there for Japanese speakers — pronunciation and common errors

Pronunciation

The Japanese sound inventory lacks the voiced dental fricative /ð/, leading to the substitution of the alveolar plosive /d/. Learners often produce /ze/ or /de/ instead of /ðeə/.

Grammar

Japanese existence verbs (ある aru, いる iru) do not require a dummy subject, whereas English uses 'there' as a placeholder in 'there is/are' constructions. Consequently, learners often omit the dummy 'there', producing 'Is a book on the table' following the Japanese structure 'Tsukue no ue ni hon ga aru'.

Collocations

The Japanese phrase 'Soko ni' (そこ に) covers both location and movement, leading to the redundant insertion of 'to' after 'go'. This results in 'go to there' instead of the correct 'go there'.

Examples

• Put the box over there on the table.
• I went to the new library yesterday and spent three hours studying there because it was so quiet.