Yesterday I bought a bunch of plane tickets (well three) to get myself to Granada and back again for Christmas.
At lunch I mentioned this to one of the people here at the maths department in Paderborn.
I started off saying that I’d purchased “3 flies”. As in bzzzz, bzzzzzz.
This got a laugh, trying to correct myself I then stated that I’d purchased “3 flyings”, I was getting there, but this still invoked more laughter.
Finally someone worked out what the hell I was talking about and told me that what I’d really bought were three “Flüge” (flights).
Of course this just reminded me of the patience you have to have when you’re learning a new language. You’re going to make mistakes, and some of them will probably sound funny to native speakers. Then they’ll laugh, but it’s rarely mean spirited, you’ve just got to laugh along and try and remember the word.