Well, it finally happened. I made a huge language blunder. Last week I told Jaci, our teacher, how excited we were that Rachel Perkins had made brownies for us. She had never heard of them and loves chocolate so I had the perfect excuse to use my oven! I baked a nice batch of brownies last night and brought them to class today to eat during our break time.
After the break, we were talking further about brownies. I told Jaci that I have seen brownies here in Salvador, both fresh and packaged. I tried to explain that packaged brownies aren't as good because they have so much other stuff in them. The English word I was thinking of was "preservatives". I guessed that this was a cognate and just changed the ending and said I don't like all the preservativos in packaged brownies. As soon as I said it, I realized my mistake. (If I hadn't realized right away that I'd said something wrong I would have quickly figured it out by looking at Jaci's face!) Preservativos is the word for condoms. I was looking for the word conservante. (For the record, I don't like either one in my brownies!) It took about five minutes for us to stop laughing. I'm a little relieved though- I know that making big and embarrassing mistakes is an inevitable part of language learning so I'm glad to finally have the first one out of the way!
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6 comments:
Mary, Jenn and I got a huge laugh out of reading your blog together, even though we already heard the story today at lunch! :)
I'm not sure how you stumbled onto my blog, but I appreciate you coming by and posting comments. I think you may be one of my few readers! :)
that is hysterical!!!!!
Hey Quireys! I got a great laugh out of your story! I'm sure I'll have lots of similar stories to share soon.
Hi Val! Remember me? I remember you, especially through certain classes we took together, during which I recorded quite a few memorable statements by professors and fellow students alike... ;o)
I'm glad I found your blog through the Martins! I've wondered what you've been up to the last few years, and I'm looking forward to reading about missions life in a non-European country!
Thanks for the fun language story. Gave me a good chuckle for the evening. ;o)
Talk to you later,
Courtney
Wow! People on at least three continents are laughing with me! (Or is it at me?) Glad to brighten your days! Today I had to ask how to say "bay". Duh, it's bahia, the name of our state!
And a big MTV-esque shout-out to you guys in Germany! I enjoy reading your blogs, too- it's interesting how similar and yet how completely different our experience are. Court, I would love to see that list of quotes if you still have it around! Kristi, good luck getting settled!
My mom made the same mistake with the word "preservatives" with her friend, Sylvia, from Bulgaria. Sylvia went into the other room and looked up "preservatives" in her Bularian/English dictionary and they both had a good laugh too!!
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