For some reason, most of the funnies that have come up this week - either in school, or those I've remembered from last year, are a little below the belt! Of course, the rude ones are usually the funniest and the most memorable...
La mas parte de las frases graciosas que he encontrado esta semana - o en el instituto o las de que me he acordado del a~o pasado, estan un poco indecentes ! Pero bueno, son estas que normalmente nos dan la mas risa y son tambien la mas memorable...
Let's start with the Spanish mishaps / Empezamos con los percances en espanol...
Inglesa: "Voy ya"
Camarero: "Que?"
Inglesa: "Voy ya !"
Camarero: "Que?"
Inglesa: "VOY YA !"
Camarero, mirandola con cara extrana: "Pero, QUÉ?"
Inglesa: "Voooy.... yaaaa..... me voy, ya!"
Camarero: "Joer, pensaba que me estabas gritando 'Polla' !"
-Una situacion que me paso en el Queru esta semana... para los que nos conoceis, fue una conversacion entre el Cesar y yo... confundidos los dos!
English girl: "I'm off now"
Bartender: "What?"
English girl: "I'm off now!"
Bartender: "What?"
English girl: "I'M OFF NOW!"
Bartender, looking at her with a peculiar face: "But, WHAT?"
English girl: "I'mmmm...offff.... I'm going, now!"
Bartender: "Bloody hell, I thought you were shouting at me 'You Dick'! "
- This is the very confusing conversation I had with Cesar while he was working behind the bar in Queru this week. Obviously in English the confusion doesn't translate, but in Spanish 'Voy ya - I'm off' and 'Polla - Dick' sound very similar, especially in a noisy bar!
"Quiero una polla !"
-Una francesa en la carneceria. Evidentamente, queria un pollo!
"Give me a dick!" - A French girl in the butcher's. She wanted a chicken (un pollo).
"Dame una pajita !"
-Una Americana al camarero en el Bar Queru. La gente estaban riendo de esta pero la verdad es que, gramaticalmente, esta correcta, no? Ha pedido una paja (de beber)... no? Explicame porfa!
"Give me a little wank !" - An American girl to one of the bar guys in Bar Queru. The word 'pajita' can mean straw and wank... obviously she wanted a straw. I don't completely understand the concept myself - I don't think this is mistranslation, but more 'selective interpretation' - it caused much laughter anyhow.
Una Americana a una monja, visitando un monestario hace unos a~os -
"Me encanta tu cruz de mierda.... ayy, madera, cruz de madera... ayy perdona, es que, estoy tan embarazada...!"
Queria decir 'me da verguenza' pero se confundio con la palabra en ingles que es 'embarrassed'
An American girl to a nun, visiting a monestary several years ago -
"I love your shitty cross.... ooh, wooden, wooden cross... ooh sorry, it's just that, I'm so pregnant!" She got rather confused with the words 'mierda - shit' and 'madera - wooden' and then used the word 'embarazada' in Spanish which actually means 'pregnant', not embarrassed!
And now for the English issues from school this week...
Y ahora los errores del instituto esta semana...
English Assistant: "So class, what's a telescope?"
Boy: "It's used for studying physiques, no?"
English Assistant: "Uum, I think you mean Physics!"
The American assistant was imagining the telescope being used to view people's physiques (bodies) from a distance... interestingly, the boy that made this statement is the very same boy who featured in our 'Peeping Tom incident' in last week's post!
Auxiliar de Ingles: "Bueno chicos, que es un telescopio?"
Chico: "Lo usamos para estudiar el fisico, no?"
Auxiliar de Ingles: "Uuh, creo que quieres decir la fisica!"
La Americana imaginaba usar el telescopio para mirar el cuerpo de gente a distancia... de modo interesante, el chico que hizo este error es el mismo chico del 'incidente del miron' en el post de la semana pasada!
"Matthew carried her through the long paths between green marshes and fields. Between them, a fine but strong wire of love linked them."
- A 15 year old boy in an essay about a couple of young lovers. I'm very curious about this fine but strong wire of love....!!
"Mateo la llevaba a traves de los caminos entre los pantanos y los campos. Entre ellos, habia un cable de amor, fino pero fuerte, que los enlazo."
- Un chaval de 15 a~os escribiendo sobre una pareja joven. El problema aqui es que no se traduce... en ingles, el 'cable de amor entre ellos' suena como algo falico!
Teacher: "So, do you know anyone that has any unusual pets?"
Boy: "I have a friend who sleeps with a snake in his bed!"
I'm not going to spell this one out... I'm sure most of you understand why I find this one so amusing!
Profe: "Conoceis alguien que tiene algun animal domestico raro?"
Chico: "Pues, tengo un amigo que duerme con un serpiente en su cama!"
