Hi, I am 21 and speak Hungarian natively. Additionally, I have a C2 in English and a C1 in German.
I have no difficulty whatsoever conveying even very complex thoughts in English because I have been learning the language very intensively for almost eight years. What really grinds my gears is the mistakes that I make even though I have already come this far. Being a perfectionist and an absolute nitpicker (only when it comes to my use of the language), I get really upset inwardly whenever I botch up grammar or go for a less natural word.
To illustrate what I mean here are two examples of the mistakes I have recently made but before I get to them, to understand the context better, you need to know that I have a part-time gig as a cashier in a kiosk at an ice hockey arena and there are always some Canadians among the spectators.
The first mistake was grammar-related. I once said ''She gets 6 euros in change'' instead of ''She's getting six euros in change.'' I still beat myself up about that mistake to this day even though it's been several months since I made it.
Then the second one was clumsy phrasing /word choice. I found myself in a situation where a Canadian didn't know what Currywurst was. Then I explained that it was a type of German fast food made with sausage, curry sauce, and curry powder. When handing her a portion of Currywurst, she looked at the Currywurst confusedly and I knew why. As a side note for more context, Currywurst is usually made with sausage slices but the one we were selling that day had been made with weird-looking sausage pieces (they kind of resembled tiny pillows), and thinking that it was the pillow-looking sausage pieces that were confusing her, I said this: I know those things -that's how I referred to the pillow-looking sausage pieces- don't look like they are made of sausages but don't worry, they are made of sausages.
I think this was a clumsy way of conveying the message. I would have sounded more natural if I had said ''Those things are sausage pieces, don't worry.''
Also, I always overthink a lot.
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