Hi, it's not about me making an embarrassing mistake, but in Italian culture, there is this one thing that I feel awkward about whenever it happens. When people drink together, I hear people say "toast!" or "Cheers!" in English. In Japan, they would say "Kanpai" and here in Italy, the most common word is "cin cin". If you are Japanese, I assume you are laughing right now because as you know, "cin cin" means "penis" in Japanese. Every time my family and my friends say "cin cin" with a big smile on their face, I don't know what I have to do.

😂In Ecuador it's pretty common to say: "Muérdela muérdela" "Bite it, bite it" (Bite the cake) after we finish to sing "Happy Birthday". I lived in a building full of people from all around the world and it was Andrea's birthday, so after singing happy birthday I said "Bite it, bite it" so happy and with energy. Everyone looked me awkard 😂😂😂 They said: What?!? That's weird. Neither the mexicans understood So, I shutted up 😂😂😂

I was travelling in Italy, and after a week or so, was feeling quite confident in speaking to locals. I went into one of the many 'alimentari' and I managed to conclude everything in Italian. The shop assistant complimented me, said I sounded like a native speaker. I was so happy! In English, it is ok to say , thanks, I love you for saying that! Not so much in Italian!!! My basic but enthusiastic" ti amo per avere detto questo' or something similar was met with much awkwardness and all round embarrassment, as if I had blurted out the worst possible thing to say. Of course, I didn't mean that I loved him in the 'ti amo' sense, but it was too late. Damage done. I slunk out of there feeling like I had committed the worst soclal gaffe ever. For the rest of my time there I walked a detour to avoid walking past that shop.

I can't remember any embarrassing situations from my own life, but I can tell you one that happened to my friend. When she was studying Spanish, in one of the classes their teacher played the song "A dios le pido" (I ask the God) by Juanes. Then the teacher asked if they understood what the phrase "A dios le pido" meant. My friend's answer was "Goodbye, libido". (Apparently, what she heard was "Adiós, libido").

It was my first year in US as a transfer student. On an international students party, we talked about different (or strange) cultures in our own country. It was my turn, I came up with an idea to talk about weddings in China. I said “...usually the wedding is held in restroom, people will drink, eat, take photos and make best wishes to the couple”. The story moves to the next person, then suddenly I noticed I wanted to say “Restaurant” not “restroom”! What was worse? No one questioned me, maybe everyone thought “oh that’s why it’s a special culture”.