Telling the time can be confusing when two languages...say English and Russian...have different ways of counting hours and minutes.
In English we might say "half two" - the usual short form of "half PAST two". Now one says "past" anymore - we miss that bit out. "Half two" is 2 + 0.5 = 2.30 or "half an hour after/past two o'clock".
In Russian if you say "пол второго" it means "half OF two" - thus, 1.30. But, if you wanted to say 2.30pm you'd say "пол третьего". So, it seems Russian thinks ahead to the next hour and counts backwards - English does the opposite; taking the hour that has just turned and adding to it (forwards).
English: "quarter past three" (15 минут после...) and "quarter to four" (15 минут до...)
Russian: "15 минут четвертого" (15 minutes OF the fourth hour) и "без 15-и четыре" (four o'clock minus 15 minutes).
It's much easier in both languages to read the numbers off a clock or watch as you see them - eg.
four-thirty, five-fifty-three, etc. This avoids any cross-linguistic confusion.
There can also be a problem with counting floors in buildings. Russian uses the same system as they do in America - but, as usual the British have to make life difficult! We have a "ground floor" which in the States and in Russia will be the "1st floor".
I remember arranging to meet a Russian friend in Moscow once - we ended up waiting for each other on different floors and missed each other by 1 hour! I must've been my fault - I translated "Первый этаж" as "1st floor" - i.e. the one above the ground floor...and mistakenly thought "пол второго" was "half two" (2.30pm )instead of 1.30pm! A one hour difference and a different floor - genius. =)