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Embarrasing Language Mistakes / Voyage
Part of the fun when visiting foreign lands is trying out the local language. In most places, folks will be delighted that you’re making an effort and will support your halting attempts. However, some common linguistic mistakes often trip up well-intentioned travellers. To save you from being accidentally hilarious, we’ve put together a list of the most frequent errors:
"I’m so pregnant!’ Speaking in Spanish can trap Anglophones easily – especially as there are so many Spanish-English cognates. Normal = ‘normal’; actividad = ‘activity’; barra = ‘bar’. How hard can this be? Well, Spanish is also full of amigos falsos (false cognates). The classic one is embarazada, which means ‘pregnant’ rather than ‘embarrassed’. You can imagine how common the scenario is: traveller makes a silly mistake, then compounds it by exclaiming Estoy tan embarazada (‘I’m so pregnant!’). Do the right thing and say Me da vergüenza when you’re embarrassed or ashamed.
‘You’re sure gonna miss me.’ Parting is such sweet sorrow, but it can be even more sorrowful when you’re unintentionally boastful or cavalier. That’s a risk in France, where the verb manquer (‘to miss’) actually means ‘to be missed’ in certain constructions. So when you’re making your farewells, remember not to say Je te manque, which would mean ‘You miss me’; go instead with Tu me manques, which is far less egotistical.
‘Let’s drink some genitalia!’ This one’s straightforward. Many Anglophiles adopt the Italian custom of saying ‘chin chin!’ during a toast (actually cin cin in Italy). Pretentious? Maybe. Disastrous? Well, yes – if you’re in Japan, where ‘chin chin’ refers to the genital...
Продолжение читайте в журнале English4U №3 (март 2011) на который можно подписаться или купить здесь.
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