Lost in Translation

I used to teach ESL at a large university in a nearby city. It was a lot of fun, but it did not get the bills paid. Here's another pre-baby teaching story.

One semester, I taught Reading 1. Reading 1 is the “fresh off the boat” class for students who can barely put full sentences together. I don't know how they ever expected to survive the next semester or even the next year in actual college classes, but I always did my best to help them muddle through paragraphs and strengthen their practical skills for surviving their new lives in this foreign, English-speaking country.

Restaurants and food was always a great unit to cover. One thing I have learned as a teacher of international students is that everyone loves to talk about food; it doesn't matter where you're from. So one day, I started class off with a question. I always like to compare their home cultures to American culture, so I ask away and we discuss what you can and can't do here. I began by asking the class, “Do you ever go to a restaurant by yourself?”

They were totally silent, and visibly uncomfortable. Maybe they didn't quite catch what I said. I restated the question: “Have you ever gone to a restaurant alone?”

A boy sitting up front snapped, “Of course!!!” and crossed his arms as he turned away. He was pissed, and he had emphasized the “sss” in “course” like a snake hissing. I pushed on.

“Wow, ehh, ok, anybody else?” I looked around the room hopefully at my usual talkers, but nobody was taking the bait. I kept going: “I don't usually like to go alone, unless I have a book or something to do, but I've done it a few times. Or when I was in college, I used to go to the cafeteria there alone all the time ---”

“Wait,” one of my brave students interjected. She was a favorite of mine, always happy and excited to learn. Her American name was Lily, and she spoke in Chinglish: “You say, 'cafeteria.'” She hesitated and shook her head, a little confused. “Did you say, 'do you go to restaurant or restroom by youself?'”

For a lot of English learners, the words “restaurant” and “restroom,” sound alike because students often add in an extra syllable and drop off the final consonant of restroom, making it “rest-a-roo.” Restaurant endures a slightly similar fate of “rest-a-raw.”

“What?” I said, totally shocked. “Oh my God, no! I said 'restaurant!!' No, I didn't mean the bathroom!”

The entire class had misunderstood me, and they all burst out laughing. Lily laughed hardest.

I scooted to the side of the classroom and wrote both words on the board. “OK, pronunciation lesson! Repeat after me!” I clapped out the syllables for both words and stressed their very different pronunciation. The students followed along, giggling.

I couldn't keep it together either, and I laughed again. “Oh my goodness, you all thought I was asking if you go to the bathroom alone! And I said I like to take books with me!” They roared with laughter again, and asked each other jokingly if they liked to pee with friends.

It took a while for us all to settle our giggles, but we eventually did and we successfully got through that unit. And to this day, I bet they can all still pronounce "restroom" and "restaurant" perfectly.