Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

mbenoist · Joined: 28 Jul 2004 Posts: 3

Do you make funny mistakes while practicing English? Almost everyone who learns a new language does. I am a writer from the United States working on a story about funny moments native Spanish and Portuguese speakers have had while practicing English. I thought it may be a good subject for a post here. If anyone has a good story to share, write it down and hopefully we can all learn from it. If yours gets published, I'll send you a copy of the magazine. Please include your name and native country with your story. Hope everyone is ready for a good laugh. Very Happy

BASMA · Joined: 28 Jul 2004 Posts: 17

mbenoist
VERY NICE SUBJECT .... AND FUNNY IN THE SAME TIME ..
I HAVE ALOT OF FUNNY MOMENT ESPACIALLY BECAUSE IM ARABIC ... Laughing

IM GANNA COLLECT THESE MOMENT AND I WILL COMEBACK HERE TO WRITE IT ... Laughing

THANX ALOT Mr mbenoist... Embarassed

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LATER...

mbenoist · Joined: 28 Jul 2004 Posts: 3

Thanks Basma,

I hope other people would like to share their funny moments too. Especially people who speak Spanish and Portuguese. I think it will be interesting.

I have one to get us started. When I was in studying in Madrid, I went to talk to three Spanish girls. They said something I didn't understand, so I said: "No entendi. Tengo problemas con la lengua," which means "I didn't understand. I have trouble with my toungue." I intended to say "I didn't understand. I have trouble with the lenguage." When I realized my mistake I grabbed my toungue and said, "I have a problems with my toungue because it is so big." They thought it was funny, but I was a little embarrassed. Laughing

Daniel Borges de Menezes · Joined: 02 Aug 2004 Posts: 1

This massege goes to begining English students that want to translate everything they listen in English.
In Brasil some people uses expressions like "On c� vai" that in a correct form woul be "Onde voc� vai"
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wangzijing0910 · Joined: 03 Aug 2004 Posts: 5 Location: Shenzhen,China

It was not a long time for me to practise my oral English.
My teacher was from Guyana .Once she asked us " Is it acceptable for you to be kissed left hand or right hand by a gentleman if you were in a party of other country?" Maybe our oral English was not good and we were very nervous . At that time,a young man stood up and replied "I will use my left hand to kiss my right hand!"
As you know,all of us were astonished .And then,we laughed and laughed...
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I wish I met the sincere friens here,and we can grow up !

alexandra · Joined: 23 Nov 2003 Posts: 24

Hi, I'm from Brazil and obviously speak portuguese. I got confused everytime I had to use either "pull" or "push". It's funny because, in portuguese, "pull" means "puxar" wich sounds quite similarly with "push". So, once I was in front of this door in the mall, and on it had an sticker: "push". Then I started to pull the door with all my strength... Wink

lolly · Joined: 01 Sep 2004 Posts: 10

mbenoist,
I really liked ur subject Smile

. I have been in many funny situations, but let me recall them first and I'll come back here soon Laughing