I remember once I was in-processing a young Korean bride. I did really, realy well in that I knew how to say hello (I've forgotten now!), knew that most Koreans like orange flavored drinks (sent one of my airmen down to the machine I knew had orange pop). Did OK until someone said something about breaking a record! This gal's English wasn't bad at all (a heck of a lot better than my 6 or 7 words of Korean!), but there I was, trying to explain that, no, we weren't going to break any (then vinyl) records. I think learning idioms is the hardest thing when trying to learn a new language. When I would have said, "That'll happen when aitch-ee-double hocky sticks freezes over" (I don't want to get bleeked) a German girlfriend of mine would say something about when the statue on the bridge smiles (she was from Nurenburg).