Embarrassing mistakes you have made in Spanish or English
I have made loads lol, I'll share a couple with you.
Last year I was in Arrecife (Lanzarote) and fancied an ice cream. I couldn't remember the word for a 'tub' of ice cream but thought I knew the word for 'cone' of ice cream.
So, I said .... "helado de fresa .... en un coño, por favor!"
The lady almost died of laughter, so did her mate. I then realised exactly what I had said!! jejeje
I was watching Colombia play football on tv during the last world cup from a packed bar in the Colombian district in Jackson Heights, Queens. It was very loud and the beer was flowing, anyway, this girl started chatting to me. I couldn't understand a word. So I turned to her and said ..........."Lo siento mucho pero solo hablo un poquito de español."
She then replied ..................."But I am speaking to you in English!!!!" Doh! How to make friends and influence people, hey 
16 Answers
I was at the barn years ago on a hot summer day and my groom was standing next to another groom. The other groom asked me ¿Cómo está usted? and I looked him straight in the eye and answered, Soy muy caliente! He looked surprised! Moments later, my groom took me aside and said, Cath, that very well may be true, but I think you meant to say Estoy caliente!
This could be a very common anecdote everybody knows. I'm teling it just in case.
Spanish student: How do you say excuse me in Spanish? Teacher: Con permiso.
Spanish student on the bus unwillingly falls on someone's lap when the bus suddenly stops.
Spanish student says: Con permiso.
Get it?
When I was first learning Spanish I remember being at my friend's house with several of my male friends and trying to ask something like, "Can I borrow a comb?" My pronunciation wasn't great and "peine" sounded much more like "pene". They nearly fell over laughing. To this day I always say "cepillo" instead!
My husband attempted to call attention to some rabbits and said, "Mira los cojones!"
My first example is probably considered a classic 'boo boo' (blunder) amongst common mistakes that non-natives make when trying to speak Spanish!
I had already made a silly mistake and wanting to redeem myself but ignoring the sound advice that says 'when you're in a hole, stop digging' I tried to say: I feel embarrassed and thought that I knew how to express the idea correctly in Spanish, so I said: Estoy embarazado and was met with great laughter!
I was wondering how people could possibly find it funny or laugh at me when I obviously felt embarrased until somebody kindly explained that I had just said: I am pregnant! Obviously, this is probably not the best thing to admit to if you are a guy/man! Thankfully, I was immediately able to see the funny side of the situation and joined with my audience at laughing at my silly mistake!
Correct ways to say:" I am embarrassed"
:1.Tengo vergüenza
2.Me da vergüenza / Me da pena
An example of the different way that the word embarazosa can be used is:
¡Henrique se encontró en una situación embarazosa y comprometida porque sin querer habia acabado de caerse en el suelo con la novia de su mejor amigo cuando este amigo entró la habitación! = Henry found himself in an embarrassing and compromising situation because he had just accidentally fallen to the ground with his best friend's girl friend when his friend entered the room!
Sorry but the third isn't right. Era una situación embarazosa. Estaba en una situación embarazosa. - polenta1 32 mins ago
Muchas gracias por tu corrección, Polenta 
He cambiado lo que he dicho y he escrito una frase.
My second example is actually an example of trying to say something in French and 'blowing it' (getting it wrong) big time/in a big way!
I was visiting the Notre Damm Cathedral in París one day with my sister and brother in law who wereat that time living in Pontoise, about 10 -15 miles outside París. We had successfully climbed to the highest level and had walked along one of the walled walkways where we were admiring the view!
I turned to a couple of people who were also admiring the view and tried to say that the view was wonderful it was good to be so high up (on such a high level) but used the wrong verb and ended up saying it was good to be high on drugs, which is not really the best introduction when talking to strangers! Perhaps it was just as well that I was not trying to chat up a new girlfriend, because it wouldn't have ranked well as a successful chat up line! lol
I may have used the French verb defoncer = to get high on drugs but I cannot remember exactly!
Corrijan mi español si es necesario, por favor
Esta anécdota iguala algo la de Billygoat y me recuerda de cuando yo trabajaba de intérprete para el Centro de Control de Enfermedades (CDC por su abreviatura inglesa) cuando llegaban “los marielitos” en el 1980.
Alojábamos los refugiados temporalmente en bases militares hasta que fueran patrocinados. Una de mis tareas era salir al campamento para recoger a los pacientes que tuvieran consultas médicas aquel día. Teniá compinche cubano (Llamémoslo “Nortberto”) que me acompañaba en el pisiccorre durante las rondas. Yo manejaba y él espiaba a los pacientes.
En la clínica había una enfermera bien bonita que no hablaba el español pero aprendía mucho y se esforzaba a aprender más. ¿Y por qué no? Todos los pacientes hablaban español. Norberto solía fijarse los ojos en las personas de una manera insólita, que así era.
