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There's no such thing as a free room
I had come to the U.S. for the first time and was trying to check into my hotel. "Do you have a room free?" I asked the person at the front desk. She looked at me in total surprise and replied, haltingly, "Sorry, sir ... we don't have free rooms here." Needless to say, I was puzzled in return. I realized only later, however, what the problem was. Since I have a background in French, I had first thought of French when trying to say something in English, which I didn't know that well at the time. As a result, I had asked my question by taking how I would say it in French (Avez-vous une chambre libre?) and translating that phrase literally into English. However, when I rendered Avez-vous une chambre libre? into English, I used the adjective free to translate libre. At the time, I still didn't know the more appropriate word vacant and the fact that free can also mean "provided without payment." French uses a different word for that definition of free: gratuit. Oops! - Huu Le, Florida Tags: checking into a hotel, English, French, newsletter
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