language lessons

so i finally managed to get off my duff and resume romanian language lessons. the best thing i learned today (other good stuff too) was the correct pronunciation of lemon. its kinda like the diff between roof and roof (if pronounced more southern style as ruhf) except that lemon with the OO means oral sex. looking back, i really really like to order ice tea with lemon. sometimes they have had me repeat my order.

which brings me to when romanians learn english. it makes me wonder who their english teachers are and to damn those half-assed translators of movies.

when i first moved into this apt, the landlord (who lives next door) invited me over for a drink. its kinda like the offer you cant refuse. we had wine spritzers (very popular here) and got to talking. he informed that he was still a communist and that life was better under the regime. i tried to talk to him but realized that i'd better hold my tongue. a movie came on - something about sex and race relations on college campuses - its about 15 years old. about the time when ice cube started flexing his acting chops. he then turned the conversation to race relations in the u.s. (its amazing how people - not just this country - feel the need to discuss american race relations but ignore racism in their own countries)

now the language issue is the romanian translation of black into english. somewhere along the line they were taught that negru (black) = nigger. every time he used the word, i flinched (for obvious reasons). feeling massively uncomfortable, i attempted to explain that this is not a word used in english unless one was trying really hard to offend the person speaking to. the funny thing is that he seemed to have this mental block. i had to ask like 4 times. finally i said if it would be nice if i referred to his wife as 'bitch' whenever i spoke of her 9i felt bad syaing this because she is a nice old lady). he then paused and finally asked if it was offensive. and this was after i told him this repeatedly.

did he actually learn anything? who knows but thats me - cultural ambassador and damn me if i'm not diplomatic.