I heard a funny story that a Japanese woman was laughed at by people in an elevator. She had lived in the U.S for a while and one day she went shopping in a department store. She wanted to go to the fifth floor in the department store and got into an elevator. The elevator was very crowded and when it stopped at the fourth floor, a person in the back said "I'm getting out!". She got off the elevator to let the person go because she was standing at the front in the elevator. However she wanted to go back to the elevator soon again because she wanted to go to the fifth floor. She said "I'll be back", when she got off the elevator. Then the people in the elevator laughed at her. She couldn't understand why she was laughed at.
I think the reason is because "I'll be back" is the phrase that a famous actor Arnold Schwarzenegger said in his movie "The Terminator". Have you ever been laughed at by people when you said something in English?
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Comments
To MARY Thank you for your comment. It is a wall which we, English leaners, should overcome to pronounce English words correctly.
Cute anecdote, thanks for sharing tam!
When I talk in English people are like:
But I don't care much about that ;)
To Rosemary Thank you for your comment.
To Emma Thank you for your comment. I agree with you.
To Mishaikh Thank you for your comment.
I guess most people lack confidence in their first attempts of speaking a foreign language and being an object of jokes is definitely not pleasant situation, but... converting this bad experience into your inducement to learn harder is the best thing you can do. There is a Colombian actress named Sofia Vergara (maybe you know her) who currently lives in The USA, she has such a specific accent and as an actress she is in spotlights all the time, she has been a guest of different tv shows, people often make humorous statements about her bad English, but when it happens she is just smiling and playing along, so... If it happens to us one day, maybe we should act similarly :)
No, I never had such experience. Here in USA I never find people laughing at anybody's wrong English.
To Risty Aven Thank you for your comment and experience.
They laughed at me because I don’t speak, hahaha! But yeah, I think last month my housemates laughed at me because I pronounced the word “sweater” or sweat-shirt, like “SWEETER”, it happens all the time, because I got this from my mother, that’s how she called that cloth. Darn it! Hahaha! But you know, I don’t think that is something to laugh at, I think it’s a discreet way of humiliating someone. What? Does that make them intelligent? I don’t think so! >:(
To Rose Thank you for your comment. I think the act of laughing derisively isn't good but a warm smile is appropriate to the situation.
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