Lost in Translation

My favorite recent ¨Lost in Translation¨ moment for you:



So at the park close to the grocery store there´s a little dance studio run by this family of three. Dad and Mom (stage names: El Fantasma [The Phantom] and La India [India]) are the owners and they teach salsa, merengue, and bachata. Their son, Landry, (who now all-of-a-sudden wants to be called exclusively by his stage name: El Fantasmito [the Little Phantom]) is 11 and a fabulous dancer/teacher. Anyway, this family is really great and I´ve been enjoying getting to know them and learning to dance over the past few months here in San Pedro.

I usually go to class with the daughter of some friends from work, and we´ve become good friends with Landry. But one day, my friend, Natalia, minorly cut her foot on some broken glass and couldn´t come to class for a couple days. When I arrived at class by myself, Landry met me at the door and asked me where Natalia was. I had prepared myself for this moment and thought of a sentence with all the right reflexive pronouns: Ella se cortó a su pie. (¨She cut her foot¨, or, literally: ¨She cut herself at the foot¨.) I smiled broadly and waved my hand to indicate that it was no big deal, all to be met by a gap-mouthed, wide-eyed stare from Landry who suddenly bursts out with: ¨They amputated her foot!?!?¨

Oops.

Confusion ensued as I tried to assure him that no, it was just a small cut on the arch of her foot, she would be fine, etc. I was also laughing pretty hard putting myself in Landry´s shoes, seeing my smiling non-chalance as I announced the amputation of our friend´s foot. (Hahahaha. Still funny.)

Anyway, it all got straightened out, Natalia´s foot healed just fine, and dance class continues to be a joy. But I still don´t know how to properly say, ¨She cut her foot¨.....