Lu (Holland)
I didn't have really embarrassing moments in China. Once I used 京城 for capital, and my language partner laughed at me and then told me that was really wenyanwen (literal), and that I should use 首都.
Back in Holland I once said something like 她媽去了中國, meaning to say her mother went to China, which gave my language partner here quite a laugh. One must be very careful with saying 'his/her mother', it easily comes out wrong...
Xinuo from Moscow, Russia is majored in Mandarin in Shandong University, in Jinan. |