From the article: Embarrassing Moments
When we begin speaking a foreign language with native speakers, it's inevitable that we will make mistakes. After all, making mistakes is a vital part of learning a language. But sometimes those mistakes can be embarrassing. Here is the place where you can share your misery — and look forward to better times. Share Your Story
Not that kind of "to go"
- A few weeks after I started taking Spanish classes, my teacher gave us the verb "ir" and told us that it meant "to go" in English. I went to a Mexican restaurant and when the waitress asked if my order was "for here or to go," I said, "Ir." I learned that isn't how to get take-out in Spanish.
- —Guest Dave
Baking a chicken
- When I was young my family had a Spanish tutor from Cuba. He was very courteous and correct, very old-fashioned. He arrived at our home one evening and dinner was in the oven. He said to my mom, "Algo huele rico." My mom wanted to say, "Tengo un pollo horneando," but instead said, "Tengo un pollo orinando." We still say that we need to bake a chicken when we need to go to the bathroom.
- —kathyredmon
Always a male pregnant person ...
- "iSoy embarazado!" should have been "Estoy embarazada."
- —Guest Sra Ruark
coger un taxi
- As a student in Mexico I said to my Mexican buddies, "Tenemos prisa ... vamos a coger un taxi." They roared and explained that in Mexico "coger" means to have intercourse. "Coger un taxi" is quite acceptable in Spain.
- —Guest in a hurry to call a taxi
"Hielo" vs. "yellow"
- When I was studying in Spain, my friends and I were in a public restroom when one of my friends had a nosebleed. A kind Spanish woman kept yelling at my friend, "hielo, hielo!" We thought that she was referring to my friend's blonde (yellow) hair. Later, we realized how stupid that was of us, since the woman only spoke Spanish and would not have been saying "yellow"! Apparently, we hadn't learned the Spanish word for ice ("hielo") yet.
- —Guest embarrassing moments
I'm so excited!
- When I was just learning Spanish, I was in a staff meeting for the Spanish department at the conservative nonprofit where I worked. I had struggled to understand the context of the meeting and heard my name a number of times without entirely understanding what I was hearing. So my brain was already on overload and I was exhausted from all the straining to make sense of the conversation. The time came for me to share -- which I had to do in Spanish! -- about my area and I wanted to say how excited I was to be a part of the team. However, I ended up saying how aroused I was to be a part of the team! Emocionada = excited... not the obvious! Oops! It was terribly embarrassing, but thankfully it was forgiven by my laughing co-workers. I am also collecting stories of embarrassing Spanish learning moments on the MESS wall at www.hablaespanolnow.com/mess-wall/ Please come share your story if you have time.
- —hablaespanolnow
Susie
- I was living in Southern Spain and had visited the local market to buy some new soft furnishings for my home. I approached a stallholder and asked for "cinco cojones por favor". The stallholder and a few onlookers fell about laughing as I realised I had asked for five testicles instead of cinco cojines, which would have been five cushions for my sofa.
- —Guest Susie
Two letters make a difference
- On my first visit to Mexico I stayed with an elderly family. They asked what my wife did for a living and smiled when I told them my wife was enferma. Of course, what she really is is an enfermera.
- —Guest Ricardo
Eyes or holes?
- As a school nurse i had to tell a parent that the child had conjunctivitis and Ifelt confident. So why did I say: Su hijo tiene un infección en los oyos.
- —arelbage
Wrong utensil
- Showing off to my girlfriend 8 years ago, in a Mexican restaurant I ordered flan for a shared dessert and since I had no fork, I went ahead and asked the waitress for a cuchillo. She looked at me oddly but dutifully brought the cuchillo along with the flan. Suddenly realizing my error, I proceeded to use the cuchillo, to the amazement of the waitress and my girlfriend, as if I had actually meant to order it instead of un tenedor.
- —Guest David
What about José?
- Many years ago, as an adult, I attended a Spanish class along with a coworker of mine. At the first session the teacher was going over the Spanish alphabet for us. Among other things, we were told that the letter H is silent. My co-worker, who knew no Spanish at all, began to argue with her. She kept saying the H is silent and he kept saying it is not. Suddenly, in what he thought was great triumph, he said, "Well, what about José?" You can imagine how he felt when it was explained to him that José is spelled with a J rather than with an H!
- —GrannyAuntPat
Heavy on the ear
- In a shop in Spain I asked for a batería for my hearing aid. The assistant had a laugh and then advised that I should find una pila.
- —geoffreyjohn
Embarrassed or pregnant? Excited or ...
- In high school I was called up in front of the entire school and was asked questions in Spanish. I meant to say that I was embarrassed, but instead I said "Estoy embarazada," which means "I am pregnant." Later, in college, I learned that "excitada" does NOT mean "excited." Well I guess it does, but in a different sense!
- —hartabraham
Full of it
- My brother brought his two young daughters to my new house when I moved in with my Spanish-speaking boyfriend. My youngest niece was obviously shy and hid behind her father. Trying to show off my newly learned Spanish, I said, "Está bien, ella tiene m----." My boyfriend broke out into hysterical laughter, as did everyone else, when he told them I'd said she was full of "it" instead of her being afraid!
- —Guest Kangiska
Pescado vs. pecado
- When in Mexico my wife saw some brightly colored pictures painted on wooden fish. On a subsequent visit, she said our Mexican friends, "Yo quiero comprar cinco pecados brillantes." Everyone laughed. Now more slowly and deliberately she said he same thing. We laughed and told her that she was trying to buy "five bright sins," not five bright fish.
- —halfasandwich
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