| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3 4 5 6 7] | Off topic: Your biggest language blunder in everyday life Thread poster: Melanie Meyer
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Ulas Alpman (X)
Türkiye
Local time: 10:08
Japanese to Turkish
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| Japanese syllable mistake | Apr 29, 2012 |
During my days in Japan as an exchange student in 1999, we were sitting and chatting and the topic was food. I started mentioning one local Turkish cheese with herbs (otlu peynir in Turkish), ans as I meant to describe this as "Naka ni kusa ga aru" (中にくさがある=it contains herbs/grass), but it slipped as "Naka ni kuso ga aru" (中にくそがある=it contains *ehm* excrement). Luckily one of those girls was studying Turkish and was familiar with that cheese and I was also quick to cor... See more During my days in Japan as an exchange student in 1999, we were sitting and chatting and the topic was food. I started mentioning one local Turkish cheese with herbs (otlu peynir in Turkish), ans as I meant to describe this as "Naka ni kusa ga aru" (中にくさがある=it contains herbs/grass), but it slipped as "Naka ni kuso ga aru" (中にくそがある=it contains *ehm* excrement). Luckily one of those girls was studying Turkish and was familiar with that cheese and I was also quick to correct my mistake. And came up with a better word choice as I was correcting: 雑草 (Zassou, various herbs). ▲ Collapse
| | | | Tom Fennell
United States
Local time: 02:08
Russian to English
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| Presidential blunder | Apr 30, 2012 |
A couple years ago I was entrusted with the official translation of President Dmitri Medvedev's presentation at the Gas Industry session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
I had just started using DragonNaturally Speaking and was very pleased at the speed and ease with which I could dictate texts. However, I had not yet strengthened my proofing skills to accommodate the types of errors the Dragon throws at you.
When the agency got my translation, they ... See more A couple years ago I was entrusted with the official translation of President Dmitri Medvedev's presentation at the Gas Industry session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
I had just started using DragonNaturally Speaking and was very pleased at the speed and ease with which I could dictate texts. However, I had not yet strengthened my proofing skills to accommodate the types of errors the Dragon throws at you.
When the agency got my translation, they thought I had been drunk translating, because I had let the following item slip by:
The Dragon had transcribed a reference to "gas trading" as "castrating."
Oops! ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Mist - ifying | May 2, 2012 |
Nicole Schnell wrote:
...that during my first visit in the US I suspiciously sniffed at the air freshener in my host family's bathroom. The spray can said "Mist", in large letters. "What the...?!?" The German word "Mist" means dung, poop.
It is unfortunately very common over here at any rate, but I wish people wouldn't use the stuff. It sets my migraine off, and so do a number of perfumes and deodorants, while I have nothing like the same problem with the odours they are supposed to dispel!
Plain soap and water are fine...
Nevertheless, I have no desire to go into a new shop in our town that calls itself [Müll] - square brackets and all.
I don't know how many of the German tourists are tempted either, although there are plenty of them everywhere else.
| | | | Oliver Walter 
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:08
German to English
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Nicole Schnell wrote: Tom in London wrote:
Wow - so Americans put air fresheners in their bathrooms. We learn something new every day. What's so unusual about that?
Perhaps the question is related to the US and UK use of "bathroom". In the UK, it's the room that contains a bath and/or shower and probably a washbaisin. I think the Americans use "bathroom" to name what Brits call the toilet or lavatory or, more informally, the "loo". (In this, I'm assuming that bathroom and toilet (UK) are 2 separate rooms, which is not always the case.)
Oliver
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Wendy Cummings
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:08
Spanish to English
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| It happens in your own language too... | May 2, 2012 |
Years ago (when I was still living with my parents) we had just moved to the country into a lovely old cottage in the English greenbelt, surrounded by wooded areas and all the associated wildlife - deer, rabbits, pheasants etc.
One day I called my then boyfriend but his mother answered instead. Desperate to impress, I started describing how wonderful the area was, and came out with the phrase "Its so lovely to be in the countryside, to drive down the lanes and see all the peasants w... See more Years ago (when I was still living with my parents) we had just moved to the country into a lovely old cottage in the English greenbelt, surrounded by wooded areas and all the associated wildlife - deer, rabbits, pheasants etc.
One day I called my then boyfriend but his mother answered instead. Desperate to impress, I started describing how wonderful the area was, and came out with the phrase "Its so lovely to be in the countryside, to drive down the lanes and see all the peasants wandering by...."
What sort of a snob did she think I was! ▲ Collapse
| | | | trezoq
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:08
English to French
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| Uniquely embarrassing | May 2, 2012 |
As a student, I got involved in an evening with lots of foreign students, and I had met a very interesting guy. As I meant to show how impressed I was, I told one of his friends: "He's a unique kind of guy!"
