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Humorous Blunders in Your Target Language

  Tags: Error | Joke | Multilingual
 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages Post Reply
185 messages over 24 pages: 1 24 5 6 7 ... 3 ... 23 24 Next >>
Walshy
Triglot
Senior Member
Australia
Joined 6701 days ago

335 posts - 365 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish, German

 
 Message 17 of 185
26 August 2006 at 8:45am | IP Logged 
AML wrote:
One time in Germany, while I was living with a host family, I said that
something was "geil". She made fun of me for days. I thought I used it
correctly because I had heard other people use it, but coming from my lips it
must have sounded really hilarious. I still don't understand why it was so
funny.


I think 'geil' means 'randy' or 'horny' if used in a certain way :).

Edited by Walshy on 26 August 2006 at 8:47am

1 person has voted this message useful



Pilar
Triglot
Newbie
United States
Joined 6417 days ago

14 posts - 16 votes
Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, Italian

 
 Message 18 of 185
04 September 2006 at 11:30am | IP Logged 
When I lived in Madrid, there was a clothing shop I used to frequent, and I got to know one of the clerks pretty well.    I asked her where she lived, and she told me. I didn't recognize the name of the community, so I asked her, "Oh, vives en los suburbios?" thinking that "suburbios" was a cognate for "suburb". She said no, that she lived in a little community outside the city.

Imagine my horror when I got back to my (host family) home, looked in the dictionary, and learned that "suburbio" really meant "slum." The word I was looking for was "afueras."
3 persons have voted this message useful



Darobat
Diglot
Senior Member
Joined 6947 days ago

754 posts - 770 votes 
Speaks: English*, Russian
Studies: Latin

 
 Message 19 of 185
04 September 2006 at 12:31pm | IP Logged 
At one of my Russian lessons, as an excersise we were pretending I was at a restaurant, and I needed to order some vegetables. So I said:
Дайте мне, пожалуйста, свежие обуви.
(Dajte mne, pozhalujsta, svezhije obuvi.)

That means, "I'll have some fresh footwear". The last word should have been "овощи" (ovoschi). Was rather humerous at the time.

Edited by Darobat on 04 September 2006 at 12:32pm

3 persons have voted this message useful



SamD
Triglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 6418 days ago

823 posts - 987 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish, French
Studies: Portuguese, Norwegian

 
 Message 20 of 185
06 September 2006 at 12:04pm | IP Logged 
I was in Spain and trying to find the word for people from the USA. I figured that "usanos" was close enough. Unfortunately, the people I was talking to thought I was saying "gusanos," which is the word for worms.
1 person has voted this message useful



George111
Diglot
Newbie
Australia
Joined 6423 days ago

9 posts - 13 votes
Speaks: English*, French

 
 Message 21 of 185
12 September 2006 at 3:03am | IP Logged 
My favourite language blunder story of all time was when my host brother from France visited me and came to school with me. My geography teacher asked him what his favourite country in his travels so far had been and he replied that he just absolutely adored the Nether Regions! It took us about 10 minutes to stop laughing and explain to him that the word was actually the Netherlands and that the correct meaning of the nether regions was, well you know ... I have never seen anyone look so embarassed in my life!

Edited by George111 on 12 September 2006 at 3:04am

5 persons have voted this message useful



Serpent
Octoglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
serpent-849.livejour
Joined 6356 days ago

9753 posts - 15779 votes 
4 sounds
Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese
Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish

 
 Message 22 of 185
05 December 2006 at 11:23am | IP Logged 
My German friend who studies Russian told me she once wrote я писаю instead of я пишу - "I'm pissing" instead of "I'm writing" :D

I haven't actually had really funny blunders... except that when one of my most favourite Finnish bands, To/Die/For, was in Moscow, I got their autographs on the photo I took in Kouvola (the hometown of the band), and I also asked if the thing in the photo means something [or is it just a beautiful thingy]...but instead of saying Mitä se merkitsee I said Mitä se tarkoittaa, which is more like "What is this for?" :D If I understand correctly tarkoittaa means "mean" in sentences like What do you mean? Mitä tarkoitat? but not in my sentence... my story is not so funny as others out there :(
1 person has voted this message useful



Sydney
Groupie
Yugoslavia
Joined 6211 days ago

58 posts - 71 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Serbian

 
 Message 23 of 185
31 October 2007 at 8:17pm | IP Logged 
One friend of mine, non-native English speaker, announced, "I'm going to the chicken" when they meant the kitchen. Just the mental image of him going to the chicken cracked us all up (including him when he realized his mistake).

My most embarrassing moment comes courtesy of a video tape-- this was in the early days of living in a foreign country. At a family gathering someone asked me in the local language if I wanted to go for a walk with them and I didn't understand in the least and just smiled benignly and they said (though I had no clue-- was only later when I saw the tape after my language improved that I could understand) they said, "She doesn't understand us!" and were laughing, and I did that horrible thing where when other people are laughing I laugh, too, even though I have no clue what they are laughing about. When I saw the tape later on I realized I looked like a right moron. :) It's like, "Want to go for a walk with us?" My response: idiot's laughter. UGH! That tape must be destroyed! :)







3 persons have voted this message useful



rafaelrbp
Pentaglot
Senior Member
Brazil
Joined 6772 days ago

181 posts - 201 votes 
Speaks: Portuguese*, Spanish, English, French, Italian
Studies: German

 
 Message 24 of 185
31 October 2007 at 9:47pm | IP Logged 
I was in a restaurant in Paris last month. I asked to the waitress, pointing to a dish: "Est-ce que cette sauce est sale?" (Literally: is this sauce/covering DIRTY?)

I meant: "...salé" (stressing the last syllable, it means salty). Fortunately, after receiving my first blank stare in Paris, I was able to recognize my error, so I asked it again. This time I even told her "...doux ou salé?" (sweet or salty).




1 person has voted this message useful



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