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Humorous Blunders in Your Target Language | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages |  | |
| Sennin Senior Member Bulgaria Joined 6020 days ago 1457 posts - 1759 votes  5 sounds | Message 145 of 185 09 July 2010 at 7:27pm | IP Logged | ||
Funny thing, the same words are used in Bulgarian for both objects - тава and таван. This is not related to the main topic. My language blunders are so many I have stopped counting, and I'm trying to forget... Edited by Sennin on 09 July 2010 at 7:28pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| RealGodiva Diglot Newbie Canada Joined 5217 days ago 8 posts - 12 votes Speaks: Russian*, EnglishC2 | Message 146 of 185 30 July 2010 at 4:22pm | IP Logged | ||
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Many years ago, when my knowledge of English was far from what it is now, I once had nothing else to do and decided to listen to the famous "Stairway to Heaven" and write down the words of the song. It took me around 3 hours and the "poem" even made some sense. I so regret that I haven't saved that masterpiece! When I found the real words of the song and compared to my creation, it was a really embarrassing surprise to me!
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| psy88 Senior Member United States Joined 5577 days ago 469 posts - 882 votes Studies: Spanish*, Japanese, Latin, French | Message 147 of 185 01 August 2010 at 12:24am | IP Logged | ||
Don't feel too badly.There are many popular songs in English that are misunderstood by native English speakers. They, too are surprise, if not shocked, to find out that what they thought they heard, and were often singing, was far from the actual lyrics. PS you have an interesting nickname: is it based on the chocolate or the Lady or some thing else? 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| anamsc Triglot Senior Member Andorra Joined 6189 days ago 296 posts - 382 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Catalan Studies: Arabic (Levantine), Arabic (Written), French | Message 148 of 185 01 August 2010 at 5:13am | IP Logged | ||
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I had a friend who thought the lyrics to "Rock and Roll All Night" were
"I wanna rock and roll all night...and part of every day"! 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| psy88 Senior Member United States Joined 5577 days ago 469 posts - 882 votes Studies: Spanish*, Japanese, Latin, French | Message 149 of 185 29 August 2010 at 1:21am | IP Logged | ||
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While on vacation, I was able to buy a lot of French(my second target language) textbooks at a library annex sale. The woman who worked there was a "woman of a certain age", i.e a senior citizen. She commented about my purchases, asking if I were a teacher of French. I explained that I was a student of the language. She offered to give me lessons, but as I was leaving the next day, had to decline. I then asked her, in French, if she was French. She was. We had a brief conversation in French. When I was ready to leave I thanked her. I wanted to say that she was very kind. I had a momentary lapse and could not think of the word I wanted. In a split second I remembered that there were words that were not cognates but "false friends". I knew that "gentil", did not mean "gentle"; I also knew that "jolie" did not mean "jolly". I also knew one of them mean "kind". So I used the word that I thought was the correct one. The woman blushed, smiled at me, but gave me what I thought was a quizzical look. I walked out feeling good about our exchange but kept wondering about the final interaction. As soon as I got back to my hotel, I checked my Assimil course (of course I had to bring it with me!).
What I actually had told the woman at the end was that she was "tres jolie", "very pretty", not "very kind". I was left wondering how she felt:flattered? insulted? hit on?, wondering if I used the wrong word? complimented? It is not the type of thing where you can go back and say "I didn't mean you were pretty". So, I struggled with whether I made a fool of myself or if I brightened the woman's day. 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| garyb Triglot Senior Member ScotlandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5193 days ago 1468 posts - 2413 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, French Studies: Spanish | Message 150 of 185 30 August 2010 at 7:47pm | IP Logged | ||
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In France when I was 12 I shouted "aujourd-hui!" instead of "au revoir!" to a woman at a toll booth on the autoroute (I was with my family, in our right-hand-drive British car, in the passenger seat hence being on the left-hand side of the car to give her the money). Which is "today!" instead of "goodbye!"; I got confused as they both start with au-. It was over 10 years ago, and I only knew very basic French then, but I still get a bit embarrassed when I think about it.
I've also said "mi dica" instead of "mi dia" in Italian, which is "tell me" instead of "give me", but it was just when talking to friends rather than in a "proper" interaction with a stranger. The best one though was, in French, "il s'est fait niquer par une guêpe" instead of "il s'est fait piquer par une guêpe"... Instead of "he was stung by a wasp" I said "he was f**ked by a wasp". 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| maydayayday Pentaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5205 days ago 564 posts - 839 votes Speaks: English*, German, Italian, SpanishB2, FrenchB2 Studies: Arabic (Egyptian), Russian, Swedish, Turkish, Polish, Persian, Vietnamese Studies: Urdu | Message 151 of 185 02 September 2010 at 2:41pm | IP Logged | ||
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After injuring myself slightly creating a nose bleed I asked the sister of my exchange partner
"Avez-vous un badinage ?" Do you have a chat/banter? I also found out it meant dalliance too..... She did see the funny side. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| maydayayday Pentaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5205 days ago 564 posts - 839 votes Speaks: English*, German, Italian, SpanishB2, FrenchB2 Studies: Arabic (Egyptian), Russian, Swedish, Turkish, Polish, Persian, Vietnamese Studies: Urdu | Message 152 of 185 02 September 2010 at 4:15pm | IP Logged | ||
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And two coming the other way ....
Injured by a colleague in the middle of the night and having woken up a very efficient German doctor at the Krankenhaus to sow my busted lip back together again... "Could you remove your bicycles, please?" In a perfect English accent. He meant spectacles: it took him seconds to correct himself and about 40 minutes to stop chuckling to himself and actually sow my lip up. The second one: Working for large Japanese company I picked up a rather attractive Japanese lady from the airport to drive her to our newly built factory in England and having exhausted my, at the time, limited conversational Japanese we reverted to English. I was anticipating great things after she asked me "Do you have a condom?" What she meant was "Do you live in a condo?" meaning apartment/flat. It took quite some time for the correct message to sink in. She laughed about it later and on my first long trip to the main factory in Japan I was known to all the 'office ladies' as 'Rubba man' Edited by maydayayday on 02 September 2010 at 4:19pm 7 persons have voted this message useful |
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