As a French still unaware of the importance of putting the intonation on the right syllable, I put the stress on the 'U' instead of the 'nique', so what my interlocutor heard was "He's a eunuch kind of guy!"
ahem, I still cringe when I think of it...But I use it to explain the im... See more As a student, I got involved in an evening with lots of foreign students, and I had met a very interesting guy. As I meant to show how impressed I was, I told one of his friends: "He's a unique kind of guy!"
As a French still unaware of the importance of putting the intonation on the right syllable, I put the stress on the 'U' instead of the 'nique', so what my interlocutor heard was "He's a eunuch kind of guy!"
ahem, I still cringe when I think of it...But I use it to explain the importance of the "accent tonique" to French people learning another language.
[Edited at 2012-05-02 11:30 GMT]
[Edited at 2012-05-02 11:30 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Susan Welsh
United States
Local time: 03:08
Russian to English
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| It's Greek to me | May 3, 2012 |
My late mother, though she lived in the Middle East for 45 years, was never able to learn any language but her own (English). The funniest was when we were in Greece for a month (as evacuees from the June 1967 Arab-Israeli war): She kept confusing "kalimera" (good morning) with "kalimarakia" (baby squid). Ah, but the food was good in Athens in those days!
| | | | Ricki Farn
Germany
Local time: 09:08
English to German
| Renting things, international edition | May 20, 2012 |
This thread reminds me of a British friend living in the Netherlands who asked the landlord's secretary for a hoerkontrakt (whore contract) instead of a huurkontrakt (rent contract). The secretary just said "Ook dat nog!" ("As if we didn't have enough problems yet!")
And Germans always enjoy renting a bus from a Dutch speaker ...
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apk12
Germany
Local time: 09:08
English to German
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| "Skilled lays" | May 22, 2012 |
I remember a discussion in an other forum with contributing freelancers (people with a very diversified background and working in diverse professions and businesses), where a sub-dialougue in a thread developed between another translator and me.
We were talking about KudoZ points, about the phenomenon of hunting for points and similar topics and at some point I tried to use the expression of professionals behaving like "skilled laymen" - professionals being definitely skilled for t... See more I remember a discussion in an other forum with contributing freelancers (people with a very diversified background and working in diverse professions and businesses), where a sub-dialougue in a thread developed between another translator and me.
We were talking about KudoZ points, about the phenomenon of hunting for points and similar topics and at some point I tried to use the expression of professionals behaving like "skilled laymen" - professionals being definitely skilled for their work but tending to exaggerate with their help to those who might have won the project they could be working on themselves if being not underbid just a few hours ago (by the person they are now replying to).
Forum talks sometimes do very much resemble spoken language in my eyes, for me definitely: a written text I might be inspired to write as a written own text (let's say for a poetry volume or for a print newspaper) is definitely something else than the reply to a discussion contribution and in cases of a vivid community with diverse communication styles, the speed arises and language blunders you would not expect to see in written communication can happen.
So far, that's nothing that could really cause an issue as long as you can correct an entry. That forum however did have a main flaw - as soon as somebody replied, your entry was frozen.
When writing my contribution that in the given moment indeed resembled spoken language for me (I am usually not looking up the terms I use in a forum talk... when I am actively producing a language like English in this case, a foreign language that I translate -from- only, not a target language - same for spoken language, that's another reason why I compare them), so, when I wrote my comment, I was thinking how to phrase the "skilled laymen" best, searching for a fitting gender neutral form.
The dictionary -later- told me that "laypersons" would have definitely been a better choice. However, this was later, after a forum contributor already wrote his cheeky reply that he (quotation) sees "nothing wrong in behaving like a skilled lay, never done me any harm".
My post was frozen, all I could do was replying with a trial to explain and clarify the confusion, but - my "biggest language blunder in everyday life" was irreversible and I finally had something nice to contribute to this wonderful thread here. ▲ Collapse
| | | | hpicardi
Local time: 03:08
Spanish to English
| Argentine T shirts | Aug 14, 2012 |
Although Spanish is my native language, I often get confused, especially when using local expressions which do not come naturally to me. On a recent trip to Argentina, having to fly at night after a busy hot day, I decided to change out of my dress shirt and buy a T shirt at the airport to travel more comfortably. I saw some T shirts on display and went inside the store (thankfully I was the only one) and asked the lady attendant how much were the 'rameras' on display. I quickly realized I had s... See more Although Spanish is my native language, I often get confused, especially when using local expressions which do not come naturally to me. On a recent trip to Argentina, having to fly at night after a busy hot day, I decided to change out of my dress shirt and buy a T shirt at the airport to travel more comfortably. I saw some T shirts on display and went inside the store (thankfully I was the only one) and asked the lady attendant how much were the 'rameras' on display. I quickly realized I had said 'rameras' ( whores) rather than 'remeras' (local expression for T shirts), but decided it was better to keep a straight face and pretend nothing had happened. The kind lady did not flinch, told me the price and sold me one. ▲ Collapse
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