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What's your most embarrassing language mistake?

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Reply 340

Nathanielle

Original post by The Polymath

I've got over the 'Problem' and 'Wasser', but I keep saying die Fehler and it's just rubbish :smile:

As long as you allways use the plural it's fine. :wink:

Reply 341

Doglamlico

Original post by Nathanielle

As long as you allways use the plural it's fine. :wink:

Yeah, but I say "ich habe eine Fehler gemacht" :biggrin:

Reply 342

parrot4

I was in class and I was trying to say in French 'ils veulent que les chiffres baissent' which means he wants the figures to lower however baisser in french means to lower but baiser means to f*ck.

I pronounced baiser (to f*ck) and my teacher was horrified and had to explain to my whole class. Its now an ongoing joke!!

Reply 343

08rbut

When asked for a translation of the word consume from french to english I said consummate instead of consume. After saying it I realised what I said and laughed...

Reply 344

HotfireLegend

Original post by lovers in japan

Saying 轻吻 instead of 请问 to a bank clerk.

(translation: kiss instead of excuse me)

kishi-te? (or similar, can't say on tsr)

Reply 345

jerseymackem

There was a big group of us going to Madrid for a thing called World Youth Day (difficult to explain but the upshot of it was about 2 million young Catholics in Madrid for a week), a reporter came over and started talking to one of us, being the only spanish speaker i translated. It was all good until she asked 'vas a ir al infierno?' (are you going to go to hell), which i misheard as 'vas a venir en invierno?' (are you going to come back in the winter?). That quickly became a very awkward conversation...

Reply 346

username571327

a girl in my class wrote 'Junge Hure Berge' instead of 'Jugendherburge' in our year 8 German exam...she went bright red when the teacher pointed it out bless her :L

Reply 347

Dougieowner

I think it was when I started French. The teacher asked me "Do you have any parents?" and I said "I have a dog." I then started talking about him and it sounded very strange. :colondollar:

But then I realised soon after and she let me say the correct answer...

Reply 348

FlorenceTheGreat

I asked someone 'Bist du total sicher?' (are you totally sure) when I was on an exchange in Germany a couple of years ago. Unfortunately my pronunciation meant that I actually said 'Bist du total Zicke?' (translates more or less to 'are you a total bitch/slut?')

Wouldn't have been to bad if it hadn't had been my exchange partner's girlfriend... :colondollar:

Reply 349

bobbysoxxer

My French assistant showed me a poster of the film 'Intouchables' which was basically just a picture of a white man and a black man stood next to each other and nothing else, and she asked me what I saw. I said, 'Il y a un homme noir et un homme blanc", and she was totally shocked because in French saying someone is black or white is really offensive (you have to say 'of African/European/Asian/etc origin' instead). I was so embarrassed, she probably thinks I'm a racist. >.<

Reply 350

Xurvi

Original post by bobbysoxxer

As far as I know, that's wrong, it's not considered offensive at all. As a matter of fact, I'd have simply said "Il y a un Noir et un Blanc". (notice however the capital letters; I don't think it's a rule, but it's a good idea to add them in my opinion)
I think the opposite is actually offensive - to suppose that because one is Black they must be of African descent or something, for instance. I've had some friends tell me about people who wouldn't accept "I'm French" as an answer to "where do you come from" because they aren't caucasian, as though you could have French citizenship but you couldn't be French (think French blood, this kind of idea or concept) if you were Black, or Arab-looking. Now, that is offensive.

However, if you really want to be politically correct for some reason (often heard in politics or journalism), we use the term "personne de couleur". It basically says the person isn't white, but without categorizing the skin colour. I find this term to be pretty stupid but it has its (rare) uses.

Reply 351

Nathanielle

Original post by bobbysoxxer

...

I think she clearly overreacted. Black -just as a description- isn't offensive in France, it is just as in any other country: Context and the impossibility to satisfy some "overly-correct" persons, who are offensed by any than their currently accepted term.

Original post by Xurvi

...
I think the opposite is actually offensive - to suppose that because one is Black they must be of African descent or something, for instance. I've had some friends tell me about people who wouldn't accept "I'm French" as an answer to "where do you come from" because they aren't caucasian, as though you could have French citizenship but you couldn't be French (think French blood, this kind of idea or concept) if you were Black, or Arab-looking. Now, that is offensive. ...

France is somehow devided to my experience: The backwarded racist, but then -more than in other countries- the perception: "You are French, as soon you have the French citizenship, there is no discussion and I don't bother you are clearly not a born-and-raised-in-France person." (The US is only somehow different, as it has both groups, too, but stating where your ancestors come from is for every one totally normal.)

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