Misunderstandings

Read regular guest posts about a Kiwi living abroad in a non-English speaking country.

The other day I went rock climbing with some friends. I’m not a big fan of heights, so I was looking up at the rock wall a bit apprehensively, when Clément said to me “Je te rassure”. Which I took to mean “I’m reassuring you”, ie, don’t worry! So I nodded my head. Turns out I misunderstood him: “Je te rassure”, in a rock climbing context, means “I’ll be your climbing partner”. But I already had a climbing partner. Now he likes to tell me that I’m the person who says yes to everything, even if I haven’t understood. Which is probably true. I need to ask more clarifying questions if I suspect I’ve misunderstood something!

It’s not just things I mishear, either – I’ve misread labels and ended up buying things I didn’t mean to. I used to have this favourite French yoghurt, which I was deeply impressed with – it was thick and creamy and delicious. Then I looked more closely at the lid and realised I had been buying crème fraiche! Which is a kind of thickened cream. Very yummy, but not yoghurt.

Navigating the beauty products aisle has also been quite difficult. I had been missing my favourite moisturiser, which is only made in New Zealand, and I was having difficulty finding a thick, plain moisturiser to replace it. So I was happy when I thought I had found one in a beauty store in town. But that turned out to be massage cream, and not quite the consistency I was wanting.

Luckily most of my misunderstandings have been funny rather than embarrassing, and mostly I can keep them to myself. For example, at my exercise class we always finish up with a long series of sit-ups. The teacher circulates round the class, telling us to “Souffle, souffle!” (“Breathe, breathe!”) At first I thought he was saying “Souffre, souffre!” (“Suffer, suffer!”) Now I know better, but in my head I still think he’s telling us to suffer while we do our sit-ups (which we are).

One night I was invited to an evening of “Bowling et billards” (to go bowling and to play pool). But the word “billards” sounds a bit like the French word “bière”, so I thought we were going to go bowling and drink beer. It was only a minor misunderstanding luckily, and I ended up buying a beer anyway, so I guess it could hardly be called a misunderstanding at all…

Do you have any funny stories about misunderstandings?

Mihiata  – Saint Nazaire, France