What’s a big mistake you made in another language?
In my senior year, before I came out as trans, I took Spanish class. I was embarrassed, so I said “Estoy embarazada” which means “I’m pregnant”, NOT “I’m embarrassed”.
I was a new JET Programme participant located in rural Japan. The CIR variety, so I knew a good bit of Japanese and was there to teach and write about US culture, history, food, etc.
The local dialect was pretty difficult to understand however, and I was constantly asking what words meant. One day my coworker used an expression beginning with “o”, which is a common honorific prefix, and wanting to basically say “o - what?” I clearly proclaimed “onani?” in the middle of the board of education office. More than one person stifled a laugh and my coworker almost did a spit take.
It wasn’t until much later that I learned “onani” is masturbation in Japanese, based on the English term onanism, which I also didn’t know at the time. So I basically failed hard in both languages that day.
I also had just come from Gym class one day, so I once said “Estoy caliente” instead of “Tengo calor”. The Spanish speakers taking it for extra credit laughed at me…
Lol, I made a similar mistake asking for hot salsa at a restaurant. Mild salsa arrived warmed up from the microwave. Picante was what I should have used.
Bought a coke at a little corner store in Beijing. Asked for a straw. They brought a watermelon.
I speak spanish natively and at during uni I would hang out with a group of Brazillian friends. I would speak a mixture of portuguese and spanish with them.
The mom of one of these friends made a Brazilian dish for us (Feijoada) and asked me how it was as it was the first time I tried it. I answered that the dish as 'exquisito', which in Spanish means delicious (similar 'exquisite'). She seemed somewhat disappointed and upset by my response so I probed a little and found out that 'esquisito' in Portuguese actually means 'weird'. She thought I was calling her dish weird tasting. I found quickly enough to clarify, but I did feel bad about making her fell that way... She was very excited about sharing her cooking and she thought I called it weird.
In argetinean Spanish "groso/grosa" is someone really good. So I was talking about some college with a new guy on or team and I said, in Portuguese "Ela é muito grosa" and I saw his face going 😳 and I was like wait a second what did you understood?? And he explained to me thay in Portuguese groso/grosa means rude. I don't know how many people I trashtalked before that.
Embarazada in Spanish does not mean embarrassed.
This is the one I was looking for!
I was living in Germany and was learning Germman on the fly and was with my sister and her girl friends at Octoberfest, and I wanted to ask one what she did with her whole time, so I asked what the word for "whole" was. I ended up asking her what she "did with her hole time."
In Spanish class in highschool I spoke about a trip to the beach and said "me madre y tu padre" lol
So apparently my mom and your dad went to the beach together...
I was living in Germany and was learning Germman on the fly and was with my sister and her girl friends at Octoberfest, and I wanted to ask one what she did with her whole time, so I asked what the word for "whole" was. I ended up asking her what she "did with her hole time."
I don't understand this in English. 'Whole time'?
This was many years ago, but since I was learning on the fly and asking Germans for translations of English words and was trying to learn words, I'd gotten in the habit of simplifying my requests. So instead of asking how to say "all of" I asked for "whole". I also may have phrased it differently where "whole" made more sense - this was 20+ years ago, and I don't remember exactly what was said.
I said "Vorrei un gelato alla fica", which is Italian for "I want pussy flavored ice cream". If you say al fico instead it means fig flavored. The girl in the shop raised her eyebrow and answered "Sei sicuro?"