Yvonne - Yes, one of the biggest problems language teaching here is that 99% of my students have never actually heard English spoken by a native English speaker. Those who can plough their way through Jane Austen and are billed as top students are completely nonplussed when greeted with anything other than "Hello, How are you?" as its always written in their text books. I have devised a system therefore where I teach them phoenetically.
Celivia - Yep - amazing how music can break down barriers and spark interest, isn't it? Theres an interesting article over in the other section which was posted about just that.
Foxy - Got a grin also out of your story: however even native English speakers can make boo-boos. When my (very English) parents first arrived in Australia a neighbour invited them to a party with the injunction to bring a plate. This worried Phyl and Gee a little so, on the night of the party they hurried off a little early, delighted they could help their new friends, and carrying a large box apiece. No food or nibblies though. Thinking their neigbour was worried she wouldn't have enough plates they took an entire dinner service!

"Theres an interesting article over in the other section " Thank Romany, I'll read it tonight, haven't had much time to read the article section lately.

Love the plate story :)

Something similar happened to us after we arrived in Australia.
My colleague invited us to her house for tea one night, at 7pm.
We made sure we ate early before we left, because we had no idea that 'tea' meant 'dinner'.
We ate as much as we could on top of what we'd already eaten but we had to explain why we ate so little.
Luckily, my colleague saw the funny side of it.

There have been quite a few of these incidents because we misunderstood the meaning of something.

I am really enjoying reading this thread.

Romany you sound as if you are doing a wonderful job. Your tale is unfortunately a common one, with many talented people having to "clean toilets" instead of making a contribution to Australia with their skills.

Loving the stories of misinterpretation. But you can be a born and bred English speaker and still run into confusion in another English speaking country.

Take the USA (pleeease)

I lived there for a while and being a sympathetic sort of person would express my concern when an American told me they had "lucked out". To an Australian this sounds like someone has lost out on being lucky. I didn't twig to the real meaning until I had been very lucky in something and I was congratulated for having "lucked out" that time.

That said, I really regret not having my second language studies at school, even though it was French and a bit useless here in Australia, I understand that once you have mastered a second language learning more is easier.

The little bit of teaching I have done (instructing adults to use computers) always worked best when humour was a part of the method.

And if the joke is on you, it simply creates an open path of communication with your students.

This is such an enjoyable thread! Love the stories of misunderstandings.I can distinctly remember, I was about 12, confusing the word difficult with easy. I could hardly face the little group afterwards when I realized my mistake, that I must have sounded like a right up-myself boastful prat, when I really meant to lament the difficulty of something, not the ease! I survived the embarrassment when I consoled myself with the thought that I still spoke English better than they Dutch.

Romany, just a thought, if some of your students can read English well, but are stumped when it is spoken, how about listening to a tape of the book being read while reading along?

Celivia sounds like she had a great English teacher. Amazing to think that we took it for granted that we had to learn 3 foreign languages! That's why I think it funny when I hear the groaning about ONE foreign language!

Yvonne, yes I was very lucky with my English teacher.
I have forgotten almost all of the French and German by now because there was no need to keep it up.
But my brother speaks these languages fluently since he makes sure to keep it up by going on holidays to France and Germany and read books in these languages, too. He was taught Greek and Latin at school as well, but he speaks only the basics.
Because he loves Italy, he is learning Italian now, too.

Do you have people here in Australia to speak Dutch with?
I regularly chat with friends and sometimes phone family in Holland and my mother always sends me the latest "Jan, Jans en de kinderen" for my birthday. (It's a comic that I love).

Still, according to my brother, if I'd visit Holland today, I'd sound old fashioned! The language is always evolving and there are so many words that are just not part of my vocabulary, and I seem to use some words that are 'out'.
Sheesh I feel old and stuffy, I should pay more attention to the words Katrijn and Catootje use (the teenage characters in the comic) and remember to use them next time I phone my brother!

Celivia, yes that's one problem, keeping your language 'up to date'. I knew I had a problem some years back when helpful shop persons started speaking to me in English when I was last in that kouwe kikkerlandje! That's why the internet is so marvelous. You don't need to travel to up-date skills and fluency.

Newspapers, especially opinion columns, Youp in NRC Handelsblad (een beetje grof)for instance, and debate forums are a great source, so are blogs.

You might be surprised how much German and French you remember. I love Googling on Google.nl or Google.de etc.

Currently I'm getting my skills back in Spanish.