Common English Writing Mistakes Spanish Academic Writers Make

Spanish and English are more closely related than most language pairs. They share thousands of words, a common Latin inheritance, and similar sentence patterns at a basic level. For Spanish academic writers, this creates a specific problem: the errors you make in English don't feel like errors. They feel natural. They follow the logic of Spanish grammar and Spanish academic conventions, which means they recur throughout your writing in ways that are almost impossible to catch through self-editing.

This article covers the six most consequential English writing mistakes Spanish academic writers make, explains why each one happens, and shows what a corrected version looks like. Every example is a realistic sentence a Spanish researcher might actually write. Understanding these patterns is the fastest way to address them before your next journal submission.

1. False Cognates at the Wrong Register

Spanish and English share thousands of words derived from Latin and Greek. This is enormously useful — and reliably deceptive. Many Spanish academic words have English cognates that look correct but mean something different, or that exist in English but register as archaic, overly formal, or imprecise. These are called false cognates, or "false friends."

False cognates are different from simple vocabulary errors. The word exists in English. It isn't flagged by a grammar checker. It reads correctly to the Spanish writer because the Spanish equivalent is the right word. It reads incorrectly to a native English journal editor for exactly the same reason: because the editor's intuition is in English, not Spanish.

Common false cognates in Spanish academic writing

"Actual" used to mean "current." In Spanish, "actual" means current or present. In English, "actual" means real or genuine. "The actual economic situation" means the real economic situation, not the current one. Use "current," "present," or "existing" instead.
"Sensible" used to mean "sensitive." "Sensible" in Spanish means sensitive. In English, it means reasonable or practical. "A sensible researcher" is a reasonable researcher, not a sensitive one.
"Realize" used to mean "carry out." "Realizar" in Spanish means to carry out or perform. "We realized an experiment" does not mean we conducted one. Use "conduct," "carry out," or "perform."
"Pretend" used to mean "intend." "Pretender" in Spanish means to intend or aim. In English, "pretend" means to act as if something is true when it isn't. "This study pretends to demonstrate" suggests the study is faking its conclusions. Write "This study aims to demonstrate" or "This study seeks to demonstrate."
"Assist" used to mean "attend." "Asistir" in Spanish means to attend. In English, "assist" means to help. "We assisted the conference" means we helped run it, not that we went to it. Write "We attended the conference."
"Embarrassed" used to mean "pregnant." "Embarazada" in Spanish means pregnant. This is one of the most consequential false cognate errors in the language and one of the most common. "The participant was embarrassed" does not mean she was pregnant.

The fix

When you finish a draft, search your document for the Spanish words you use most frequently in academic writing: actual, realizar, pretender, asistir, sensible, éxito (success, not "exit"), carpeta (folder, not "carpet"), and constipado (having a cold, not "constipated"). Check whether you've used their English cognates. In almost every case, a different English word is more accurate.

2. Missing or Dropped Subjects

Spanish is a pro-drop language. That means Spanish allows the grammatical subject of a sentence to be omitted when it's already implied by the verb form. "Estamos analizando los datos" is perfectly correct Spanish without an explicit subject because the verb ending tells you the subject is "we." This works in Spanish. It doesn't work in English.

English requires the subject to be stated explicitly in almost every clause. When Spanish academic writers draft in English, they frequently carry the pro-drop pattern across, producing sentences that feel incomplete to native English readers even though they're fully grammatical in Spanish.

Common errors

Incorrect: "Is necessary to consider the limitations of this approach."
Correct: "It is necessary to consider the limitations of this approach."

Incorrect: "Have been conducted several studies on this topic."
Correct: "Several studies have been conducted on this topic."

Incorrect: "Is important to note that the sample size was limited."
Correct: "It is important to note that the sample size was limited."

The fix

Check every verb in your manuscript. If a verb appears without an explicit subject in the same clause, add one. The most common missing subjects in Spanish academic English are "it" in impersonal constructions and "we" in method descriptions. Run a search for sentences that begin with a verb form rather than a noun or pronoun.

