1. Give the blank stare
2. Smile and nod
(I know what you´re thinking Mike and Dan... I´m a nerd)
I have pretty much perfected making people believe I know what they’re talking about. The old “smile and nod” works wonders…. Most of the time. But sometimes I get caught in my act; like when people finish what they’re saying with a question:
Them: Blah gato blah blah biblioteca blah blah
Me: (smile and nod)
Them: Blah blah blah pantelones blah blah Taco Bell blah. Sí o no?
Me: Uh… Sí…?
Wrong answer.
The other day I had to go to the cell phone store to add some information to my account. The man that worked there told me to text something to the number 4545. I thought he said to text, “Mi Status”. Which translates to “My Status”. As in single, married, in a relationship, it’s complicated etc… I thought it was a weird thing to have to text to a cell phone company, but I typed it into my phone anyway. Then I showed my screen to the guy to make sure that I wrote the correct thing. He looked at it, chuckled to himself, and then typed something else and handed my phone back to me. The screen now said “Mis Datos”, as in “My Information”. Yeah. I guess that makes more sense than My Status. I was kind of embarrassed, but at least I didn’t say, “Estoy embarasada” because that translates to, “I’m pregnant”.
Oh the joys of language barriers.
I know the feeling. I've done it tons of times in Colombia, Israel and Romania. Oana Draghici catches me in Romania. She makes me repeat what I thought I understood and then she just laughs and gives me the "real" version. I wonder how many people are nodding and smiling when I speak to them.
ReplyDeleteHola Amanda! Somos dos terapeutas ocupacionales y estamos con tu madre cenando. Riendo con tus caras! Estamos ahora en Los Angeles, con lo cual a nosotras nos esta pasando lo mismo! Una anecdota de hoy: fuimos a una tienda de juguetes, y al finalizar la compra la chica nos ha preguntado algo muy largo y muy rapido... y no hemos entendido nada... Pero le hemos dicho que si si si si... y de repente nos ha entregado doce tiquets, uno por cada paquete, en lugar de un tiquet con los 12 juguetes que hemos comprado!!! yes yes yes, o si si si... a veces puede ser peligroso cuando no has entendido lo que te han dicho!
ReplyDeleteAbrazos,
Paola y Barbara
oh man....the old getting caught in the act of bs....LOVE IT! well at least you know that embarasada mean preggo not embarrassed, points for you.
ReplyDeletehahah, love the blog, amanda :)
ReplyDelete