Lost in Translation

Today I was taking Benny for a walk, the hostess' dog. The owner of this goat, a really nice guy, kept pointing to Benny saying "naw-mA". I had no clue what he was saying. So I embarrassingly and frustratingly walked away. I kept wondering what Portuguese word this could be, asking a few bewildered Portuguese along the way what Portuguese word this was. After 15 minutes of stewing on it, I figured it out. He was using the English word "name", pronouncing the vowels in Portuguese (eg soft "a" and e as "A") while making the word two syllables!  I have become acutely aware how for granted I take language to connect with others.