Tip #9: When in doubt, pronounce the English word with the local accent.
The waiter then looked at me a little bit confused and responded back, “ohhhh baybee cheer” (complete with a rolled ‘r’ at the end).
“Yes…yes, a baybee cheerrr,” I responded with an overly rolled ‘r.’ I can either not roll the ‘r’ or roll it excessively. There is no in-between for me.
When I don’t know the word I need to use in my second language, I take the long, roundabout way to describe the one single world I’m looking for and then hope a local, fluent speaker will help me out and inform me of the easier way to say it.
I’ll use my husband as an example because a perfect story comes to mind.
We were at a Starbucks and he wanted one of those cardboard sleeves for his hot drink. Speaking only in the local language, he ended up asking if they had a “sock” for his hot drink. He was pretty certain it wasn’t the correct work, but it was the closest word he could think of. Of course, that’s when we were hoping to add a new word to our vocabulary.
The barista then responded, “oh, a sleef?”
Ah yes, a sleef.
Then there are times where I feel certain I’m saying the word right, even though it’s my first time giving it a try. I have a moment of pride when I think I’m saying the word correctly because I happen to have all the necessary words to convey what I’m trying to say.
On one particular occasion, we were at a restaurant and I needed a highchair. I was smart enough to know I couldn’t directly translate the words “high” and “chair” and get the same meaning of the word. So, I combined the words for “baby” and “chair”. I put all my verbs, nouns, and adjectives in the correct order as I made my request.
The waiter then looked at me a little bit confused and responded back, “ohhhh baybee cheer” (complete with a rolled ‘r’ at the end).
“Yes…yes, a baybee cheerrr,” I responded with an overly rolled ‘r.’ I can either not roll the ‘r’ or roll it excessively. There is no in-between for me.
And finally, there are times when I don’t even try to come up with the word and I simply ask, mentally ready to learn a new word in the language. Like the one time I didn’t want mushrooms in my omelette.
Me: “Yes, I want everything except those (pointing to mushrooms). What are those called?
The cook: Oh, mus-rrroom (again with a rolled ‘r’).
So now, it’s become a pretty common practice of mine to throw an Indonesian-pronounced English word into the conversation when I’m not quite sure what to say. Amazingly, it’s worked more often than I expect it to. If it doesn't work, then I know I can return to my long, roundabout method of figuring it out.
Do any of your second languages have English words mixed in or have a word with a very obvious English influence?