As a follow-up to my last post, I have a few questions for you.

When you attempt to communicate, are you quite sure that what people hear is exactly what you meant to say? What if a word you use doesn’t mean the same to the other person as it means to you? What if you accidentally use the wrong word? What happens to the message?

Quite a few years ago, the future Mrs. MZM and I made a commitment to go on a church mission trip to San Paolo, Brazil. During the initial orientation meeting (it’s where we first met, actually) we were advised about a basic Portuguese language class being offered for those of us who planned to go.

Now, it wasn’t required, mind you, since there were to be interpreters assigned to each of our groups. But we knew that learning at least a little Portuguese would make it easier to communicate, so it seemed like a good idea. Besides, at least attempting the language might even open a few doors. (It’s quite true, and something I’ve practiced in every country I’ve ever had the privilege to visit.)

Anyway, we spent several weeks learning stock phrases that might come in handy. Besides the all-important, “Excuse me; where’s the bathroom?” we learned many more, including “How are you?”, “Howdy; I’m a Texan from Texas,” and especially, “I speak very little Portuguese. Do you speak English?”

Essentially, we learned how to break the ice with total strangers (which, alas, is something I’m still trying to learn). Our interpreters would be there to handle most of it, but it was fun to at least get things started.

Occasionally, though, our crash course in Portuguese, er, let us down, if you know what I mean. Every now and then, when we thought we were saying one thing, we were actually saying something completely different. This happened far too often, and occasionally led to some hilarious incidents.

One day, several of us, including our Senior Pastor, Brother John (who had just arrived from our church in Houston), were visiting the Flower Market, a huge open-sided building where flowers of every description were bought and sold for seemingly ridiculous prices. (I remember buying an entire spray of orchids for about $5!) We spent most of the day walking about, enjoying the sights, and attempting to practice our really bad Portuguese to anyone who would listen.

I watched as my new friend (and future Mrs. MZM) began a conversation with this one fellow. It was going quite well, actually – at least until she decided to introduce him to our Pastor. She called Brother John over, and as they shook hands, she solemnly informed the man this was our “pecador grande” – whereupon the man and our interpreter both burst out laughing!

After a few moments, the interpreter said a few words to our new friend, then turned to us and said, “I’m sorry, but instead of introducing your Pastor as “a great preacher“, you just said he was “a great sinner!” (Hey, in her defense, the two words do sound similar: pecador = sinner; pregador = preacher.)

Well, we all just about fell down laughing. Brother John took it in stride, of course, laughingly (via our interpreter this time!) assuring the man, “Well, I may be a sinner, but I try not to think of myself as a particularly great one!”

So, the big question is, has this ever happened to you?

(photo: Old man (with many hands) teaching Finnish sign language“, by gak)