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Tag Archives: Language
Strayan
G’day mates! Thought a little lesson in Strayan wouldn’t be such a bad idea…
Now, it’s soon time for ripper brekky, maybe with some avo (hey, they left that one out…)
Baby Cry – Did You Know…
… That Babies’ cries can sound different in different languages?
How To Speak Australian
Nope, they didn’t make us take a “how to speak Australian” course in order to get our citizenship. But I have to say it takes a little while to get used to the Australian English after moving here. Especially to realize what all the abbreviations actually mean. Here is a short and sweet “How To” for the ones of you interested.
If you ever travel to Australia also be aware that certain things have different meanings. So let’s say you get invited to join an office Barbie it doesn’t mean that you join a blond woman. You got invited to a Barbeque. If you ask then what you should wear because you might be slightly confused if it’s a casual event or not and they tell that it’s okay to be casual but to be safe wear your leather thongs then don’t get scared… It’s okay… It’s not what you think it is. Down here we call flipflops thongs…
And by the way: They not only call McDonalds Macca’s down here, it’s actually officially labeled as Macca’s in certain places…
A Small Embarrasing Lie, also known as my start in business
One for my ‘I Can English Wednesday’ 😉
My first business lunch after graduating college took place at the Harvard Club in New York. This would be part of my indoctrination into the world of high profile business affairs. The meeting would afford us the opportunity to find out about the computer services being offered by one of the premier companies in the United States. For them it would be a way to pitch the company’s services and secure our lucrative business.
My first error was in expecting Harvard Club to be in Cambridge, MA. I fancied flying by shuttle in the morning, and back that afternoon. Alas, the club was only a taxi ride away from our offices in downtown Manhattan.
My big error came during lunch. The menu was in French, a language completely foreign to me. Rather than admitting ignorance, when John, my boss, volunteered to help me navigate my way through the choices, I…
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Green behind the ears
A little story that fits my “I Can English Wednesday” Event… Thought that was funny 😉
After a year of learning English something unexpected and embarrassing happened at school. Another Spanish-speaking student had just arrived to our school, and Mrs. Brown assigned me to be his interpreter. Our school’s gym class consisted of square dancing in the basement to the sound of 78-rpm vinyl country music recordings. Jorge and I went downstairs, and were encouraged to join the group.
In South America we had never seen square dancing, and had no notion of promenade or dosey-do. Whereas the scene totally confused me, Jorge found it immensely amusing. He began smiling ear-to-ear. Mrs. Brown saw us frozen at the entrance and sternly commanded to Jorge “Wipe that grin off your face!” Since Jorge did not understand I stepped in and said to him “Quítese el verde de la cara“, which means “wipe the green off your face”. I did not know the difference between grin…
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Cock Please
Saw this yesterday while reading through your posts in my reader. Thought it would be a good addition to my “I Can English Wednesday” Blog Event. If you have a funny story to tell about an English word in a different way and that leading to a funny situation, let me know or simply link it to the “I Can English Wednesday” page on my blog.
I’ve been asked to provide five possible short stories, which display language errors – for a Korean made English language book – I suppose the aim is to point out possible mistakes that could be made, so that English learners don’t have to make them personally! Anyway, I have to get them done by Sunday! Phew, that’s a lot of work! So yeah, rough and ready; here is the 1st of 5:
Every once in a while, as Korean work culture dictates – the boss will take all of his employees out for a staff dinner. The set menu of this occasion is usually something like; meal, drinks, more drinking, karaoke, more drinking, then slump back to bed wishing you hadn’t had those last few soju shots. It’s a well established formula, and always makes for gossip fueled dramas, as well as silly memories among your work colleagues. Some people…
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Would You Like To Share Your Story? – I Can English
It is probably because my first language is not English that I find myself very often in situations, where I just use words in a way they should not be used and that creates some strange moments and some laughter.
I thought, why not making a reoccurring event out of my stories and hopefully you will join in on them. I know for some of you the first language is another one than English or you live in another country and the different language might lead to funny situations…
How about you join me and write a post about something you experienced, link it back to this page and tag it with “I Can English”
Check out the stories so far here.
Thank you so much for you participation 😉
Language – Did You Know…
… That, if you believe “Lonely Planet The World”, Mandarin (14%), Spanish (6.2%) and English (5.4%) are the Worlds top 3 Languages? In comparison: Only 1.1% of the World’s population speaks French. And only 0.0007% speak Swiss German (just in case you wanted to know…)
