Most of the time, my translations are solid.
In two and a half weeks, we've really learned quite a lot of Russian. And most of the time... MOST of the time, I say what I mean to say. In fact, I'm even impressed with what I can say on occasion (She says, the night before her first exam).
Friday, I got a piece of homework back. As I looked over the red pen marks, I noticed an oddly placed ? in the middle of one of my paragraphs. It wasn't marked wrong. It was just a question mark. So I read the paragraph, and when I got to the part that was being questioned, it was all I could do not to burst out laughing in the middle of class.
"My mother works in a store," I wrote. "And my aunt Rena lives in the kitchen."
Now, there's a chance that it was a Freudian slip. It's not so far fetched to say that Renie lived in the kitchen. Lord knows she spent enough time in it.
But honestly? I'm pretty sure it wasn't what I meant to say.
And THIS, folks, is why I don't yet trust myself not to be insulting. After all, there are a lot more offensive things that my aunt Rena could have been doing in the kitchen, had I only had the right verbs for them.
Forgive me, Aunt Renie. Try to think of it as a compliment. Your cooking really made an impression on me.
Yeah...
We'll go with that.
*Bobs
Well at least you used a word that sort of worked so it wasn't wrong.
ReplyDeleteAnd I doubt you'll make that same mistake again.