| 주제 내 페이지: [1 2 3 4 5 6 7] > | Off topic: Your biggest language blunder in everyday life 스레드 게시자: Melanie Meyer
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A recent thread about funny translation mistakes inspired me to ask for your biggest language blunders in everyday life.
Here’s my contribution:
While learning Thai during my family’s Foreign Service assignment to Bangkok, my Thai teacher strongly encouraged us to practice our spoken Thai every single day right after learning a new topic in school with any local person we might be dealing with that day. The topic of the day was ‘flying kites at the annual kite festival’.
Diligent as I was, I went ahead and started a conversation with my cab driver on the way home from school. After some initial small talk, I proceeded to ask him (and I’ll try to transliterate the Thai script into English here): “Koor tot, na ka, khun koey chaak wow may ka?” What I wanted to say was “Excuse me Sir, have you ever flown a kite before?” However, the more common meaning of my question turned out to be: “Excuse me Sir, have you ever mast..bated before?”
Can you imagine the look on that taxi driver’s face?
| | | | | preservatives | Apr 18, 2012 |
On her year out in France - many years ago now - my very health-conscious friend asked her landlady's 20yr old son whether there were any "préservatifs" in the jam....
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My own worst mistake, also many years ago, was to translate a poem from Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne, for a group of students. The most innocent verse
"A fly can't bird, but a bird can fly"
was not quite so innocent in my literal German rendering. I had no idea why they were all rolling about on the floor laughing...
| | | | Melanie Meyer 
미국
Local time: 16:35
회원(2010)
영어에서 독일어
+ ...
주제 스타터
phoeberuth wrote:
"A fly can't bird, but a bird can fly"
was not quite so innocent in my literal German rendering. I had no idea why they were all rolling about on the floor laughing...
 )) Good one!
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trent2101
Local time: 22:35
네덜란드어에서 체코어
+ ...
| Ten years ago | Apr 18, 2012 |
I was far from being a beginner, but I made this tragic mistake when speaking to my boyfriend in the bathroom one morning.
I wanted to say: May I borrow your comb?
But as tired as I was, what came out of my mouth was this:
May I borrow your cum?
I´ll never forget how embarrassed I was and how much he laughed......
[Upraveno: 2012-04-18 16:48 GMT]
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As i started to learn Danish almost 13 years ago I really tried to speak the language, even if I only could say a few words yet. So I walked into a supermarked, and couldnt find the bread. I remembered that a word for bread rolls in Danish is "bolle".
So I walked up to a young teenage assistant and said "bolle"? The poor guy turned totally red until i started to repeat the word with an abvious accent, he rushed and showed me the bread. What I didnt know was, that "bolle" means havin... See more As i started to learn Danish almost 13 years ago I really tried to speak the language, even if I only could say a few words yet. So I walked into a supermarked, and couldnt find the bread. I remembered that a word for bread rolls in Danish is "bolle".
So I walked up to a young teenage assistant and said "bolle"? The poor guy turned totally red until i started to repeat the word with an abvious accent, he rushed and showed me the bread. What I didnt know was, that "bolle" means having sex as well, so basically it was not quite clear if I asked him to go to bed with me or to show me the bread . ▲ Collapse
| | | | Melanie Meyer
미국
Local time: 16:35
회원(2010)
영어에서 독일어
+ ...
주제 스타터
trent2101 wrote:
I was far from being a beginner, ...
This reminds me - I was far from being a beginner myself when I made my first doctor's appointment in the US for some sort of blood work. I wanted to ask: "Do I have to be fasting for this?" Well, the first translation for the German word for fasting ('nüchtern') that popped up in my head was 'sober'. So I asked the doctor's assistant whether I had to be sober for the testing! Even though I quickly corrected myself, I still cringe when I think about it.
| | | | | Still embarrassing.... | Apr 18, 2012 |
When I was a student and went to Germany for a year of intensive study, I was actively acquiring new vocabulary from the other students in the dorm. One day, our group of American students was invited to our professor's house. When his wife asked me whether I wanted coffee or tea, I immediately answered with my latest acquisition "Scheissegal" but immediately realized that it was probably not appropriate in that context (more or less "it's all the same shit to me").
I still cringe... See more When I was a student and went to Germany for a year of intensive study, I was actively acquiring new vocabulary from the other students in the dorm. One day, our group of American students was invited to our professor's house. When his wife asked me whether I wanted coffee or tea, I immediately answered with my latest acquisition "Scheissegal" but immediately realized that it was probably not appropriate in that context (more or less "it's all the same shit to me").
I still cringe, more than 30 years later. ▲ Collapse
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S P Willcock (X)
Local time: 23:35
독일어에서 영어
+ ...
| Revenge is sweet | Apr 18, 2012 |
Many, many years ago, when I was learning Czech and teaching English at a school out there, I would go to the secretaries' office every month and pick up my wages in cash. This is so long ago that the wages were paid in Czechoslovak crowns.
For the first few months, I was struggling with pronounciation and especially with the voiced/voiceless distinction in consonants. So that insteasd of saying that I had come to pick up my wages (msta), I would cheerfully announce that I had come... See more Many, many years ago, when I was learning Czech and teaching English at a school out there, I would go to the secretaries' office every month and pick up my wages in cash. This is so long ago that the wages were paid in Czechoslovak crowns.
For the first few months, I was struggling with pronounciation and especially with the voiced/voiceless distinction in consonants. So that insteasd of saying that I had come to pick up my wages (msta), I would cheerfully announce that I had come for my revenge (mzda)!
