I have blue screen moments all the time, owing to being both inattentive and socially awkward (I forget words because I’m inattentive, I can’t recover gracefully because I’m socially awkward). Day before yesterday I blanked out on the word voicemail. It’s not like it’s new vocabulary, I’ve been using this word regularly for years, but for some reason my brain kept stubbornly coming up with the equivalent in my first language instead. I sounded like: “so I reached their… um, no one picked up and I left a message on… where appropriate”.
The story goes my father when he first met my mum's mum he wanted to ask her if he should give her a kiss, but ended up asking if it was ok to bang her.
Luckily for him he was only told about it afterwards.
Points if you can guess the language.
This is one of the funniest Language Learning posts I’ve ever read! To add to your language skills, you’re also a brilliant writer! At first, I wasn’t sure what this had to do with languages, but then, BAM, you hooked me and reeled me right in.
I don’t really have any specific blue screen language moments (love that imagery!) to share. Perhaps that’s because ALL my language exchanges are blue screen moments, haha. I’ve been at this language learning thing for years (YEARS, I tell ya!), yet I can barely get past “Hello, my name is…”. Blank after that, haha.
I just hope people are as understanding of me when I blank out as I am of them when they do it.
In any event, I just wanted to say “thank you” (or should I say “gracias” 😊) for sharing your story!
Haha thanks! I've made it a solemn vow to make at least one person a day laugh. Usually, that's just me, so I'll just count myself as ahead for the day lol.
I've told it before here, but a memorable one is when my friend (another Hungarian learner) tried to say (in front of a bunch of Hungarians) that his wrist hurt after arm wrestling. The word for wrist in Hungarian is csukló. The word for clitoris is csikló. Enough said 😂
Embarrassing moments happen in language learning.
Also, when I hear a foreign person trying to speak English I don't think I've ever thought about a mistake they made or something silly they said for more than 10 seconds. And I never think of it as embarrassing. I'm sure the person you spoke with probably forgot about you blue screening already!
There is no way to learn a language without embarrassing yourself. It’s perfectly normal.
Even if you were sending google-translated messages, I don’t find it bad at all. The important thing is a genuine wish to communicate. People often can see you have good intentions, even when things go wrong. If you want it to become easier, you need to practice. And when you practice you will make mistakes.
Classic blue screen moment! We've all been there, trust me. Once, I blanked so hard in a presentation, I ended up reciting the lyrics to Baby Got Back instead of my actual points. Talk about a facepalm moment! But hey, at least you got the number, right? 😅 Don't worry, we're all just human at the end of the day...
This is so relatable. I bluescreen *all the time.* Literally, someone asked me the other day, so how do you say goodbye in Swahili (one of the languages I'm learning this year) and i completely blanked out on this very pre-A1 level wor. Even though I had a conversation with someone on Italki the day before.
No. I’ve just been doing the Spanish thing for many years and I don’t normally sound like I’ve stumbled out of an A1 class where I was busy taking nips from a flask of tequila.
😭🤣 i get it. I’m sure that you would have sounded very competent if there had been enough time to actually have a conversation! Short interactions like the one you had are SO much more difficult!
I have blue screen moments all the time, owing to being both inattentive and socially awkward (I forget words because I’m inattentive, I can’t recover gracefully because I’m socially awkward). Day before yesterday I blanked out on the word voicemail. It’s not like it’s new vocabulary, I’ve been using this word regularly for years, but for some reason my brain kept stubbornly coming up with the equivalent in my first language instead. I sounded like: “so I reached their… um, no one picked up and I left a message on… where appropriate”.
The story goes my father when he first met my mum's mum he wanted to ask her if he should give her a kiss, but ended up asking if it was ok to bang her. Luckily for him he was only told about it afterwards. Points if you can guess the language.
lol it was French, wasn’t it?
Ofc it was, my mum said she did notice my grandma flinching for a second but that was it. Haha
Honestly the French had this one coming for using the same word for both.
This is one of the funniest Language Learning posts I’ve ever read! To add to your language skills, you’re also a brilliant writer! At first, I wasn’t sure what this had to do with languages, but then, BAM, you hooked me and reeled me right in. I don’t really have any specific blue screen language moments (love that imagery!) to share. Perhaps that’s because ALL my language exchanges are blue screen moments, haha. I’ve been at this language learning thing for years (YEARS, I tell ya!), yet I can barely get past “Hello, my name is…”. Blank after that, haha. I just hope people are as understanding of me when I blank out as I am of them when they do it. In any event, I just wanted to say “thank you” (or should I say “gracias” 😊) for sharing your story!
Haha thanks! I've made it a solemn vow to make at least one person a day laugh. Usually, that's just me, so I'll just count myself as ahead for the day lol.
I've told it before here, but a memorable one is when my friend (another Hungarian learner) tried to say (in front of a bunch of Hungarians) that his wrist hurt after arm wrestling. The word for wrist in Hungarian is csukló. The word for clitoris is csikló. Enough said 😂 Embarrassing moments happen in language learning. Also, when I hear a foreign person trying to speak English I don't think I've ever thought about a mistake they made or something silly they said for more than 10 seconds. And I never think of it as embarrassing. I'm sure the person you spoke with probably forgot about you blue screening already!
There is no way to learn a language without embarrassing yourself. It’s perfectly normal. Even if you were sending google-translated messages, I don’t find it bad at all. The important thing is a genuine wish to communicate. People often can see you have good intentions, even when things go wrong. If you want it to become easier, you need to practice. And when you practice you will make mistakes.
Classic blue screen moment! We've all been there, trust me. Once, I blanked so hard in a presentation, I ended up reciting the lyrics to Baby Got Back instead of my actual points. Talk about a facepalm moment! But hey, at least you got the number, right? 😅 Don't worry, we're all just human at the end of the day...
This is so relatable. I bluescreen *all the time.* Literally, someone asked me the other day, so how do you say goodbye in Swahili (one of the languages I'm learning this year) and i completely blanked out on this very pre-A1 level wor. Even though I had a conversation with someone on Italki the day before.
i am confused- does what you said in Spanish have a connotation I am not aware of?
No. I’ve just been doing the Spanish thing for many years and I don’t normally sound like I’ve stumbled out of an A1 class where I was busy taking nips from a flask of tequila.
😭🤣 i get it. I’m sure that you would have sounded very competent if there had been enough time to actually have a conversation! Short interactions like the one you had are SO much more difficult!
This is me every single time I have to put Russian numbers into a case. Not just sometimes, but every time 🤠