Perfectly ordinary language that is awkward or worse in meaning in another language

[Deleted]

Anyone got examples of ordinary and innocuous words or short phrases (not slang or purely colloquial) in one language that in meaning could easily be considered awkward or worse when heard by speakers of another language?

I'll start,

"12 months" in Estonian


In case the above is not clear, here it is even more clearly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4R0oXjIzOx4

[Deleted]

German Fagott (bassoon). A real classic.

[Puupi]

Katso (in English: look) in Finnish sounds the same as cazzo (in English: cock) in Italian. My sister's Italian boyfriend thought it was funny.

[Kuntantee]

Batman is a city in Turkey

[Puupi]

Batman is a city in Turkey

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman_University
Get a degree from there and try to get a job.

[Medusa Cascade]

Korean for you is niga so I get odd looks when I listen to kpop.

[Puupi]

Korean for you is niga so I get odd looks when I listen to kpop.

How is that different from listening to rap?

[Panquake]

Korean for you is niga so I get odd looks when I listen to kpop.

Probably because you're listening to Kpop.

[Tuor]

There was an Opel (vauxhall for Brits) model named Ascona, for us if you remove the first 2 letters from that word you got the street word for the female genitals... Also, Conan might interpreted as a huge genital area, so please, tell nothing to Conan O'Brian, there is even a music of it from a portuguese group called Ena Pá 2000, Conan o Homem rã (Conan the frog man).

/smile

[Kuntantee]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman_University
Get a degree from there and try to get a job.

Not sure what you are trying to say...

[ls-]

Oh, when it comes to russian vs other languages, damn, so many... Here is a couple:
- Spanish dura/duro is a stupid girl in russian;
- Russians have a problem with chinese and its syllable "hui" as in 会, 回, etc. That one is pretty widespread in chinese language, and can be found in surnames, but unfortunately for russian speakers it sounds same as cock/dick in russian, but really really rude, this level of profanity is banned from any mass media, so russians have to mispronounce chinese surnames quite often, it's fun to watch olympics though.
- German Herr sounds like a dick in russian, yet again, but it's a mild word, and there's a veggie with same name, so no one really cares, peeps just giggle sometimes.

[Faesroll]

Aren't faggots cigarettes in the U.K.?

[Deleted]

Aren't faggots cigarettes in the U.K.?

Faggots aren't, but fags are.

[chubbybunny]

Aren't faggots cigarettes in the U.K.?

No they're just called "fags", faggots are a meat product ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faggot_%28food%29 )

[Huntermyth]

'' am '' as in '' am, is, are '' means pussy ( heavy slang ) in Turkish.

[Independent voter]

A lot of Asian and Chinese words have different meanings. Wang and Wong, both surnames, can mean penis, Dong too. Fuki used to be a popular name for Japanese girls, etc.

On of my favorite words in Spanish is for "toe", dedos de pie or "foot fingers".

[DocHibb]

Choir in Russian (хор) sounds like "whore"

[luc54]

Hmm I remember one from English to Finnish. This is one example: school called Perse in Cambridge https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Perse_School perse means arse/ass in Finnish. There were some otherones listed on the website I got it from, but it was such long time ago I can't remember anymore.

[Deleted]

A few European languages refer to a shower as a 'douche', including Dutch. My Brit boyfriend found out when I told my mom I was going to take a shower. "Who's a douche? *confused face*". Hilarious.

'Die' means 'that' or 'that one'. It doesn't sound the same as in english though. It's more like 'Dee'.

The Dutch phrase 'dank u', meaning 'thank you' in english, sounds like 'dans cul' in French, which can be translated as 'up [your] arse'.

[Cerilis]