Tongue tied abroad
If you’ve ever studied a language, you’ve heard the warnings. Don’t say you’re “embarazada” when you mean embarrassed, or you’ll quickly find yourself embarrassed to have announced your pregnancy. On the other hand, asking for “preservativos” when you want to preserve something will avoid that first problem – you’ve just ordered up some condoms.
False cognates are often called false friends, and with good reason. But what about the linguistic mishaps you can stumble upon without ever switching languages?
I’m completely bilingual in Spanish. Chilean Spanish, that is, with a sprinkling of whatever Central American slang entered my brain by osmosis after all those years in California. Which is why I giggled every time someone in Cuba gave us directions by telling us to “coger” a particular street. In many places, the verb means to take or pick up. In others, however, it means to have sex – with slightly more vulgar phrasing.
My English family laughed hysterically at Lake Tahoe’s Fanny Bridge – your fanny, rather than being your bottom, is the corresponding bit on the front side in England. Lovely. And of course people in the US might do a little head-tilt if an Aussie asks if anyone’s seen his thongs – that would be flip flops.
Even when you’ve got the right words, there’s the little matter of how to say them. England is the worst for this. Think of Worcestershire sauce – how does that combination of letters become Woostersher?
You can always spot the tourists in London. They’re the ones pouring over Rick Steves’ guide and suggesting to their friends that they should really go see Bucking-HAM Palace. Buckingum. Say Buckingum, friends, swallowing that last little syllable right down.
There honestly should be a free welcome class that helps you study English in London. Maybe a YouTube video attached to your e-ticket confirmation. Because while I know that Leceister is pronounced Lester, I merrily told my Dad and Jane that we were staying right by Hol-burn tube stop on our last visit to London. Jane kindly informed me I should be saying Hoburn. Silly gringa.
So spill. What language mishaps have you made, whether in a new language or your native tongue?
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I wouldn’t worry about Holburn – plenty of Londoners pronounce the L too. even tube drivers who really ought to know better. Marylebone is anothe rone that people don’t appear able to say properly.
Marylebone is a hard one! There are many more, I’m sure – hence my suggestion that there should be some kind of “welcome to London, here’s how to say things correctly” guide
In Germany I learned very quickly the difference between “Mir ist heiss” (I’m feeling hot) and “Ich bin heiss” (I need a man) after telling a guy in class that I needed a man :S
Same goes for “Ich habe frei” (I’m off) and “Ich bin frei” (I’m single). Yeah, you guessed it. I told some guy I wasn’t going to class because I was single…
Oh dear! I wonder if he thought you were going to use class time to hit up the local bars in an attempt to snag yourself a ma.
Hahaha. I love this. To be fair, Britain does have some silly names that we pronounce completely differently to how they’re spelt. I don’t blame the confusion.
I always mix up my pronunciations when it comes to Spanish – I still can’t perfect anything. Though I’d definitely be interested to see how my Mexican Spanish differs compared to that in Chile.
Will have to try it out one day.
Ohhhh, they’re two different creatures. I got As in all my college Spanish classes and barely understood a word my first couple weeks in Chile! You get used to it though, of course, and now I think Spanish speakers from pretty much everywhere else speak so slowly and clearly.