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ESL forum >
Grammar and Linguistics > A Way With Words
A Way With Words
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Spagman63
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A Way With Words
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During a lesson today, one of my secondary students wanted to tell me that she couldn �t think of the answer. Instead she said, "I can �t find the answer in my brain at this time." HAHA!! We both laughed hard at that. I always find it interesting at times how some non-natives put their sentences together .
How about you guys? Have you had any strange or humorous responses from your students?
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31 Oct 2009
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anitarobi
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Great answer, sort of computer-science-style, as if she clicked on search and couldn �t find the proper file in her head. I can �t remember one like that, but I love it when I sometimes teach preschoolers and they try to guess new words, adapting their pronunciation. For example, when I taught them transport, one of the kids suggested his word for aeroplane - he used the Croatian word avion /pronounced exactly as it �s spelled/ but he pronounced it eIvian, to make it sound like American English. (sorry, can �t really make it sound right by writing) He was so cute!
One of my colleagues once said she liked football players for their dresses, which made tons of people laugh. She was referring to their football strips (shorts and T-shirts), but since we call team sports clothes dres, she did it by mistake. The picture of football players in line with female handbags came to mind immeaditely...(tried to find the pic for you online, but can �t, sorry)... |
31 Oct 2009
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Spagman63
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HAHA!! That �s cute. Foreign languages often create a source of humor. Thanks for sharing.
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31 Oct 2009
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JulietaVL
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Hi David
I love when my students put the ending "tion" to the words they do not know how to say in English... for example:
To say "flower" they say "floretion" flor is flower in Spanish
Know what I mean? They give me good laughs quite often =)
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31 Oct 2009
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Nebal
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Hi spagman,
Soooooooooooooo glad to see u back!!!
Well, of course, I encounter such humorous responses from my students. many try to translate word by word from Arabic into English that their expressions seem very hilarious and weird at the same time. Here are some examples said and written by some of my sts:
* I �m calling the closeness of you. ( I �d like to propose.)
*Your God cuts from here and paste from there.( meaning: Your God will make it up for you someday.)
* The ballons threw up in the air.
*It �s a risk to smoke while you are becoming pregnant. ( Anita will like this one!!  )
* Sit the dishes in on the table.
Hugs,
Nebal
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31 Oct 2009
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anitarobi
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Oh, Nebal, I love false translations. This is a classic in Croatia:
Dozvoli da te prevedem na drugu stranu ulice. (meaning - let me take you to the other side of the street, but prevedem also means translate, whereas strana also means page, so - Let me translate you to the other page of the street.)
I do love those... thanks, spagman, I hope as the evening progresses, you get more of these in your thread... |
31 Oct 2009
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Nebal
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Anita, lol!!!!!
Here is a false translation from Arabic to English:
In Arabic, we say:.Rah khabrak elkessa fro Taktak lassalamo alaykom.
In English , it means : I �ll tell you the whole story in details. However, if u translated it word by word : Taktak is " Knock Knock" and salamoalaykom is goodbye. So, the false translation would be: I �ll tell you the whole story from knock knock to goodbye
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31 Oct 2009
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mariannina
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Hello, a good laugh is what I needed! Thank you 
In Italian we pronounce the final vowel of the words: pied e, the final e is a sort of a (sorry, I can �t write with the international alphabet  ). My very young students (6-year-old ones) have discovered that it doesn �t happen in English, so when I ask them: "How do you say matita (pencil) in English"? They answer "Matit"! Of course Car is "Macchin", rubber is "gomm"! Now they ask permissions in English and they love sharpening pencils and their question is "May I sharpener my pencil, please"! Thank you and ciao. |
31 Oct 2009
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anitarobi
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Mariannina, I love this! My kids freak out when they have to learn English spelling, so I often teach them to rhyme to break the cast of typical spelling - e. g. bite-fight. tomb-room, etc. When they get mad, I just tell them: �And think of the poor Americans or English who have to learn letters like ć, č, đ, d�, �, lj, nj, and seven cases for every noun and pronoun, and gender for everything...! � They do become more understanding then. |
31 Oct 2009
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joy2bill
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I guess one of my favourites is when my Brazilians talk about their "foot fingers" to mean "toes �. This always cracks me up. I have a vivid imagination and so I can imagine a foot with ten little fingers instead of toes.
Joy |
31 Oct 2009
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anitarobi
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Great one, joy! I had the same pic in my head when I read it - creepy! |
31 Oct 2009
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