They would smile indulgently and hand over the wad of banknotes without batting an eyelid... ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Danish again... | Apr 18, 2012 |
When I first came to Denmark we had a weekly cake day - real cake from the baker's on the corner in Copenhagen. I was sent out to practise my Danish and buy them.
One of our favourite varieties was officially known as Roxy slices (snitter). They don't make them like that any more - good sponge, just the right amount of cream, a layer of marzipan all round, and then they were rolled in chocolate vermicelli that really tasted of chocolate.
We had another name for them, an... See more When I first came to Denmark we had a weekly cake day - real cake from the baker's on the corner in Copenhagen. I was sent out to practise my Danish and buy them.
One of our favourite varieties was officially known as Roxy slices (snitter). They don't make them like that any more - good sponge, just the right amount of cream, a layer of marzipan all round, and then they were rolled in chocolate vermicelli that really tasted of chocolate.
We had another name for them, and it had never dawned on me that it was not just another baker's name for the recipe. I first had them when my fiancé was a student in Århus.
The baker's assistant looked very insulted when, instead of just pointing and saying "two of those, please!" I felt confident enough to ask for two mouse-dropping cakes... Then she laughed and asked me never to say that again when there were customers in the shop. But I had to get my husband to explain why when I got home!
I'm sure I have said a lot of worse things over the years, but that is the one I remember. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Back in the early eighties... | Apr 18, 2012 |
... when I had just arrived in Udine, I lodged with a retired general of the Alpini mountain troops. His language, as I later realised, tended to be rather colourful but he did teach me my first few phrases in Italian.
One evening, I was having dinner at my girlfriend's - now my wife's - home and her mother shouted something to me from the kitchen. I replied, in my best idiomatic Italian, "Scusa, non ho capito una madonna" (roughly the equivalent of "Sorry, I haven't understood a fu... See more ... when I had just arrived in Udine, I lodged with a retired general of the Alpini mountain troops. His language, as I later realised, tended to be rather colourful but he did teach me my first few phrases in Italian.
One evening, I was having dinner at my girlfriend's - now my wife's - home and her mother shouted something to me from the kitchen. I replied, in my best idiomatic Italian, "Scusa, non ho capito una madonna" (roughly the equivalent of "Sorry, I haven't understood a fucking thing"), at which there was a loud clatter of plates being dropped. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Minimal Pairs | Apr 18, 2012 |
I've always found minimal pairs are a goldmine of unintended hilarity. Being a non-native speaker of a language makes it so easy to fall into this trap.
I can't remember the exact context but I do remember once I said:
להשתין
(lehæʃtiːn - "le'hashtin")
to piss
instead of
להמתין
(lehæmtiːn - "le'hamtin")
to wait
...what I do remember is the bemused look I got followed by some uncomfortable silence.
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After we had moved from Amsterdam to the French countryside we soon became good friends with the neighbours, often helping each other with odd jobs. One day at apéro time I went to see one of my new French friends, an amazingly strong guy, to ask him to help me lift two water heaters (chauffe-eau) to the attic the next day.
It might have been the pastis or me overcompensating for the lack of voiced consonants in the Dutch we speak in Amsterdam, but the next day several neighbours c... See more After we had moved from Amsterdam to the French countryside we soon became good friends with the neighbours, often helping each other with odd jobs. One day at apéro time I went to see one of my new French friends, an amazingly strong guy, to ask him to help me lift two water heaters (chauffe-eau) to the attic the next day.
It might have been the pastis or me overcompensating for the lack of voiced consonants in the Dutch we speak in Amsterdam, but the next day several neighbours came to see how the mad Dutchman would carry those horses (chevaux) up the stairs. Now, more than ten years later, they still tease me with it.
Cheers,
Gerard ▲ Collapse
| | | | Mailand
Local time: 22:35
회원(2009)
이탈리아어에서 독일어
+ ...
| A good laugh | Apr 18, 2012 |
Hello guys (and gals, of course), thank you all so very much - I had a really good laugh!
At the moment no blunder of mine comes to my mind, even though there has to be - I´ll get back to it as soon as ....
| | | | | Many gaffes for Spanish speakers in French | Apr 18, 2012 |
At the beginning I made quite a few gaffes in French, mainly sexually-related gaffes arising from seemingly innocent situations (my French friends used to say that's because they have l'esprit tordu - twisted minds).
For example, I was once munching a sandwich when a female friend came and kissed me on the cheeks. A while later, I referred to that by saying "J'étais en train de manger un sandwich quand tu es venue me baiser...". I immediately found out "baiser" is not... See more At the beginning I made quite a few gaffes in French, mainly sexually-related gaffes arising from seemingly innocent situations (my French friends used to say that's because they have l'esprit tordu - twisted minds).
For example, I was once munching a sandwich when a female friend came and kissed me on the cheeks. A while later, I referred to that by saying "J'étais en train de manger un sandwich quand tu es venue me baiser...". I immediately found out "baiser" is not quite the same thing as the Spanish "besar".
On another occasion I went to the cinema and decided to buy some popcorn before the film started. I couldn't find my credit card, so the shop attendant joked "Pensez-vous voler le popcorn?". And then I answered "Non, pour ce faire j'aurais besoin d'une pipe!. FAIL.
In Spanish, "pipa" is slang for "gun".
In French, "pipe" is somewhat different. It's slang for oral sex.
A piece of advice: if you go to France, watch out, even the most innocent words can have a sexual meaning
[Edited at 2012-04-19 06:36 GMT]
[Edited at 2012-04-19 06:38 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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