Bilingual

[expat]

I had one of those priceless moments yesterday in the park with my children. As many of you know, my wife is Germany so my children had grown up speaking both languages. They were both fluent by the age of five. The oldest has started to read English, he has just turned eight and is quite proud that he can read two languages. So, back to yesterday, walking around the park we were talking about English after someone had noted that they could chop and change between English and German like it was the most natural thing in the world. At this point, my oldest turns to me and says, "it's fun being able to read English too, look it says f#ck off on that wall". Well he was right, it did, in large spray painted letters. Not a lot I could say really except explain that it was a word that should not be used by a small boy........Thanks local teenagers :-?

Matt

[ozzy72]

Painful but I know the feeling. My daughter is are rather pretentious 6 year old at the moment and now criticises my accent when I'm speaking Hungarian

[expat]

Painful but I know the feeling. My daughter is are rather pretentious 6 year old at the moment and now criticises my accent when I'm speaking Hungarian

Know how you feel, my youngest who is six corrected my pronunciation of a German word a few days ago. Not the end of the world, but it was in public much to the amusment of those around me. By the time we got home, it was too late to beat him to a pulp

[Hagar]

Painful but I know the feeling. My daughter is are rather pretentious 6 year old at the moment and now criticises my accent when I'm speaking Hungarian

That's nothing. My 5 year-old granddaughter criticises my pronunciation in English. I've only been speaking the language for 65 years or so. The trouble is she's right.

My daughter [glow=yellow,2,300]is are[/glow] rather pretentious 6 year old

Wait till she starts correcting your spelling.

[whitley]

That reminds me of an embarrassing faux pas I made shortly after I started working in Germany.

I was invited to go shooting at the local gun club range which was in an old stne quarry deep in a woods. At the time my vocabulary was very limited and I didn't know the words I needed, so I improvised with the few words I did know.

When I was asked where I was going, I meant to say I am going shooting in the woods (not knowing the words for quarry, club etc), but what actually came out was I am going for a sh*t in the woods  [smiley=embarassed.gif]

[Romulus111VADT]

[quote]That reminds me of an embarrassing faux pas I made shortly after I started working in Germany.

I was invited to go shooting at the local gun club range which was in an old stne quarry deep in a woods. At the time my vocabulary was very limited and I didn't know the words I needed, so I improvised with the few words I did know.

When I was asked where I was going, I meant to say I am going shooting in the woods (not knowing the words for quarry, club etc), but what actually came out was I am going for a sh*t in the woods

[expat]

[quote]That reminds me of an embarrassing faux pas I made shortly after I started working in Germany.

I was invited to go shooting at the local gun club range which was in an old stne quarry deep in a woods. At the time my vocabulary was very limited and I didn't know the words I needed, so I improvised with the few words I did know.

When I was asked where I was going, I meant to say I am going shooting in the woods (not knowing the words for quarry, club etc), but what actually came out was I am going for a sh*t in the woods

[ozzy72]

I remember making a similar faux pas in Hungary with a large group of friends at a wine tasting at a VERY posh vineyard. Due to some rather poor understanding of Hungarian grammar I used all the correct words I knew to announce how hot I was feeling (t'was about 40'C), trouble is in Hungarian doing it the way I did it means I announced to the room that I was a raging botty bandit You could have heard a gnat fart!

[Ivan]

My girlfriend was raised bilingual, Dutch is her third language. When her familiy gets a visit from people of her home country, they first agree on which language to talk in before starting a discussion

[expat]

I remember making a similar faux pas in Hungary with a large group of friends at a wine tasting at a VERY posh vineyard. Due to some rather poor understanding of Hungarian grammar I used all the correct words I knew to announce how hot I was feeling (t'was about 40'C), trouble is in Hungarian doing it the way I did it means I announced to the room that I was a raging botty bandit You could have heard a gnat fart!

Had a similar experience when I first started to learn German. My wife's octogenarian grandmother asked me how I was. If was a warm day, so I told her I was hot. The problem being, I translated directly from English to German word for word. However when done that way, I informed her I was pretty much ready for sex with her My wife dived in to save my modesty and bring grandma's blood pressure down

Matt

[Romulus111VADT]

I remember making a similar faux pas in Hungary with a large group of friends at a wine tasting at a VERY posh vineyard. Due to some rather poor understanding of Hungarian grammar I used all the correct words I knew to announce how hot I was feeling (t'was about 40'C), trouble is in Hungarian doing it the way I did it means I announced to the room that I was a raging botty bandit You could have heard a gnat fart!

Had a similar experience when I first started to learn German. My wife's octogenarian grandmother asked me how I was. If was a warm day, so I told her I was hot. The problem being, I translated directly from English to German word for word. However when done that way, I informed her I was pretty much ready for sex with her My wife dived in to save my modesty and bring grandma's blood pressure down

Matt

Hmm, wonder why I had a flashback of Buddy Love (Eddie Murphy) and his hot tube scene with grandma?  [smiley=evil.gif]

The part with the dentures about did me in.....

[expat]

I remember making a similar faux pas in Hungary with a large group of friends at a wine tasting at a VERY posh vineyard. Due to some rather poor understanding of Hungarian grammar I used all the correct words I knew to announce how hot I was feeling (t'was about 40'C), trouble is in Hungarian doing it the way I did it means I announced to the room that I was a raging botty bandit You could have heard a gnat fart!

Had a similar experience when I first started to learn German. My wife's octogenarian grandmother asked me how I was. If was a warm day, so I told her I was hot. The problem being, I translated directly from English to German word for word. However when done that way, I informed her I was pretty much ready for sex with her My wife dived in to save my modesty and bring grandma's blood pressure down

Matt

Hmm, wonder why I had a flashback of Buddy Love (Eddie Murphy) and his hot tube scene with grandma?

[ozzy72]

But if they take their teeth out in advance it chaffs a LOT less I'm reliably informed

[expat]

But if they take their teeth out in advance it chaffs a LOT less I'm reliably informed

I am tying with my nose after chopping my fingers off with a rusty knife. I would not trust them to type a reply that would not get me banned.........

Matt

[ozzy72]

Matt, the only difference between myself and a kidney dialysis machine is shape. We both do the same job