Eglu Go With 2m Run For Sale

[Alis girls]

i was half listening to the radio this am and it was something to do with mistakes people make when trying to speak another language. I have heard some clangers in my time from patients whose mother tongue isnt English and medical things are quite entertaining when acted out in half English half something else.

I remember the class in O level French sniggering when I told the whole class I had a blond horse and not hair

The best more recent one was OH in Paris a few years back when we stayed in a small hotel. I had gone to breakfast with the boys and OH came in looking flushed - it appears he said "good morning " in French to the manager but instead of "Bonjour" he uttered the word "au'jour d'hui" which means TODAY! the manager gave him a weird look - probably thought silly Engleesh person. We still dine out on tis one

[sage]

A few years ago an friend a Uni was upset. When I asked what the matter was she burst into tears (She was a very quiet Indian lady)

She told me she was working a a local chemist serving when a young mother can in and said her child was sick.

She ask how many times the child had been sick.

The mother said " No she's sick"

Yes how many times has your daughter been sick.

No shes not been sick she is sick.

This went on of several minutes and the mother was getting abusive.

I explained that been sick could mean vomiting but it could also be used to say your unwell.

She then asked me what "We aint got nun" ment.

After I told her she said " What is up with this town ? do you not speak English"

We still have a good chuckle to this day.

I still get asked to translate into Yorkshire from English.

 

Sage

[sadietoo]

OH telling the hotel in France he had a cold over the intercom from the car park, when we turned up late for a hotel booking (J'ai un Room)

Me getting a smoked salmon and cheese crepe when at the end of a holiday in France as a vegetarian in France I had got totally fed up with having to compromise and have fish...so I'd ordered Fromage Seulement . This was actually really funny because it certainly wasn't the place to have smoked salmon, so I'm sure the the Patron had sacrificied his lunch to fulfill my very strange order...les anglaises....bof!

[DebC]

My ex SILs french pen pal wrote to her to ask if when she she came over to stay would it be possible to visit "a Le Fax" as she had a cousin there. It took us ages to work out where she meant. Even now over 25 years later I can only pronounce Halifax with a french accent!

[Clur]

As a teenager, we had a French exchange student stay with us who taught my younger brother some new French words, but didn't tell him what they meant. My brother (who went to an all boy's school) then asked his French teacher what one of the words meant, and without skipping a beat she told him it meant.....er, this is a family forum isn't it....erm, I guess if I said French oral and mentioned that all the boys in the class guffawed while my brother turned scarlet, you might guess what the word meant

[docsquid]

My Mum once told a lady in Luxembourg that she didn't have any corners (Je n'ai pas les coins) - what she meant was she didn't have any coins, or any change (Je n'ai pas de la monnaie)

[Alis girls]

Ooh Clur - sure I dont know what you mean - i also learnt a few naughty words off my French pen pal. Docsquid - obviously your mums not square then

[scarlettohara]

My Mum once asked for 'veggietablers' in a french restaurant while on holiday. She meant legumes

[chickenNutter]

I remember my ex-brother in law in Corfu, spending 2 weeks thinking he was wishing the locals 'good day' (kalimera) finding out he had been been saying 'squid to you' (kalamari). He had been wondering why they all fell about.

[Cinnamon]

Years ago a French girl came into my shop bought an item & asked if she could also have a baguette.

I truly did not realise she meant a little bag, and sent her to a nearby bakery.

True story.

[Olly]

I recall a colleague who was not English, reporting that she'd gone into the bakers and pointed at the cake she wanted to buy. "You want a Bakewell?" the shop assistant asked. "Er - aren't they all baked well?" my puzzled colleague asked!

[Janty]

The deputy head at our school once ordered dog lasagne in Italy instead of meat lasagne (cane rather than carne).

[scarlettohara]

The deputy head at our school once ordered dog lasagne in Italy instead of meat lasagne (cane rather than carne).

 

Good job she wasn't in Thailand or Vietnam she'd have probably got it