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30 Native English Speakers Share The Funniest Thing They Heard Foreigners Say In Their Language
Learning someone's language is one of the best compliments you can give them. It shows you value their culture enough to invest a lot of time and effort in order to connect with them on a deeper level. It's basically like saying, "Your world matters to me," but with actions, which makes the sentiment even more powerful. So if you make a few mistakes, nobody will mind. In fact, sometimes those oopsies can lead to hilarious moments, as seen in a recent Reddit thread where native English speakers shared some of the funniest and most inventive uses of the language by foreigners.
Continue scrolling to check out their entries, and don't miss our chat with English teacher Georgie W., who has thousands of hours of experience helping people communicate with Anglophones—you'll find it between the stories.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
I worked in a kitchen with a lady from abroad. She couldn’t remember what chicken was in English and pointed to the eggs and said ‘Which fridge do we keep their mum?’.
frederick clause 1 year ago
As someone who is struggling to learn another language I can relate to this.
Laura Sloan 1 year ago
My friends Aunt here from Italy needed a toothpick and didn't know what it was called she asked the host ...eata da meat...cleana da teet !!!
Five Years 1 year ago
Ok, My sister's sixth grade Science teacher was pressed into teaching English in a small Lutheran six day creation school. Going through the parts of grammar said; "Him is in the possessive case". My sister; "What?" Teacher; He threw the ball to him now who has the ball?" Instant meltdown for Sis. As did my Mom's best friend, the High School Honors English teacher.
RELATED:
#2
My partner is greek and couldn't remember the word "infinity" so just told me that she loves me until the "snoozy 8".
To gain a better understanding of what it takes to master this Germanic language, we reached out to teacher Georgie W. from English with Georgie.
"English can be difficult to learn for a number of reasons," she told Bored Panda. "The letters 'ough' can be pronounced in nine different ways, which can understandably cause confusion! Additionally, English grammar often has exceptions to its rules, making it tricky."
"Phrasal verbs and idioms are also widespread, and their meanings aren't always clear from the words themselves, which can add to the challenge."
#3
Not spouse but my Croatian dida (grandad) never quite got the concept of 'telling someone off'. He took the phrase completely literally and if he saw someone doing something bad, like if some kids were vandalising something, he would run up to them and yell "Off! Off! Off!"
He literally thought saying the word "off" to someone was the same thing as *telling someone off*.
RIP Dida, you were the best.
François Bouzigues 1 year ago
If i was a kid and some croatian dida told me "Off Off", i would have bolted
Libstak 1 year ago (edited)
My brother always cracked his aussie born son up because he never lost his Croatian accent. Son..dad where we going..dad..we going to the b.itch, son (beach). Changing bed sheets...dad...we need to change the s.hit, son (sheets). Endlessly entertaining when his son regailed us on family occasions of his misunderstandings with his dad.
Cora Van der Gaag 1 year ago
It probably worked because they would stop doing it. So he didn’t get it that was not what he was saying.
Happy_Pandalover 1 year ago
Haha that‘s what people in germany would say while calling off their pets though 😂🙈
#4
A very good Spanish friend of mine was practicing her idioms in English. She wanted to say something about my flatmate who always does the same things over and over no matter the negative consequences. She wanted to say “a leopard can’t change its spots” but she goes “you know what they say, you cannot remove the dots from the large cat!” We were dying over that lol.
Melinda Landis 1 year ago
Wait until you try clipping nails, or dulling the sharpies on the murder mittens?
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Donna Monti 1 year ago
Well, my Spanish stinks. I once confused the words for 'to kiss' and 'to smoke' and told someone that kissing was a filthy habit and forbidden on the subway. Should have seen his face!
#5
Not my partner but a lovely Polish lady I worked with called a broom a "sweepy" and it makes me smile every time I think about it.
Anna Losonczy 1 year ago
Maybe she just translated the word literally, in Hungarian language we also call a broom "sweepy" if we translate it. :D
Savannah greenleaf 1 year ago
That makes perfect sense my broom is now the "sweepy.". My vacuum may now become my "sucky!"
glowworm2 1 year ago
I haven't heard that term since an old Fractured Fairy Tale from Rocky and Bullwinkle. That was the punchline. I don't know if a gride is an actual term for that thing outside of there.
Load More Replies... That being said, Georgie highlighted that English also has some advantages.
"Unlike languages such as Thai and Vietnamese, English doesn't rely on tones, and nouns aren't gendered as they are in languages like French or Spanish," she explained.
"Learners also don't need to navigate non-phonetic scripts, like those used in Mandarin or Japanese."
