{"id":1657,"date":"2009-08-21T00:05:10","date_gmt":"2009-08-21T07:05:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/?p=1657"},"modified":"2009-09-03T23:54:05","modified_gmt":"2009-09-04T06:54:05","slug":"public-speaking-career-humiliation-o%e2%80%99day%e2%80%99s-travel-woes-44","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2009\/08\/public-speaking-career-humiliation-o%e2%80%99day%e2%80%99s-travel-woes-44\/","title":{"rendered":"PUBLIC SPEAKING CAREER HUMILIATION: O\u2019Day\u2019s Travel Woes #44"},"content":{"rendered":"

May, 1995<\/strong> (continued):<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"radio<\/p>\n

As you might recall from last week’s installment, Caracol Radio had brought me to Colombia to talk to its salespeople about commercial copywriting.<\/p>\n

Finally it was time for my speech\/seminar (a combination of both). Now, I speak a little bit of \u201cstreet Spanish,\u201d but certainly not enough to deliver an entire presentation in that language. One or two sentences at a time is the most I can handle.<\/p>\n

I can, however, read<\/strong> Spanish quite convincingly. My accent and pronunciation are pretty good, and if you heard me reading Spanish and you didn\u2019t know better, you\u2019d think I understood what I was saying.<\/p>\n

In other words, this is the first time I\u2019d spoken in a country whose native language I could at least fake. (On the other hand, I cannot even attempt to read aloud a sentence in Swedish, Dutch, Norwegian, German, etc., so in those countries I simply struggle to learn to say \u201cthank you\u201d convincingly.)<\/p>\n

So I worked with a Spanish-fluent friend of mine to prepare two paragraphs with which to open my presentation. I deliberately did not tell my hosts that I had done this preparation; I wanted to surprise and delight them with my fluency.<\/p>\n

I went over every phrase, every word. I rehearsed it again and again, paying special attention to certain words which I found difficult to pronounce.\u00a0 I practiced my gestures, my pauses, my facial expressions.<\/p>\n

By the time I mounted the stage to speak, I was ready.<\/p>\n

In the very first sentence, I told the audience how excited I was to be enjoying my very first trip to Colombia.<\/p>\n

The Spanish word for \u201ctrip\u201d is viaje<\/em> (vee-ah-hay). This was not one of the words I had had trouble pronouncing.<\/p>\n

But in my nervousness, I said vieja<\/em> (vee-ay-hah).<\/p>\n

As you can see, these two words are identical.<\/p>\n

Almost.<\/p>\n

I mean, it\u2019s the same five letters, with the \u201ce\u201d and the \u201ca\u201d transposed. All in all, a pretty tiny mistake.<\/p>\n

Viaje means \u201cvisit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vieja means \u201cold woman.\u201d<\/p>\n

When I proudly and enthusiastically announced how excited I was to be enjoying my very first old woman in Colombia, 300 radio advertising people fell on the floor laughing.<\/p>\n

Perhaps because of this humiliating blunder, my presentation seemed to take much, much longer than usual. Usually I am pretty good at estimating how much material I need to prepare for a given length of time, and I always prepare more material than I\u2019ll have time for.<\/p>\n

In this case, I knew my seven pages of notes would carry me through considerably more than the two hours I was scheduled to speak.<\/p>\n

When I got to the end of Page 5, I figured I had 15-20 minutes left. I glanced at the little alarm clock I had placed unobtrusively on the lectern, and I was shocked: Only one hour had elapsed. An hour still to go and I had exhausted 70% of my prepared material.<\/p>\n

How could this happen?<\/p>\n

I slowed down. Way down. To a crawl.<\/p>\n

After turning over Page 6, leaving me with just one more page of notes, I looked at the clock again. There still was one hour left.<\/p>\n

I was very hot. (I told you it\u2019s hot & humid there.) I was tired. I was embarrassed by my viaje\/vieja debacle. And all I could do was stare at the clock and wonder, \u201cHow can this be? How can I have gone through an entire page of notes and still have an hour left?\u201d<\/p>\n

