Lost in Translation

I've been meaning to tell you guys a few stories about serious misunderstandings, mostly my fault (scratch that--all my fault).

When I was in middle school, high school, college spanish classes, we ALWAYS talked about "false friends" which are words in your second language that look extremely similar to words in your first language but DO NOT MEAN THE SAME THING. for example, "carpeta" looks like the english words carpet, but actually means folder in spanish.

1) well a few weeks ago I went to a carnival party for the kids at the after school program where I volunteer. I showed up early to help set up and stuff and when I got there one of the girls that works there, Maria, opened the door for me. I said "Hey, how are you, How are you doing" etc (in spanish) and she gives me this look and was like "i'm horrible! Estoy MUY constipada" I'm VERY constipada. I gave her a surprised look, thinking to myself, wow, that seems like a lot to share. But then she went on to say that her throat hurts, her nose was runnings, etc. The light in my brain finally switched on...Constipada does NOT mean constipated, it means congested............................................ ah ha! never stop learning haha

The next few stories are not "false friends" stories, but misunderstandings...

2) I was walking with my friend Andrea and there was a dog I wanted to pet, so I attempted to ask "does your dog bite" before I pet it. Unfortunately, instead of asking the owner "muerde este perro?" which means "does the dog bite?" I said "muere este perro?" which means "is your dog DYING?" The owner gave me a really mean look, said NO, and walked away....I did not end up petting the dog, and Andrea did not stop laughing...for an hour or so.

3) A few weeks ago we took a trip to Ibiza, a party island outside of spain, for a co-birthday party. We got to the dock because we were taking a night boat (about 10 hours) to the island. When I went up to the ticket window, the lady asked me "llevas un coche?" which means "are you bringing a car?" (You know, how you can bring a car on a big boat if you are planning to drive wherever you're going") Somehow, I heard "llegas en coche" (which means are you arriving by car) and interpreted it as "are you going to Ibiza (AN ISLAND) in a car". I answered "no! voy en barco" (I'm going on a boat). She laughed, realizing that I had misunderstood her completely........and repeated the question. She laughed, I laughed, my friends laughed, and the whole staff (there had to be like 5 of them) in the office started laughing....I'm really awesome.

xoxoxo
jess

PS barca won another championship game the other day!!!! Now on may 27 they play against Manchester United for the CHAMPIONS LEAGUE!!!!!