#6
Hearing the French president of our company pronounce "focus" with a strong accent that made it sound like he was saying "f**k us", and hearing him give a dry run of a speech where he was emphatically insisting "I need you to f**k us, we need them to f**k us, we need EVERYONE TO F**K US!"
Some poor sod had to go and tell him he needs to stop asking everyone to f**k us, and instead to f-ohh-cus.
Pandemonium 1 year ago
Our driver in Bali pronounced the "ark" sound as "uck", and his starting "p" would come across as an "f". So, I misunderstood his "I will go park the car" at first
leendadll 1 year ago
Had a Spanish teacher who pronounced beach as b*tch. Student got her talking about the beach as often as possible!
PandaGoPanda 1 year ago
I sat through a Christmas mass in English, given by a French cleric at a small church close to a port. I don't remember the point of the sermon, because he mentioned the warehouses at the port many times and pronounced it "whorehouses" each time. About half the congregation were native English speakers and we all studiously avoided looking at each other so as not to end up laughing.
ZestyBison 1 year ago
Unless it's wildly off base and you're saying something else entirely, like English writing for pear / pair I don't correct people on their English.
Lene 1 year ago
I went to boarding school back in 2000/2001. The thong song by sisqo is from 1999 so it was still pretty "in" imo. The head master of the boarding school had to say some good morning-things once because we had exchange-students (we had a morning meeting every morning with today's info). This day he asked us to please sing a "birsday thong" because one of us kids had their birthday. 😊 and my mind went straight to the thong song. Lol.
Michelle Gauchot 1 year ago
My French ex husband had the same problem. I told him 'when you say' fxck us, I lose focus. Pronunciation matters '.
#7
I love it when my Japanese wife tries to say "hippopotamus" but doesn't know when to stop.
So we get "hippoppo... popo...pop...pop.......pop??".
Brittania Kelli 1 year ago
They call me the hiphopopotamus Flows that glow like phosphorous Poppin' off the top of this esophagus Rockin' this metropolis I'm not a large water dwelling mammal Where did you get that preposterous hypothesis? Did Steve tell you that perchance? Steve.
Krd 1 year ago
Reminds me of Big Daddy, Rob Schneider trying to pronounce Hippopotamus, "Hip Hop anonymous?"
SleepyVampire 1 year ago
I had the same thought! "YOU GIVE HIM ALL THE EASY ONES!!!"
Load More Replies... Wendell T Sasaki 1 year ago
Very Seussian I would have said preposserous as homage to Bert Lahr.
Celtic Pirate Queen 1 year ago (edited)
I was teaching my 4 year old her address, which was 11414 14th Avenue South. Poor kid just never knew when the 114141414 ended.
#8
My wife is Vietnamese and personal pronouns are treated differently so he and she are unisex and interchangeable. It keeps me guessing.
On the flip side, she laughs every time I try to order beetroot juice in Vietnamese (we live there now). Because of the tonal language I manage to pronounce "beetroot juice" as "black penis".
frederick clause 1 year ago
I'm trying to learn Vietnamese, my wife and her sister think it's hilarious but are quite helpful. It has really helped me to understand how silly English can be and how confusing it must seem to people trying to learn it.
Ellie Ahmed 1 year ago
Tonal languages are so hard to learn for people who aren't used to them. I remember once when I was in hospital and couldn't sleep, overhearing the Chinese night shift doctor spend about 15 minutes trying to teach the nurses how to say his birth name (he went by Josh since moving to Australia). Apparently they just weren't getting the tone right, even though to me as a non-Mandarin speaker it sounded like they were repeating it back to him perfectly.
Savannah greenleaf 1 year ago
Way too funny! I needed a good laugh. I imagine it is a learning curve big time between the two languages.
Of course, there's no single answer to the question of how long it takes to learn English—it depends on your goals, determination, opportunities, and many other background factors.
However, according to Ben Knight, the director of ELT Research at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, who manages a team of researchers developing its courses and materials, motivated adults typically need between 100 and 200 hours of guided learning to progress from one CEFR level to the next.
As you move up the levels, more hours are required to advance: progressing from A1 to A2 typically requires 100-150 hours of guided learning, but moving from B1 to B2 can take 180-260 hours.
#9
My wife is Indonesian. She picked up the word "bollocks", but she uses it as an insult in the singular form.
I.e. You b*****k
It's now become my favourite insult.
Auntriarch 1 year ago
It is isn't it, I can't wait for an opportunity to use it!
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Donkey boi 1 year ago
That's legitimate in London. I hear it all the time, 'Don't be a b*****k', 'You little b*****k', 'Stupid b*****k', it goes on...
#10
My French friend says “lonely child” instead of “only child”. Never corrected her.
Charles McChristy 1 year ago (edited)
LOL, that entirely depends on who you ask. I am an only child and have never been lonely lmao We can entertain ourselves.