Then I realized: The clock had stopped.<\/p>\n

I glanced at my watch. I had just five minutes left.<\/p>\n

You know how relieved you are when you awaken from a nightmare and realize it was just a bad dream? That\u2019s exactly how I felt.<\/p>\n

Next Month:<\/strong><\/span> Getting frisked at Bogot\u00e1 Airport…plus<\/strong> my train ride with skinheads in Germany.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

May, 1995 (continued): As you might recall from last week’s installment, Caracol Radio had brought me to Colombia to talk to its salespeople about commercial copywriting. Finally it was time for my speech\/seminar (a combination of both). Now, I speak a little bit of \u201cstreet Spanish,\u201d but certainly not enough to deliver an entire presentation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1657","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized"},"yoast_head":"\nPUBLIC SPEAKING CAREER HUMILIATION: O\u2019Day\u2019s Travel Woes #44 - DAN O\u2019DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2009\/08\/public-speaking-career-humiliation-o\u2019day\u2019s-travel-woes-44\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"PUBLIC SPEAKING CAREER HUMILIATION: O\u2019Day\u2019s Travel Woes #44 - DAN O\u2019DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"May, 1995 (continued): As you might recall from last week’s installment, Caracol Radio had brought me to Colombia to talk to its salespeople about commercial copywriting. Finally it was time for my speech\/seminar (a combination of both). Now, I speak a little bit of \u201cstreet Spanish,\u201d but certainly not enough to deliver an entire presentation […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2009\/08\/public-speaking-career-humiliation-o\u2019day\u2019s-travel-woes-44\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"DAN O\u2019DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DanODayRadio\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-08-21T07:05:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2009-09-04T06:54:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/Embarrassment.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan O'Day\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Dan_ODay\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Dan_ODay\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan O'Day\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/08\\\/public-speaking-career-humiliation-o%e2%80%99day%e2%80%99s-travel-woes-44\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/08\\\/public-speaking-career-humiliation-o%e2%80%99day%e2%80%99s-travel-woes-44\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Dan O'Day\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/afe504342187ed9676675802d9c9b19c\"},\"headline\":\"PUBLIC SPEAKING CAREER HUMILIATION: O\u2019Day\u2019s Travel Woes #44\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-08-21T07:05:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2009-09-04T06:54:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/08\\\/public-speaking-career-humiliation-o%e2%80%99day%e2%80%99s-travel-woes-44\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":653,\"commentCount\":4,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/08\\\/public-speaking-career-humiliation-o%e2%80%99day%e2%80%99s-travel-woes-44\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2009\\\/08\\\/Embarrassment.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/08\\\/public-speaking-career-humiliation-o%e2%80%99day%e2%80%99s-travel-woes-44\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/08\\\/public-speaking-career-humiliation-o%e2%80%99day%e2%80%99s-travel-woes-44\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/08\\\/public-speaking-career-humiliation-o%e2%80%99day%e2%80%99s-travel-woes-44\\\/\",\"name\":\"PUBLIC SPEAKING CAREER HUMILIATION: O\u2019Day\u2019s Travel Woes #44 - DAN O\u2019DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/08\\\/public-speaking-career-humiliation-o%e2%80%99day%e2%80%99s-travel-woes-44\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/08\\\/public-speaking-career-humiliation-o%e2%80%99day%e2%80%99s-travel-woes-44\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2009\\\/08\\\/Embarrassment.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-08-21T07:05:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2009-09-04T06:54:05+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/afe504342187ed9676675802d9c9b19c\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/08\\\/public-speaking-career-humiliation-o%e2%80%99day%e2%80%99s-travel-woes-44\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/08\\\/public-speaking-career-humiliation-o%e2%80%99day%e2%80%99s-travel-woes-44\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/08\\\/public-speaking-career-humiliation-o%e2%80%99day%e2%80%99s-travel-woes-44\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2009\\\/08\\\/Embarrassment.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2009\\\/08\\\/Embarrassment.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/08\\\/public-speaking-career-humiliation-o%e2%80%99day%e2%80%99s-travel-woes-44\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"PUBLIC SPEAKING CAREER HUMILIATION: O\u2019Day\u2019s Travel Woes #44\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"DAN O\u2019DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO\",\"description\":\"Straight talk about radio programming, radio advertising, radio production...Well, you get the idea.