This feature publicizes the week's most epic/memorable/blush-inducing language fails.
1.) ...trying to tell my mentor that "tienes que bailar esta
noche, sabes." ("You have to dance tonight, you know.") When I speak
quickly, proper pronunciation goes by the wayside and things can get a
bit hairy. In this situation, "bailar" became "balar," which means
"baaaa," like a sheep.
2.) ...while working on vocabulary with my fifth-graders, we
came across the word "beach," which induced back-of-the-classroom
laughter. English-language learners are infamous for confusing the pronunciations of
"beach" and "b****," so I figured the juvenile chuckling was related to that. I launched into a spiel about how "beach" is not a
"palabrota" (bad word) and how the pronunciation of minimal pairs
completely changes the meaning of the words. The teacher and the
students were noticeably confused by my sudden soapbox lesson and what
had initiated it. Turns out a kid in the back had accidentally written
"beach" on his name tag instead of his name. There was no "palabrota"
confusion. Awkward.
3). ...I'd nominate this label for the worst Spanish-English
translation of the year. It's certainly the worst I've seen in person.
This doozy of a disaster comes from the label of a sauce my roommate
brought home from the Canary Islands.
I'm no professional, but the translation
should be
something like, "'Mojo rojo' is a red sauce typical of the Canary Islands that's
used with meats, fish, vegetables, roasted cornmeal, baked potatoes,
etc."
Here's to being entertained by shaming myself and others.
Un saludo,
Teresa
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