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Daniel Baca 1 year ago
"Un enfant unique " is how we should describe every child even one with siblings LOL
Charles McChristy 1 year ago
LOL, that entirely depends on who you ask. I am an only child and have never been lonely lmao We can entertain ourselves.
Spannermonkey 1 year ago
Absolutely wrong. As an observant only child, I absolutely did not, will not and would not wish for siblings. Sometimes a sibling is your best friend....and very many times they are not.
#11
My Czech sister in-law calls Silence of The Lambs, 'Don't Speaking of Small Sheep'.
Martin König 1 year ago
As a Czech I have to say she's not very fluent. This counstruction wouldn't occur anyone from 5th grade up who paid attention at school.
"The most difficult aspects of English can vary depending on the learner's native language," teacher Georgie said. "However, after teaching over 5,000 online lessons, I've found that pronunciation, prepositions, and tenses consistently pose significant challenges for many learners."
"Another difficulty is understanding native speakers in casual conversation, where features like glottal stops and connected speech make it hard to follow natural speech patterns."
#12
Hungárian girlfriend.
English extremely good except for rarely used phrases.....such as bedroom talk.
"I'm your dirty little slug.".
Groundcontroltomajortom 1 year ago
Now I have some very weird role playing scenarios in my head.... 😳
Luis Hernandez Dauajare 1 year ago
Did some else go to a scary visual place?
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Elladine DesIsles 1 year ago
This actually makes sense if she's learned English from a combination of British and North American sources, she's just combined s-l-a-g and s-l-u-t. (Not sure if BP thinks either or both deserves censoring?) I prefer slug, however.
#13
My girlfriend is Romanian. On our third date, she invited me to her house. We were talking about shopping when she announced that she had "Chicken tights"
I looked confused. She repeated " I have chicken tights" whilst rubbing her legs. I was trying to imagine what this article of clothing looked like, and said "That doesn't help!". She then opened the fridge and showed me the chicken thighs. It became our first in-joke.
Many other things she says that I don't correct because they are cute, are just mispronounced or slightly wrong words.
I love the way she says "Daffodiles" (rhymes with crocodiles), "Bubbles" (bulbs), "Casserole" (any tupperware type container), "Jardiniere" (any flowerpot), "SAL-mon" (with the L), "Sheddle" (schedule), and many others.
She also does the he/she gender mixing, but only usually when she is talking excitedly about something, or is tired.
Conversely, I have been trying to learn Romanian for 3 years, and she laughs hysterically at me every time I try to start a conversation. I believe I sound like the Allo Allo policeman.
Geoffrey Scott 1 year ago
Out with our Danish exchange student: "You want soup or salad?" in the quick midwestern style. "I don't know, how big is it?" (super salad)
Talis 1 year ago
I can totally relate. Being non-native, we had exactly the same problem when we went to the US.
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Rinso The Red 1 year ago
Upvote for Allo Allo reference. They way they handled languages was genius
LinkTheHylian 1 year ago
Good moaning. I was pissing bee and overhead you say Allo Allo.
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Flexi Panda 1 year ago
Wait, so salmon does not read as saLmon? With L? Is the L silent or what?
Gen X Feral 1 year ago
It's silent and even my husband whose a native English speaker and been to college still has to be reminded every time smh And don't ask me why it's silent, makes no sense to me, but not much does anymore
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Nadine Debard 1 year ago
It's definitely chicken thigs in French. And we would likely pronounce the L in salmon, but ours is 'saumon' without the L.
#14
My Japanese husband once couldn't remember what fabric softener was called, so he called it "flavoured soap".
Edit: I can't believe I forgot my favourite! He was trying to remember the word for 'walkie-talkie' and cycled through so many different variations like talkie-walkie, walkie-wiccy, walkie-walkie, wiccy-wiccy.
Matthias Fischer 1 year ago
In german, it is bidirektionale Ultrakurzwellenfunkgeräte. Which is the reason we prefer Walkie Talkie here.
Luckily, with the right mindset and strategy, you can maximize your efforts. "Immersion is the most effective way to improve fluency and confidence, but if that's not feasible, it's important to take advantage of every opportunity to practice," Georgie W. explained.
"Listening to podcasts, watching English TV shows, and making the most of any opportunity to communicate with native speakers all help. With one-on-one online lessons and group classes widely available, it's more convenient than ever to get plenty of practice and boost your confidence."
#15
They don’t do it anymore but they used to say ‘emotional backpack’ when referring to emotional baggage.
That was a treasure.
