I think I accidnetally went to AZ's school today...

[Uh_oh]

I go to an international school in Tokyo, where, for a lot of the students, English is not the first language. There were two mistranslations/ language slip-ups today that were just so great I had to share them.

In Biol class, talking about food chains, the teacher asks what deer meat is called. The correct answer here is, of course, venison. But one kid puts his hand up, and says, in all seriousness, "Bambi?".

Yeah, it was wrong on so many levels, but funny as hell.

The second one was in Language class. For those of you that don't speak Japanese, the Japanese words for "cold" and "wind" are the same (kaze). So this kid asks what "kaze" is in English, and is told "wind". So he then asks the teacher if he can have a tissue, beacuse "I have bad wind". Once again, fucking hillarious.

I really shouldn't laugh at these kids, but how can you not?

[Pierrot le Fou]

My two worst foreign language mistakes:

#1: Talking to a student teacher on some random topic my first year, I wanted her to look something up (a word), because I didn't know how to translate it. So I wanted to tell her "Please look it up" (調べて下さい/shirabetekudasai), but instead told her "Please tie (me) up" (縛れて下さい/shibaretekudasai). Oops?

#2: At my girlfriend's friend's house, I was talking to her friend's 4 year-old daughter. She loved this show called デカレーンジャ (deka ranger, or somesuch). Her favourite of the Rangers was デカ梅子 (deka umeko). When asked to repeat it, I said, "デカオメコ" (deka omeko). でかい (dekai, or deka in kansai-ben means 'big/huge') オメコ (omeko means 'cunt' or equivalently foul word for female anatomy). Her mother and my girlfriend corrected me before almost dying laughing at my mistake.

Yeah, so I don't laugh at silly mistakes.

[nice gaijin]

ouch pierrot, that second one was pretty painful to read.

I have yet to make any major faux pas, but my friend nearly asked a waitress kanchou onegaishimasu (enema please) instead of kanjou onegaishimasu (receipt please). He said that things went in slow motion and he was able to stop himself, so after calling to the waitress, he asked her for the receipt after a long pause while he pondered the consequences of making such a blunder.

It can be so funny when it's not you making the mistakes.

[Praetorian]

Heheh. Got to love Freudian slips.

[history1me]

I love stuff like that.
Even at your own expense, after time, it's great. And Locals love you more for it.

[theunraveler]

(deka omeko). でかい (dekai, or deka in kansai-ben means 'big/huge') オメコ (omeko means 'cunt' or equivalently foul word for female anatomy).
i thought the jap word for cunt is "maunko" or something like that?

[Pierrot le Fou]

i thought the jap word for cunt is "maunko" or something like that?
Is it THAT hard to fathom a language having multiple words for that bodypart?

Cunt, pussy, twat, etc. are all words we have for the same thing in English. There are multiple ones in Japanese too. It's 'bobo' in some regions apparently too. Yeehaw.

[EIJI]

Please don't broadcast THAT WORDs around.
I'm terribly ashamed. :eek: :eek: :eek:
....But It is so funny.

よいこは人前でこんな言葉を使っちゃだめです。 ;)

[Pierrot le Fou]

使いちゃったではなくて意味が分からなかったから言っても分からなかったのでその時から意味が分かって来た 。恥ずかしなぁ〜．。。

I didn't know the meaning of the words at the time, so it couldn't be a Freudian slip or anything of the sort. It was just me messing up one sound or swapping a couple sounds completely innocently without realizing I'd made a mistake. Ah well?

And yeah, these words -- bad juju. Don't use them in polite company.

[EIJI]

Ok, I'll try to explain a variety of "manko".
First of all, "manko" is a standard word. There isn't anyone in this country who doesn't know this word. So, "manko" is completely forbidden in public.
There are some local varieties.

- hokkaidou area "heppe"
- touhoku area "becho, pecho, omancho"
- kantou area "manko, omanko"
- part of sizuoka "tsunbii"
- kansai area "omeko"
- kyusyu area "bobo, menchou, memezyo"
- Okinawa area "houmi"

I heard a rumor that NISSAN doesn't sell "homy" in Okinawa area. :)

[theunraveler]

Ok, I'll try to explain a variety of "manko".
First of all, "manko" is a standard word. There isn't anyone in this country who doesn't know this word. So, "manko" is completely forbidden in public.
There are some local varieties.

- hokkaidou area "heppe"
- touhoku area "becho, pecho, omancho"
- kantou area "manko, omanko"
- part of sizuoka "tsunbii"
- kansai area "omeko"
- kyusyu area "bobo, menchou, memezyo"
- Okinawa area "houmi"

I heard a rumor that NISSAN doesn't sell "homy" in Okinawa area. :)

thanks, a close japanese fren of mine always tease me in japanese and one time he told me to go up to this jap girl and say "anatano manko doko desuka?" or something like that. he told me girls in japan love it. thankfully i didnt do it or i might end up with a slap across the face...

[DarkFire168]

thanks, a close japanese fren of mine always tease me in japanese and one time he told me to go up to this jap girl and say "anatano manko doko desuka?" or something like that. he told me girls in japan love it. thankfully i didnt do it or i might end up with a slap across the face...

Quit saying Jap please. It's terribly offensive.

[Pierrot le Fou]

I'll quit saying jap the second they quit saying gaijin.

I just use 'Jap' as a shortened version of 'Japanese.' Sure there are other implications, just like 'gaijin' isn't really a shortened version of 'gaikokujin,' hence the justification for me saying Jap.