Galicia PAU Italian - Second Foreign Language common mistakes
Galicia PAU Italian - Second Foreign Language · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Answering reading-comprehension questions by matching words that appear in the text rather than by locating the sentence that actually answers the question, so a distractor that reuses 'viaggio' or 'lavoro' gets chosen over the correct paraphrase.
Under time pressure candidates scan for lexical overlap instead of reading the stem first and then hunting the specific paragraph; PAU texts deliberately recycle topic vocabulary in wrong options.
What to do instead
Read the question stem and underline its key element (who/what/when/why) before returning to the text. For each option, find and mark the exact line that supports or contradicts it; if no line exists, discard the option. Train on paraphrases: rewrite the correct answer in your own words and check it still matches the text.
Treating 'secondo il testo' or 'l'autore afferma che' questions as invitations to give a personal opinion or general knowledge, writing answers like 'penso che in Italia si mangia bene' when the text says something narrower.
Candidates confuse opinion-based tasks with text-based ones, or they run out of textual evidence and fill the gap with world knowledge about Italy.
What to do instead
Classify each question before answering: if it contains 'secondo il testo/l'autore', the answer must be traceable to a line. Physically point to the supporting sentence and copy its key idea, not your own. Practise distinguishing 'secondo il testo' from 'secondo te' prompts.
Writing the guided composition without covering all the bullet points, for example answering three of four required content points or ignoring the word limit, producing a 60-word text when 120–150 is required.
Candidates draft linearly and lose track of the prompt's requirements, or they stop when they feel they have 'said enough', unaware that task achievement is scored.
What to do instead
Before writing, list the required points as numbered bullets and allocate roughly equal words to each. After drafting, tick each bullet and count words. If a bullet is missing, add a sentence; if over the limit, cut redundant adjectives rather than content points.
Producing a text-based response that summarises the whole source text instead of answering the specific question, or copying long stretches verbatim from the input text.
Copying feels safe because the language is correct, and summarising feels productive; candidates do not realise that lifted chunks earn no production marks and that the task asks for a focused response.
What to do instead
Read the task question twice and write a one-line thesis before starting. Use at most one short quotation, always reformulated in your own structure. Aim for a clear structure: direct answer, two supporting reasons from the text in your own words, brief conclusion.
Mixing up verb paradigms in context: choosing 'ho' vs 'sono' auxiliaries wrongly ('ho andato'), using imperfect where the passato prossimo is needed for a completed event, or misforming the congiuntivo after 'penso che' ('penso che è').
Candidates memorise conjugation tables in isolation but never map auxiliaries to specific verbs, and Spanish/French interference plus the rarity of the congiuntivo in casual speech make these forms feel optional.
What to do instead
Keep a personal list of intransitive verbs with their auxiliary (andare–sono, uscire–sono, partire–sono vs mangiare–ho). Drill the contrast between 'imperfetto' (background/habit) and 'passato prossimo' (single completed event) using your own diary sentences. Memorise high-frequency congiuntivo triggers (penso che, credo che, è importante che, benché) and always complete them with a subjunctive form.
Misusing prepositions and articles in fixed combinations: 'in Italia' vs 'a Roma', 'nel 2020', 'di mattina', partitive articles, and omission of the article with possessive adjectives ('mia madre' but 'la mia amica').
Italian preposition choice is largely lexical and does not map onto Spanish or English patterns, so candidates translate preposition by preposition instead of learning chunks.
What to do instead
Learn preposition+place/expression as whole chunks (a casa, in centro, al mare, in montagna, nel 2010, di sera). Build a two-column table of article+possessive rules with family members singular vs plural. When checking a composition, circle every preposition and verify it as a memorised chunk, not a translation.
Choosing false friends and near-synonyms from Spanish/English: writing 'attualmente' to mean 'currently' in a context where it reads as 'actually', using 'realizzare' for 'to realise', 'salire' for 'to save', or 'burro' for 'donkey'.
Lexical transfer from the L1 or from Spanish feels correct because the word looks familiar, and candidates rarely verify a word's meaning in a dictionary.
What to do instead
Maintain a personal false-friends log with the Italian word, its real meaning, and the correct Italian equivalent (attualmente = currently; accorgersi = to realise; risparmiare = to save). Before submitting, scan your text for any word you would not confidently use in speech and replace it with a simpler word you control.
Using register-inappropriate vocabulary in formal tasks: opening a letter to an institution with 'Ciao', using 'tu' forms when the prompt implies a formal recipient, or sprinkling colloquialisms ('un sacco di', 'roba') through an essay.
Candidates learn informal Italian from songs, series and social media and have little exposure to formal written conventions, so the default register leaks into every task.
What to do instead
Memorise a formal frame: 'Gentile Signora/Direttore', 'Le scrivo per…', 'La ringrazio', 'Cordiali saluti', with 'Lei' verb forms. Memorise an essay frame with neutral connectors (innanzitutto, inoltre, d'altra parte, in conclusione). Match register to the addressee named in the prompt before drafting.
Writing a string of short sentences with no connectors, or repeating the same connector ('e… e… e…', 'però' everywhere), and failing to use pronoun substitution, so the text reads as a list rather than a coherent argument.
Candidates write sentence by sentence, checking grammar locally, and never revise at the level of the whole text; connector range is rarely taught explicitly.
What to do instead
Build a tiered connector bank (addition: inoltre, inoltre; contrast: tuttavia, invece; cause: poiché, dato che; consequence: quindi, di conseguenza; conclusion: in sintesi). Draft, then do a dedicated revision pass that adds at least four different connectors and replaces repeated nouns with pronouns (questo, ne, ci, lo).
Ignoring sociolinguistic and cultural specifics: assuming all Italians use the same greetings and forms of address, confusing 'Lei' formal pronouns with 'lei' she, or writing about 'Italy' with stereotypes instead of the regional and situational differences the task asks about.
Candidates rely on simplified cultural clichés and on their own language's politeness system, and they do not know that formal address requires third-person verb forms and different greetings (buongiorno vs buonasera, arrivederla vs ciao).
What to do instead
Learn the address system as a paradigm: informal tu/ciao, formal Lei with third-person verbs, and the corresponding greetings and closings. When a task mentions an Italian-speaking context (a host family, a school exchange, a shop), name the setting and choose register and vocabulary accordingly. Read short authentic texts such as emails and notices to see register in action, and avoid generalising about 'gli italiani'.