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Learning a new language is challenging. However, it's just as rewarding. I mean, having the ability to interact with someone who grew up in a a completely different environment? Juk tai nuostabu. And the lessons aren't just a painstaking grind. They're full of fun things as well. One of them is literal translations, the "word-for-word" translations that tend to drift away from the sense of the original word on sentence. One of the members of the Facebook group Monolinguals are the worst has urged others to share the funniest literal translations they know, and, believe me, they delivered. Scroll down to check out these linguistic gems and upvote your favorites!

Interestingly, the United States is largely monolingual. In fact, only about 15-20 percent of Americans call themselves bilingual, compared to 56 percent of Europeans surveyed in 2006 by the European Commission.

According to Arabic professor Mahmoud Al-Batal, the inability to speak a foreign language makes it difficult for Americans to compete globally on a linguistic and cultural level. Others who criticized the United States’ monolingual nature have highlighted problems in university-level language courses that result in students failing to reach higher levels of proficiency in a foreign language.

#4

Different-Funny-Language-Meanings

Monolinguals are the worst Report

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Withnail
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Afrikaans: "Krimpvark", which directly translates to "shrinking pig".

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Nadine
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Can we please reflect that hedge hog is just as weird

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miaow
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Aww... Needle mouse, I could actually name a pet hedgehog that <3

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Martina Steinert
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Pretty sure many people here are confusing a porcupine with a hedgehog. The german word for porcupine for example is "spike pig" (Stachelschwein), but that's not a hedgehog (Igel).

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EpicFangirl
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

heheh needle mouse, it actually sounds like a really cute animal

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Alexander Nagel
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

To be fair, even the English name is kind of hillarious. Hedge hog... it is no hog and not only lives in hedges. In German it has a unique name (Igel) 🙃

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Sarah Sievertsen
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4 years ago

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Martin Hugne
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Hedgehog would literally be like “shrubbery-pig” so I think needle mouse is better

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Martin Hugne
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4 years ago

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#9

Different-Funny-Language-Meanings

Monolinguals are the worst Report

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Daria B
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ahahahah! True. Interestingly, the cooked / prepared fish has a completely different Sino-Korean word. (Like the difference between "pig" and "pork" in English)

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#14

Different-Funny-Language-Meanings

Monolinguals are the worst Report

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Sleep Meister
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The term 'whisky' derives originally from the Gaelic 'uisge beatha', or 'usquebaugh', meaning 'water of life'. Gaelic is the branch of Celtic spoken in the Highlands of Scotland.

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#21

Different-Funny-Language-Meanings

Monolinguals are the worst Report

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David Jeu
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If you literally translate "pineapple" in French it become "pomme de pin", which translated back in English means "pine cone".

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#26

Different-Funny-Language-Meanings

Monolinguals are the worst Report

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Iggy
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I can see why German isn't the international language of romance! Nipple isn't much better, though, to be honest!

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#28

Different-Funny-Language-Meanings

Monolinguals are the worst Report

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Gosiulka Bloem
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4 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Same in Dutch (sinaasappel or appelsien) and from Dutch (as far as I know) it was borrowed into many languages, including Russian.

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#30

Different-Funny-Language-Meanings

Monolinguals are the worst Report

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Martz Migraña
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've never in my Hispanic life heard someone showering with an artichoke.. this is maybe from a very specific country or region, and not part of the common Spanish language, I think.

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