for those who speak more than one language?

Question

what is the funniest mistake you`ve ever made in speaking a different language? i can speak japanese and i had such a red face in the post office after i asked for a glove instead of a parcel bag,,,and once i said to someone i ate a lot of children instead of saying i ate a lot of fruit,,,the words are very similar so,,,,its cute when japanese speak english but i wonder what japanese think about foreigners speaking with their own accent.....

Answer 1

I speak Greek and once wanted a pair of earings and asked to see some worms, asked for a boy instead of a cucumber. I love it when the greeks speak english a lot of them get kitchen and chicken mixed up.

Answer 2

My troubles seem to be mostly at sushiya. There is a Japanese dish that is made of fermented bean curd, I think it is called natto ... something like that (nattou). Well, I said another thing (nuta... chopped fish with sumiso which is delicious and that I like) that I didn't care for so much because of the smell which has no real smell. Another time I ordered the kanjo, serving girl, when I should have said kanjou, the check. But that time I wanted to see if I would get caught for the mistake it is like an o in place of a long o. I got 86'd from that sushi bar.
There is another thing too ... that Japanese won't tell you that you have made a mistake out of sheer politeness. I had trouble with the r sound as in goenryo naku. And, nobody could understand what I wanted to say. Believe me I worked on that pronounciation.
Also when I was in Japan I felt that if you spoke that the taxi drivers never paid you much mind so once I said osoreirimasu ga... okane ha arimasen. And, you never seen a cab stop so fast in your life. I called my boss oyabun which is a yakuza term. But, I think he kind of dug it. shachou is what you are supposed to say.
Anyway i am pretty much murahachibu so I am not tolerated as much as when I guess I was cute learning to speak Japanese. You know, you pick up at the faults like wagamama, I am wagamama, selfish. At least I don't eat children!

Answer 3

English is my second language, and I can say I'm quite good at it. (I live in the Philippines, one of the largest English-speaking countries in the world.) But there was one time I totally made a fool of myself.

In the dialect, when you say someone has already left (the building, the room, etc.), it can be literally translated to "S/he walked already." I was talking to an American friend who was looking for my brother, and I said just that by accident. My mom overhead and laughed her head off. It was so embarrassing.

About your second question, whenever I hear foreigners talk in Filipino -- and with a good accent, at that -- I immediately find them endearing and I like them right away. Even if they flop Filipino, it's still heartwarming to see that they're trying. The Japanese probably feel the same way. :)

Answer 4

English was not my native tongue although I now speak the language quite well. I immigrated to this country when I was 8 years old. I remember that when I arrived at the the airport in New York (Idlewild, I believe it was called), I needed to pee really badly. I saw these trash cans with the swivel tops that said "Push" on them. In my native language the closest meaning I could come up with is "pee in here." Well, I thought, when in Rome, do as the Romans do, or something to that effect. I didn't actually go through with it because it seemed a little too weird, plus I saw no one else doing it. But that was pretty funny in retrospect.

Also, I once ordered a hot dog with extra mustache.

Answer 5

I speak Japanese but find it a bit embarrassing as I can't get the accent right every ones' too polite to correct me, so I have no idea which words were far out, only that people were making faces!

Answer 6

I was offered an instant soup by a Spanish colleague and when she asked which I would prefer, a replied "polla y puerro" instead of "pollo y puerrro", which came out as 'male organ and leek' instead of the intended 'chicken and leek' - I'd have been pleased if I'd done it on purpose, but it just came out wrong as I was preoccupied with the computer.

Answer 7

A Spanish friend of mine in Mcdonalds asked for "Chicken in a B*M and a Co*K instead of the usual Chicken in Bun and a Coke. And because the guy behind the counter couldn´t believe his ears she repeated the order but louder.

Answer 8

I once saw a lovely ring in a shop in Paris, so I went inside and politely asked the lady if I could have a closer look at the "joke in the window". Her face....her eyes...the contempt... *groan*

Mixing up the words bague and blague certainly happens easily, but thinking of it makes me cringe to this day.

Answer 9

As a student teacher I was teaching a class and was searching for a cloth to wipe the blackboard with.I went next door to borrow one.I'm a first language Welshman and expected the teacher to be Welsh.As is happened she was the only non-Welsh speaker on the staff.Without thinking I came out with.."Excuse me,could I borrow your clut?" (The Welsh word for 'cloth' is 'clwt'..I had tried to anglicise it somewhat but I did n't realize it would sound so silly.)
The lady was very understanding but the class roared with laughter..it took me a while to live that down.

Answer 10

When I went to Russia I asked in the restaurant for sisky ( t*ts) instead of sasisky ( sausages) !!! It was embarassing!
I speak russian but I keep confusing these two words.