Embarrassing Moments – Ridiculous Foreign Language Mistakes
One of the things that often prevents us from practicing a new language is the fear of making a mistake. It is an obvious injury to your pride if someone laughs at you, or looks at you in bewilderment because while trying to ask for directions, you mistake the word “left” for the word “shirt.” However, this pride can sadly make you stay home and isolate yourself. If you can dare to allow yourself to make mistakes and risk being laughed at, you will learn much more than you will at home. Okay, watching TV in a foreign language is a great way to learn it, but it doesn’t correct your grammar accent. In the spirit of trying to cheer you up, I will share with you some of my own “traumatic” experiences with mistakes in a foreign language. Hopefully, you will see that you will at least have tons of fun stories to tell for years to come.
London England – I studied at the London School of Economics in 1990 and I considered myself quite intelligent. Since I am an American and have spoken this language all my life, I assumed that American and English are exactly the same language, so I never expected to encounter problems with the language when I lived there. I was very honored when my friends and I got lost one night trying to find Gloucester Road. We ran into a cop so I thought he would be a good person to ask.
“Excuse me sir, could you tell me where we are going to get to Gloucester Road?” I asked.
The policeman laughed hysterically. It was a lot of fun, because I assumed that all London policemen were very, very serious. This one, however, practically burst out laughing. I didn’t quite get the joke, until he corrected my pronunciation, “‘Glow-chester’ Road? There is no such place. But if you mean ‘Gloster’ Road, it’s just down and to the right.”
Paris France. I was in a pharmacy and found a man frantically searching the shelves. He couldn’t find what he needed, so he approached the pharmacist and I heard him say, in broken French: “Ah, pour ma femme. Ou est les douches?” I understood that he wanted a feminine product for his wife, but he left the pharmacist scratching his head trying to understand why she might help him find the showers. I jumped in and helped the man get what he needed, and we laughed a lot in the process.
Strasbourg and Louvieres, France – I have two French host families and one summer I visited them both, starting in Strasbourg. I’m always eager to learn new slang, so I loved it when my family in Strasbourg taught me the word “tarre”, which means, as they explained, “fool”, or as I like to joke with good friends, “you are retarded” like in “you’re a fool!” we laughed delightedly, and every time he said the word, everyone was having a lot of fun. So, I went to the wedding of one of my host sisters in Normandy. They asked me to get up in a chair and make a speech.
Naturally, I wanted to share how much I loved everyone present and make them laugh, so I announced: “Les Francais, vous etes tous tarres, et je vous aime greatly!” I loved telling them that I loved their nonsense. Unfortunately, I learned that, just like in the US, different regions have different definitions for the same word. In Normandy, calling someone “tarre” implies that you are the child of a medically retarded parent and therefore have mental problems. Very insulting. Fortunately, only one member of my host family took the offense seriously and was not overly eager to talk to me for a while, but I will never forget or misuse that word again!
Paris France. When I was working in Paris, one of the Marketing Directors working in our New York office visited our Paris hub for a presentation to a group of Americans. The manager was French, but had an excellent command of the English language. Well, mostly. I was invited to listen to his presentation and he was very excited about an idea that he wanted to emphasize. I wanted to underline its importance with the phrase “the belly of the beast.” Instead, it came out of his mouth, “… and this idea came from the bowels of the beast. “There was not a single dry eye on the table and it was impossible to stop laughing for at least five minutes. Then he had a rapt audience, hanging on his every word, hoping to make another mistake.
This is what these experiences taught me:
Laughter is universal. In fact, making someone laugh can be a bonding experience.
Mistakes help you learn. I often remember words because I can remember one of my many funny stories and the person who corrects my grammar or pronunciation. Therefore, the greater the impact of your mistake, the more likely you are to speak better the next time.
Friends will forgive you. If you make a really dramatic mistake and end up saying something insulting, your friends will understand and forgive you.