25 Embarrassing Language-Related Fiascos

‘I’ve been asking to ham letters’
25 Embarrassing Language-Related Fiascos

If you’ve ever wondered whether or not German was a difficult language to learn, look no further than the following stories. One Redditor will never forget the time they meant to exclaim that they were hot, but instead shouted that they were horny — while on a bus full of elderly women. Another realized after an embarrassing mix-up that the German word for “sponge” is pronounced almost exactly the same as the German word for “vagina.” 

On that incredibly unfortunate but hilarious note, other Redditors have shared their most embarrassing language-related fiascos, including one guy at a restaurant who ordered an item that definitely wasn’t on the menu.

almalikisux 2y ago . My friend was trying to ask how old people were in Spanish and they kept replying uno. Great way to learn about ñ and the difference between años and anos (anus). + 6 ...
DemonaDrache 2y ago Years ago I was learning Spanish and was traveling in Mexico. I was able to introduce myself and be courteous, but was not able to converse so I told people, Hablo solamente un porquito. I thought I was telling them I only spoke a little (poqito) but was actually telling them I spoke Little pig. FINALLY my friends told me what I was saying...after getting laughs for a few days. 18 ...
_scruffynerfherder 2y ago Edited 2y ago New member One time in French class, I was trying to say that I was excited to go to the movies that weekend. Little did I know excité means horny, not excited. So I accidentally told a room full of teenagers that I was horny to go the movies lol. There was another instance in that same class where someone mixed up coussin (pillow) and cousin (cousin) and ended up saying that they slept with their cousin. + 29 ...
kfcaero 2y ago e I asked my Russian teacher if she likes working in her зад ( (ass) instead of сад ( ( ( garden ). The words sound a lot more similar than they look. 30 ...
jamager 2y ago I have many. This is one. Walking past by a casino, I was telling someone in Italian that I have never been to a casino, that I would like to try some time.Turns out that casino in Italian is not casino, is casinò. Casino means whorehouse. I was telling this to my girlfriend's father. + 35 ...
armadillorevolution 2y ago N B2 In Spanish, miedo = fear; mierda = shit. You use the verb tener (to have) with miedo, rather than to be like in English. So, I once explained to someone that I found a scorpion in my bed and had a shit. + 83 ...
BrStFr 2y ago Edited 2y ago At a dinner with new friends in Israel, I intended to remark in Hebrew that I had made a mess of things. This resulted in surprised looks and an uncomfortable lull in the conversation. Then an English-speaking friend explained that actually I said that I shat on myself. + 75 ...
 2y ago rhewydd = freezer, rhywedd = gender Trawsrewydd ydw i = I'm trans-freezer Had to resort to English to explain that one ХР + 91 ...
Nope_nuh_uh 2y ago My sister's boyfriend wanted show off his Spanish skills and accidentally ordered a plate of...ahem...homosexuals... instead of shrimp at a restaurant once. (Maricones vs. Camarones) 35 ...
Alarming_Abroad_4862 2y ago When my husband was learning french, we were living the Alps. Не wore cowboy boots. Не is American, I love him, he would not stop wearing them. Fine. Не is trying to order a kebab after we have been drinking, something called a 'chicken tower'. Не says Tour de Cullotes (mixing up cutlet and poulette) which by the way you order in English because the arabs can't speak french but whatever. Не said a 'tower of womens panties'. All the french drunks in the cafe lose their minds. One of them goes me to cowboy yee haw
pferdefleisch 2y ago e Edited 2y ago (N) (~B2) (A1) My mother-in-law was talking about Krebs with her friends and I got excited, finally being able to relate to them with something, and said ich liebe Krebs! Es ist so lecker  or I love crab! It's delicious. She was talking about her friend who had been diagnosed with cancer (also Krebs). + 44 ...
Simpawknits с 2y ago EN FR ES DE ко RU ASL In French class a girl sneezed and instead of à tes souhaits, I said, Tais-toi! (Shut up!) + 41 ...
gavrynwickert 2y ago :N :B2 B1 :AO In a Tagalog tutoring session, I kept saying siguro because I thought it meant sure. It means maybe/possiblyfetc. So my tutor would say, Ready to move onto the next slide? and I would say Maybe! I got it confused with sigurado, which does mean sure, but I probably should have stuck with the simple sige which generally means okay. Not that embarrassing, but her confused expression made more sense later on. 88 ...
Kälmann Wickopher 2y ago 0 (N) (B1) (A2) One time, in Germany, my roommate lost his key. Не didn't speak German so I had to tell the landlord. When we went to go see the landlord I told him, Sein Schloß ist verloren. The German word for key is Schlüssel. Schloß means castle. I told the landlord, His castle is lost. + 121 ...
