Classic miscommunications

It's gotten crispy outside. We've had highs around 8C and it feels like winter is coming. Soon. Photo by Robert Corkery.

In Swedish class today, we spent a lot of time laughing about mistakes you make in learning a new language. I explained the common error in Spanish class was always: estoy embarazada. To an English speaker, this seems like you  might be saying that you are embarrassed. In fact, you are saying that you are pregnant which is probably not what you wanted to say at all.

As for Swedish, I make mistakes all the time. But I’m learning. To survive, I laugh a lot. I have to. And I even got a nice compliment on my Swedish at a store. (I think she was just humoring me.)

I heard a Swedish expression recently that has become my new favorite: rund under fötterna. If I was to translate it literally , it would mean round under your feet. Obviously, that makes no sense. The actual meaning of the phrase is to be drunk. You would use the phrase like this: Peter var verkligen rund under fötterna i Lördags! And that means that Peter was really drunk last Saturday. Now, isn’t that good?

Tagged as: learning a new language, Learning Swedish