History Main / FunwithForeignLanguages

* In the Creator/AbbottAndCostello movie ''Lost In Alaska'', Costello sees some Eskimos communicating in sign language and makes a few random hand gestures of his own. The Eskimo chief starts laughing, telling Costello, "You just told a funny joke!" Later, when Costello meets an attractive Eskimo lady, he tries to impress her by creating the same hand gestures he used before. She slaps him in the face; apparently it was ''that'' kind of joke.

* ''The Peking Target'' by [[Creator/EllestonTrevor Adam Hall]]. Literature/{{Quiller}} has been captured by the Soviets, who force him to make a radio transmission giving a false report to his base. Unknown to the Soviet BigBad, his translator is on Quiller's side. So the BigBad tells what he wants Quiller to say in Russian, the translator tells Quiller what the actual Soviet plan is in English, and Quiller must then transmit that information to his base in a manner that still sounds plausible (if the false information contains the words Seoul or Peking, for instance, the BigBad would be suspicious if he didn't hear those words). Quiller describes the whole process as like navigating though a minefield.

* Subverted in ''Film/TheSumOfAllFears'', where Ben Affleck's character addresses the Russian president in flawless Russian, and ends his message of goodwill by indicating that, since the Russian President earned a degree in English, and speaks ''perfect'' English, there's no reason for Jack to speak Russian.
** Possibly a jab at UsefulNotes/VladimirPutin, who didn't know any English when he was first elected (having been stationed in East Germany during his KGB days) and had to learn the language.

** That's TruthInTelevision...there are people who get kanji tattoos or paint them on their cars just because they look snazzy. For all they know, that sign that they've been told says "powerful" or "fast" really says "go jump in the lake" or "I'm an idiot".

-->-- [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yetl55p9LQY A mid-90's ESPN commercial.]]

See also FunnyForeigner, BilingualBonus, TactfulTranslation, EitherWorldDominationOrSomethingAboutBananas.

* ''Series/AlloAllo'' is a bit of a strange one. While, from the viewers' perspective, there aren't any foreign languages in play, its [=WW2=]-era France setting means that there are characters who, logically speaking, would be speaking French, German and English. In order to keep the jokes intact, the actors simply use accents to denote which language that character would be speaking. The British airmen on the run from the Germans (who don't speak French at all) speak in the stereotypical RP/upper-class English accents known the world over, while the French and German characters speak in respective accents. Better yet, the frequently-appearing Officer Crabtree is in fact British but, unlike the escaped airmen, he ''does'' speak French. However, he speaks it ''badly'', which is reflected in him mispronouncing words for comedic effect, such as his greeting of ''[[CatchPhrase "Good moaning."]]''

* ''Schöner leben mit Pimperanto'' by Creator/WalterMoers (Pimperanto is a parody on EsperantoTheUniversalLanguage, and "pimpern" is German for "to shag") does this all the time, but one word takes the cake: "Főzelék" is a Hungarian name for a vegetable stew. For Germans, "Fötzelek" looks somewhat as if it meant "pussy licking". In Pimperanto, "Fötzelek" ''does'' mean "pussy licking".

** In "The Lip Reader" episode, George enlists Jerry's current deaf girlfriend to find out why his latest girlfriend dumped him by asking her to read her lips during her conversations at a party. Kramer, who knows ASL is also present. Either the woman misreads the other woman's lips as her say "sleep together" when she actually said "''sweep'' together" (she was offering to help a friend clean up after a party), or Kramer misinterprets her signing "sweep" as "sleep". Either way, George goes ballistic, thinking that his girlfriend was cheating on him with this other guy and makes an ass out of himself when he confronts them.

* In ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}} Premium'' most of the characters slowly lose the ability to speak anything other than "Octopese". Two key phrases are [[WillTheyOrWontThey "I love you"]] and [[BerserkButton "flat-chested",]] both said by [[IdiotHero Gourry]] to [[PersonOfMassDestruction Lina.]] Needless to say, HilarityEnsues.

* In ''LightNovel/WiseMansGrandchild'', the kingdom of Earlside decides to honor Shin's great feats with the title "King of the Magicians". Unfortunately for Shin, who has a lifetime of the Japanese language in his head, the words for that title in the local language are pronounced ''Maou''("Demon King").

** ''Literature/{{Jingo}}'': A Klatchian general insults an Ankh-Morpork general by slipping into his native tongue, and passing it off as an old Klatchian saying. (This has double comedic impact, because the usual apology for rough language in ''Discworld'' books is "Pardon my Klatchian", a la the real idiom "Pardon my French".) In the

** This could probably also work for hand-gestures. At one point in ''Literature/MonstrousRegiment'', Commander Vimes gives the eponymous group a thumbs up, which prompts this confused exchange: "I think in Ankh-Morpork that means 'Jolly good.'" "I heard in Klatchian, it means, 'I hope your donkey explodes.'" "Why would he say 'Jolly good'?" "Or hate our donkey so much?"
*** IRL, the 'thumbs up' gesture can mean a lot of things in different cultures. In some Middle Eastern countries (including Iraq) it means 'Up yours!' which puts in context the crowds of thumb-waving Iraqis who greeted US troops...