En clase de bachillerato - espero que no necisito explicar porque esto es tan gracioso...!
Having just read an article about teenagers going through emotional and physical changes, discussing an unsociable 16 year old boy...
Teacher: "Why does Jimmy prefer to stay in his bedroom?"
I'm not going to write the response that one of the 14 year old boys in this class gave us, but, if you can guess... you've probably guessed correctly! And yes, despite this class having quite a low level of English, this boy was spot on with his choice of vocabulary!
Despues de leer un articulo sobre los cambios fisicos y emocionales que sufren los jovenes - hablando de un chico poco sociable de 16 a~os...
Profe: "Por que Jimmy prefiere quedarse en su habitacion?"
No voy a escribir la respuesta de un chaval de 14 a~os aqui, pero podeis imaginar... este chico no tenia muy buen nivel de ingles, pero sabia esta palabra perfectamente!
Sunday, 25 October 2009
Sunday, 18 October 2009
Starter for one...
Let's start with some funnies said in English - some from last academic year and a few from this year:
Empezamos con unas frases graciosas en ingles de este a~o y del pasado:
"This music makes my arse shake"
- a German assistant, while discussing her favourite songs.
"Esta musica me hace mover el culo" - una alemana hablando de sus canciones preferidas. En traduccion no es tan graciosa - en ingles, esta frase significa involuntad - se hace imaginar que no es la chica que mueve el culo, pero es la musica que mueve el culo de la chica mientras ella no se mueve.
"If you can't remember, just forget it"
- an English teacher to his student - a bad case of stating the obvious, no?
"Si no te acuerdas, olvidalo" - un profe de ingles a una alumna - afirmando lo obvio, no?
"Nowadays, lots of people electrify their houses"
- taken from a final year essay on nuclear energy. My initial reaction, imagining the houses quaking in their boots - poor houses, what did they do to hurt you?
"Hoy en dia, muchas personas electrocutan sus casas" - de una redaccion de un alumno de bachillerato sobre energia nuclear. En ingles, no se puede decir 'electrify' como 'electrificar' - leyendo esta frase, estaba imaginando las pobres casas temblando con miedo.
"If I were a girl, I would be...oh, how do you say it...ah yes, if I were a girl, I would be a Peeping Tom!"
- a 14 year old boy in a school class, learning conditionals. Once the laughter subsided, we discovered the word he was aiming for was 'Tomboy'.
"Si fuera una chica, seria... ah, como se dice... bueno si... si fuera una chica, seria un 'miron'?" - un chico de 14 a~os en clase, practicando condicionales. Esta es la mas dificil para traducir, entonces si alguien puede ayudarme...?! En ingles 'Peeping Tom' es un hombre que mira las chicas/mujeres cuando no saben que esta mirando.... por eso que nos echamos a reir mucho. Despues, el chico explico que queria decir 'Tomboy', que es 'una chica poco feminina'.
Empezamos con unas frases graciosas en ingles de este a~o y del pasado:
"This music makes my arse shake"
- a German assistant, while discussing her favourite songs.
"Esta musica me hace mover el culo" - una alemana hablando de sus canciones preferidas. En traduccion no es tan graciosa - en ingles, esta frase significa involuntad - se hace imaginar que no es la chica que mueve el culo, pero es la musica que mueve el culo de la chica mientras ella no se mueve.
"If you can't remember, just forget it"
- an English teacher to his student - a bad case of stating the obvious, no?
"Si no te acuerdas, olvidalo" - un profe de ingles a una alumna - afirmando lo obvio, no?
"Nowadays, lots of people electrify their houses"
- taken from a final year essay on nuclear energy. My initial reaction, imagining the houses quaking in their boots - poor houses, what did they do to hurt you?
"Hoy en dia, muchas personas electrocutan sus casas" - de una redaccion de un alumno de bachillerato sobre energia nuclear. En ingles, no se puede decir 'electrify' como 'electrificar' - leyendo esta frase, estaba imaginando las pobres casas temblando con miedo.
"If I were a girl, I would be...oh, how do you say it...ah yes, if I were a girl, I would be a Peeping Tom!"
- a 14 year old boy in a school class, learning conditionals. Once the laughter subsided, we discovered the word he was aiming for was 'Tomboy'.
"Si fuera una chica, seria... ah, como se dice... bueno si... si fuera una chica, seria un 'miron'?" - un chico de 14 a~os en clase, practicando condicionales. Esta es la mas dificil para traducir, entonces si alguien puede ayudarme...?! En ingles 'Peeping Tom' es un hombre que mira las chicas/mujeres cuando no saben que esta mirando.... por eso que nos echamos a reir mucho. Despues, el chico explico que queria decir 'Tomboy', que es 'una chica poco feminina'.
