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30 Native English Speakers Share The Funniest Thing They Heard Foreigners Say In Their Language My partner is greek and couldn't remember the word "infinity" so just told me that she loves me until the "snoozy 8".

KFlaps , Edward Eyer Report

Final score:

150points

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Groundcontroltomajortom 2 months ago

Awww that's cute!

47points

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."

30 Native English Speakers Share The Funniest Thing They Heard Foreigners Say In Their Language 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.

_activated_ , Shannon Report

Final score:

144points

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Nea 2 months ago

I am sure he achieved the objective each time.

54points

fahhgedaboutit , KATRIN BOLOVTSOVA Report

30 Native English Speakers Share The Funniest Thing They Heard Foreigners Say In Their Language 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.

Final score:

132points

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Bill 2 months ago

Yes mine hates it when I try and remove his dots

45points

30 Native English Speakers Share The Funniest Thing They Heard Foreigners Say In Their Language 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.

animalwitch , cottonbro studio Report

Final score:

115points

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T'Mar of Vulcan 2 months ago

A child I teach called the dust pan a "scooby". She meant scoop!

27points

littleIdiotUK , RDNE Stock project Report

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."

30 Native English Speakers Share The Funniest Thing They Heard Foreigners Say In Their Language 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.

Final score:

112points

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Pandemonium 2 months 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

37points

30 Native English Speakers Share The Funniest Thing They Heard Foreigners Say In Their Language 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??".

apeliott , Vadim Lu Report

Final score:

100points

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Brittania Kelli 2 months 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.

52points

30 Native English Speakers Share The Funniest Thing They Heard Foreigners Say In Their Language 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".

ninja-wharrier , Lisa Fotios Report

Final score:

96points

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Corvus 2 months ago

Tell her not to kinkshame you :P

35points

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.

30 Native English Speakers Share The Funniest Thing They Heard Foreigners Say In Their Language 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.

NasalSexx , RDNE Stock project Report

Final score:

94points

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Kirsten Kerkhof 2 months ago

As if you aren't even worthy of a couple of bollocks.

40points

augustlove112 , Vidal Balielo Jr. Report

#10

30 Native English Speakers Share The Funniest Thing They Heard Foreigners Say In Their Language My French friend says “lonely child” instead of “only child”. Never corrected her.

Final score:

91points

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Corvus 2 months ago

Well, it's not completely wrong.

42points

#11

30 Native English Speakers Share The Funniest Thing They Heard Foreigners Say In Their Language My Czech sister in-law calls Silence of The Lambs, 'Don't Speaking of Small Sheep'.

Onepen99 , Orion Pictures Report

Final score:

87points

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Bewitched One 2 months ago

I like that title better

32points

"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

30 Native English Speakers Share The Funniest Thing They Heard Foreigners Say In Their Language Hungárian girlfriend.

English extremely good except for rarely used phrases.....such as bedroom talk.

"I'm your dirty little slug.".

krypto-pscyho-chimp , Yan Krukau Report

Final score:

86points

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Groundcontroltomajortom 2 months ago

Now I have some very weird role playing scenarios in my head.... 😳

45points

#13

30 Native English Speakers Share The Funniest Thing They Heard Foreigners Say In Their Language 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.

RPG_Rob , SONIC Report

Final score:

81points

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Geoffrey Scott 2 months 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)

32points

purplefriiday , RDNE Stock project Report

#14

30 Native English Speakers Share The Funniest Thing They Heard Foreigners Say In Their Language 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.

Final score:

80points

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Ace 2 months ago

In French they really are called "Talkie Walkie"

31points

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

30 Native English Speakers Share The Funniest Thing They Heard Foreigners Say In Their Language They don’t do it anymore but they used to say ‘emotional backpack’ when referring to emotional baggage.

That was a treasure.

softersong , Helena Lopes Report

Final score:

75points

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Bill 2 months ago

Yes it got bigger. I have a set with wheels

29points

#16

30 Native English Speakers Share The Funniest Thing They Heard Foreigners Say In Their Language 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?”.

secretchuWOWa1 , Liza Summer Report

Final score:

69points

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DetriMentaL (It/That) 2 months 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

123points

#17

30 Native English Speakers Share The Funniest Thing They Heard Foreigners Say In Their Language 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.

PamVanDam , Brandi Alexandra Report

Final score:

65points

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Ace 2 months ago

Meaning a petrol (gas) station, rather than a parking place.

