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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!
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#1
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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#5
Mewton’s Third Paw 5 years ago
It’s because the name of the brand of popcorn that came into Iran at first was called Chesterfield and people pronounced it in a way that when you translate it sounds like the Persian words for elephant farts. Anyway most people now just call it “popcorn” but with a heavily Persian accent. We have a lot of words like that, just English words with thick accent.
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Adrienne Early 5 years ago
I interpret it as kind of a "knowing smirk". Like, just you wait...
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Sleep Meister 5 years ago
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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Gosiulka Bloem 5 years ago (edited)
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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What do you think ?
zluh don 5 years ago
Tibetan has its share. Motorcycles are "magic horses" or "machine horses" (eastern dialect). Computers are also electric brains, or even more literally lightning brains. Turtles are bony frogs. Gloves are hand covers, socks are foot covers and condoms are penis covers. Libraries are book treasury houses. Hospitals are medicine houses. Planes are air-boats, and elephants are literally bix oxen.
Max L. 5 years ago (edited)
Missing some italian pearls, like English : "what's your name?" - italian : "how you call you ?" - English : "How old are you ?" - Italian : "how many hears you have ?" :D oh and "how are you doing" becomes "how goes" in italian 😂
Nadine 5 years ago
Peninsular Spanish (Castilian) has SO MANY incredible expressions. To say you're in a bad mood, you can say "estoy de mala leche" = "I'm of bad milk." To say you're going all in, you can say "de perdidos al río" = "from lost to the river." To express that something is surprising or incredible, you can say "cágate, lorito" = "s**t, little parrot." I'm a translator and this whole post is fascinating.
Avital Pilpel 5 years ago
In Hebrew: "ani" means "me", "me" means "who", "who" means "he", and "he" means "she". Also, N is how you write the script letter "m" (mem).
Ranch Dressing 5 years ago
English, half 12 (time) Swedish, half 1 Because it’s half TO the 1. Alway confirm what time you are meeting a Swede!
Mireia Dos 5 years ago
Same in Catalan but in quarters, so half past one is "two quarters of two"
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Bumblebee 5 years ago
A few Dutch examples: English: French toast Dutch: Turning bitches. (Bitches as in female dogs though;-) ) English: Leopard Dutch: Lazy horse English: Seal Dutch: Sea Dog English: Moped (vehicle) Dutch: Mustache bike English: Ambulance Dutch: Burn again / Burn weather
Aroha 5 years ago
French toast in Finnish is "poor knights" :). The recipe is a bit different, but still, what a name!
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Manfred Dolmer 5 years ago
Crocodile in Vietnamese means ugly fish and a shark is a fat fish. Always thought people were joking when I started to learn the language& thought they were all into that:D
Clemens Gaber 5 years ago
Helicopter isn't called a lifting screwdriver in german, but a lift screwer (Hubschrauber).
Lauren Caswell 5 years ago
Argh though, I've always shuddered at the German translation of gums: toothmeat/flesh
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ClearlyAverage 5 years ago
I see a lot of Gaeilge, Irish, on this list, and I have to say I agree. Everything about it is dumb. Hello in Irish is Dia Daoibh, which literally translates to “God to you”
Lauren Caswell 5 years ago
"Top of the morning to you" also has a correct response: "and the rest of the day to yourself"
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Jane Alexander 5 years ago
Someone built a translation machine and into it fed "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak" They translated it into Russian and back into English. They got back "The wine is agreeable but the meat has gone bad"
K Lane 5 years ago
English has its own stupid terms: sea lion, sea horse, sea cow, sea monkey, sea urchin, sea cucumber, seaweed, dogfish, catfish, clown fish, bull shark, right whale, black rhino and white rhino (both are the same colour)... I'm sure there are other misnomers outside of the animal kingdom too.
Candace Fitzpatrick 5 years ago
For any of you who are not Canadian or are not familiar with eggnog (a drink we have around Christmas time)... the French Canadian literal translation is hen milk, or better yet s**t milk!
