Call Me Harp
[This post is dedicated to my Argentine friends, I miss you all dearly].
A couple summers ago, I went to San Juan, Argentina. It was quite an experience and I got to meet so many wonderful people. As you can imagine speaking another language can be difficult, especially when it comes to pronouncing names. Prior to my arrival in San Juan, I was in Mendoza for about a week, and it was here that I discovered Argentines had difficulty pronouncing my name.
So, on the bus ride to San Juan, I decided to pick a new name for myself... something easier for my new friends to pronounce. I don't know why I didn't want to go with something a little simpler, like Ana, but I decided to thumb through my Spanish/English dictionary to find a new name. I of course hit up the "A" section and come across "arpa."
Fast forward: I am now in San Juan and am ready to showcase my new name. We're standing in a group and introducing ourselves, and it's my turn. I proceed to say, "Hola, Me llamo Annette, pero llamame Arpa!" [Direct translation: Hi! My name is Annette, but call me harp.]
Yeah, you can imagine the stare I got. And as I reprocessed what I said out loud, I just couldn't stop laughing. It didn't help that my new friends were laughing too. You can imagine how silly that must have sounded. "Hi, my name is Annette but call me harp."
From that point on, I just introduced myself as Ana :D
A couple summers ago, I went to San Juan, Argentina. It was quite an experience and I got to meet so many wonderful people. As you can imagine speaking another language can be difficult, especially when it comes to pronouncing names. Prior to my arrival in San Juan, I was in Mendoza for about a week, and it was here that I discovered Argentines had difficulty pronouncing my name.
So, on the bus ride to San Juan, I decided to pick a new name for myself... something easier for my new friends to pronounce. I don't know why I didn't want to go with something a little simpler, like Ana, but I decided to thumb through my Spanish/English dictionary to find a new name. I of course hit up the "A" section and come across "arpa."
Fast forward: I am now in San Juan and am ready to showcase my new name. We're standing in a group and introducing ourselves, and it's my turn. I proceed to say, "Hola, Me llamo Annette, pero llamame Arpa!" [Direct translation: Hi! My name is Annette, but call me harp.]
Yeah, you can imagine the stare I got. And as I reprocessed what I said out loud, I just couldn't stop laughing. It didn't help that my new friends were laughing too. You can imagine how silly that must have sounded. "Hi, my name is Annette but call me harp."
From that point on, I just introduced myself as Ana :D
posted by netty @ 4:48 PM
2 Comments:
At 7:23 AM,
sue.bee said…
thinking about that day still cracks me up! HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA
At 6:47 PM,
netty said…
haha. I remember Leslie looking at me and going, "WHAT?!?" then busting out laughing. I also remember it was "Tom Cruise" who was standing infront of me looking so bewildered :P
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