Adventures in miscommunication

Whenever one learns a language, one must be prepared for a certain level of misunderstanding and miscommunication, especially when venturing out into the Bar scene of Berlin, where people, men especially, seem to be more aggressive than usual. Maybe it’s my fault. I am so anxious to practice my German and try out new phrases that perhaps I am sending out the wrong signals? I have since learned, that here in Berlin, it's always the woman that approaches the man at a bar. If a girls not interested in someone, they just don't talk to them. Period. End of sentence. Here, I’ve been trying to be friendly, and if the person I’m talking to happens to be a guy.... no wonder they thinks I’m interested/ available. Which I am not. 

For example:

I went out with another American friend after a movie and as I was picking up our next round of beers I said “Hallo” to the man looking at me. Big Mistake. He followed me back to our table and sat himself down (it's actually not that weird in Germany to share a table with strangers, but whatever). He sits down, and the first thing out of his mouth, in an accent somewhere between German-Drunk and Borat says “You are very sexy.”   Really dude? That’s your opening line? “uh, Danke?” I turn away to talk to my friend, but it doesn’t work. He keeps up with the “romancing” leaving me to resort to what little German slang I know to tell him to leave us alone. I try “Lass uns in ruhe.” Nope. Still there. “Verpiss dich” Nope. So I decide to tell him that I am engaged (which, for the record, I am not, but I happened to be wearing a claddagh ring so I decided to go with it). I decided the best way to say that would be “Ich bin engagiert.” Which yes, does in fact mean “I am engaged” but more in the way that a hooker is already booked/ engaged for the evening. Yep. Instead of telling someone off, I basically told him I was a hooker and to come back later. No wonder he wouldn’t leave! He probably thought the friend I was talking to was my first client of the evening! Sheesh. 

I have since learned to say “Ich bin verlobt.” It usually shuts down all unwanted flirtation. 

Lesson learned.  

Cheers