words that in other languages translate badly in english

[Red :)]

"bob" = faba bean

"snake murderer" = black salsify

"raven's eye" = herb-paris

 

[thevicparable]

On 6/28/2020 at 8:57 PM, pinksnowbirdie said:

English is my first language but I studied French for 4 years in 8th grade to 11th grade (age 13/14 years old to 16/17 years old)

I always found it interesting for like weather you say "Il fait chaud" or literally he makes it hot but it's supposed to be like "It is hot"

 

There's a few english words that are borrowed from French more than like Résumé

And yet the French don't use résumé at all like we do. 

 

Some of the funniest parts of French are the ways they've (re)absorbed English -ing words into their vocabulary, but with slightly off meanings. Dunno about in Quebec but these nouns are everywhere in France
 

jogging = sweatpants
footing = jogging (bruh)

pressing = dry-cleaner's
brushing = blow-dry (first trip to the hairdressers was confusing)
shampooing = shampoo (but unlike the rest which sound exactly like the English words with a French accent, this has a full on French pronunciation)
camping = campsite/camping ground
dressing = walk-in wardrobe
parking = car park/parking lot
planning = schedule/timetable

 

The most ridiculous one has got to be relooking though. And its regular verb relooker. It means makeover. 

 

 

[Tan3l6]

kuulilennuteetunneliluuk - bullets path tunnel patch

/insert palindrome joke.

[thevicparable]

4 hours ago, Benji said:

@thevicparable I assume you are French and could list quite a few words in that language?

What I always found to be particular confusing/stupid was "shampooing" due to the fact that, in French, the -ing denotes a noun while the ending -ing in English denotes a verb.

@Benji English is my mother tongue but I've been learning French for a few years and have lived in France for almost one. I've learnt more in my short time here than I did all my years at home combined.

 

The -ing in English can be a noun or a verb, but yeah they only seem to use it as a noun over here. Another one I've seen come up, particularly in advertising is "fooding". Still trying to figure out exactly what it entails.

 

Oh and a paperclip is a trombone. I think that's pretty neat.

[Oswin]

"kick ball" = soccer/football

[SpaceGhostC2C]

There's a variant of this when you have overlapping meanings: a word in a given language would translate to two (or more) different words in English, and a word in English may translate into to different words in that other language, depending on how you are using them. Hence, by taking the wrong alternative for each word (as opposed to looking at full sentences and considering context) you can end up with very weird phrases. 

 

For example: "between nol more and drink a chair" = "just come in and take a seat"

 

[greenhorn]

"mother-in-law" = staple remover
"French (person)" = adjustable wrench

[thevicparable]

9 hours ago, Benji said:

...WOW, and I couldn't figure that out by the "Kiwi in France" location. Sheesh Do you intend to live in France for longer or are you going back to your homeland soon?

I've recently seen a French ad (why show me a French ad in Germany?) that used the word Flagship. I tend to think that that's not being used in French.

 

What I occasionally find to be really annoying is when German advertises anglicise their ads and use English words that sound similar to a German word even though that's not what it means. Unfortunately I don't have an example in my mind for that. But I do have another word.

 

Gooseberry=barb/thornberry in my language. And in French it has the truly WILDEST name(s). In French gooseberry is called mackerel ribes.

I plan on staying as long as I can get work, though I'll visit home when I can/need to for visas.

 

It's the same with ads here. Full of English words.

[Drama Lama]

I don’t know if this was already mentioned if not I don’t know why anyone hasn’t done it 

 

handy = mobile phone 

 

 

the english adjective handy is in Germany the word for mobile phone 

( but in Germany there are generally many English words used )

pro tip for improving your marketing campaign in Germany:

just use some English words

Edited July 1, 2020 by Drama Lama

[Gum Joe]

Did German as a language at GCSE (I live in the UK), here are some good German words when literally translated:

das Flugzeug - "flying thing", or an aeroplane

das Spielzeug - "play thing", AKA a toy

das Schlagzug - "hitting thing", AKA drums (though Google translates Schag as blow, which is even more confusing)

a lightbulb is a "glowing pear" (TBH english is no better -> lightbulb = a bulb (as in flowers) that emitts light))

der Wolkenkratzer - "cloud scraper" (skyscraper)

die Rolltreppe - "rolling stairs" - esculator

Handschuhe - "hand shoes" (good luck using these if they were really like thus!), AKA gloves

 

That's all off the top of my head, but Evan Edinger has a good video on it (not posting the link here out of fear of violating the rules...)

 

Sidenote: me and my friend would come up with weird sentences in German for fun, like "Ein Vorteil von meinem Haus ist, dass das Atomkraftwerk direkt vor meinem ist" (An advantage of my house is, that the nuclear power station is directly in front of my house) or "Ein Vorteil von meinem Haus ist, dass die Flugzeuge direkt durch mein Haus fliegen" (An advantage of my house is, that the planes fly directly through my house).  Yes, we are weird.

[spartaman64]

im chinese

word/phrase (meaning) = literal translation

mei guo (america) = beautiful country

ri ben (japan) = sun book? (im not really sure about the second character)

jia you (put in more effort) = add oil

tai yang lao gao ai le (its late in the day) = the sun is old tall short

hong cha (black tea) = red tea

ou zhou (europe) = vomit continent

ying guo (UK) = hero country

long juan feng (tornada) = dragon wrap wind

[zassou]

"water stuff" = hydrogen

"acid stuff" = oxygen

"suffocating stuff" = nitrogen

“salt stuff" = chlorine

"foul stuff" = bromine

"white gold" = platinum