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Funniest Arabic Mistakes


#1  2012-05-11 00:33:27

Burnside
Active member
From: Cairo
Registered: 2010-04-28
Posts: 79

Funniest Arabic Mistakes

In the taxi...

Me: Andak fakHa? (happy face)
Driver: eh? (confused face)
Me: Andak fakHa? (annoyed face)
Driver: La-a (surprised face)
Me: Lay?!  Lay kolo shwaya taxi mafeesh fakHa!? (really angry face)
Driver: Enti Ayza fakHa? (confused, worried, afraid face)
Me: ANA AYZA FAKHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (really mental face)

Lesson 1.  FakHa = fruit
           faka = small change




 
 
 

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#2  2012-05-11 03:06:51

alimirza
Serial expat
alimirza
Registered: 2010-04-09
Posts: 227

Re: Funniest Arabic Mistakes

lol ... added into my dictionary




 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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#3  2012-05-11 15:01:52

ExpatEnglishTeacher
Contributor
From: Cairo
Registered: 2011-11-18
Posts: 125

Re: Funniest Arabic Mistakes

yeah I've had a lot of moments like that too. Can't remember any right off the bat but when I do I'll post it




 
 
 

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#4  2012-05-11 15:59:31

Coodles
New member
Coodles
From: Cairo
Registered: 2012-04-25
Posts: 9

Re: Funniest Arabic Mistakes

haha That's funny! But the driver must have been dumb, in his place I'd have thought of the closest word to it and recognized it was "faka".

Better luck next time haha big_smile




 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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#5  2012-05-12 18:59:46

magdy_840
Active member
magdy_840
From: cairo
Registered: 2011-06-10
Posts: 37

Re: Funniest Arabic Mistakes

l0o0o0ol




 
 
 
 
 

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#6  2012-05-12 20:31:55

Cenlin
Contributor
Cenlin
From: Cairo
Registered: 2012-05-12
Posts: 185

Re: Funniest Arabic Mistakes

Actually because usually In Egypt Taxi Drivers are not well Educated, not smart enough to guess what u wanna say, beside they don't speak any foreign language, so they cannot understand your way of the pronunciation which depending on ur native language wink




 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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#7  2012-05-17 06:36:01

sema.sh
Active member
sema.sh
From: Cairo
Registered: 2011-06-26
Posts: 62

Re: Funniest Arabic Mistakes

hahaha thats really funny lol




 

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#8  2012-05-22 06:55:43

Burnside
Active member
From: Cairo
Registered: 2010-04-28
Posts: 79

Re: Funniest Arabic Mistakes

Even better in Turkish:

Friend's Dad: How was the beach?
Me: Lovely, but my feet hurt.
Friend's Dad: Why?
Me: There were those.. what do you call them?  Those really tiny, little testicles all over the beach.

Turkish Lesson 2
Tash - Stone
Tashak - Testicle

Still don't know the word for pebbles.




 
 
 

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#9  2012-05-22 07:06:28

Burnside
Active member
From: Cairo
Registered: 2010-04-28
Posts: 79

Re: Funniest Arabic Mistakes

Just remembered one in Japanese (These are all conversations which actually took place in real life)

Me: Where is Mr Chopstick?
Receptionist: Says nothing and looks like a dear in the headlights
Me: I am waiting for Mr Chopstick.
Receptionist: Stares blankly on...
Me: Can you call Mr Chopstick please?
Reception: Looks a little bit upset.
Me: Mr Chopstick!  Mr Chopstick!
Receptionist: Ah...... Mr Bridge? Ah OK, So. Sorry, sorry, sorry.

Japanese Lesson 3

Ohashi San - Mr. Chopstick
Ohashi San - Mr. Bridge

If you get the intonation wrong, you mess up. 
Maybe I was hungry.
Maybe there was a Mr Bridge.
How was she to know?




 
 
 

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#10  2012-05-22 21:01:38

sema.sh
Active member
sema.sh
From: Cairo
Registered: 2011-06-26
Posts: 62

Re: Funniest Arabic Mistakes

yikes WOW




 

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#11  2012-05-23 15:09:09

LiLyyolyz
New member
From: Tanta
Registered: 2011-11-23
Posts: 9

Re: Funniest Arabic Mistakes

hehehehe it's hilarious big_smile




 
 
 
 

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#12  2012-05-23 21:03:28

ExpatEnglishTeacher
Contributor
From: Cairo
Registered: 2011-11-18
Posts: 125

Re: Funniest Arabic Mistakes

I learned some traditional Arabic before i came to Egypt. So when i came here i took a taxi and i told the driver shukran and of course he replied to me shkur lillah. I got really upset at this. I told him that im actually a convert and of course i know thanks are due to Allah but that doesn't mean i can't say thank you to you. He looked really confused. Later on i found out it was a cultural way of saying no biggie. I thought the driver was trying to preach to me.

Another time when i first came there was a woman begging on the street. She kept saying ساعدني help me but for some reason i was hearing  اسعدني make me happy. i thought she was some kind of (sex) freak

Last edited by ExpatEnglishTeacher (2012-05-23 21:04:32)




 
 
 

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#13  2012-05-23 21:13:56

ExpatEnglishTeacher
Contributor
From: Cairo
Registered: 2011-11-18
Posts: 125

Re: Funniest Arabic Mistakes

Another one. I was staying in Alexandria close to sidi bishr mosque. Everytime i went out and try to take a taxi back the driver asked me where i was going and i would tell him sidi bAshir. The drivers never understood me at first i had to repeat it over and over until they finally figured it out. After about a week i looked at my wife and asked her why the drivers don't understand me she told me im sat sidi basher and its sidi bishr and started laughing at me. I was really upset she just let me look like an idiot but she said it was cute. Errrr




 
 
 

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#14  2012-05-24 06:27:22

mohamed.nabil hammad
New member
mohamed.nabil hammad
From: Cairo
Registered: 2012-01-23
Posts: 2

Re: Funniest Arabic Mistakes

loooooooool smile




 

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#15  2012-06-04 20:38:16

Burnside
Active member
From: Cairo
Registered: 2010-04-28
Posts: 79

Re: Funniest Arabic Mistakes

I guess you had to be there.




 
 
 

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