My first post in September!
For those following to see what my life is like here, it's been pretty relaxed, not anything special since my trip. The girls start school next week, so we have been hanging out at home. I've also been on the job hunt for a second job and had some job interviews but that's another post.
Today's post focuses on the mistakes(the funniest ones) that I have experienced thus far.
Moment #1: The difference between Beer, Bear, and Beard
This happened when I had been here for about 2 weeks, I may have mentioned it in my post about Port Adventura. I was standing in the line for a ride with A and JC, A's brother in law. JC had never spoken English with someone who spoke it as a first language, so he was having difficulty understanding "my accent". This was my first experience with someone calling the way I speak an accent, having lived on the West Coast my whole life, I never thought that I was the one with an accent.
Anyway, JC had been asking a number of questions of how to say certain words, what the difference between the words and the funniest one was this(it has become a bit of a joke): What is the difference between beer, bear, and beard. Now the way he said the words, it all sounded the same. So, I used hand motions and put stress on the parts of the words that make them different. You can see them below, and the captions represent the part of the word I stressed.
We still make jokes about it, and I have since made a tongue twister with the words to help them practice, and to give to JC the next it we see him. I also added the word "Bird" as per the request of A and E.
"The bearded bear drank beer with a bird". Say that five times fast!
Moment #2: Misunderstanding one word changes the meaning.
Recently, I've been looking at a pharmacy for a certain kind of medication I take. Since it doesn't exist in the same brand, I had to go and ask. On my way out, I let A know where I was going and what I needed to get. He looked generally concerned.
Turns out he misheard me and thought I had said "I'm pregnant and need to go the pharmacy." He later told me his first thought was "Who's gonna tell Lisa's Mom?"
It was funny, if not a little embarrassing. But on the bright side, I found exactly what I needed! And it is much cheaper here than in the States. My Spanish was a little wonky, but the lady knew what I needed by the package I handed her.
Moment #3: Mixing Up Words
One of the things I do is help set the table for dinner every night. One evening, we were doing business as usual and A asked me to go get the "Kidnappers". What he meant was the "napkins". I explained to him what a "kidnapper" is in English.
Mixing up words is actually pretty common for people learning English, and the "nap" is in both sentences, with the a vowel being the same for both words. This is probably the second most common error that gets made when using conversational English. The first is pronunciation.
For those following to see what my life is like here, it's been pretty relaxed, not anything special since my trip. The girls start school next week, so we have been hanging out at home. I've also been on the job hunt for a second job and had some job interviews but that's another post.
Today's post focuses on the mistakes(the funniest ones) that I have experienced thus far.
Moment #1: The difference between Beer, Bear, and Beard
This happened when I had been here for about 2 weeks, I may have mentioned it in my post about Port Adventura. I was standing in the line for a ride with A and JC, A's brother in law. JC had never spoken English with someone who spoke it as a first language, so he was having difficulty understanding "my accent". This was my first experience with someone calling the way I speak an accent, having lived on the West Coast my whole life, I never thought that I was the one with an accent.
Anyway, JC had been asking a number of questions of how to say certain words, what the difference between the words and the funniest one was this(it has become a bit of a joke): What is the difference between beer, bear, and beard. Now the way he said the words, it all sounded the same. So, I used hand motions and put stress on the parts of the words that make them different. You can see them below, and the captions represent the part of the word I stressed.
 |
| bEER |
 |
| bEAR |
 |
| beaRD |
"The bearded bear drank beer with a bird". Say that five times fast!
Moment #2: Misunderstanding one word changes the meaning.
Recently, I've been looking at a pharmacy for a certain kind of medication I take. Since it doesn't exist in the same brand, I had to go and ask. On my way out, I let A know where I was going and what I needed to get. He looked generally concerned.
Turns out he misheard me and thought I had said "I'm pregnant and need to go the pharmacy." He later told me his first thought was "Who's gonna tell Lisa's Mom?"
It was funny, if not a little embarrassing. But on the bright side, I found exactly what I needed! And it is much cheaper here than in the States. My Spanish was a little wonky, but the lady knew what I needed by the package I handed her.
Moment #3: Mixing Up Words
One of the things I do is help set the table for dinner every night. One evening, we were doing business as usual and A asked me to go get the "Kidnappers". What he meant was the "napkins". I explained to him what a "kidnapper" is in English.
Mixing up words is actually pretty common for people learning English, and the "nap" is in both sentences, with the a vowel being the same for both words. This is probably the second most common error that gets made when using conversational English. The first is pronunciation.
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