Bloopers, part deux

There’s a bit of a humor curve regarding how I perceive language bloopers. At first, I didn’t notice anything—and probably didn’t make many mistakes because I was always saying, “I don’t know” and “I don’t understand.” Then I still didn’t notice anything because I was so concentrated on what I was saying that concentration blotted out mistakes. The next phase was that everything struck me as funny—I botched up word order and tenses and vocabulary out the wazoo, but, hey, I was new at learning so I could laugh. Now, however, I’m starting to pout. I’ve been here for seven months (!!), and I’m aware at how stinky-pooh I am (and am still totally butchering word order, tenses, and vocab out the wazoo). So, maybe my disappointment with my retention and acquisition rates is starting to wear on me. Yet, although bloopers now make me shake my head and humph, eh, some are still pretty funny.

From the past 2 days:
“How are you?” -Good. “How are things for you?” -Good. “How is your family?” -Good. "It’s been such a long time since you’ve been here!!" -Good. (oops…and this scene probably plays out more than I’m aware of).

I’m often asked how I like Kosovo. I reply (generically bc of my limited vocabulary): “Nice. I like it a lot. Very beautiful.” Tonight, I thought I was asked if I like Kosovo…instead I was asked if I like the men here—I was very thorough in my praises of Kosovo, but everyone within earshot howled bc they thought I was praising Kosovar men. Oops.

When expressing gratitude to a friendly neighbor, I said, “You’re a wonderful animal. Very hospitable.” (Neighbor is kojshi and animal is kafshi). Drat.

When I make mistakes like these, sometimes my response is to quit for the day (which, as I make bloopers every time I open my trap, this is pretty self-defeating). So, like all fearsome Robertas of the world, I’ve decided to be my own cheerleader. I go somewhere private, bounce from foot to foot with the biggest grimace I can muster, and belt a classy cheer we’d yell at swim meets back in 3rd grade: “Come on, Berdie, you can do it…if you put your mind to it…press on…AAaar!!” And, yessiree, I can feel this genius strategy working. I should patent it.