So I took a risk with language this week... I know many of you think that I am bold and adventuresome... but I really am cautious because I don't like making mistakes.
Recently I thought... I need to take more risks. Why don't I have any embarrassing language stories? It is not because I am the master of every language... rather it is because I am very very careful and not very confidant. Well.. I decided that maybe I need some good language/culture stories... And wouldn't you know it... I step out and right away... Sigh....
It is good for me to be kept humble.
So to the story...
My brother Matt can do amazing things with pork loin. And I have never tried cooking pork loin. Well, since Germany's main meat is pork, I thought I would find some pork loin to make for some friends coming over to dinner. I found a recipe on-line that sounded really good and then went to the local grocery to find myself a pork loin.
I know that the German word for pork is Schwein. But I ignored that and looked for what might resemble that cut of meat. I took it home... doubt scratching at my mind... but opened the package and began the preparation... at which point I thought.. I really should find out what this is... I tried direct on line translation and came up with something Salmon... but I knew the meat was not Salmon! So I contacted a friend in town who has been here for years and she said that the meat was cured ham... but she was confused by the Salmon word in the name too...
Well, I ended up making a really good piece of ham... which is not quite the same as pork loin... but my friends liked it. So did I. And now I am resolved to find a real pork loin... but I will research before I go looking again.
It was delicious!! I'm glad that you picked out that meat instead...now you have tried something new!
ReplyDeleteHi Melissa!
ReplyDeleteSo here's my 'embarrasing language story' about the grocery store:
My 1st year in Russia, I mixed up a lotta different words. I ended up making statements like 'turn off the flowers' and 'let's go pick some wild lightbulbs!'
One day at the store, I asked for some flour - I wanted to bake some stuff. They have flour in bags just like we have in the states, so I read the front of the package and said to the lady in my best broken, thickly accented Russian, "Please give me a bag of flour."
She looked at me somewhat strangely and said 'what do you want?' I repeated what I'd said, and she smiled. Thankfully she was a nice lady, and said 'I think you mean THIS' - and gave me a bag of flour. Then she said 'you say the word this way -' which of course had been completely different than I'd read.
So I came back and asked what THAT word meant...turns out I was trying to buy 30 rubles' worth of torture!
Oh, languages...you gotta jump in and be able to laugh at yourself. She still remembers that every time I buy flour, too.....