A note on the name...
A quick note on the name of this blog - Stupendously Soria.
Several months ago, I walked into my local bar (Bar Queru), to find my friends who work behind the bar asking me in English, 'How are you?', to which I of course replied 'Very well thank you'. I was then promptly informed that I should not be replying in such a boring manner and should have responded 'Stupendously'. After that, it kind of stuck, so when asked 'How are you?' by one of the bar staff in Queru, the correct response is generally 'Stupendously'. This is irrelevant of how little sense it makes in English. I therefore didn't find myself having to do much thinking to come up with an appropriate name, because Soria simply is Stupendous (more about the town later).
*** Language corner:
1 - Q: How are you? A: Stupendous
2 - Q: How are you doing? A: Stupendously
Without getting into too complicated an explanation, both of these questions and answers are more or less correct. The first question calls for an adjective to describe how you are, therefore, 'I'm stupendous'. The second question calls for an adverb to qualify the verb 'doing' and describe your state at that particular time, therefore, 'I'm doing stupendously'.
What you grammatically cannot do is respond to the question 'How are you?' with 'Stupendously' because there is no verb in the question, so you can't use an adverb to respond to it. (Unless you're in Bar Queru, of course!)
No necesito explicar tanto porque la mayoría de vosotros ya saben la historia de 'Stupendously' en el Queru, y como es cosa de ingles es dificil explicar bien en espanol. Pero, en resumen, hace unos meses en el Queru me preguntaron en ingles 'Que tal - how are you' y conteste 'Muy bien gracias - very well thank you'. Luego me explicaron que deberia haber contestado 'estupendamente - Stupendously'. Aunque no tenga mucho sentido en ingles contestar asi, porque no se puede contestar a la pregunta 'how are you' con un adverbio, asi es. Entonces, si alguien de la gente Queru os pregunta 'How are you?', ya sabeis como contestar.
Bueno, es por eso que he llamado este blog 'Stupendously Soria' - literalmente 'Estupendamente Soria'... los que conocen Soria ya saben porque era facil elegir este titulo. A los demas, os contare luego...!
Several months ago, I walked into my local bar (Bar Queru), to find my friends who work behind the bar asking me in English, 'How are you?', to which I of course replied 'Very well thank you'. I was then promptly informed that I should not be replying in such a boring manner and should have responded 'Stupendously'. After that, it kind of stuck, so when asked 'How are you?' by one of the bar staff in Queru, the correct response is generally 'Stupendously'. This is irrelevant of how little sense it makes in English. I therefore didn't find myself having to do much thinking to come up with an appropriate name, because Soria simply is Stupendous (more about the town later).
*** Language corner:
1 - Q: How are you? A: Stupendous
2 - Q: How are you doing? A: Stupendously
Without getting into too complicated an explanation, both of these questions and answers are more or less correct. The first question calls for an adjective to describe how you are, therefore, 'I'm stupendous'. The second question calls for an adverb to qualify the verb 'doing' and describe your state at that particular time, therefore, 'I'm doing stupendously'.
What you grammatically cannot do is respond to the question 'How are you?' with 'Stupendously' because there is no verb in the question, so you can't use an adverb to respond to it. (Unless you're in Bar Queru, of course!)
No necesito explicar tanto porque la mayoría de vosotros ya saben la historia de 'Stupendously' en el Queru, y como es cosa de ingles es dificil explicar bien en espanol. Pero, en resumen, hace unos meses en el Queru me preguntaron en ingles 'Que tal - how are you' y conteste 'Muy bien gracias - very well thank you'. Luego me explicaron que deberia haber contestado 'estupendamente - Stupendously'. Aunque no tenga mucho sentido en ingles contestar asi, porque no se puede contestar a la pregunta 'how are you' con un adverbio, asi es. Entonces, si alguien de la gente Queru os pregunta 'How are you?', ya sabeis como contestar.
Bueno, es por eso que he llamado este blog 'Stupendously Soria' - literalmente 'Estupendamente Soria'... los que conocen Soria ya saben porque era facil elegir este titulo. A los demas, os contare luego...!
Stupendously Soria
(Los que no hablan ingles... hay espanol a bajo)
Having already spent a year teaching English in Soria, Spain, I've learnt that it's not unusual for amusing situations to crop up here on a regular basis. As a foreigner in Spain, linguistic or cultural differences occur every day. Simple misunderstandings or mis-translations of Spanish to English can result in some rather hilarious situations. As an English teacher, my students (and sometimes fellow teachers), are frequently the cause of much laughter in class or when correcting essays. Amongst my friends, many of whom are translation students, fellow teachers or foreign language assistants, all are enthusiastic about learning languages. Even those who don't have a great affinity with foreign languages can frequently be found giving it their best shot by throwing a few words of English into a conversation... often with hilarious consequences!
