Wednesday 11 August 2010

Cultural Faux Pas

At the Model School Ceremony today, my fellow Peace Corps Trainee Ben Ace went up to introduce his students and their Music Club. Wanting to show support, I yelled out to him. Thus, I cheered "Allez, Ben!" which I thought was "Go, Ben!" in French. Well, though the conjugation was correct, the verb "aller" means "to go" in French. Therefore, I accidently yelled "Go away, Ben!" to the amusement of my higher-level speaking trainees and some Cameroonians. Oops.

I guess the cultural faux pas moments all begin somewhere!

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