Funnies in French

          Part of learning a new language and living in a new culture is making mistakes. Sometimes they are embarrassing, sometimes just plain funny. I recently made a mistake that I am still embarrassed about, but also laughing at myself about! It helps to have a good sense of humor when learning a new language! Our class was divided into two groups. Each one given the task of coming up with a dialogue that fit the situation on our paper. Our group was to debate as a family, which vacation we would prefer to take, the mountains or the beach. I was designated the role of mom, another older male student, the dad, and the other three students were our kids. I voted to go to the mountains, and one of the main reasons was because I didn't want to be seen in public in a bathing suit. Well, here's where it gets funny; the name for bathing suit in French is "maillot de bain", but when my turn came to speak, I said I didn't want to be seen in public in a "salle de bains". My teacher looked at me with a confused look and said, "Je ne comprends pas, Sandie" (I don't understand). Then, the realization came to me that I had just said that I didn't want to wear a bathroom to the beach. Oh my, the whole class had a good laugh about that one! My teacher later assured me that she had made plenty of funny mistakes when she was learning a new language. If nothing else, learning a new language keeps you humble!