transition to advanced speaker.

1. "embarrassed"
   Translating this word incorrectly may actually cause some embarrassment. A common mistake is to use EMBARAZADO. However, EMBARAZADO actually means “pregnant”. TENER VERGUENZA is the correct translation of “being embarrassed”.

2. "excited"
   Another word that make cause you some embarrassment if translated incorrectly. A common error is to translate “excited” to EXITADO. However, EXITADO actually means “sexually excited”. Regular old “excited” is translated to EMOCIONADO.

3. "to realize"
   People often use REALIZAR to say that they realize something. However, REALIZAR in Spanish only means “realize” in the sense of “carrying out an action”. To say that you “realize” something, like you “realize you left your keys at work” the correct verb phrase is DARSE CUENTA DE

4. "like this"
   When saying “like this”, a common mistake is to say COMO ASI. However, since the word ASI itself means “like this” it is redundant and incorrect to say COMO ASI which would translate literally to “like like this”. To say “like this” use ASI.

5. "to look for"
   A common mistake is to say BUSCAR PARA when trying to say “to look for”. However, the verb BUSCAR by itself means “to look for” so to add the PARA is redundant. BUSCAR means “to look for”.

6. "thank you for…"
   A classic por/para mistake. When saying thank you for something, use GRACIAS POR as opposed to GRACIAS PARA

7. "actually"
   It sounds as though “actually” should be translated to ACTUALMENTE. However, ACTUALMENTE means “nowadays”. REALMENTE is a more accurate translation of actually.

8. "ridiculous"
   “Ridiculous” is often incorrectly translated to RIDICULOSO which actually is not a word. The correct translation is RIDICULO.

9. "with me"
   The common mistake made for “with me” is to CON YO. However, “with me” is actually translated into one word CONMIGO.

10. "another"
    To say something like “I want another beer”, a common error is to say YO QUIERO UNA OTRA CERVEZA. However, the UNA is actually unnecessary meaning the correct translation is simply YO QUIERO OTRA CERVEZA.

11. "I like _____ing"
    A common tendency is to use maintain the English structure of “I like _____ing” and say ME GUSTA _____ANDO / IENDO. However, the correct structure is to actually keep the verb in the infinitive and simply say ME GUSTA _____ (verb in the infinitive). For example: ME GUSTA CAMINAR, TE GUSTA COMER, NOS GUSTA JUGAR, etc.