51points

ZookeepergameHead145 , Harshal S. Hirve Report

"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

30 Native English Speakers Share The Funniest Thing They Heard Foreigners Say In Their Language 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.

Final score:

62points

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Bouche and Audi and Shyla, Oh My! 2 months ago

Cucumbers can't be trusted.

6points

#19

30 Native English Speakers Share The Funniest Thing They Heard Foreigners Say In Their Language My wife is Danish and once wrote an email to colleagues inviting them for "drinks and nipples".

Verochio , Helena Lopes Report

Final score:

62points

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Daniel Baca 2 months ago

I'd come

46points

#20

30 Native English Speakers Share The Funniest Thing They Heard Foreigners Say In Their Language 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”.

balrob , Boryslav Shoot Report

Final score:

60points

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T'Mar of Vulcan 2 months 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"!!

36points

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

30 Native English Speakers Share The Funniest Thing They Heard Foreigners Say In Their Language 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”.

Ginevra_F , Askar Abayev Report

Final score:

55points

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Nea 2 months ago

I am guessing its a literal translation of a saying in her mother tongue.

16points

#22

30 Native English Speakers Share The Funniest Thing They Heard Foreigners Say In Their Language 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.

Woozlie , Savannah Dematteo Report

Final score:

50points

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Corvus 2 months 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.

46points

DorisWildthyme , Walt Disney Pictures Report

#23

30 Native English Speakers Share The Funniest Thing They Heard Foreigners Say In Their Language >Alice on the Wonderwall

Today is gonna be the day that I'm fallin' down a rabbit hole...

Final score:

50points

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Ritchat 2 months ago (edited)

And by now, she should've somehow realised she's gonna fall...

19points

#24

30 Native English Speakers Share The Funniest Thing They Heard Foreigners Say In Their Language 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.

RedEastW , Klaus Nielsen Report

Final score:

49points

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MaximumKarmaSaint 2 months ago

You should see the looks you get whenever you say "Rapier" to anyone who doesn't use the word often.

14points

#25

30 Native English Speakers Share The Funniest Thing They Heard Foreigners Say In Their Language 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!”.

PsychologicalDrone , Quadraro Report

Final score:

44points

POST

Planb Shamone 2 months ago

Pyjama's, Pyjama's, Pyjama's Pyjama's. I hope you like Pyjama's too

13points

inspectorgadget9999 , Peter Plashkin Report

#26

30 Native English Speakers Share The Funniest Thing They Heard Foreigners Say In Their Language 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.

Final score:

40points

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Cee Cee 2 months ago

Really annoys me to see dogs tied up outside supermarkets. Many cases of dog napping have occurred.

3points

Dutch Swimmer Goes Viral For Super Revealing Trunks During 2024 Olympics: “Is This Legal?”

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#27

30 Native English Speakers Share The Funniest Thing They Heard Foreigners Say In Their Language 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!

JukeboxTears , Gordon Joly Report

Final score:

39points

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Ace 2 months 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.

20points

#28

30 Native English Speakers Share The Funniest Thing They Heard Foreigners Say In Their Language 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".

BeardedBaldMan , Max Andrey Report

Final score:

35points

POST

Sue 2 months 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.

8points

#29

30 Native English Speakers Share The Funniest Thing They Heard Foreigners Say In Their Language 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!

MuchMenu2417 , Clem Onojeghuo Report

Final score:

30points

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ZestyBison 2 months ago

One is a complaint. 😁

2points

GeorgiePorgie2319 , Tim Mossholder Report

#30

30 Native English Speakers Share The Funniest Thing They Heard Foreigners Say In Their Language My Polish fiance says "taking A p**s" instead of "taking THE p**s".

Final score:

27points

POST

Karina 2 months ago

"IM NOT TAKING A P**S WITH YOU ANYMORE!"

12points

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#31

30 Native English Speakers Share The Funniest Thing They Heard Foreigners Say In Their Language 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".

TastyEar3568 , Twentieth Century Fox Report

Final score:

19points

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Lara Verne 2 months 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)

1point

AlwaysGoForAusInRisk , Markus Spiske Report

#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.

AcademyCat1719 Report

Final score:

15points

POST

Jean-Louis Bolomey 2 months ago (edited)

In Scottish English, and in fact in England it is quite correct to use "wee" without "bit". I am a wee tired, etc

4points

#33

30 Native English Speakers Share The Funniest Thing They Heard Foreigners Say In Their Language 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.

