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Topics: Travel
William Morgan
English speakers often experience a privilege on vacation that no speakers of any other language does. That is, knowing that many people around the world will understand what you are saying.
That's because English is the most widely spoken language on Earth, in part due to the British Empire conquering a third of the world and implanting the tongue of their tiny island as the one used for everything from legal documents to business transactions.
This has, of course, been cemented by the cultural and economic dominance of one of the empire's former colonies, the United States. But many Americans who travel abroad may find that their use of English has the potential to cause great offence.
To understand why, just think of the German word for going on a trip, 'die Fahrt'. In the exact same way that this could cause upset if they were to ask about your vacation, many English-speaking holidaymakers unwittingly put their foot in it when using their language abroad.
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Thankfully, the linguistic experts at Babbel have put together a handy guide of some of the biggest clangers that tourists who speak English will drop while abroad.
If you are to remember just one of them, for the love of all that is holy, do not ask your waiter for some salsa if you are in Korea.
That's because, horrifyingly, in Korean this sounds like 설사, or 'seolsa'. This is their word for diarrhea, so you could end up being thrown out of the restaurant. But that would still be better than being given what you'd asked for.
This linguistic mixup even has its own name, Babbel explained, with these easy misunderstandings being known as 'sordophones', which means 'dirty sounding words'.
Another sordophone that you may want to avoid if you are vacationing in one of the most popular destinations in Europe for Americans abroad, Portugal. If you're heading to sunny Lisbon, just don't talk about your payday in public.
A Portuguese person would hear this word as 'peidei', which actually means 'farted'. It is also worth remembering this while in Brazil, which has the largest number of Portuguese speakers in the world.
Similarly, if someone offers you a sweet treat in Hungary, don't tell them that you like their cookie. Thats because it sounds just like 'kuki', which in Hungarian means 'small penis'.
This also goes for complimenting someone's car in Albania, where the word 'kar' simply means 'penis'. In fact, you can run afoul of this sordophone in a number of other countries, including France.
That's because if you say you love God, or that you like something just a bit, all they will hear is you talking about phalluses. God in French sounds like 'godes', which is a dildo, and bit is a homophone for 'bite', which means 'c*ck'.
Babbel's guide also lets English speakers know to avoid telling a Dutch person that they haven't made the cut, as this would be 'kut' in the Netherlands. Which, well, is the c-word.
Holidaymakers will face similar issues if they call someone a bit shabby in China, 傻屄 or shǎ bī, which could end up with you being punched, as this is Chinese for 'stupid c*nt'.
Their final two English words to avoid while abroad are pitch and mist, which you shouldn't say if you're in Turkey or Germany. That's because piç in Turkish directly means 'b*stard', and a nice facial 'mist' directly translates to manure in German.