Avital Pilpel 5 years ago
Hebrew has its share of military slang that went into common parlance. A lot of it is technically obscene: "To put a penis" or "to NOT put a penis" both mean "to not give a damn". Many expressions also come from the Torah or Talmud, for example "he's a lime-covered well" - "he has a good memory"; "he hits mountains together" - "he is a great scholar".
Cristina Ferreira 3 years ago
I don't know were that Portugueses person is from. But I've never heard of those 'transactions. For Calf we use stomach/belly of the leg (barriga da perna) and wart is Carnation (cravo)
Gustavo Di Salvo 4 years ago
I know that I'm a year late, but about "toes" in Spanish is not a literal translation. The thing is that we don't have a specific word (like "dedospie") for that, and we call to the toes "dedos de los pies" (fingers of the feet).
Marco Giustini 4 years ago
Also Italian has its own oddities: - Hedgehog: needle-pig - Shark: dog-fish - Sunset: [when the sun goes] behind the mountains - To sunbathe: to get a bronze skin - To kill: to club someone to death
Terri-leigh Murtagh 4 years ago
My favourite is from English, lady literally means bread maker it's from an old English word. Most of these did not use the literal translation of the English words.
Joana Kalevo 5 years ago
English: liver Bulgarian: Black lung English: bladder Bulgarian: pee bubble English: forearm Bulgarian: in front of the armpit English: ear lobe Bulgarian: ear seashell English: pickle Bulgarian: little sour cucumber
Chiara Leeren 5 years ago
English - Italian: uncaring -> Idontgiveadamnist damn! -> cabbage! Crazy -> outside like a balcony Afterlife -> beyond the grave Know-all -> I-know-everything / everythingist
A. B. Gilman 5 years ago
In German sauerkraut literally means "sour cabbage" and the phrase for "I'm sorry" (Es tut mir Leid) means "It does me suffering".
Vicky Zar 5 years ago
If you like the German language, go get yourself the book "you go me on the cookie" by Dana Newman
Juni Stenberg 5 years ago
English: Now you have gone too far. Swedish: Don't s**t in the blue cabinet.
Jesper Rasmussen 5 years ago
In Danish a JCB (earth mover) is called ‘gummiged’ which means ‘rubber goat’. Speed (velocity) in Danish is ‘fart’. Jellyfish (funny word to start with) in Danish is ‘vandmand’ which means ‘water man’.
What's In Your Head? 5 years ago
I don't understand the smileys in some of those posts? Also, all the other Dutch users beat me to it when it comes to the Dutch translations, so I have nothing to say about any of these. XD
Max L. 5 years ago
I find it fascinating, having worked in quite some countries.
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Thunder 5 years ago
In Dutch: “whats your name” = “hoe do you heat” and “whats up” = “hoe gate it” and “elephant” = “oil phant” and “turtle” = “shield toad” and “merkat = “little sticktail” and “We’re missing all of it!” = “It goes before our nose away.” and “raccoon” = “wash bear” and “chipmunk” = “ground squirrel” and “cellphone” = “little mobile” and “bra” = “Breast Holder (BH)” Pfew, I hope you’ll enjoy this cuz I did 30 minutes about this. 😉
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RoseTheMad 5 years ago
Surprised not to see a lot of the Finnish ones here, like: English - Dice, Finnish - "Lottery Cube" (arpakuutio) , English - Turtle, Finnish - "Shield Toad" (kilpikonna), English - Bra, Finnish - "Breast Vests" (rintaliivit), and the word for "Sloth" (as in the animal) is literally just "Lazy One" (Laiskiainen)
Jeff Christensen 5 years ago
Brassiere in French relates to a kind of vest, but the garment worn on the breasts translates as "throat supporter".