Gen X Feral 1 year ago
Boy didn't it though. Kinda feel like some of us might need one of those hotel luggage carts or something lol
Load More Replies... Elladine DesIsles 1 year ago
I read a lovely play once (never have had the chance to see it produced) which uses an extended metaphor of one of the characters talking about "carrying her love around in a backpack." Specifically, she was referring to her love - distanced but never absent - for the husband who had long ago abandoned her and disappeared, which certainly counts as baggage.
Melissa Harris 1 year ago (edited)
A backpack is a type of bag so it's actually more accurate. Most of us carry around an emotional backpack, bag, etc. Others need roomier luggage for their issues.
#16
One of my best friends is born and bred Spanish and still lives out there but her English is fluent. When we first met she would use the word ‘genre’ instead of ‘gender’ asking things like “what genre are they?” “Idk, sci-fi thriller?”.
DetriMentaL (It/That) 1 year ago
No no... They may have a point here.. I vote we drop the gender thing and describe people as thrillers, horrors, dramas and mysteries
Bouche and Audi and Shyla, Oh My! 1 year ago
I'd be a very dull documentary given by Professor Binns.
Jaya 1 year ago
My best friend's a comedy. My boyfriend is a mix between a romantic comedy and a high quality p*rn movie. My neighbour is a 10 part documentary about traffic laws in the 19th century. And I am an art house movie in a language you don't speak and they forgot to display the subtitles.
Judi Sherosky 1 year ago
Not so bad...my sister called a library drop off box a book suppository.
Elladine DesIsles 1 year ago
At least bigots wouldn't be able to claim that there are only two genres. I'm definitely a sub-genre of some sort.
#17
A Spanish friend years ago forgot the word for garage and said “ the place where you take your car for a drink”. I still think it’s great like 20 years later.
Philenzortia 1 year ago
That’s weird because we use the word garage in Spanish (garaje). However, maybe that person had in his head “parqueadero” or “aparcamiento”.
Hyunjinswife143% real 1 year ago
garage is garaje in spanish... not that different but maybe they were having a rough day
"A great tip is to record yourself speaking English, play it back, and repeat the exercise. This will help you identify areas to improve. One quick way to test your pronunciation is to speak to Google Translate, Siri/Alexa, or ChatGPT and see if they can understand you," the teacher added. "AI apps also make good language partners if you don't have anyone with whom you can practice."
At the same time, "be careful not to get caught in the trap of focusing too much on perfecting grammar, as this can hinder your progress. Instead, focus on fluency. Aim for small, gradual improvements, like getting 1% better every week. The key is to set realistic goals."
#18
Not got a foreign spouse, apologies for jumping in.
But used to work with an Israeli lady, she pronounced cucumber as cockumber.
Being young(ish) it used to make us laugh.
Kalikima 1 year ago
The carrots will lie to you, the green beans will steal you blind, and don't get me started on the potatoes..
Load More Replies... Martin König 1 year ago
When you say: "Not got," waht do you mean exactly, in terms of a foreign spouse?
ManuelQue 1 year ago (edited)
Doesn't have, isn't married to someone from another country.
Load More Replies... #19
My wife is Danish and once wrote an email to colleagues inviting them for "drinks and nipples".
#20
I’m the foreign spouse. I’m from New Zealand and my wife is English. I went into a grocery store in Sheffield, England, and asked for eggs. They said what? I said “eggs”. They said what are they? I said, “you know they come from hens”. They laughed and said “oh you means eggs”. I was like WTF? It turns out that it sounded to them like I asked for “iggs”.
T'Mar of Vulcan 1 year ago (edited)
Stephen Fry said that when he was in South Africa people asked if he wanted "@rse cream". Apparently that's how we Mzansi peeps pronounce "ice cream"!!
Auntriarch 1 year ago
I asked my new class mate what the teachers name was, she said Miss Kemble, ah says I, Miss Kemble. No says she, Kemble lak the soop...
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Abdullah Abd Rahman 1 year ago
Yes, New Zealanders and Aussies say "iggs" and "to die" instead of "today".
Huddo's sister 1 year ago
New Zealanders and Aussies definitely don't pronounce eggs the same way! That sort of talk can lead to violence :)
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Matthew Savestheworld 1 year ago
on a radio show a woman told the host she sold bald peanuts....he was lost and asked how they were made... she said.." well you take the peanuts and ball them in water., then their bald"
Gianna B D 1 year ago
So it's like Caxton's egg story, but no one was accused of speaking French.
Georgie W. mentioned that learners often get discouraged by aiming too high, such as wanting to sound like a native speaker or committing to studying for two hours a day, every day.
While it's good to challenge yourself, doing more than you can handle leads to frustration and failure, casting a shadow over the entire learning process. "Instead, keep it simple and consider using techniques like the Pomodoro method—short, focused study sessions," the teacher suggested.
