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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.

#7

Different-Funny-Language-Meanings

Monolinguals are the worst Report

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

Just for understanding: the vagina, which has absolutely nothing to do with pee, is called pee wife? Or is is it the word for vulva?

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

Pee doesn't come from a vagina. A woman's urethra is just below the clitoris.

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

Seath for the lady part in German. Altough we use vagina too

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Jennifer Hoff
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

tisse man og tisse kone, its what its called in danish but its the words they told the todlers and its the only danish words they have for it else they use vagina and penis as nearly everyone ^^

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Camilla Jusjong Christensen
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Technically not correct.. our real terms are penis and vagina, just said differently. While the other is children's terms.

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Lu Orozco
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4 years ago

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Jeff Christensen
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

French grammar arbitrarily designates some nouns as feminine and some as masculine. A surprising number of the words for "vagina" ( eg "le vagin" are masculine, while a number of those for "penis" (e.g. "la queue") are feminine.

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Harleen
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And people wonder why these parts have so many nicknames. Obviously no one could say "put your pee husband in my pee wife" with a straight face!!

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Lyone Fein
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Neither penis nor vagina is actually English. They are both Latin.

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Anita Hummelshøj
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

well if you translate Danish kids language like "tisse-kone" instead of real words like "skede".

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

Are you 5? What is gross about it? We all have these parts. And they have purpose, they are only gross if you don't take care or yourself ,which is saying a lot about you!

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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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