Final score:

14points

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Pernille 2 months ago

I wonder where the SO is from, to me even a small pile of dirt is a mountain, I'm danish.

7points

#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.

a-ks94 Report

Final score:

14points

POST

WindySwede 2 months ago

Or when someone mixes up the word "kant" (edge) and says watch out for the edge.

4points

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#35

30 Native English Speakers Share The Funniest Thing They Heard Foreigners Say In Their Language 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.

TheNotSpecialOne , Paul Robertson Report

Final score:

13points

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Bewitched One 2 months 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

4points

#36

30 Native English Speakers Share The Funniest Thing They Heard Foreigners Say In Their Language 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".

Samathos , cottonbro studio Report

Final score:

13points

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Nea 2 months ago

I fluff my husband sometimes, its alright.

11points

#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".

solsticefaerie Report

Final score:

12points

POST

MaximumKarmaSaint 2 months ago

To be fair, it's already a nightmare to spell.

8points

Woman Moves Out Of Parents' Home After They Asked Her To Give Her Space To Brother, They Freak Out

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#38

My partner uses the phrase “less more than” instead of “less than”. I always find it funny and never correct her.

anon Report

Final score:

11points

POST

#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”.

VixenRoss Report

Final score:

11points

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MaximumKarmaSaint 2 months ago

"Try our new milk snake!"

6points

#40

30 Native English Speakers Share The Funniest Thing They Heard Foreigners Say In Their Language 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.

ArmouredWankball , Askar Abayev Report

Final score:

10points

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Bill 2 months ago

I am sorry, I am American and have only ever heard it pronounced this way. What is proper?

14points

Woman Refuses To Chip In For Babysitting Because She Doesn’t Even Have Kids, Asks If She’s A Jerk

#41

My wife’s Filipino. Always confuses he and she. I get confused who she is talking about half the time.

Gone_For_Lunch Report

Final score:

9points

POST

Ali H M Salehuddin 2 months ago (edited)

Understandable. Tagalong is an Austronesian language. There is no gender for pronouns in Austronesians.

8points

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#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.

anon Report

Final score:

8points

POST

Alan Bell 2 months 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!

4points

#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.

mrafinch Report

Final score:

7points

POST

A girl 2 months ago

Programming instructor. From India. I had to ask what a wariable was. I knew what a variable was. I'd just never heard a person pronounce it that way. It was kind of embarrassing to be that culturally ignorant but she was cool about it.

7points

Rokas is a writer at Bored Panda with a BA in Communication. After working for a sculptor, he fell in love with visual storytelling and enjoys covering everything from TV shows (any Sopranos fans out there?) to photography. Throughout his years in Bored Panda, over 300 million people have read the posts he's written, which is probably more than he could count to.

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Gabija is a photo editor at Bored Panda. Before joining the team, she achieved a Professional Bachelor degree in Photography and has been working as a freelance photographer since. She also has a special place in her heart for film photography, movies and nature.

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What do you think ?

POST

troufaki13 2 months 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" 😂

26points

Cora Van der Gaag 2 months ago

Leave it kids to be really creative.

6points

Featherking 2 months ago (edited)

Hey man; that’s better.

2points

PFD 2 months ago

Ironic bunnies is genius. I hope I can remember it long enough to start using it...

1point

Igor914624 2 months ago

I love it! We should only have quotes and ironic bunnies, not single and double quotes.

0points

Brittania Kelli 2 months 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.

15points

PFD 2 months ago

I don't know about / get the Chinese birthday thing - an anniversary is the same day each year regardless of the calendar, surely...?

2points

GirlFriday 2 months 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.

9points

athornedrose 2 months 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.

8points

Erin Coss 2 months 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.

6points

Bertha Madott Premium 2 months 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.

5points

Papa 2 months 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)".

5points

sturmwesen 2 months ago (edited)

The German word is "Kissen"

2points

James Doe 2 months 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)

4points

Phantom Phoenix 2 months ago

When I was growing up we had Dutch neighbours who after singing Happy Birthday would then sing Freeze a Yolly Good Fellow

4points

Captive 2 months ago

Our very German marketing girl translated something online for Christmas. She was looking for helpers but wrote everyone "we are looking for wankers"

4points

sturmwesen 2 months ago

how..