"There's no one-size-fits-all method for learning English, but the most important thing is to find a way that you enjoy and will stick with. Consistency is key, and remember to be patient with yourself along the way and focus on what you do know. As Henry Ford said, 'Whether you think you can, or you think you can't – you're right.'"
#21
My grandma was from another country and used to ask if her outfit was alright as she didn’t want to look like “mutton dressed as chicken”.
Joe Reaves 1 year ago
Far more likely she just confused mutton dressed as lamb which is an English saying.
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Rose the Cook 1 year ago
Hungarian neighbor's version of this was. "A sheep done up as a cow."
#22
One of my closest friends is Bulgarian and she says "you are cracking me" when she means "you cracking me up" and I'll never correct her, it's ridiculously sweet.
Corvus 1 year ago (edited)
Some Bulgarian phrases and idioms sound really weird when translated into English, e.g. "how do you drive her" (how is it going), or "everything is electricity and wires" (everything is going well), or "he butchers and hangs people around here" (he is in charge around here), or even "I'm eating the cuckoo waffles" (I am going nuts), and finally "the horse went into the river" (the situation got seriously messed up). There are others too, but I can't remember them right now.
#23
>Alice on the Wonderwall
Today is gonna be the day that I'm fallin' down a rabbit hole...
Aidan Pite 1 year ago
I can't believe that anybody shrinks the way she do...
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#24
I have never let my French wife forget the time she called the cheese grater a cheese “raper” (pronounced rather unfortunately!)
The translation of ‘to grate’ being râper.
MaximumKarmaSaint 1 year ago
You should see the looks you get whenever you say "Rapier" to anyone who doesn't use the word often.
Danny Sauer 1 year ago (edited)
I'm curious about these people who do use rapier often. Do you work in an olde-tyme armory? ;)
Load More Replies... Ivana Hotdog 1 year ago
My French ex used to call grated cheese "raped cheese" for this same reason
Ace 1 year ago
That's rather odd, since the French verb is pronounce rappay, and the object in question is a rappeuse, so one would expect her to say 'rappurr' .
Bewitched One 1 year ago
And her did just trying to do it in an English/American English accent probably? 🤷🏼♀️
Load More Replies... #25
My wife is from Taiwan. When she first heard ‘Jamming’ by Bob Marley she thought it was a song about chow mein. To this day we still sing “and I hope you like chow mein too!”.
LinkTheHylian 1 year ago
I do. Pyjamas mean bed time. Unlike suits, which mean "I don't wanna be at this job/function because I'm not Barney Stinson" time.
Load More Replies... #26
An Eastern European friend was telling me about how her dog got nervous about all the people when she took him to the supermarket. She started with the phrase "When I park him outside Tesco...." She's sort of accurate.
Cee Cee 1 year ago
Really annoys me to see dogs tied up outside supermarkets. Many cases of dog napping have occurred.
Cybele Spanjaard 1 year ago
And wind him up when we leave. But with reality, I would not leave a dog tied outside it is an invitation for someone with ill intent to snatch them. Not a safe world anymore for pets either.
#27
Many years ago I had a Spanish colleague who instead of saying “you’ve really opened a can of worms” used to say “you’ve really opened a tin of beans”. Love that!
Ace 1 year ago
I like to sometimes deliberately mix metaphors like that, such as "that's a whole different kettle of worms" just to see if people notice.
Neb 1 year ago
These are actually called "malaphors". Example would be ""We'll burn that bridge when we come to it""
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#28
My wife is Polish and despite speaking near fluent English has a couple of blindspots that she just can't seem to fix.
Tarmac == Tamrac
Menu == Meni
Seat/Sit - this results in "take a sit" and "we were seating".
Sue 1 year ago
One of my Cuban friend's mom pronounced Vicks Vapor Rub as Vee-vapa-roo. I told her it sounded like a 50's song. We used to compare southern & Cuban sayings & pronunciations.
AnnwylTheBloodyLovesFerghus 1 year ago
Well, for those of us who grew up Mexican, it was called vaaporuub. So, there.
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imsouravmitra 1 year ago
A friend of mine can't say "linen".. She ends up saying "lilen, lilen..."
#29
My Moroccan husband gets confused with ‘too many’ vs ‘a lot of’… mortifying if we see a large group of Asians or a large group of women!
#30
My Polish fiance says "taking A p**s" instead of "taking THE p**s".
Sten Ånnerud 1 year ago
I assume it's not in the "urinating" sense (which is, indeed A p**s), but "kidding / pulling my leg c" sense, where it's THE. The picture doesn't do much to help with the ambiguity.
