I Am Not A Fish

There is a difference between: "Я не ем рыбу" and "Я не рыба." Of course I didn't know that the first time I lived in Yaroslavl. Instead of telling people "I don't eat fish" - when they offered me fish - I kept telling them "I am not a fish." When they looked at me funny I just figured they didn't hear me or my accent was off so I would just keep repeating (in Russian) "I am not a fish." "I am not a fish." Satisfied with myself I would then walk away. Nowadays I make it a point to learn the correct phrase: "I do not eat fish" in the local language before a trip. Some people can say "Hello. Nice to meet you. Where is the bathroom?" in different languages, but I can say "I do not eat fish" in: Icelandic, Spanish, Arabic, Croatian, Bosnian, German, French, Montenegrian, Greek, Turkish, Ukrainian, Hebrew, Russian and now just added Polish to that list. It has served me well.