Language is a silly thing
So I have been trying to learn a few phrases in Thai so that I can at least kind of get around. Thai is a tonal language, so it is especially difficult for an English speaker like myself. They use the same words over and over... but the way you say it completely changes the meaning! There are five different tones: high, low, mid, rising, and falling. So I'm having some trouble remembering things! Apparently, the sentence "mai mai mai mai mai" means "New wood doesn't burn, does it?" But only if you used the tones properly. I'm sure I'll make some very silly mistakes while I'm there. Additionally, the sentence structure is much different from English. I haven't quite figured it out yet... but I know "What is your phone number?" is literally "phone your number what please?" So one of my favorite translation mistakes is in Spanish. My high school Spanish teacher knew a lady who tried to say "I'm embarrassed." There are a lot of words that are cognates in Spanish, so you can guess at their English meanings pretty accurately. Unfortunately, the word she used, "embarazada," which you would assume means "embarrassed," actually means "pregnant." Haha. That's an awkward mistake to make. I found this survey on a random blog that gives some funny examples of poor translations. The surveyor asked some Thai speakers who were learning English a few questions, and these are some of the silly answers he received... but just remember, this summer, that will be ME making the silly mistakes! What is your favorite color? Name an animal you find in the zoo. What is your favorite “Western food”? Who is your favorite movie star? What time do you go to bed at night? What is the best animal to have as a pet? Name a flavor of ice cream.
i want to sew fish, too. That sounds slippery and stinky, lol