What kind of language confusion have you had with other countries?

14 comments

1. In italy a “toast” refers to a toast sandwich with ham and cheese (usually)

   Toast in the sense of bread put in a toaster i would call “pane tostato” which means “toasted bread”

   but that’s not very common where i live, for breakfast and such we often buy “fette biscottate” (“double-baked [bread] slices”) which is sort of like toast but uniformly toasted all the way through, it’s very dry and brittle but good at absorbing stuff

2. The distinction between bread and toasting bread exists here in Sweden as well. Mostly because no one ever uses white sandwich bread for anything other than toasting.

3. I’m sure bread and toast are a different thing in most European countries.

4. It has noting to do with freshness of the bread. A proper bread is called Brot no matter how old it is. The rectangular loafs are called Toast even when fresh out of the oven.

   It’s not about the freshness, it’s that Germans (and Swiss alike, and I assume much of Europe) don’t consider the rectangular stuff bread. Because why would you? It’s just not, the ingredients are almost completely different.

5. The Portuguese word for “embarrassed” is “embaraçado” or “embaraçada”, depending on whether it’s said by a man or woman. But, in Spanish, “embarazada” is the word for pregnant. These words are very similar and I’ve hear stories of confusion.

6. I often ask for a Tasche when I want a Tüte for my groceries in Germany. As we say *tasje* for disposable plastic bag.

7. Slightly off point, but the Greek word for bread is psomi, and the Greek word for cock is psoli. I have had the pleasure of hearing a foreign visitor to Greece confidently asking a baker for more than she intended, causing much hilarity, with nobody being brave enough to tell her what she’d just asked for.

8. In Portugal we actually have several different names for different types of bread, a lot of them being regional products. Examples are: broa, regueifa, bolo do caco, papo seco. Here is a good list of the most famous ones: https://www.portugalthings.com/pt/os-mais-tradicionais-tipos-de-pao-em-portugal/

   When buying bread at a bakery, you need to specify which type you want. If you just ask for “pão” (bread) you’ll get a blank stare, just like if you enter a pizzeria and order “a pizza”. However, after buying you’ll usually refer to it as “pão” (for example, asking someone to pass the bread during a meal) unless there is more than one type available at the table, in which case you use the proper name.

   Same goes for “will be toasted” bread. Most bread types are not suitable for being toasted (either because of the shape or the ingredients), so the ones that are are called “pão de forma” (equivalent to the rectangular loafs you linked to). These loafs can be either freshly baked or store-bought. As is the case above, you’d only use the name “pão de forma” when buying it or if there is more than one type at the table.

   A slice of “pão de forma” that has been toasted is now called a “torrada”.

9. Every other discussion in Estonian:D It’s relatively easy to learn to speak the language of each other, but there is some words that may cause a little, but luckily not overt confusion.

   For example, the Estonian word for a town means a castle in Finnish, the Estonian word for a book means the Bible in Finnish and the Estonian verb “to begin” means “to beat someone” in Finnish.

10. French & Spanish have fake friends as well.

    Constipado in Spanish is having à cold/runny nose. In French constipé is not being able to shit.

11. So many false friends with German

    The Dutch word for lake is _meer_, in German it’s _See_. At the same time, sea in Dutch is _zee_, whereas in German it is _Meer_. Literally a two way false friend.

    Also the verbs _mogen_ 🇳🇱 (to be allowed to) and _mögen_ 🇩🇪 (to like) look like each other. To be allowed to in German is _dürfen_, which looks like the Dutch verb _durven_, meaning to dare.

12. English word “important” caused quite a lot of giggles when we learnt it in year 5 or 6. It sounds very similar to a Russian word for someone suffering from erectile dysfunction.

13. In Dutch “zee” means sea and “meer” is lake. In German “See” is lake and “Meer” means sea. I live close to the German border and it’s tricky when a German tourist asks you for directions to the “see”.

    The Dutch word for resuscitate is “reanimeren” (verb) or “reanimatie” (noun). So it’s easy to mistakenly use the word “reanimate” in English.

14. There are actually different kinds of Toastbrot in Germany. The regular one and the fluffy “American Sandwich” toast. The latter is a bit bigger and more fluffy and has started to replace regular Toastbrot. But even when used for Sandwiches, you’d still toast the thing 9/10 times. For kids’ school food we use regular bread, even when its white bread (which I hope it isn’t) it’ll be a different kind. At least that’s how it was during my days.