I’ve had the age thing happen to me in Spanish oral exams. The explanation was that they want to make sure you can properly say how old someone is, or at least know your numbers. (During a horrible mess of an exam I once ended up telling my teacher I thought he was ten, because I couldn’t for the life of me remember the word for twenty).
Apparently, it isn’t just foreign language textbooks- it’s encyclopedias as well:
“I’m not sure why the Britannica in all its wisdom chose those phrases to translate. But if I’m ever walking to a Starbucks on the other side of a Hokan reservation and there’s a creek in the way, I’m in excellent shape to encourage my Hokan pals to cross it. Also, I can stage a kidnapping in Haiti. But mi havas no Italian chops.”
-From The Know-It-All by A.J. Jacobs (©2004), page 229
Well, our French textbooks always made a big deal of Mardi Gras. Let us go and watch the parade on Mardi Gras. What are you doing for Mardi Gras? This is my friend Winton. He will be staying over for Mardi Gras. In year 8, this was hilarious because in Australia, Mardi Gras means the gay parade in Sydney. :rolleyes:
This isn’t exactly about language “materials”, but its funny.
Several years ago I was living in Taiwan. One of the jobs I had was teaching English to a group of soldiers in the Taiwanese Army. There was one guy who had a slightly larger head than most people that was nicknamed “Da Toe” (‘Big Head’ in Mandarin Chinese). One day the group asked me how to say “Da Toe” in English. From that day on, his nickname became “Big Head” both in and out of class.
That weekend some of the group was downtown when they spotted their large headed friend across the street. They yelled out, “Hey ‘Big Head’!”. Unfortunately, an American student was standing near their friend and thought the group was talking to him. He responded to the group by say, “Hey, Fuck You!”.