NationStates Jolt Archive

I just got this from another teacher here in Japan:

Remember, in Japanese, the 'r' and 'l' sounds are combined.

For info, my school is right next to a health club, which offers a variety of
musical genre-themed aerobics classes.

T = the Teacher, your humble narrator

S = a student, in this case, a quite friendly, athletic older woman whose
English ability is on the low end of the scale (basic introductions, simple
commercial transactions, kind of like me in Japanese)

The Lesson: Shopping for electronics

T: (points to the page of pictures) OK, can you show me a radio?

S: (points to the picture of a radio)

T: Good job! OK, now, can you show me an alarm clock?

S: (points to the picture of an alarm clock)

T: Great! Good job! Now, can you show me the laptop?

S: (looks puzzled)

T: (knows that in Japanese English "Laptop PC" is a "Note Persocon"
[PERSOnalCOMputer] OK, 'laptop' equals 'NOTEbook COMputer.'

S: (smiles and points to the laptop PC)

T: Do you know what 'lap' is?

S: Umm, no?

T: (points to his lap, mimes petting a cat) A cat can sit on your lap.
(mimes cuddling a child) A small child can sit on your lap, OK?

S: Ah, OK! (looks puzzled) Lap dance?

T: (chokes, gasps, turns red, finally understands) AAAAHHHHHH, ummmmm, no,
that's *R*ap Dance. You study Rap Dance aerobics at the health club, right?

S: Yes, Rap Dance. Why embarrass teacher?

T: (Mike is forced to mime lapdancing for a sixty-odd year old Japanese
woman)(who turns very red)

So, what's your favorite embarrassing miscommunication moment?

There was a really funny one on season 1 of Coupling--it involved mishearing the word "pucker."

Hiking up at Lassen Volcanic National park with my wife, she decided to tease me about if I was strong enough to carry her back to the car so she didn't have to walk. Being just a hundred yards away or so, I picked her piggy back and started hoofing it back. She enjoyed it until she saw other people and started yelling, "Get me off! Get me off!"

I about dropped her as I was laughing so hard. After I explained why you shoudl say put me down instead of get me off, she turned beet red.

I remember visiting Europe in HS with some classmates, school sponsored trip. When we were in Spain one of the girls on the trip was talking with the guy workin gthe desk in the lobby of our hotel and he he asked her what she planed to do for a living after she finished with school, and she she responded that she planed on having fun. The desk found this to be a bit funnier than would be ecpected so she asked what was up, and well aparently she had messes up her phrase and instead of saying what she thought she said she said that she planed on having sex for money:p I probably butchered that story I can never tell it quite right.