If you've ever interacted with someone who speaks a different language, what is the funniest misunderstanding you've had?
If you've ever interacted with someone who speaks a different language, what is the funniest misunderstanding you've had?
An example of what I mean:
I, in China, told an English speaking Chinese friend I needed to stop off in the bathroom to "take a shit."
He looked appalled and after I asked why he had that look, he asked what I was going to do with someone's shit.
I had not laughed so hard in a while, and it totally makes sense.
I explained it was an expression for pooping, and he comes back with, "wouldn't that be giving a shit?"
I then got to explain that to give a shit means you care and I realized how fucked some of our expressions are.
What misunderstandings made you laugh?
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Portuguese in Portugal has a slang word for queue, which is exactly the same as the Brasilian Portuguese slang word for queer.
I have on more than one occasion had to explain to Brasilian acquaintances that I had not just stated I was going to visit a queer person but that I was going to stand on a queue.
Queue means tail in french
I was going to stand on a queue
Yeah, that tail too
Similar story! I teach Capoeira, am not Beasilian. Part of the tradition is coming up with students' "apelido", like an alias for them as a martial artist. We try to pick things that are cool, or ironically amusing (but kind).
Well there's this bigger teenage boy in my class who's getting REALLY strong. Great kid. Sings real strong too. Has been hitting the weights I think.
"Cannon". I thought. "That's badass and not too elaborate. He's loud and he hits hard. Perfect!" So I look up the translation and submit my suggestions.
"That's gonna need a change..." my Professor says with a chuckle.
"...Canhão means 'lesbian'."
Where does this slang come from?!? My research gave zero indication of this possibility lmao. SO glad he double checked me.
Similarly confusing, a lot of Capoeira songs feature the lyrics "vamo vadia" which I'm told is like, "Let's go hang out / loiter / chill." According to google translate...vadia directly means "bitch."
This beautiful language intimidates me. 😂
Ok that’s badass
I was told to better not call a Brazilian girl "garota" even though in Portugal, that's perfectly acceptable.
That word isn't originally from Portuguese from Portugal (though it is recognized thanks to the prevalence of Brazilian soap operas in Portugal) so it carries no broader "social" meaning and isn't even commonly used there, so people wouldn't care if you used it in Portugal as it just sounds odd there.
If I understand the broader meaning subtleties of how it's used in Brazilian Portuguese correctly, using "garota" for a woman is a bit like using "chick" for a woman in British English, which whilst not an outright insult carries a bit of a demeaning vibe (not as bad as the used of "bitch" - as in "my bitch" - in American English, but the same kind of treating women as inferior).
This is probably because the original meaning of the word when not used for an adult woman (again, only in Brazilian Portuguese since it didn't exist in Portuguese from Portugal) is "young girl".