lost in translation: that cursed pause

           I posted recently about the importance of punctuation in writing, lest Grandpa should unfortunately be eaten at the writer's expense. As I found out during one particularly awkward moment in Spain, the placement of commas is also extremely important in speech. With the addition of a pause (in my case, I was wracking my brain for the right Spanish word), I managed to insult someone I had only met a few weeks prior. Instead of saying Feliz cumpleaños retrasado, or Happy belated birthday, I slipped in that cursed comma, Feliz cumpleaños, retrasado, and ended up turning beet red when my friend later told me that what I actually said, thanks to that deceivingly small pause, was Happy birthday, retard.It all became clear why the addressee didn't seem too grateful for my nice wishes. Timing really is everything. (And no wonder I wasn't drowning in a sea of Spanish friends :)

Spanish Valentine's day love song

In honor of Valentine's day, here's a fun video that is literally SPOT ON. I remember, after six months of taking Spanish, only being able to say such random things as “vivo en la casa roja.”

(P.S. I love how he tries to make things like “dónde está el baño” [where is the bathroom] sexy.)

German coastguard

In my Teaching English as a Foreign Language class today we learned about the importance of teaching correct pronunciation, so casualties like this don't occur:

the return

I'm easing back into posting. I don't know why I took such a long hiatus, but I would like to make my re-entry into the blogging universe with this cheeky image: 

I'm planning on teaching English abroad in Spain (hopefully! hold out on your budgetary issues, Spain!) and I think this should be my first lesson.