Trying to speak other than your native language can also lead to embarrassment.

My wife and I often traveled to Mexico with our two dogs. We were deep in mainland Mexico, (where no one spoke any English) and we needed to buy some food for our dogs. My Spanish at the time was "Spanglish" at best.

The word for dog in Spanish is perro and the word for food is comida....so naturally dog food must be perro comida. We went from store to store trying to find dog food. I would ask for perro comida and the store clerks would give me the weirdest look, shake their finger at us say NO, NO, NO! We finally went to a store where one person spoke a little English. We found out the correct way to say dog food is comida para perro.... not perro comida. I was literally asking for "dog meat".

I envisioned those clerks I had asked for perro comida going home at the end of the work day and telling their family.....Wow, it's true those Americans really do eat dogs!!

I am much more careful now Ziners!

Frank Garcia California