Comical Mistakes When Speaking a Foreign Language

[Don José]

A self-service restaurant in Dublin:

CLIENT: Excuse me, do you know where the butter is?

SPANISH WAITER (Showing the way to the toilets): That way.

váter. (Del ingl. water-closet).


1. m. inodoro.

2. m. cuarto de baño (‖ habitación).



Real Academia Española © Todos los derechos reservados


That one was told me by a Spanish girl who was working there, and could manage to correct the mistake before the client got to the toilets.

[chileno]

Originally Posted by Don José

A self-service restaurant in Dublin:

CLIENT: Excuse me, do you know where the butter is?

SPANISH WAITER (Showing the way to the toilets): That way.

váter. (Del ingl. water-closet).


1. m. inodoro.

2. m. cuarto de baño (‖ habitación).



Real Academia Española © Todos los derechos reservados


That one was told me by a Spanish girl who was working there, and could manage to correct the mistake before the client got to the toilets.

I guess the customer was german and not Spanish, right?

[Don José]

Not Spanish, but why German?

[CrOtALiTo]

Why German language, I don't know, today I met a couple of French in the Paseo Montejo, they spoke Germany when they are of nationality French that is ironic.

[Sancho Panther]

This happened to me a few weeks ago, while holidaying in Tarragona; it's not really comical but I found it strange! I approached a suntanned, dark-haired, middle-aged lady and asked "¿Perdone señora, sabe usted si hay una panadería aqui cerca?". She replied "I'm sorry I've no idea - I'm German, you see!".

Nothing wrong with that I know, but I'm more or less her age, a bit overweight, what little hair I've got left is blond and I was wearing beach shorts and a colourful shirt so I could have been German, Dutch, Scandanavian or even Russian! But she got me correctly classified instantly - I don't what she picked up on, I think I must be the stereotypical Englishman abroad!

Or maybe it was the bowler hat!

[aleCcowaN]

A bowler hat and a colourful shirt on a sexagenarian, overweighted and pretty bald, who is wearing a beach short and matching footwear? ¿Inglés? ¡No, qué va!

For your own good I hope you don't look like the quintessential Brit abroad (casual look is an article of clothing that clashes with the rest like the test of intelligence "pick the item that doesn't belong here"; sometimes it's the Brit who clashes with all of his/her garment ---> viz, the archetypical old lady wearing vaporous pink or prints matching in scale her age spots)

All around Europe:

person (with the expectation of a "yes") - Are you American?
me - Yes, I'm Argentine.

Some Canadians appreciated it.

[chileno]

Originally Posted by Sancho Panther

This happened to me a few weeks ago, while holidaying in Tarragona; it's not really comical but I found it strange! I approached a suntanned, dark-haired, middle-aged lady and asked "¿Perdone señora, sabe usted si hay una panadería aqui cerca?". She replied "I'm sorry I've no idea - I'm German, you see!".

Nothing wrong with that I know, but I'm more or less her age, a bit overweight, what little hair I've got left is blond and I was wearing beach shorts and a colourful shirt so I could have been German, Dutch, Scandanavian or even Russian! But she got me correctly classified instantly - I don't what she picked up on, I think I must be the stereotypical Englishman abroad!

Or maybe it was the bowler hat!

No vay!!!!!!!!

[Caballero]

Originally Posted by Sancho Panther

This happened to me a few weeks ago, while holidaying in Tarragona; it's not really comical but I found it strange! I approached a suntanned, dark-haired, middle-aged lady and asked "¿Perdone señora, sabe usted si hay una panadería aqui cerca?". She replied "I'm sorry I've no idea - I'm German, you see!".

Nothing wrong with that I know, but I'm more or less her age, a bit overweight, what little hair I've got left is blond and I was wearing beach shorts and a colourful shirt so I could have been German, Dutch, Scandanavian or even Russian! But she got me correctly classified instantly - I don't what she picked up on, I think I must be the stereotypical Englishman abroad!

Or maybe it was the bowler hat!

Not necessarily. Remember, English is the global language. Even if she thought you were, say, Bosnian, she would have probably responded in English. In fact, when my mom was in France, a German guy asked her for directions to his hotel (in English). She walked him all the way there chatting to him in English the whole time. When he got to his hotel, he said "You French people are so friendly! A German would just have given me directions." He had thought she was French, and just responding to him in English, because it's the default language. She had even spoken to a few French people along the way (in English, I might add. She doesn't speak any French at all.)

[Sancho Panther]

Just for the benefit of those who seem to lack comprehension of the British sense of humour...

the bit about the bowler hat was a joke.

[aleCcowaN]

Just for the benefit of those who don't comprehend other kind of humour

Originally Posted by Sancho Panther

the bit about the bowler hat was a joke.

I know!

[Sancho Panther]

The funny thing was though, I addressed her in Spanish and she seemed to know what I was saying (judging from her answer) - she answered in English, but I carried on in Spanish! Something on the lines of "¡Vale, muy bien - no importa!".

As I walked away I was thinking "Why didn't I say, 'it's OK, I'll find one!". Or even just "Danke"!

A lo mejor entendió un poco del español, pero no suficiente para contestarme y fue más conifiada en el inglés.

[aleCcowaN]

En Tarragona yo tuve que darme a entender dos veces en inglés porque comenzaban a contestarme en catalán, todo en los dos únicos días de mi vida que estuve allí.

(By the way, why did she day "I'm German" instead of "I'm a tourist" or "a German tourist"?) In my experience, those multi-language dialogues that take us by surprise are not our most brilliant and memorable moments. The question is not why something went wrong but the miracle of having communication against all odds.

[Caballero]

Originally Posted by Sancho Panther

The funny thing was though, I addressed her in Spanish and she seemed to know what I was saying (judging from her answer) - she answered in English, but I carried on in Spanish! Something on the lines of "¡Vale, muy bien - no importa!".

As I walked away I was thinking "Why didn't I say, 'it's OK, I'll find one!". Or even just "Danke"!

A lo mejor entendió un poco del español, pero no suficiente para contestarme y fue más conifiada en el inglés.

That makes sense. I try to speak Spanish with everyone I know that has taken Spanish. Usually they can understand what I say to them (unless they're really beginnerish), but they can't respond back in Spanish, so they just respond in English and I continue speaking to them in Spanish.

Just for the benefit of those who seem to lack comprehension of the British sense of humour...

the bit about the bowler hat was a joke.

I've seen a lot of people with bowler hats lately, so it didn't register as being a joke.

En Tarragona yo tuve que darme a entender dos veces en inglés porque comenzaban a contestarme en catalán, todo en los dos únicos días de mi vida que estuve allí.

It's funny how Catalan is so intelligible on paper, but is not very intelligible in speech, unless they're discussing technical subjects.

[aleCcowaN]

Originally Posted by Caballero

It's funny how Catalan is so intelligible on paper, but is not very intelligible in speech, unless they're discussing technical subjects.

It's another case of a language having more sounds than the alphabet used to write it down, like Portuguese, French or English. Catalan has 5 e's what is way too much for me -I have enough with the 3 e's in English-. I'd rather read and write in Japanese (hiragana or katakana) but having about the same sounds and syllabic rhythm as Spanish, that try to learn Brazilian Portuguese by ear.

[Sancho Panther]

Which is way too much for me.