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/afe504342187ed9676675802d9c9b19c\",\"name\":\"Dan O'Day\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danoday.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/assistant\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"PUBLIC SPEAKING CAREER HUMILIATION: O\u2019Day\u2019s Travel Woes #44 - DAN O\u2019DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2009\/08\/public-speaking-career-humiliation-o\u2019day\u2019s-travel-woes-44\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"PUBLIC SPEAKING CAREER HUMILIATION: O\u2019Day\u2019s Travel Woes #44 - DAN O\u2019DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO","og_description":"May, 1995 (continued): As you might recall from last week’s installment, Caracol Radio had brought me to Colombia to talk to its salespeople about commercial copywriting. Finally it was time for my speech\/seminar (a combination of both). Now, I speak a little bit of \u201cstreet Spanish,\u201d but certainly not enough to deliver an entire presentation […]","og_url":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2009\/08\/public-speaking-career-humiliation-o\u2019day\u2019s-travel-woes-44\/","og_site_name":"DAN O\u2019DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DanODayRadio","article_published_time":"2009-08-21T07:05:10+00:00","article_modified_time":"2009-09-04T06:54:05+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/Embarrassment.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Dan O'Day","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Dan_ODay","twitter_site":"@Dan_ODay","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan O'Day","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2009\/08\/public-speaking-career-humiliation-o%e2%80%99day%e2%80%99s-travel-woes-44\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2009\/08\/public-speaking-career-humiliation-o%e2%80%99day%e2%80%99s-travel-woes-44\/"},"author":{"name":"Dan O'Day","@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/afe504342187ed9676675802d9c9b19c"},"headline":"PUBLIC SPEAKING CAREER HUMILIATION: O\u2019Day\u2019s Travel Woes #44","datePublished":"2009-08-21T07:05:10+00:00","dateModified":"2009-09-04T06:54:05+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2009\/08\/public-speaking-career-humiliation-o%e2%80%99day%e2%80%99s-travel-woes-44\/"},"wordCount":653,"commentCount":4,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2009\/08\/public-speaking-career-humiliation-o%e2%80%99day%e2%80%99s-travel-woes-44\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/Embarrassment.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2009\/08\/public-speaking-career-humiliation-o%e2%80%99day%e2%80%99s-travel-woes-44\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2009\/08\/public-speaking-career-humiliation-o%e2%80%99day%e2%80%99s-travel-woes-44\/","url":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2009\/08\/public-speaking-career-humiliation-o%e2%80%99day%e2%80%99s-travel-woes-44\/","name":"PUBLIC SPEAKING CAREER HUMILIATION: O\u2019Day\u2019s Travel Woes #44 - DAN O\u2019DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2009\/08\/public-speaking-career-humiliation-o%e2%80%99day%e2%80%99s-travel-woes-44\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2009\/08\/public-speaking-career-humiliation-o%e2%80%99day%e2%80%99s-travel-woes-44\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/Embarrassment.jpg","datePublished":"2009-08-21T07:05:10+00:00","dateModified":"2009-09-04T06:54:05+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/afe504342187ed9676675802d9c9b19c"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2009\/08\/public-speaking-career-humiliation-o%e2%80%99day%e2%80%99s-travel-woes-44\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2009\/08\/public-speaking-career-humiliation-o%e2%80%99day%e2%80%99s-travel-woes-44\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2009\/08\/public-speaking-career-humiliation-o%e2%80%99day%e2%80%99s-travel-woes-44\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/Embarrassment.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/Embarrassment.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2009\/08\/public-speaking-career-humiliation-o%e2%80%99day%e2%80%99s-travel-woes-44\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"PUBLIC SPEAKING CAREER HUMILIATION: O\u2019Day\u2019s Travel Woes #44"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/","name":"DAN O\u2019DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO","description":"Straight talk about radio programming, radio advertising, radio production...Well, you get the idea.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/afe504342187ed9676675802d9c9b19c","name":"Dan O'Day","url":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/author\/assistant\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1657"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1657\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1665,"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1657\/revisions\/1665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}