Foreign Mistakes

Learning another language has never been easy for me.

There are so many rules to remember! Granted, it’s like that in English, but I grew up speaking that; I don’t even consider that. It just works.

Other languages however, are a challenge. Right now, I’m learning Italian. The sentence structure is a little different from ours, and one misplaced vowel in a word and you’re screwed.

Yesterday in class, we were learning classroom objects. My professor held up an object and would ask a student what it was. My turn came around. She held up a pen.

I was tired from working a 7am shift, so without thinking, I said “Penne.”

First my professor looked shocked, then horrified, and I couldn’t figure out why. She thrust the pen in my face, asking again what it was. I couldn’t understand what was wrong, so I just shook my head.

She turned to the class. “In Italian, you really need to watch your vowels. This is a penna, but if you add an e instead, you’re referring to a male organ. Also, never drop an N either.”

The whole class started laughing as I tried to hide in my seat. I was laughing too, but…whoops.

My professor turned to the girl next to me, and offered her the pen. Apparently she hadn’t been listening.

“Um. Penne?”