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Debbie Smith 5 years ago
English = Double Barrel Shotgun Afrikaans = Double hail walk gun English = brother in law Afrikaans = heavy English = Tree root Afrikaans - carrot of tree English - Leopard Afrikaans - Lazy horse
Carries 5 years ago
And let's not forget - English: giraffe, Afrikaans: camel horse
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Ale_Vidal23 5 years ago (edited)
sloth in german = lazy animal / platypus = beak animal / armadillo = belt animal
Kevin Buri 5 years ago
Englisch: Gear German: Tooth-wheel English: Spotlight German: Shine-thrower English: You annoy me German: You go me on the sack English: You are crazy German: You have one on the waffle
zluh don 5 years ago
Tibetan has its share. Motorcycles are "magic horses" or "machine horses" (eastern dialect). Computers are also electric brains, or even more literally lightning brains. Turtles are bony frogs. Gloves are hand covers, socks are foot covers and condoms are penis covers. Libraries are book treasury houses. Hospitals are medicine houses. Planes are air-boats, and elephants are literally bix oxen.
Max L. 5 years ago (edited)
Missing some italian pearls, like English : "what's your name?" - italian : "how you call you ?" - English : "How old are you ?" - Italian : "how many hears you have ?" :D oh and "how are you doing" becomes "how goes" in italian 😂
Nadine 5 years ago
Peninsular Spanish (Castilian) has SO MANY incredible expressions. To say you're in a bad mood, you can say "estoy de mala leche" = "I'm of bad milk." To say you're going all in, you can say "de perdidos al río" = "from lost to the river." To express that something is surprising or incredible, you can say "cágate, lorito" = "s**t, little parrot." I'm a translator and this whole post is fascinating.
Avital Pilpel 5 years ago
In Hebrew: "ani" means "me", "me" means "who", "who" means "he", and "he" means "she". Also, N is how you write the script letter "m" (mem).
Ranch Dressing 5 years ago
English, half 12 (time) Swedish, half 1 Because it’s half TO the 1. Alway confirm what time you are meeting a Swede!
Mireia Dos 5 years ago
Same in Catalan but in quarters, so half past one is "two quarters of two"
Load More Replies... Bumblebee 5 years ago
A few Dutch examples: English: French toast Dutch: Turning bitches. (Bitches as in female dogs though;-) ) English: Leopard Dutch: Lazy horse English: Seal Dutch: Sea Dog English: Moped (vehicle) Dutch: Mustache bike English: Ambulance Dutch: Burn again / Burn weather
Aroha 5 years ago
French toast in Finnish is "poor knights" :). The recipe is a bit different, but still, what a name!
Load More Replies... Manfred Dolmer 5 years ago
Crocodile in Vietnamese means ugly fish and a shark is a fat fish. Always thought people were joking when I started to learn the language& thought they were all into that:D
Clemens Gaber 5 years ago
Helicopter isn't called a lifting screwdriver in german, but a lift screwer (Hubschrauber).
Lauren Caswell 5 years ago
Argh though, I've always shuddered at the German translation of gums: toothmeat/flesh
Load More Replies... ClearlyAverage 5 years ago
I see a lot of Gaeilge, Irish, on this list, and I have to say I agree. Everything about it is dumb. Hello in Irish is Dia Daoibh, which literally translates to “God to you”
Lauren Caswell 5 years ago
"Top of the morning to you" also has a correct response: "and the rest of the day to yourself"
Load More Replies... Jane Alexander 5 years ago
Someone built a translation machine and into it fed "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak" They translated it into Russian and back into English. They got back "The wine is agreeable but the meat has gone bad"
K Lane 5 years ago
English has its own stupid terms: sea lion, sea horse, sea cow, sea monkey, sea urchin, sea cucumber, seaweed, dogfish, catfish, clown fish, bull shark, right whale, black rhino and white rhino (both are the same colour)... I'm sure there are other misnomers outside of the animal kingdom too.
Candace Fitzpatrick 5 years ago
For any of you who are not Canadian or are not familiar with eggnog (a drink we have around Christmas time)... the French Canadian literal translation is hen milk, or better yet s**t milk!
Avital Pilpel 5 years ago
Hebrew has its share of military slang that went into common parlance. A lot of it is technically obscene: "To put a penis" or "to NOT put a penis" both mean "to not give a damn". Many expressions also come from the Torah or Talmud, for example "he's a lime-covered well" - "he has a good memory"; "he hits mountains together" - "he is a great scholar".