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#31
My wife is spanish and really bad at remembering english celebrity names so she just makes them up, the other day she couldn't think of bruce willis so she called him "bolt bickerman".
Lara Verne 1 year ago
Oh god! I was once talking about Die Hard movie, but I forgot how it was called in English, so I called it Deadly Trap (It's translation of Czech title, Smrtonosná Past)
#32
Spanish friend always misses out 'bit' when describing how she's feeling so will say 'i'm a wee confuse' instead of I'm a wee bit confused or 'i'm a wee sick' when she's unwell. It's very endearing.
#33
Played golf with my dad and my foreign SO. There was a hillock on the course and my SO made the point to my dad to "watch out for the mountain". She still gets them hills and mountains mixed up.
Pernille 1 year ago
I wonder where the SO is from, to me even a small pile of dirt is a mountain, I'm danish.
Pandasong! 1 year ago
Haha, dutchie here, we're below sea level so even a small mountain freaks me out. Austria freaked me out 🫣
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Papa 1 year ago
Significant Other, usually used to refer to a spouse or other long-term romantic partner.
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#34
My dad is Swedish and has lived in the U.K. for 20+ years now but still can’t say “totally” : he says “turtle-ly” which always makes me smile.
A few direct translations have also crept into our family vernacular: “adders” means something tastes disgusting (“smakar huggorm” literally “tastes like adders”) being one of my favourite examples.
WindySwede 1 year ago
Or when someone mixes up the word "kant" (edge) and says watch out for the edge.
Neb 1 year ago
This is fun, but in Lithuanian we also use word "kantas", which most is used for vertical crease in pant legs, made by iron. It also might have meaning corner, edge, but dictionary says it came from Polish language...
Load More Replies... Boredma andthensome 1 year ago
I like some union representatives i met that didn¨t realize (fack = eng, union) is not a proper word to say erg I¨m a fack worker is not correct... I¨m a union worker is correct
#35
My wife initially saw Greggs and pronounced it Grejjs and I never corrected her for awhile until she went to 'Grejjs' with her work colleagues who corrected her then. That evening was hilarious as she had a go at me.
Bewitched One 1 year ago
Why not jejjs? If she pronounces the other g’s as j’s why not the first? Is it because of the double g’s? I’m genuinely asking lol
G A 1 year ago (edited)
Because of the R you left out. No one would say juh-redges. Or juh-reggs.
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#36
My Indonesian wife has great English and rarely makes a mistake. But when she does its hilarious. Such as substituting apostrophe with catastrophe. Personal favourite is when she told her office mates she was "fluffing" her husband this morning so she was later than usual, when she meant "faffing".
Secret Squirrel 1 year ago
Being the set up guy is never as celebrated as being the closer, but no less important.
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mtownmick 1 year ago
Faffing" is a British dialectal verb that means to make a fuss over nothing, or to spend time doing unimportant things instead of what needs to be done.
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Groundcontroltomajortom 1 year ago
Fluffing can be translated as farting (passing wind/gas) so that's pretty funny!
Ace 1 year ago
"Fluffing" is when somebody off-screen prepares a male porn star for his moment.
Load More Replies... #37
My dad had a Chinese girlfriend when I was younger. I was about 11 when she would quiz me on words and how to spell them.
For about a week she kept asking me to spell "ent ra preeny us" which I never got right, until my dad read the word to me and laughed as he said "I think she means entrepreneurs".
#38
My partner uses the phrase “less more than” instead of “less than”. I always find it funny and never correct her.
#39
My ex described a new shop that just opened. Apparently it was a “snake shop”. When questioned he elaborated “it sells drinks and snakes”. From then on, the local shop was referred to as “the snake shop”.
Daniel Atkins 1 year ago
My milk snake brings all the boys to the yard. ;)
Load More Replies... #40
My wife is American, so you wouldn't think this would be a problem. Her insistence on calling a friend of mine "Gram" when his name is "Graham" gets a little wearing.
Bill 1 year ago
I am sorry, I am American and have only ever heard it pronounced this way. What is proper?
arthbach 1 year ago
Bill, the Scottish pronunciation is 'grey-am'. 'Grey' as in the colour, and 'am' as in 'I am'. There's no 'grams' involved. .... Whilst we're on the subject of Scottish names, 'Craig' is not 'creg'. 'Crai' rhymes with 'grey', and stick a 'g' on the end. https://forvo.com/word/graham/ and https://forvo.com/word/craig/ (Alys gives the best 'Craig' pronunciation.)
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Daniel Baca 1 year ago (edited)
We just ignore the "H" in Graham like we do ,because of the French, in "herb"
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Jane Jayne Jain Jeign Jein 1 year ago
That would only make sense if she was first introduced to him in writing, and even then only until she had her mistake corrected. If she was told his name verbally then it's pretty rude to just decide he's pronouncing it all wrong.
