Quote:
Originally Posted by omk3
I loved the bellen misunderstanding. 
I learned German before I learned English, long time ago. In an English oral exam, I wanted to say something about going to the islands in a boat. I could not for the life of me remember the English word, but I could remember the German Boot, and it sounded almost right, so I ended up saying that I go to the islands in a boot  . As I got very high marks, I guess the examiner thought I was just using a mancunian accent or something!
Another word that must cause humorous misunderstandings is embarazada, in Spanish. It is the same word as embarrassed, but it seems in Spanish it is mainly used to mean 'pregnant'. I imagine there are many situations where someone innocently wants to proclaim her embarrassment and ends up getting congratulations or weird looks. |
Yes, I remember a teacher of mine (in high school) telling me about how she tried to tell a Spaniard that she was "embarazada" about something, and was really surprised when enthusiastically congratulated her... until she went home and looked the word up in a dictionary