Cristina Ferreira 3 years ago
I don't know were that Portugueses person is from. But I've never heard of those 'transactions. For Calf we use stomach/belly of the leg (barriga da perna) and wart is Carnation (cravo)
Gustavo Di Salvo 4 years ago
I know that I'm a year late, but about "toes" in Spanish is not a literal translation. The thing is that we don't have a specific word (like "dedospie") for that, and we call to the toes "dedos de los pies" (fingers of the feet).
Marco Giustini 4 years ago
Also Italian has its own oddities: - Hedgehog: needle-pig - Shark: dog-fish - Sunset: [when the sun goes] behind the mountains - To sunbathe: to get a bronze skin - To kill: to club someone to death
Terri-leigh Murtagh 4 years ago
My favourite is from English, lady literally means bread maker it's from an old English word. Most of these did not use the literal translation of the English words.
Joana Kalevo 5 years ago
English: liver Bulgarian: Black lung English: bladder Bulgarian: pee bubble English: forearm Bulgarian: in front of the armpit English: ear lobe Bulgarian: ear seashell English: pickle Bulgarian: little sour cucumber
Chiara Leeren 5 years ago
English - Italian: uncaring -> Idontgiveadamnist damn! -> cabbage! Crazy -> outside like a balcony Afterlife -> beyond the grave Know-all -> I-know-everything / everythingist
A. B. Gilman 5 years ago
In German sauerkraut literally means "sour cabbage" and the phrase for "I'm sorry" (Es tut mir Leid) means "It does me suffering".
Vicky Zar 5 years ago
If you like the German language, go get yourself the book "you go me on the cookie" by Dana Newman
Juni Stenberg 5 years ago
English: Now you have gone too far. Swedish: Don't s**t in the blue cabinet.
Jesper Rasmussen 5 years ago
In Danish a JCB (earth mover) is called ‘gummiged’ which means ‘rubber goat’. Speed (velocity) in Danish is ‘fart’. Jellyfish (funny word to start with) in Danish is ‘vandmand’ which means ‘water man’.
What's In Your Head? 5 years ago
I don't understand the smileys in some of those posts? Also, all the other Dutch users beat me to it when it comes to the Dutch translations, so I have nothing to say about any of these. XD
Max L. 5 years ago
I find it fascinating, having worked in quite some countries.
Load More Replies... Thunder 5 years ago
In Dutch: “whats your name” = “hoe do you heat” and “whats up” = “hoe gate it” and “elephant” = “oil phant” and “turtle” = “shield toad” and “merkat = “little sticktail” and “We’re missing all of it!” = “It goes before our nose away.” and “raccoon” = “wash bear” and “chipmunk” = “ground squirrel” and “cellphone” = “little mobile” and “bra” = “Breast Holder (BH)” Pfew, I hope you’ll enjoy this cuz I did 30 minutes about this. 😉
Load More Replies... RoseTheMad 5 years ago
Surprised not to see a lot of the Finnish ones here, like: English - Dice, Finnish - "Lottery Cube" (arpakuutio) , English - Turtle, Finnish - "Shield Toad" (kilpikonna), English - Bra, Finnish - "Breast Vests" (rintaliivit), and the word for "Sloth" (as in the animal) is literally just "Lazy One" (Laiskiainen)
Jeff Christensen 5 years ago
Brassiere in French relates to a kind of vest, but the garment worn on the breasts translates as "throat supporter".
Load More Replies... Debbie Smith 5 years ago
English = Double Barrel Shotgun Afrikaans = Double hail walk gun English = brother in law Afrikaans = heavy English = Tree root Afrikaans - carrot of tree English - Leopard Afrikaans - Lazy horse
Carries 5 years ago
And let's not forget - English: giraffe, Afrikaans: camel horse
Load More Replies... Ale_Vidal23 5 years ago (edited)
sloth in german = lazy animal / platypus = beak animal / armadillo = belt animal
Kevin Buri 5 years ago
Englisch: Gear German: Tooth-wheel English: Spotlight German: Shine-thrower English: You annoy me German: You go me on the sack English: You are crazy German: You have one on the waffle
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