Is it possible to bash your way though this, as a foreigner, by getting the gender wrong half the time? Are mis-genedered nouns sometimes homophones for completely different things, or can you be understood with bad grammar, regardless?
I say this since sometimes “bad/wrong” is less about understanding and more about “that sounds funny” or “nobody talks like that.”
You will be understood, it will just give people a small pause.
Sometimes it may cause confusion, like “the phone (he) went through the washing machine (she) and now <she/he> is broken” changes meaning if you get the pronoun wrong. But then if you are used to disambiguate thIs kind of situation - and you have to in english - it shouldn’t happen too often
Good to know! I’ll just not let any phones into any washing machines while traveling, to avoid grammatical confusion. I’ll wash my phone when I get home instead.
Is it possible to bash your way though this, as a foreigner, by getting the gender wrong half the time? Are mis-genedered nouns sometimes homophones for completely different things, or can you be understood with bad grammar, regardless?
I say this since sometimes “bad/wrong” is less about understanding and more about “that sounds funny” or “nobody talks like that.”
You will be understood, it will just give people a small pause.
Sometimes it may cause confusion, like “the phone (he) went through the washing machine (she) and now <she/he> is broken” changes meaning if you get the pronoun wrong. But then if you are used to disambiguate thIs kind of situation - and you have to in english - it shouldn’t happen too often
Good to know! I’ll just not let any phones into any washing machines while traveling, to avoid grammatical confusion. I’ll wash my phone when I get home instead.