0points

Corvus 2 months ago

I remember a case when an American Professor in Bulgaria tried to order a drink on his own at a restaurant. I don't know where and how he heard those words, and how they got mixed in his mind... but he ended up ordering "a big jerk off." I hear the waiter remained silent for a good 10 seconds before saying "Ummm, you want a what?!"

4points

My O My 2 months ago

He wants a big jug of sth

0points

Damned_Cat 2 months ago

I had an Italian friend that tried to say, "let me shine some light on the subject", but said, "Let me bring a lamp of knowledge here". I still use that phrase in my head.

2points

Marian Haertel Vaughn 2 months ago

I worked for a French CEO who would get onto the PA system to call his elderly administrative assistant by saying, "Beverly, I want you on my desk."

2points

Auntriarch 2 months ago

I haven't laughed so much at a BP post for ages

2points

ZestyBison 2 months ago

This thread was so fun. I'm learning Spanish later in life on the job and when you try to explain something that you've seen with your current vocabulary it can result in some delightful misunderstandings.

2points

Charkey Montalban 2 months ago

Many years ago I had a roommate from Germany who was the sweetest. Whenever her boyfriend came over, they made sure to only speak English even when they were speaking to each other so that I wouldn't feel left out. I had just gotten a kitten and I overheard them talking about how they liked the English word for baby cat. Then it seemed to occur to them that they didn't know what the word for a baby dog was, so they tried to work it out. "I think it's pup... puppp... Puppet!" I died from cuteness poisoning.

1point

BrunoVI 2 months ago

I get a touch of aphasia. Most days, no-one would know, except for perhaps a slightly halting speech pattern as I settle for synonyms of the word I first reached for. Once in a great while, I have one of those days when I end up going to McDonald's and asking for a bird sandwich with potato sticks and an orange fizzy drink.

1point

Jackie Jones 2 months ago

My Chinese neighbor told me that her son was sick and "threw out" in her car.

1point

T 2 months ago

Worked in food service with a French guy. Once forgot the word for avocado and after gesturing round shapes wildly, he yelled, "you know, the GUACACADO". This was about 10 years ago and I have called avocados guacacados since.

1point

Pencil McGovern 2 months ago (edited)

Maaaaany years ago, I was on a dinner date with a Japanese man. He wasn't very familiar with American food and had a strong accent. So when the waiter came to take our orders, he just said, "Can I have some shitshin?" Chicken. He wanted chicken.

1point

Kari Panda 2 months ago

Sadly, I don’t remember the author, but there‘s a book by a woman who moved to Germany. One day, she got a call from her daughter’s school informing her that her daughter had been stung by a bee, so she told her coworkers and rushed home. Except she had mixed up 'gestochen' ('stung') and 'erstochen‘ ('stabbed')… Her coworkers were all shocked because they believed her daughter had been stabbed :)

1point

JJ 2 months ago

My ex-bf (American) once exclaimed loudly and full of confidence, "Ah! Poleeezeee!", to a passing German police car. Given that it's spelled Polizei, the guess wasn't too bad, but ever since I can't get the pronunciation out of my head and think "Ah! Poleeezeee!" whenever I see Polizei.

1point

StumblingThroughLife 2 months ago

I'm English (Brit) and forgot the word for 'stairs'. My brain farted so bad that I had to instead say: "The thing you walk up and down". My friend has never let me forget it, grr, lol.

1point

Chris Vassilopoulos 3 weeks ago

These are all adorable! Put a smile on my face.

0points

AlaVerge 2 months ago

These were so cute.

0points

Tobias Reaper 2 months ago

my girl who is polish speaks English fluently but the one word she still pronounces wrong is dumb she pronounces it as dump. When she was talking about her ex she would say he is so dump she soo adorable.

0points

skpy 2 months ago

My Filipino husband had trouble with the th sound so told us he was the tird brother.

0points

Sam Lin 2 months ago

The most confusing English accent I have heard is Japanese accent, Makudonarudo(McDonald's), Guguru(Google)，miluku(milk).

0points

Tristan J 2 months ago

The pizza place near my university had a sign saying 'NO RABISH ON THE FLOTH'

0points

FlagCityDiva 2 months ago

A friend of mine was talking about crafts with fuzzy wires AKA pipe cleaners.