gabbymoore 2y ago - Early on learning german, I mixed up the word for ham (schinken) and the verb send (schicken). After about 3 years living in switzerland, I realised i'd been regularly going into the post office and asking to ham letters and packages to various destinations. + 327 ...
dcolt 12y ago I was working as a dishwasher in a beer garden in a south German metropolis that shall remain unnamed. And I needed a new sponge. And I should note that my German was not that good at the time. So I go up to the boss lady and ask her - in front of the entire kitchen crew - for a sponge. Or so I thought. Who would have thought the German word for sponge is pronounced almost exactly the same as the word for vagina? 61 ...
shayelk 2y ago Не N I En C2 Es B1 Ar A2 About twenty years back the internrt wasn't that great, and neither was my English. I talked online with a random girl my age on a sort of random chat app, and had a nice conversation. When she said she had to go I asked for her email. She asked why. I wanted to say 'so we can stay in touch', but didn't know the word, so asked my mom. In my NL, the words for correspond and marry are similar, and my mom misheard so.. Long story short,
willuminati91 2y ago I worked in a hospital in Japan and after put on a spot to make a speech to introduce myself in Japanese, I went over to meet some of the nurses I will be assisting. In Japanese you can omit the subject as long as it's clear what you're talking about so a nurse asked me a question and I replied Japanese is bad I thought I was referring to myself but I instantly knew by her facial expression, I must have accidentally insulted her lol. I quickly said sorry my Japanese is bad. + 260 ...
RadioBoy93 2y ago New member I've been learning Spanish for about six months now. Many of my coworkers are Mexican, and they humor my attempts at rudimentary Spanglish. One day it was cold when I got to work, and one of my coworkers said, ¿Tienes frío? (Are you cold?) I replied, ¡Sí! Necesito chaqueta. (Yes, I need a jacket.). Не started laughing hysterically. I asked what I had said, and he said, In Mexico, chaqueta doesn't mean jacket. It means, you know, jack it, complete with the hand motion. TI;dr A coworker asked me if I was cold. I tried
AtActionPark- 12y ago was in a trip in south america, driving in the wild, when on the road i spot 2 children, holding a rope to block the road, so you have to stop and they can ask for money or stuff. I stop and try to say to them ok, ill give you something, but theres no need for the rope in a bad bad spanish I later learned that saying ok, pero sin la ropa while smiling and showing them money didnt exactly meant what i thought 333 ... Hanyes 12y ago For non-spanish speakers, 'la ropa' means
 12y ago In German the words Ich bin mean I am, so you'd say Ich bin traurig (I'm sad), Ich bin dumm (I'm dumb), and so on. However.. Mir ist heiss is the proper term for I'm hot temperature-wise. Well, not knowing this, I was walking around one particularly hot day complaining to a friend and I loudly said on the very crowded s-bahn, Ich bin sehr heiss! got several stares as well as a few creepy smiles only to have her laugh hysterically and tell me that means I'm horny. I don't usually care about embarrassing myself, since
fudgebucket27 12y ago Edited 12y ago My dad works in Zambia in Africa. Не was getting angry at this white South African guy for being racist to the other men at work. So he brought up the topic of racism in a morning meeting one day. During the meeting one of the black workers said to my dad, But Sir, you have been calling us blacks since you started working here. It turned out that my Dad had been calling them blokes the whole time! + 598 ...
thoughtsBcomedestiny 12y ago I was doing the speaking portion of my Thai language exam, and the teacher asked me if I had a job and what it was (all in Thai). I said (in Thai) I sell my body. I worked at a pet store at the time and I thought I was saying I sell animals. Nope. Не immediately burst into hysterical laughter and after he collected himself and told me what I had said, we both had a good laugh. + 110 ...
masamunecyrus 12y ago Edited 12y ago Not me, but a friend who studied abroad in Japan. The study abroad program director asked him what he thought of Japan. Не said, nihon ga kirai (I hate Japan). She stared at him blankly, and it took a few seconds before he realized that he meant, nihon ga kirei (Japan is beautiful). Note: if you're a student of Japanese, don't mix kirei and kirai. + 383 ...
 12y ago Went to Quebec to go skiing with my grade. One day a buddy who has crappy French pronunciation went to ask for a poutine (poo-teen - Fries with cheese curds and gravy)... instead he asked for a putain which is a whore. Не finally got his food after the server stopped laughing. + 52 ...

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