Author’s Column by Tymur Levitin

Language learners are usually taught that mistakes are grammatical.

But one of the biggest shocks for adult students comes later — when they finally build a sentence that is grammatically correct, logically precise, understandable… and native speakers still react in a strange way.

Not because they don’t understand.

Because they understand — and still feel something is off.

A recent boxing press conference created a perfect example. Before his fight, Oleksandr Usyk responded to predictions with:

“Don’t push the horses.”

Everyone understood exactly what he meant:
It’s too early. Don’t jump to conclusions.

And yet English speakers instantly reacted. Not with confusion — with recognition. They recognized a non-native linguistic logic.

Why?

Because language does not operate only on meaning.

The Translator’s Logic vs The Native Speaker’s Logic

From a translation perspective, the sentence is beautiful.

In many European languages the metaphor is productive.
If someone is predicting results before events happen, “don’t drive the horses” sounds perfectly logical. You haven’t even started the race yet.

In Slavic languages proverbs remain living metaphors.
You can reshape them slightly and still remain natural because speakers actively interpret the imagery.

English idioms do not work that way.

English idioms are not metaphors anymore.

They are signals.

The Problem Is Not Grammar

There is nothing grammatically incorrect about:

don’t + verb + object

The sentence structure is fine. Vocabulary is correct. Meaning is transparent.

Yet a native speaker would never say it.

Because English does not treat “hold your horses” as a combination of words.

It treats it as a single lexical unit.

For an English speaker the phrase does not contain:

  • animals
  • movement
  • restraint

It contains only one function:

“wait before making conclusions.”

When the idiom changes, the function disappears — even if the meaning remains.

The listener does not process:

push vs hold

The listener processes:

formula matched / formula broken

Why Reddit “Confirmed It”

Many learners test language online and receive answers like:

“Yeah, I get what he meant.”

This is often misunderstood as approval.

It is not approval.

It is comprehension.

Native speakers are extremely tolerant of understandable speech.
They will not correct a sentence that communicates successfully. But tolerance is not the same as naturalness.

Ask a different question:

“Would you yourself say this?”

And the answer changes immediately.

Understandable — yes.
Natural — no.

The Same Mechanism Explains a Much Older Mystery

Students often insist that two questions must mean two different things:

  • Where are you from?
  • Where do you come from?

Logically they should.

One uses be.
One uses come.
In many languages that distinction is meaningful.

In English it usually isn’t.

Both function as social opening signals — a polite way to identify someone’s country of origin. The verbs are no longer analyzed by native speakers during normal conversation. They are retrieved as ready-made conversational keys.

English frequently prioritizes communicative function over literal semantics.

This is why a logically perfect translation may sound foreign, while a structurally odd phrase may sound completely natural.

Grammar vs Belonging

This leads to a difficult realization for adult learners:

You can speak:

  • grammatically correct,
  • logically precise,
  • fully understandable English

and still not sound like a person who lives inside the language.

Because correctness in English is not defined only by rules.

It is defined by participation in shared speech patterns.

A native speaker is not recognized by perfect grammar.

A native speaker is recognized by automatic use of conventional forms.

The Real Role of Pronunciation and Phrasing

This is also why learners struggle when they travel abroad.
They may know vocabulary and grammar very well, but real conversations feel unexpectedly hard.

The issue is rarely knowledge.

The issue is expectation.

Learners expect language to behave like a system of meanings.
English often behaves like a system of social signals.

And signals must match exactly.

“Don’t push the horses” communicates an idea.

“Hold your horses” communicates membership.

That is the difference.

Final Thought

Language is not only a tool for transferring information.
It is a tool for recognizing who belongs inside the communicative culture.

When a learner says something logically correct but idiomatically unusual, native speakers do not reject the message. They simply detect that the speaker is standing just outside the linguistic community.

Fluency begins not when you stop making grammatical mistakes.

Fluency begins when you stop constructing sentences — and start using language the way a community already does.

Global Learning. Personal Approach.

— Tymur Levitin
Founder, Levitin Language School / Start Language School by Tymur Levitin
© Tymur Levitin

About the Author

Tymur Levitin is the founder of Levitin Language School / Start Language School by Tymur Levitin, an online language school working with students from more than 20 countries. His teaching method focuses on understanding language as a system of meaning, not memorization of rules.

Learn English or German online with a personal teacher:
https://levitinlanguageschool.com

International version (USA):
https://languagelearnings.com