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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.

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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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#19

Different-Funny-Language-Meanings

Monolinguals are the worst Report

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

Japanese and Korean babies have a large bluish spot on their butts that fade as the child grows.

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

I wasn't sure if you were joking and if I should fall for it or not. Decided to look it up because what the hell... It's actually a thing. They are called Mongolian spots... What a thing to learn.

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

In French, to be a "blue" means to be a freshman/beginner/newcomer

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

In Spanish, to say that you are experienced we have "the eggs peeled" or "the balls hairy already"

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

I know that the color blue is often associated with youth in Japan, it literally translates as "blue small year"

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Rapid Tech Help
Community Member
8 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In turkish: you have to eat 40 bakery of breads (thats not a joke)

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

Heh, in french, we say : bleubite (which would be wrongly translated as "blue d**k", for "bite" in the french word comes from old french regional language and meant "pupil"...but today, it's a slang word for male genitalia, making "bleubite" translated as "blue d**k") or "bleu", or even "bleusaille" All of those refer to an old military suit worn by newcomers in the army, which was blue. doesn't exist anymore, but the wording stayed

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

In English we also say "green" ( for horses who have little/no training at least) And "wet behind the ears" (like a newborn kitten whose mother has just licked them clean)

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

i kinda doubt that is the only/most common translation, even english has very weird ways to say the same thing, like wet behind the ears

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

Још си зелен. "You're still green" in Serbian.

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

english : it is too late -- Arabic: the saturday is gone inside the Jew's a*s (no offense )

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

Indonesia : yesterday afternoon child, runny nose, the smell of galangal,

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

French (Quebec) nombril-pas-sec is an expression that translate as "wet navel" and mean someone who is young or new to something.

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

how the f**k do you get your a*s is blue from your inexperienced???

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

See a comment above about birthmarks. It's a real thing I've seen on a lot of asian boys in prenursery

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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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