Maria Trapp tells some funny stories about German speakers learning English in her book "The Story of the Trapp Family Singers," and particularly mentions the danger of using words that sound similar to words in your native language with the assumtion that they mean the same things. She tells of one lady who was out shopping for vegetables and was outraged at the cost of cauliflower at a particular grocer. The woman said "Behold your cauliflower! I can become cauliflower around the corner for X cents!"
Have you guys heard the one about the fellow from South America who traveled to San Francisco on business? When he arrived in the city, he realized that his wife had forgotten to pack any socks for him, so he went to Macy's to buy some. Unfortunately, the poor fellow had minimal English, so he had to resort to pantomime to show the clerk what he wanted. She brought out item after item...shoes, boots, slippers, etc. Finally she showed up with a pair of socks.
"Eso! Sí que es!" exclaimed the man.
The disgruntled clerk replied "well, if you can spell it, why didn't you just say it"
Redwolf