A long time ago my friend came to the U.S.A. He wanted to take a shower, and he went to the store to buy soap. He didn't know how to ask for soap and by mistake he bought cheese. Then he took a shower. He told a friend American soap was no good. --Azemera
When I came to the U.S. last year I just knew English a little bit. When I heard someone talk about "landlord" and paying rent to "landlord" I thought that was the name of someone and he must be a millionaire because he had many houses for rent and got a lot of money. Now I know "landlord" is what you call everyone who has property for rent--Cherry
Last year, my friend Nick went to France for a trip. When he wanted to go to the restroom, he discovered that there were only words written on the doors. Then he chose one door because he couldn't wait anymore. At the moment he pushed the door, his sister came out from there. Then he knew he chose the wrong one.--Alex
One day in 1992, in the beginning of our life in the U.S., I went to the store and bought sour cream. I wanted to give a compliment to the worker. I said, "The sour cream is terrible." The worker was angry and I didn't understand why. When I looked in the dictionary at home, I understood why he was angry. I should have said "terrific."--Nusya
One day a foreign student received a free bottle. There was a lemon on it. He thought it was dressing, so at dinner he put it on the salad. In the middle of the night he felt uncomfortable and had diarrhea. He went to the hospital the next day. The doctor asked him, "What food did you eat? He said he only ate salad. When he went home he checked the dressing. It was lemon soap. It was for washing the dishes.--Louise
A woman came to the store to buy an envelope, but she forgot the word "envelope" and said, "Please, give me a small elephant." The salesman didn't understand her and was very surprised.--Lyudmila
When my sister was in Los Angeles, she went to the store because she wanted to buy something to eat, and she found something, but she didn't read what she was buying. She bought another thing that she couldn't eat, because it wasn't something to eat. It was something to brush your teeth with, so she couldn't eat that afternoon.--Alicia
One friend of mine doesn't understand English very well. She was trying to call somebody and she dialed the number. She said, "May I talk to Anna?" Then she repeated that several times and told me that the woman on the phone didn't want to call Anna to the phone. I asked "Which woman?" and took the phone. "That woman" was an answering machine, and my friend didn't understand that she was talking to the answering machine.--Mariya