3. Article Errors: "The" Where No Article Belongs

Spanish uses the definite article more liberally than English. In Spanish, abstract nouns and general concepts take the definite article as a matter of course: "la investigación muestra que" (the research shows that), "la educación es importante" (education is important). Spanish writers carry this directly into English, producing sentences where "the" appears before abstract nouns used in a general sense.

In English, abstract nouns used in a general sense take no article. "Research shows that" is correct. "The research shows that" implies a specific piece of research already known to both writer and reader. This distinction is one of the most systematic article errors in Spanish academic writing and one of the hardest to catch through self-editing, because the Spanish convention feels completely natural.

Common errors

Incorrect: "The education plays a fundamental role in the development of the society."
Correct: "Education plays a fundamental role in the development of society."

Incorrect: "The literature reviewed for this study suggests that the motivation is a key factor."
Correct: "The literature reviewed for this study suggests that motivation is a key factor."

Incorrect: "The technology has transformed the communication in recent decades."
Correct: "Technology has transformed communication in recent decades."

The fix

Apply a targeted check for abstract nouns used in a general sense. Ask: am I referring to this concept in general, or to a specific instance already known to the reader? General reference takes no article. Specific reference — a specific study, a specific technology already introduced in the text — takes "the." When in doubt, remove the article and check whether the sentence still makes sense. In most cases involving general abstract nouns, it does.

4. Ser vs. Estar Interference in Verb Choice

Spanish has two verbs for "to be": ser and estar. Ser describes permanent or defining characteristics. Estar describes temporary states or conditions. English has one verb ("to be") that covers both. This isn't directly a grammar error in English, but the conceptual distinction between permanent and temporary states produces a related problem: Spanish academic writers sometimes use adjectives in English that reflect the Spanish state/trait distinction rather than the English one.

More practically, the ser/estar distinction leads to confusion about stative and dynamic verbs in English. Spanish writers sometimes use the progressive form of stative verbs, which is ungrammatical in English.

Common errors

Incorrect: "The results are seeming to suggest a significant relationship."
Correct: "The results seem to suggest a significant relationship."

Incorrect: "We are knowing that the sample was representative."
Correct: "We know that the sample was representative."

Incorrect: "The participants were understanding the instructions clearly."
Correct: "The participants understood the instructions clearly."

The fix

Stative verbs in English, such as know, seem, understand, believe, contain, consist, appear, mean, or include, are almost never used in the progressive form. If you find yourself writing "is seeming," "are knowing," or "were understanding," replace the progressive with the simple form. These verbs describe states, not actions, and states don't take the progressive in English.

5. Sentence Length and Subordination Patterns

Spanish academic prose favors longer, more elaborated sentences than English academic prose. Spanish allows multiple subordinate clauses, parenthetical additions, and extended noun phrases within a single sentence in ways that feel formal and rigorous in Spanish. In English, the same construction feels overly complex, difficult to follow, and structurally unclear.

This isn't a simple matter of sentence length. It's a structural difference. Spanish sentences often introduce extensive contextual framing before reaching the main point. English academic sentences are expected to deliver the main point early and add supporting context after. A sentence that builds toward its main claim through multiple subordinate clauses may be beautiful in Spanish. In English, it will frustrate a journal reviewer.

Common error

Spanish-influenced: "Taking into account the complexity of the socioeconomic factors that have been identified in previous research as relevant to academic achievement, and considering the limitations that have been noted in the methodological approaches that have until now been used to study this question, the present study proposes a new analytical framework."
Stronger in English: "Previous research on academic achievement is limited by methodological weaknesses and an incomplete treatment of socioeconomic factors. This study proposes a new analytical framework to address these gaps."

