Speaker 1

After from I was really to have arrived at my family’s house in Colombia. They were extremely friendly even I spoke only , and they me with lemonade and made me feel . After a while, the mother asked me: ‘Estascasado’? I thought she was asking me if I was , so I said: ‘Si, unpoco,’ which means ‘yes, a little’. everyone laughed. Later I that ‘casado’ means and ‘cansado’ means . So she’d asked me if I was and I’d said: ‘Oh, a little’!’ That was of many blunders I made! Actually, , I wish I’d learned of the language before there, but at the time I thought muddle through. Bad idea.

Speaker 2

I’m from but I’ve lived in the US for years. When I first got a car, I needed to buy so I drove to and sat there waiting to be . And I sat there, and I sat there, and no one came , a bit perplexed, I went into the and asked for of gas. The girl took my money, and I to the car and waited again. no one came. So I thought maybe someone it for me while I was in the store. So I . But then I looked at the and the tank was empty. I drove back to the gas station and I realized I had to the car myself. this before because in Colombia the people who work at the gas station do it for you. Well, I felt , as you can imagine.

Speaker 3

This was before I could speak English . I was flying back to Italy and I was at . Now, for some reason or other, I didn’t have my glasses and I’m very so I couldn’t see the information on the screen. So I asked someone : “Which gate for ?” and he said: “It’s too early. There’s no gate.” Now I got a bit because I thought that ‘early’ meant ‘late’, so I began to , thinking I’d missed my flight. So I asked someone else, and again: “You are too early. No gate . You’ll have to wait.” And I was wondering why people were so calm when I’d just my flight. Eventually, a nice Englishman explained, , that the gate number would appear very soon and that I hadn’t missed my flight. He was probably thinking: “Dumb tourist.” So the of the story is: learn the basics. And don’t lose your !