What's the funniest mistake you've made while learning a foreign language?

Question

I've got a few, but one of them that I always remember is this: I was taking a Spanish test in college and I put the word "jarabe" as the answer for a fill-in-the-blank question, because I thought it meant "pain". Well, it doesn't; the resulting sentence read: "The patients have _syrup_ in various parts of their bodies." So, I definitely got that question wrong...

What's your funniest mistake??

(And for the record, I still make stupid and funny mistakes almost every time I open my mouth when I speak in Spanish. :) )

Answer 1

Saying "where can i find a *b*i*t*c*h near here?" instead of "beach".. english is not my mother tongue, and i didnt see a difference between these 2 words. I just didnt know why was that man lookin at me like WHAT?
xDD Im glad i improved my English!

Answer 2

A pretty common mistake in Spanish is confusing embarasada (pregnant) with embarasosa (drunk) funny how THAT can happen. Or did I flip-flop those two again?

While in a bar in Mexico my father asked for directions to the banco (bank) instead of the bano (bathroom).

I believe the English use the word "stuffed" to refer to a sex act. After a big meal it is quite improper to say "Boy am I stuffed!".

Answer 3

My father made a really good mistake once. He was going on holiday in Prague and he learned some simple tourist phrases. the main phrases he used were for asking directions.

Kde Hrad? 'Where is the Castle?'

Kde Nadrazi? 'Where is the Railway Station?'

and so on.

When Dad got home I asked him how this had gone?

"It was all successful," he said, "Except when I asked people 'Where is Main Square?' Kde Ulice, they always looked at me as if I was an idiot."

"No, Dad," I told him. "Kde Ulice means 'Where is the street?".

Answer 4

You know I'm a Spanish speaker. Well, while learning English, I once tried to say I was "penniless". But what I came out with sounded like "I'm penis-less".

BTW, also I still make silly mistakes when I speak... in Spanish!

Answer 5

While studying in Mexico, I lived with a family that had a 4 year old. My first week, the little boy and I were playing with toy cars at the dinner table while his family sat there too. He asked me which car I wanted, and I meant to say "dame la coche verde" (give me the green car), instead I said "dame la coche verga" (give me the dick car). The whole family looked up at me and gave me the dirtiest look, but the 4 year old didn't seem to realize what I had said. I corrected myself, and everything was ok.

Answer 6

I speak Finnish and Estonian. While still a novice at Estonian, I was in Estonia at a market to get some vegetables. I wanted some cucumbers but couldn't remember the correct declination, so I relied on my Finnish. But instead of asking for two cucumbers (KURKI), I asked for two throats (KURKU). In Finnish, it would be KURKKUA (which means both throat and cucumber.)

Answer 7

I have studied eight foreign languages. I think I've done well, but there are always idioms that you are unaware of when learning a new language. While studying German at a low level I used to say things like "Ich bin heiss," "kalt," "warm," "schlecht," etc. (I am hot, cold, warm, sick, respectively.) I found out much later that idiomatically these statements mean "I am horny," "frigid," "gay," and "deranged." The professor used to giggle a bit when I'd say these phrases, but since they weren't supposed to be teaching us idioms yet, she let me keep saying it.

Answer 8

I do speak English, German, Dutch and Russian. So in Dutch you have GEWELDIG that means fabulous, and your have GEWELDADIG that means violent. So i didn't spoke (back then) dutch that well, so i had argue with someone and in stead of saying "you're very violent" i sayd "you are fabulous" so my expression mistake made this person do more physical damage than the idea actually was...

Answer 9

I once accidentally said "My penis is stuck" to a native German speaker in German. He gave me a weird look and checked under the table just in case. I can't even remember what I meant to say. Bad things happen when I'm half asleep.

Answer 10

The Spanish words for orange and spider sound similar, so once I asked for spider juice. In Russian, someone told he his stomach was full after a big meal I had served, and I thought he said his pants were full....... Ew!