When I was sixteen years old, I made my first visit to the United States. It wasn't the first time I had been abroad. Like most English children, I learned French at school. And I had often been to France, so I was used to speaking a foreign language to people who didn't understand English. But when I went to America, I was really looking forward to having a nice easy holiday without any language problems.
How wrong I was! The misunderstanding began at the airport. I was looking for a public telephone to give my American friend Danny a call and tell her that I had arrived. A friendly old man saw me looking lost and asked if he could help me.
"Yes," I said, "I want to give my friend a ring."
"Well, that's nice," he said, "Are you getting married？But aren't you a bit young?"
"Who is talking about marriage?" I replied. "I only want to give my friend a ring to tell her I've arrived. Can you tell me where there is a phone box?"
"Oh!" he said, "There is a phone downstairs."
When at last we met, Danny explained the misunderstanding to me.
"Don't worry," she said to me, "I had so many difficulties at first. There are lots of words which the Americans use differently in meaning from British. You'll soon get used to all the funny thingstheysay. Most of the time, British and American people understand each other!"
