Working in an international environment has many advantages, but one of the best ones for me is that you get to learn so many interesting things about different languages. Here are some of the things that I have collected from the past week or so -
In German, your fringe of your hair is called a “pony”. In British English at least, a “pony” would be thought to be a “ponytail” hairstyle.
In French, a “stamp” is a “tampon”. Snigger, snigger.
I was with an Italian colleague and his Japanese wife, who was trying to speak English. She said that her “branch hurts”. The husband scolded her – branch is Italian for arm, she should say “arm”. I told her that it’s ok, branches are the arms of trees so it’s ok.
Even in katakana, “ヒップ” (hip) means your bum as opposed to your hips in Japanese.
In German, you can call someone a “blind fish” to mean someone who can’t see stuff that’s right in front of them.
Do you have any language discoveries this week?
