I Am Not Fluent Yet
I speak several languages haltingly. But learning a language means making mistakes so it is good to have a sense of humor.
Languages can be confusing. From my Italian friends, I got in the habit of saying ‘Chin-chin’ like ‘Cheers’ or ‘A votre sante’ (to your health) when drinking. So when I went to a Tokyo party, I lifted my glass at the table and said ‘Chin-chin’. Everybody started laughing. In Japanese it means a man’s staff (organ? sword? )
At another party, as someone was trying to get me to eat, I said ‘Atashi wa oppai desu.’ Everybody laughed. What I should have said was ‘Atashi wa ippai desu’ (I am full). What I had actually said was ‘I am big-breasted’.
Another time, instead of inviting a guest to please sit down (suwari nasai) I’ve asked him to please touch me (sawari nasai). He tried.
A shop clerk turned white when I told her I wanted to buy a ‘seifu’ (condom) instead of a ‘saifu’ wallet.
I also speak broken French.
In a Paris store, I was trying to ask in French where I could find some hair accessories. The clerk said ‘We do not have those.‘ I pointed to my hair. “Mademoiselle” she said icily “you want hair (cheveux) accessories, not horse (chevaux) accessories”
In France they have the most delicious cream puffs, called ‘choux creme’. However,in NY, when I asked a cabbie where I could buy some, he drove me to a shoe store. He thought I wanted shoe cream. I don’t think English was his first language either. Or French.
My friend is teaching me many English slang ex
For example, he taught me that p****d in British means drunk but in American it means angry. He also told me that ‘loo’ means toilet in British, also ‘WC’ which means ‘water closet’. But for some reason, you can’t mix the two and say ‘water loo’.
My friend says that Americans are shy to say ‘toilet’ so they call it anything else they can: restroom, bathroom, ladies’/gentlemen’s room or even powder room.
A good way to remember vocabulary is by association. For example for powder room, I imagine a cowboy movie. A woman goes into a back room in a saloon to load her little purse pistol with gun powder. Then if she catches her boyfriend cheating on her (my friend explained this doesn’t mean cheat at playing cards ) she can shoot him.
I find you can learn a lot more valuable language points from friends than from books, don’t you think?
