It was this past Sunday afternoon and I was directing a two ward (church congregation) choir; we have been preparing for a new building dedication in September. Their were many wonderful church members at there including the Bishop of our ward.
We practice many of the new songs sitting and then I have to ask everyone to stand - well, the word for 'everyone stand' is 'pararse' - I had made numerous mistakes over the past two months trying to say this word I would say 'pasarse' (everyone pass) or 'pusarse' (doesn't mean a thing)... and THEN, I got it! Finally, I said "Parase, por favor." I was so excited and the choir was cheering (I have seriously slaughtered their language, obviously) and so jokingly I said, "Finalamente, Soy caliente!" which I thought meant "Finally I got it, I'm hot." Well, they ALL just started laughing HYSTERICALLY and wagging their fingers at me and some of the men had incredulous looks on their faces... NOT GOOD! Noone would tell me what I said... just that it wasn't too good - which I could obviously gather from the look on the men's faces and the women laughing and wagging their fingers at me...
So, that brings me to my Spanish class yesterday and I was explaining the entire situation to my Spanish instructor. She just laughed and laughed and then explained that "Soy caliente" means "I am hot" but in an extremely passionate sense! So, my bishop probably got a real kick out of that one! We'll see just how long I stay in the Relief Soceity Presidency!
So, the Tip of the Day is: Unless you are speaking to your spouse, don't say "Soy Caliente"!
4 comments:
you are funny! What a challenge to learn a new language!
I love reading about your adventures :)
Nice...this is a classic mistake that missionaries make - especially in the heat of Venezuela and other South American countries. (...actually, you'd be more likely to say "estoy caliente" to indicate your passionate feelings) The correct way to indicate that you're feeling warm is to say "Tengo calor." (I have warmth.)
Congrats on getting the "párense" correct to tell the choir to stand up!
We love to hear about your Spanish adventures, and we love seeing the pictures on your blog!
cute:) you will now forever be known as the hot choir director
It must be so frustrating to know what you want to say but cant quite get it out...Its always fun to read your blog your family is growing up...
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