My feed
Premium

Please
or
to access all these features

Whether you're considering emigrating or an expat abroad, you'll find likeminds on this forum.

Living overseas

When using another language goes (badly) wrong...

11 replies

scottswede · 18/01/2014 11:37

This is our latest TV commercial for supermarket chain here in Sweden.

www.ica.se/ica-kort-bank/icas-reklamfilmer/

Completely inappropriate in my opinion but Swedes don't have any proper swear words in their language and tend to adopt lovely english ones instead.
If you can't get the link. It's a supermarket employee who thinks he has won lots of money and tells his boss "F¤¤¤ Y¤¤" with middle finger gesture too.
I thought a little light-hearted weekend entertainment.
Grin

OP posts:
Report
13loki · 18/01/2014 18:17

I had a wonderful moment in a class where a girl was out of breath having climbed the stairs. I told her "you should try to get fitter" Of course, the boys all laughed. "Do you know what you said miss? That means pussy in Swedish"

Report
Bonsoir · 19/01/2014 20:24

And you are supposed to want to buy your food and groceries there???

Report
Saracarbonera · 19/01/2014 21:27

An English friend once told me how the only meat she likes to eat is "polla" I couldn't stop laughing, she meant to say "pollo" which is Spanish for chicken but instead she said cock.

Report
Longtime · 20/01/2014 09:52

I was trying to show I'd made the effort to learn a little Spanish and apparently told my friend's boyfriend that he had a pink penis rather than a pink comb in his pocket!

Report
elQuintoConyo · 20/01/2014 10:11

Yes, I have done:

Pizza con polla (cock pizza)

Ocho coños (8 fannies instead of 8 beers = cañas)

I told students I'd been to Ikea and bought a set of cojones not cajones (bollocks instead of drawers).

Went to the doctor because of chronic heartburn, I translated it directly as 'a fire in my heart' he said "congratulations, I hope he buys you flowers"

My list of talking diabolical Spanish is endless!

Report
complexnumber · 20/01/2014 13:27

I arrived in Italy on holiday once to find no one in the hotel spoke English, but they did speak French.

So I tried to explain, in French that I wanted to go to a shop to buy some cheese and bread.

It was some while later I thought and realised that I had actually told them I wanted to go to a shop to sell some cheese and bread.

Report
fussychica · 20/01/2014 19:11

My DS had just moved from Germany to France and managed to say Good Morning in German to half the staff before he realised what he'd done - need to speak French in France - doh!

Report
Velocitractor · 24/01/2014 18:28

My favourite is still one I read on here (I think!) once. Someone in Spain who was trying to ask for soya milk in a restaurant and earnestly kept repeating to the waiter: 'soy leche, soy leche' (literally: 'I am milk')

Swedes have form for unfortunate advertising as evidenced one New Year when this advert for an estate agents popped up all over Stockholm: imgur.com/fDAQd

Report
complexnumber · 25/01/2014 07:20

I was chatting to one of my pupils after the Xmas break.

She told me that she had been to France, but that she found the French really miserable.

"Why?", I asked her, "What made you feel that way?"

Apparently she bought a bag of chips and the bloke slammed them down on the counter.

I asked if she had tried to order them in French.

No, she used Spanish as she doesn't take French.

Report
nickymanchester · 29/01/2014 18:07

When we were living in Russia, my DH spoke to a female shop assistant in the fruit and veg section of a supermarket and said ''I'm looking for large pears''

Unfortunately, he got it wrong and actually said ''I'm looking for large breasts''

Report
nickymanchester · 29/01/2014 18:08

Sorry, if it wasn't clear, the above was the English translation of what he said in RUssian

Report
Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.