But unlike Episode 1 (see Advice Part 7 ), this date turned into a disaster because of me.....
My advice to young players is- if you are on a date, and speak a second language VERY poorly, DO NOT use the date as an opportunity to practice your skills. Unless your aim is for the date to finish VERY quickly.....
Case in point. I have been learning Spanish for around a year now, and despite my best attempts, I am still struggling to get past "Hola" (Hello) and "Necesito comprar un caballo para esta noche, por favor" (I need to buy a horse for tonight, please- apparently, this phrase is very useful in Peru. Hmmm).
Anyway, a few months ago, I went out with a guy who had lived in South America for a year, and could speak Spanish fluently. The evening seemed to be going well (i.e. he hadn't beat a hasty escape through the toilet window), and so, after (more than) a few drinks, I decided to "impress him" with my fantastic knowledge of español.
Wanting to be creative, I decided to branch out from "Hola", and instead tell him that I thought he was very tidy.
Sounds easy, right? Err, wrong....
See, in my Spanish class, we typically practice our words in pairs. The teacher says "blanco" (white), and we say "negro" (black). Teacher says "gordo" (fat), we say "delgado" (thin). You can probably guess where this story is heading.....
I attempted to tell said gentleman "You are very clean", and I instead said "You are very dirty." He looked a bit shocked, and said "muy sucio?" (very dirty?). "Si, muy, muy sucio!" (Yes, very, very dirty!), I exclaimed enthusiastically.
Needless to say, when I realised my error (2 days later), I was MORTIFIED. Still, at least I didn't try and cover my mistake by telling him I was "embarazada" (pregnant)
You could take up writing comedy sketches, Helen!
ReplyDeleteSounds like at least a partially successful date, it made you think more about your Spanish. The dating disasters are entertaining - I hope you find the balance where you're neither disappointed if a date goes badly (because there's got to be something amusing you can write about it on your blog) nor disappointed if a date goes too well to blog about (because you had a good time, obviously).
ReplyDelete@John Young- Thanks very much!
ReplyDelete@Beaver- Yes, to be honest, it was actually a pretty successful date. He didn't really take offence, and I think he believed I was being facetious. I agree, disastrous dates are a proverbial double edged sword- the provide good blogging material, but I'd prefer to have non-disastrous encounters. I'm glad to say that the last date I went on was much more successful!