ZestyBison 1 year ago
American here, it's pronounced GRAM. I read the comment section and see gray-am grey-ham and I just can't.
Auntriarch 1 year ago (edited)
Depends on how much emphasis people put on it. I say Graym, but really it's best to pronounce a name the way the person themselves says it. Though I never get bent out of shape if people don't pronounce my name my way, I find an accent charming
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Phantom Phoenix 1 year ago
My Australian born and bred grandmother couldn't pronounce Ian as "Ee-un". She always said, "Een" as one syllable
#41
My wife’s Filipino. Always confuses he and she. I get confused who she is talking about half the time.
Ali H M Salehuddin 1 year ago (edited)
Understandable. Tagalong is an Austronesian language. There is no gender for pronouns in Austronesians.
#42
Had a Chinese friend/girl I was seeing who I was meeting in a city centre. Called her to ask where she was as I was on the right street but couldn't see her. She said she was outside "eeartess". I was thinking it was some restaurant or something I'd never heard of. Totally confused as I could see nothing like it.
Then I found her.
Outside Yate's.
Alan Bell 1 year ago
I worked with a man from Poland a few years back and his English wes not the best but he tried. I asked him how he liked living in America. He said he liked it but doesn't like to listen to the news or read a newspaper. He says it's all bad news. In Poland, it's all good news. This is when Poland was under soviet control. I said that that was called "propaganda"! He said, "I know, but it's all good news!" He has since become a US citizen!
#43
My wife cannot for the life of her say "vegetable" or "vet" properly. She's Swiss and says "wegetable" and "wet", she's got better with time but when she's particularly excited it comes back again.
Manana Man 1 year ago
Switzerland has 4 official languages: German, French, Italian and Romansh. I'm trying to figure out what here language must be. I only know it can't be German because in German you pronounce Ws as Vs, as Wagner the composer.
Ace 1 year ago
I've known some German speakers to do this - the mentally substitute the W sound in an effort to _not_ say Vagner etc., then extend it to other words even though they're actually spelt with a V (which of course they would pronounce like an F). They just get confused, I think.
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What do you think ?
troufaki13 1 year ago
Not a foreign language mistake, but I find it cute and I thought I could share. My 7o nephew didn't know how to say "air-quotes" in greek (we don't really have a word for that) so he came up with his own phrase "ironic bunnies" 😂
Brittania Kelli 1 year ago (edited)
I have so many because I used to volunteer at a music charity for refugees, immigrants and asylum seekers. One Pakistani lady was told by her social worker 'not to put all her eggs in one basket' meaning not to put all her hopes on her court case, but she started keeping a couple eggs in the fridge, a couple eggs in the cupboard, a couple on counter, until we explained it to her. There was the time the Pakistani women thought our Scottish choir leader was trying to teach them a naughty song because it was in Gaelic and the first line was 'Fok A' Do'. One Chinese friend had her Chinese birthday (because of our different calendars) and we went to a traditional Chinese restaurant with our Turkish friend who hadn't understood why she would have a Chinese birthday and an English birthday so thought it was China's birthday and wished a happy birthday to every single Chinese waiter and server at the restaurant.
PFD 1 year ago
I don't know about / get the Chinese birthday thing - an anniversary is the same day each year regardless of the calendar, surely...?
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GirlFriday 1 year ago
We had an intern from Pakistan and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr Day came around, and I explained that the office would be closed for the holiday. He did some research on the day on his own, and on the Friday before the holiday weekend, he brought in cupcakes and hats and wished everyone a Happy Martin Day because he thought this was how all birthdays were celebrated. Years after our intern left and returned to Pakistan, we still brought in cupcakes and hats for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
athornedrose 1 year ago
not a spouse but my parents immigrated from italy. there's no "th" sound really in italian, so counting always sounds like "wan, too, tree.." when saying "1, 2, 3" in english. and my little cousin went to school believing trees grew super fast because it was just "1, 2, tree!" which his kindergarten teacher thought was hilarious.
Erin Coss 1 year ago
My husband (peru) and I (USA) have so many oopsies in spanish and English. His English is nearly perfect but some phrases gets switched around. Whenever he messes something up or does something by accident he says "ups.. I screw it!" Instead of I screwed it up. He also confuses "germs" and "germans". We have an inside joke of when hes sick, his Germans are everywhere.
Bertha Madott 1 year ago
48 years ago. My beloved new husband and I were in a hotel. He had a shower first. When I went in afterwards he had written “I love you Bertha” in the steam on the mirror. There were two spelling mistakes, one of which was my name. He is from Italy and over the years his English has deteriorated while my Italian has improved. M86, F75. I still love him to bits.
