"I am going to vomit..."

I just wanted to share with you another huge, significant, funny, language blunder that I have been struggling with! (-thats a lot of adjectives-but the only way I could describe it).

This time its with my pronunciation of the C and T sound in Chinese - to anyone who speaks English- it sounds very, very close. However, in Chinese the sounds are completely opposite.


But for the most best humorous part of this all.... is the actual definitions of the words I was attempting to say....


Its so important to use the new words we learn, so I started slowly trying it out a new phrase I learned....before I used "I am not correct," but learned a different way to say it which translates as "I am wrong." However, after I used it in some situations people would take a step or two away from me.... I was a little confused. I wasn't sure if I was offending them or what...

One evening I went out with two good friends and in the middle of the conversation I used my new "I am wrong" statement. My friend quickly asked me if I had eaten something wrong or if I needed help... I was so confused... after another minute of me butchering the 'I am wrong' statement and smiling as I did it, they just busted out laughing when they had realized what I had meant to say and what I had actually said....!!

Instead of saying "I am wrong," I was actually saying "I am going to vomit!"

We laughed about it for a long time and I sat there and thought about the few times I had used it before and remembered how the person would step away from me.... it all makes sense... I was accidentally saying "I am going to throw up."

Also... to add more to the fire.... with just the slightest different sound it means "I am going to steal." So.... anyway I say it, its not going to be good if I mess it up. So I will be spending a lot of time this week with my tutor listening and mimicking the sounds and pronunciation!

Just for fun, below are the characters, pinyin, and definitions

tǔ
吐
vomit

cuò
错
wrong

tōu
偷
steal