I find it funny the way that people can have conversations and misunderstand everything and sometimes without knowing it.
Yesterday I was going to my friends’ house (he is American). We talked about his’ work on a boat and then he showed me a picture and say “this is where I was mate”. I thought he said “made” and start laughing and said: “Wow funny! tell me the story… guess your parents had fun”.. He just looked at me as if I was a retard and then I said again “yeah I mean if you were made on this boat, I guess your parents are wild animals”… Then he really looked strange at me and explained to me that this was where he was a captain and that had absolutely nothing to do with his parents being wild animals… I just went “aaaah yeah, sorry about that”… that was so embarrassing! Language can sometimes cause some strange situations!
Mette, I laughed at your story and I do hope he eventually laughed as well! It is embarrassing but it does happen, even when we all speak the same language. Yes, language can be strange. Indeed, think about all the confusing words in the English language. Words that sound alike but have different meanings: here vs hear. There vs Their. Witch vs which. weather vs whether - and the list goes on and on! So you are not alone and I do hope he understood :) (PS. This is your prof. For some reason Google+ is only allowing me to post as my roller derby team - I do their social media advertising).
SvarSletThanks for your sympathy; it is sometimes so awkward when there is a language difference. Luckily, Americans are very understanding and that makes me try even harder. I like the way that the American culture embraces foreigners when they try to speak English. In Denmark we have many foreigners as well but we are sometimes making jokes when they make mistakes and I think that can sometimes be a barrier for people trying to learn a new language.
SvarSletYou are an advertiser?...Advertising is interesting! My major is marketing management which deals a lot with advertising as well. Sounds like you have found yourself a nice job there!!! I envy you.
It's very funny and I think everybody who is living overseas would probably have this problem. English is very huge and pronunciation can leads to misunderstanding especially when they say it quickly. I was not born in the US, but I've been living in US for more than 20 years. Sometimes I still find it hard to understand exactly what they say. ;). It's nice to read it. I see myself in your story.
SvarSlet