Papa 1 year ago
I still remember my grandfather telling me about when he was a boy and a man went to the small town near us and wanted to buy a seat cushion for his wagon. He was a native German speaker, and had trouble with the word cushion. He pronounced it something like "kiss-un." So he went into the store and said "I want a kiss-un, but I don't want one here (while pointing to his mouth). I want one here (while pointing to his butt)".
James Doe 1 year ago
Me, German in the US. My host dad would send me to get a veggie burger for him, every Sunday for weeks on end. He'd always Crack up and I just thought it was weird, because he was not a 'w'eggie burger kind of person. (explanation : Germans speaking English stumble over the pronunciation of "V" and "W". I learned that in a YouTube video - about 15 years after I continously ordered a veggie/wedgy burger. Wedgy =someone pulling up the underwear of someone else, wedging it into their a*s Crack)
Phantom Phoenix 1 year ago
When I was growing up we had Dutch neighbours who after singing Happy Birthday would then sing Freeze a Yolly Good Fellow
troufaki13 1 year ago
Not a foreign language mistake, but I find it cute and I thought I could share. My 7o nephew didn't know how to say "air-quotes" in greek (we don't really have a word for that) so he came up with his own phrase "ironic bunnies" 😂
Brittania Kelli 1 year ago (edited)
I have so many because I used to volunteer at a music charity for refugees, immigrants and asylum seekers. One Pakistani lady was told by her social worker 'not to put all her eggs in one basket' meaning not to put all her hopes on her court case, but she started keeping a couple eggs in the fridge, a couple eggs in the cupboard, a couple on counter, until we explained it to her. There was the time the Pakistani women thought our Scottish choir leader was trying to teach them a naughty song because it was in Gaelic and the first line was 'Fok A' Do'. One Chinese friend had her Chinese birthday (because of our different calendars) and we went to a traditional Chinese restaurant with our Turkish friend who hadn't understood why she would have a Chinese birthday and an English birthday so thought it was China's birthday and wished a happy birthday to every single Chinese waiter and server at the restaurant.
PFD 1 year ago
I don't know about / get the Chinese birthday thing - an anniversary is the same day each year regardless of the calendar, surely...?
Load More Replies... GirlFriday 1 year ago
We had an intern from Pakistan and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr Day came around, and I explained that the office would be closed for the holiday. He did some research on the day on his own, and on the Friday before the holiday weekend, he brought in cupcakes and hats and wished everyone a Happy Martin Day because he thought this was how all birthdays were celebrated. Years after our intern left and returned to Pakistan, we still brought in cupcakes and hats for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
athornedrose 1 year ago
not a spouse but my parents immigrated from italy. there's no "th" sound really in italian, so counting always sounds like "wan, too, tree.." when saying "1, 2, 3" in english. and my little cousin went to school believing trees grew super fast because it was just "1, 2, tree!" which his kindergarten teacher thought was hilarious.
Erin Coss 1 year ago
My husband (peru) and I (USA) have so many oopsies in spanish and English. His English is nearly perfect but some phrases gets switched around. Whenever he messes something up or does something by accident he says "ups.. I screw it!" Instead of I screwed it up. He also confuses "germs" and "germans". We have an inside joke of when hes sick, his Germans are everywhere.
Bertha Madott 1 year ago
48 years ago. My beloved new husband and I were in a hotel. He had a shower first. When I went in afterwards he had written “I love you Bertha” in the steam on the mirror. There were two spelling mistakes, one of which was my name. He is from Italy and over the years his English has deteriorated while my Italian has improved. M86, F75. I still love him to bits.
Papa 1 year ago
I still remember my grandfather telling me about when he was a boy and a man went to the small town near us and wanted to buy a seat cushion for his wagon. He was a native German speaker, and had trouble with the word cushion. He pronounced it something like "kiss-un." So he went into the store and said "I want a kiss-un, but I don't want one here (while pointing to his mouth). I want one here (while pointing to his butt)".
James Doe 1 year ago
Me, German in the US. My host dad would send me to get a veggie burger for him, every Sunday for weeks on end. He'd always Crack up and I just thought it was weird, because he was not a 'w'eggie burger kind of person. (explanation : Germans speaking English stumble over the pronunciation of "V" and "W". I learned that in a YouTube video - about 15 years after I continously ordered a veggie/wedgy burger. Wedgy =someone pulling up the underwear of someone else, wedging it into their a*s Crack)
Phantom Phoenix 1 year ago
When I was growing up we had Dutch neighbours who after singing Happy Birthday would then sing Freeze a Yolly Good Fellow
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