** In ''Literature/DiscworldRolePlayingGame'' there is a skill called Shouting At Foreigners, which roughly works like this.

** In ''Literature/{{Jingo}}'', a Klatchian general insults an Ankh-Morpork general by slipping into his native tongue, and passing it off as an old Klatchian saying. (This has double comedic impact, because the usual apology for rough language in ''Discworld'' books is "Pardon my Klatchian", a la the real idiom "Pardon my French".)

** In PnP RPG there is a skill called Shouting At Foreigners, which roughly works like this.
*** IRL, the 'thumbs up' gesture can mean a lot of things in different cultures. In some Middle Eastern countries (including Iraq) it means 'Up yours!' which puts in context the crowds of thumb-waving Iraqis who greeted US troops...

* The first part of episode 4 of the second season in ''Manga/SquidGirl'' is mostly in English, and features a lot of misunderstandings based on [[InMyLanguageThatSoundsLike bilingual puns.]] There's a bit of SurprisinglyGoodEnglish there, as well as the complete opposite.

* ''Radio/ImSorryIHaventAClue'' had a round in which humorous translations were given of foreign phrases that had entered the English language: these included "avant-garde" (next-to-last coach on a train [I-want-car]) and "film noir" (my photos haven't come out [film-no-are]).

* In ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'', Lopez the robot only speaks bad Spanish, which nobody understands. He uses this to his advantage to insult and snark at everyone [[spoiler:(which backfires when he meets Locus, who understands Spanish, leading to an OhCrap from Lopez),]] and makes O'Malley insult himself in Spanish when trying to give commands to his robot army.

* ''Schöner leben mit Pimperanto'' by Creator/WalterMoers (Pimperanto is a parody on EsperantoTheUniversalLanguage, and "pimpern" is German for "to shag") does this all the time, but one word takes the cake: "Főtzelek" is a Hungarian name for a vegetable stew. For Germans, "Fötzelek" looks somewhat as if it meant "pussy licking". In Pimperanto, "Fötzelek" ''does'' mean "pussy licking".

* Then French prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin once held a conference in front of the European Popular Party, hoping to bring more people in favor of the creation of a shared European constitution, his argument? [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZV3L2y7UwNQ "Win the yes needs the no, to win against the no!"]] Can't argue with that. Then again, said Minister is well known for his otherworldly turns of speech; Wiki/TheOtherWiki even has a name for that: [[http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raffarinade The Raffarinades!]]

** One of the gags with the Minbari language (which, unfortunately, did not become [[RunningGag running]]) is Ivanova exclaiming "Ah, hell!" while on the bridge of the ''White Star''. The Minbari gunner fires the forward guns at nothing. Lorien then explains that, in Minbari, "ahell" means "rapid, continuous fire".

* In ''LightNovel/TheWiseGrandson'', the kingdom of Earlside decides to honor Shin's great feats with the title "King of the Magicians". Unfortunately for Shin, who has a lifetime of the Japanese language in his head, the words for that title in the local language are pronounced ''Maou''("Demon King").

* ComicBook/AtomicRobo, despite technically having the capacity to learn anything by uploading it directly into his brain, chooses not to. This results in his Japanese being absolutely ''horrible'', sometimes called by fans "[[{{Engrish}} Reverse Engrish]]."

''Series/ILoveLucy'' started a joke that has been re-used several times. It involves a [[BlindIdiotTranslation chain of translators]], each of whom speaks two languages. Lucy's in a French jail. She needs to explain herself to a Magistrate (she unintentionally passed some counterfeit bills.) The Magistrate speaks only French, Lucy only English. Ricky speaks English and Spanish, another prisoner speaks Spanish and German, a policeman speaks German and French. So the conversation is passed back and forth through three intermediaries, including Lucy's signature whine and the Magistrate's dismissive "Huh!" (Eventually it's revealed she only needs to pay a small fine.)

* From ''Film/SpiesLikeUs''. Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd are dropped into Pakistan only to be captured by bandits.
-->'''Chevy Chase:''' ''[subtitles]'' If you let me go, you can use my friend's head as a polo ball.\\

** Prime-minister Joop den Uyl once remarked that "the Dutch are a nation of undertakers". The Dutch verb ondernemen is literally the English "undertake" (as onder is under and nemen is take), but in Dutch an "ondernemer" is someone that owns any kind of bussiness, the one the English word refers to would be a "begrafenisondernemer".

*** The same joke was used in Chapter 16 of ''Fanfic/PokemonXNimjaPlayTheGame'', except that the word "breed" is left untranslated [[GoshDangItToHeck for obvious]] [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar reasons,]] Hades is simply incredulous at Crowe's hobby of horse-breeding. Also, he mishears "ja, paarden" as ''yapardon'' and thinks that ''Yapardon'' are strange animals/Pokemon species. Obviously, he doesn't get Dutch at all.