Recuerdo un día en particular en que acabábamos de dejar un grupo de pacientes en la clínica y conversábamos un rato con la enfermera antes de volver al campamento. Norberto fijaba los ojos en ella. Ella miraba a él y luego a mí, y dijo “Creo que tu amigo… está…está… está enamorado con yo.”
This anecdote is somewhat like that of Billygoat and reminds me of when I worked as an interpreter for the CDC when the “marielitos” were arriving in 1980.
We would house the refugees on military bases until they could be sponsored. One of my jobs was to go out to the compound and pick up patients who had appointments that day. I had a Cuban sidekick (we’ll call him Norberto) who accompanied me in the van during the rounds. I drove and he would spot the patients.
At the clinic there was a pretty nurse who didn’t speak Spanish but she was learning fast and tried to learn more. And why not? All the patients spoke Spanish. Norberto had the habit of staring at people in the most unusual way, but that’s the way he was.
I remember one day in particular when we had just brought in a group of patients and we were were talking with the nurse before going back to the compound. Norbert was staring at her. She looked at him and then at me and said, “Your friend is…is…is in love with I.”
It doesn’t make a lot of sense in English. Think “Con yo”.
For months on end when I was in Bolivia I was saying "otro" and "un otro / una otra" for another.
Until someone asked me why.
"El presupuesto anal no permitía la actualización de los vehículos."
"The annual budget did not permit upgrading the vehicles."
Un verdadero "uf".
In my late teens I spent some time on the US East Coast. I had been learning English since I was five but that was the first time I actually got to speak it. My pronunciation was a little bit improvised and I felt that I had to excuse myself, explaining to people that I had issues pronouncing my vowels. I should have also explained that in Spanish B and V are the same, cause I went around for a few months telling people that I had "problems with my bowels".
I cannot think of any mistakes in Spanish, but that is because I do not speak it enough.
I do remember going to France as a teenager on an exchange trip [my first trip abroad] and saying Je suis pleine after a meal and being told only pregnant women and animals are 'pleine' It is something I have never forgotten so making mistakes is good.
Given coffee's comments at top of the thread, here is a link to a clever funny video about the problems with pronunciation. 4 lots of ordinary words are mispronounced so they sound like bad words. He is supposed to be Italian but Spanish speakers would have similar challenges
Otra anécdota de los marielitos (refugiados cubanos) que llegaron a los EEUU en el 1980. El gobierno de James Carter, creó un programa para incentivar los patrones a que emplearan los refugiados y, a la medida, disminuir los gastos de calefacción/air del pueblo de pocos recursos (ancianos, desahabilitados, etc.). El programa federal ofrecía rembolsar a los patrones la mitad del sueldo pagado a los refugiados. El trabajo consistía en renovar techos, instalar aislante, y cualquier cosa que mitigara las facturas de energía. Bien!
Un amigo mío trabajaba en eso. No hablaba el inglés. Él formaba parte de un equipo capitaneado por estadounidense. Llegarían a una casa y en pocas horas, actualizaban todo. Luego se encargaban de otra casa y bla, bla, bla. Así ‘Pedro” iba aprendiendo palabras inglesas (nail, roof, joist, window, etc..).
Pues, un día el equipo hacía su trabajo en la casa de una viuda. Remplazaba ventanas y aislante. De una manera u otra perdió su aplicador de sellador y vagaba por todas partes refunfuñando en inglés, “Where is my caulk? Where is my caulk?” La viuda le oía y le denunció ante el capitán. Todo se resolvió sin problema, pero desde hace 37 años, Pedro no dice “caulk”. Prefiere “seallant”. Hoy en día habla bien el inglés.
I had seen written the word width before many times and I knew its meaning and that it came from wide But believe it or not I had never heard it pronounced. So when in front of a class I said wide- th I thought I had said it right.
When I came home I went to a dictionary just in case and saw it's WE-dth I felt so ashamed because I detest mispronouncing. I apologized the next class.
I've never done it, thank God, but I've heard that once in awhile a beginner will say:
Tengo treinta anos.
Una vez con unos jovencitos de 12 o 13 años estábamos viendo las diferencias que hay en inglés entre put on, try on y take off
Los chicos se pusieron a reir de tal manera con el primer verbo que no paraban de reirse. Como yo conocia el verbo "put on" y era archiconocido para mí, no me causó gracia y me quedé seria. Pero a la larga fue tan contagiosa la risa de ellos que me tenté y yo también me uní al coro de carcajadas.
Nadie que sea native English speaker podrá creer que esto sucedió, pero es verdad. Nos reímos como unos cinco minutos. jajajajaj
I once asked a waiter if the salad had lettuce in it. Instead of saying lechuga (lettuce) I said lechuza (owl). He realized I was a foreigner, corrected me and I didn't really feel embarrassed.
I said cojon instead of cojín to a Spanish girl. She thought it was hilarious