The fix

Apply a simple rule: if a sentence exceeds 25 words, look for a natural break point and split it into two sentences. State the main claim first. Add supporting context in the sentences that follow. In Spanish, the long sentence signals intellectual rigor. In English, the short declarative sentence signals the same thing and it's easier to read.

Also watch for sentences where the subject and the main verb are separated by more than eight to ten words of intervening material. In most cases, restructuring to bring the subject and verb together improves the sentence significantly.

6. Conclusion Conventions

Spanish academic conclusions follow conventions that differ from English journal expectations. Spanish academic writing often opens a conclusion by restating the research question or the study objectives, summarizes the argument developed through the paper, and then offers a broader reflection or implication. This structure is taught and rewarded in Spanish university education.

English journal conclusions are expected to open with the main finding, not a restatement of the question. A conclusion that begins by summarizing what the paper set out to do reads to an English journal editor as though the analysis hasn't started yet. The convention is: open with what you found, interpret it, address limitations, state implications.

Common error

Spanish-influenced conclusion opening: "The present study set out to investigate the relationship between working memory capacity and reading comprehension in bilingual children. Through a review of the existing literature and an empirical analysis of the data collected, we have sought to demonstrate that this relationship is moderated by the age of acquisition of the second language."
Stronger in English: "Working memory capacity predicts reading comprehension in bilingual children, and this relationship is moderated by age of second language acquisition. Children who acquired their second language before age seven showed stronger working memory-comprehension correlations than those who acquired it later."

The fix

The first sentence of your conclusion should state your main finding directly. Not the question. Not the method. The finding. If your current conclusion opening begins with "This study aimed to" or "The purpose of this research was to," replace it with a direct statement of what you found. Reserve the restatement of aims for the introduction, where it belongs.

A Pre-Submission Checklist for Spanish Academic Writers

Before submitting a manuscript to an international journal, run through these six checks:

Have you used any of the common false cognates — actual, realizar, pretender, asistir, sensible, realizar — and translated them directly into English? Verify each one.
Does every clause have an explicit subject? Search for verbs that appear without a preceding noun or pronoun in the same clause.
Does "the" appear before any abstract noun used in a general sense — education, research, technology, motivation, society? Remove it.
Have you used any stative verb — seem, know, understand, believe, contain — in the progressive form? Replace with the simple form.
Do any sentences exceed 25 words with the main point delayed until after two or more subordinate clauses? Split and reorder them.
Does your conclusion open with a restatement of the research question? Replace with a direct statement of the main finding.

Why Self-Correction Is Difficult

Every pattern in this list feels correct to the Spanish academic writer. "Actual" looks like the right word. The dropped subject sounds natural. The long sentence with the main point at the end feels rigorous and thorough. These aren't careless mistakes. They're deeply embedded habits formed over years of writing in Spanish at a high academic level.

Self-editing is difficult precisely because the patterns that feel natural to you are the ones that stand out to a native English reader. A native English editor who has worked extensively with Spanish-authored manuscripts reads your text with a completely different set of intuitions. They identify these patterns in the first few paragraphs and address them consistently throughout the document.

For more on the full range of errors that appear in non-native academic writing across all language backgrounds, read our article on common English writing mistakes non-native speakers make.

Professional English Editing for Spanish Researchers

Editor World's ESL editing services and journal article editing services connect Spanish researchers with native English editors who have subject matter expertise in your field. Every editor is a native English speaker from the United States, United Kingdom, or Canada. No AI tools are used at any stage.

Editor World provides a certificate of editing confirming that your manuscript was reviewed by a native English speaker. Many international journals require this for submissions from non-English-speaking countries. You choose your own editor from verified profiles by subject expertise, credentials, and client ratings. Turnaround times start at 2 hours, available 24/7. Use the instant price calculator for an exact quote, or browse available editors to find the right match for your manuscript.

Content reviewed by Editor World editorial staff. Editor World provides professional English editing and proofreading services for academic researchers, graduate students, and business professionals worldwide.