0points

PFD 2 months ago

Much better. How often are they used for cleaning pipes?

0points

crunchy 2 months ago

I’m a native English speaker, but learning other languages has caused me to start pronouncing the “t” at the end of some emphasized syllables as “ch” (from Brazilian Portuguese) and occasionally writing the cyrillic equivalent of a letter instead of the latin script (ex. “coррect” instead of “correct”)

0points

crunchy 2 months ago

My Indonesian coworker forgot the name for Ben and Jerry’s (ice cream) and kept referring to it as Tom and Anthony’s (perhaps mixed it up with Tom and Jerry?). She actually had Häagen-Dazs.

0points

Notme 2 months ago

Portuguese work colleague meant to say that a task was a piece of cake, instead said a piece of c-o-c-k. There were lots of stifled giggles in that meeting.

0points

Christos Arvanitis 2 months ago

Just leaving the punchline to an old joke... "If you put sheets on my bed, I keel you".

0points

DetriMentaL (It/That) 2 months ago

My favorite comes from the movie "The Love Guru" - What is it you c**t face?" (what is it you can't face)

-1point

POST

troufaki13 2 months ago

26points

Cora Van der Gaag 2 months ago

Leave it kids to be really creative.

6points

Featherking 2 months ago (edited)

Hey man; that’s better.

2points

PFD 2 months ago

Ironic bunnies is genius. I hope I can remember it long enough to start using it...

1point

Igor914624 2 months ago

I love it! We should only have quotes and ironic bunnies, not single and double quotes.

0points

Brittania Kelli 2 months ago (edited)

15points

PFD 2 months ago

I don't know about / get the Chinese birthday thing - an anniversary is the same day each year regardless of the calendar, surely...?

2points

GirlFriday 2 months ago

9points

athornedrose 2 months ago

8points

Erin Coss 2 months ago

6points

Bertha Madott Premium 2 months ago

5points

Papa 2 months ago

5points

sturmwesen 2 months ago (edited)

The German word is "Kissen"

2points

James Doe 2 months ago

4points

Phantom Phoenix 2 months ago

When I was growing up we had Dutch neighbours who after singing Happy Birthday would then sing Freeze a Yolly Good Fellow

4points

Captive 2 months ago

Our very German marketing girl translated something online for Christmas. She was looking for helpers but wrote everyone "we are looking for wankers"

4points

sturmwesen 2 months ago

how..

0points

Corvus 2 months ago

4points

My O My 2 months ago

He wants a big jug of sth

0points

Damned_Cat 2 months ago

I had an Italian friend that tried to say, "let me shine some light on the subject", but said, "Let me bring a lamp of knowledge here". I still use that phrase in my head.

2points

Marian Haertel Vaughn 2 months ago

I worked for a French CEO who would get onto the PA system to call his elderly administrative assistant by saying, "Beverly, I want you on my desk."

2points

Auntriarch 2 months ago

I haven't laughed so much at a BP post for ages

2points

ZestyBison 2 months ago

2points

Charkey Montalban 2 months ago

1point

BrunoVI 2 months ago

1point

Jackie Jones 2 months ago

My Chinese neighbor told me that her son was sick and "threw out" in her car.

1point

T 2 months ago

1point

Pencil McGovern 2 months ago (edited)

1point

Kari Panda 2 months ago

1point

JJ 2 months ago

1point

StumblingThroughLife 2 months ago

I'm English (Brit) and forgot the word for 'stairs'. My brain farted so bad that I had to instead say: "The thing you walk up and down". My friend has never let me forget it, grr, lol.

1point

Chris Vassilopoulos 3 weeks ago

These are all adorable! Put a smile on my face.

0points

AlaVerge 2 months ago

These were so cute.

0points

Tobias Reaper 2 months ago

0points

skpy 2 months ago

My Filipino husband had trouble with the th sound so told us he was the tird brother.

0points

Sam Lin 2 months ago

The most confusing English accent I have heard is Japanese accent, Makudonarudo(McDonald's), Guguru(Google)，miluku(milk).

0points

Tristan J 2 months ago

The pizza place near my university had a sign saying 'NO RABISH ON THE FLOTH'

0points

FlagCityDiva 2 months ago

A friend of mine was talking about crafts with fuzzy wires AKA pipe cleaners.

0points

PFD 2 months ago

Much better. How often are they used for cleaning pipes?

0points