On more than one occasion last year I resolved to create a blog to record these funny incidents and general observations about life in Soria, and in keeping with the 'manyana' attitude we have here in Spain, I'm finally getting around to starting it!
(For those who don't speak Spanish, what is written below is a loose translation of what you've just read in English, so don't worry, you're not missing out on much. If you want to know what you are missing out on... go learn Spanish! Go on then, what are you waiting for, go, go now...!!)
Bueno, no voy a intentar traducir exactamente lo que he escrito en ingles porque a veces las cosas de que estoy hablando no se traducen. Sin embargo, para que la gente que no hablan ingles entiendan de lo que estoy hablando, intentare escribir unas palabras en espanol tambien. Lo siento si las cosas estan mal escritas en espanol, y ademas q Blogger no me deja poner tildes (o no se como...?).
Pues, lo que digo arriba, mas o menos.... despues de un a~o (si si, porque si pongo solo 'ano' os vais a reir mucho, ya os conozco).... despues de un a~o en Soria, he aprendido que es normal por aqui vivir muchas situaciones graciosas cada dia. Como extranjera (ya ya, guiri) en Espana, normalmente estas occurencias se relacionan con cosas de cultura o de lengua/idioma. Los errores de traduccion entre ingles y espanol pueden ser divertidas. Igual de espanol a ingles, porque como profe de ingles, mis alumnos (y a veces mis colegas) me hacen reir mucho en el instituto, o en clase, o corrigiendo composiciones. Tambien, entre mis amigos, de quien la major parte son estudiantes de traduccion, auxiliares de conversacion o profes, todos les encanta aprender idiomas. Y aun los que no tienen mucha afinidad por aprender idiomas se encuentran intentando meter unas palabras de ingles en una conversacion en espanol... normalmente con consequencias muy graciosas!
El a~o pasado me dije en mas de una ocasion que tenia que empezar escribir de estas cosas en un blog.... y como estamos en Espana y hacemos todo 'man~ana'... ahora empiezo, por fin!
Having already spent a year teaching English in Soria, Spain, I've learnt that it's not unusual for amusing situations to crop up here on a regular basis. As a foreigner in Spain, linguistic or cultural differences occur every day. Simple misunderstandings or mis-translations of Spanish to English can result in some rather hilarious situations. As an English teacher, my students (and sometimes fellow teachers), are frequently the cause of much laughter in class or when correcting essays. Amongst my friends, many of whom are translation students, fellow teachers or foreign language assistants, all are enthusiastic about learning languages. Even those who don't have a great affinity with foreign languages can frequently be found giving it their best shot by throwing a few words of English into a conversation... often with hilarious consequences!
On more than one occasion last year I resolved to create a blog to record these funny incidents and general observations about life in Soria, and in keeping with the 'manyana' attitude we have here in Spain, I'm finally getting around to starting it!
(For those who don't speak Spanish, what is written below is a loose translation of what you've just read in English, so don't worry, you're not missing out on much. If you want to know what you are missing out on... go learn Spanish! Go on then, what are you waiting for, go, go now...!!)
Bueno, no voy a intentar traducir exactamente lo que he escrito en ingles porque a veces las cosas de que estoy hablando no se traducen. Sin embargo, para que la gente que no hablan ingles entiendan de lo que estoy hablando, intentare escribir unas palabras en espanol tambien. Lo siento si las cosas estan mal escritas en espanol, y ademas q Blogger no me deja poner tildes (o no se como...?).
Pues, lo que digo arriba, mas o menos.... despues de un a~o (si si, porque si pongo solo 'ano' os vais a reir mucho, ya os conozco).... despues de un a~o en Soria, he aprendido que es normal por aqui vivir muchas situaciones graciosas cada dia. Como extranjera (ya ya, guiri) en Espana, normalmente estas occurencias se relacionan con cosas de cultura o de lengua/idioma. Los errores de traduccion entre ingles y espanol pueden ser divertidas. Igual de espanol a ingles, porque como profe de ingles, mis alumnos (y a veces mis colegas) me hacen reir mucho en el instituto, o en clase, o corrigiendo composiciones. Tambien, entre mis amigos, de quien la major parte son estudiantes de traduccion, auxiliares de conversacion o profes, todos les encanta aprender idiomas. Y aun los que no tienen mucha afinidad por aprender idiomas se encuentran intentando meter unas palabras de ingles en una conversacion en espanol... normalmente con consequencias muy graciosas!
El a~o pasado me dije en mas de una ocasion que tenia que empezar escribir de estas cosas en un blog.... y como estamos en Espana y hacemos todo 'man~ana'... ahora empiezo, por fin!
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