History Main / FunwithForeignLanguages

->'''Brendan Shanahan:''' On our team,[[note]]The Detroit Red Wings, for those unfamiliar with '90s [[UsefulNotes/IceHockey hockey]][[/note]] we have Russians, Germans, Swedes -- you name it, we got it. And we're all one big happy family.\\
'''Sergei Fedorov:''' ''[in Russian, subtitled]'' Go to hell, Shanahan. You freak.[[note]]Well, he actually says "Sup, Shanahan, go skate in the skies!" So that's a double mistranslation for you![[/note]]\\

-->Brian: Hola, me llamo es Brian ... Nosotros queremos ir con ustedes...
-->Migrant Worker: Hey, that was pretty good, except when you said "me llamo es Brian," you don't need the "es," just "me llamo Brian."

-->Brian: You .... you're kidding, right?
-->Migrant Worker: Que?

* In ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'', Steve's friend, Toshi only speaks (subtitled) Japanese. People assume several times that assumes he has said something completely unrelated to what he has actually said, often the exact opposite.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'' episode "I See London, I See France," Rocko is on the plane, dreaming about romancing a French wallaby girl [[DreamingOfThingsToCome whom he actually meets later]]. He leans in as she's saying something [[EverythingSoundsSexierInFrench undoubtedly romantic]], and Heffer's voice is heard as he practices phrases from his phrase book: [[ToiletHumor "Je besoin de papier toilette!"]]

* Creator/BillBailey loves using French and German in a variety of songs. These include [[Series/DoctorWho Docteur Qui]] and [[Music/{{Kraftwerk}} Das Hokey Cokey]].

* Russian joke featuring a performer introducing herself as "Yani Suka Takaya" (which sounds Japanese), except that it actually means "I am not such a bitch" or "Yani, such a bitch" in Russian.

* Apparently the Dutch Prime-Minister Gerbrandy was notorious for his bad comprehension of the English language, resulting in some hilarious incidents while the Dutch goverment was in exile in London during the Second World War. The most famous language mess-up supposedly happened between Gerbrandy and Churchill. The Dutch word for 'jump' is 'spring' and if a Dutchman were to ask someone to jump up, he'd probably say 'spring eens'. Which, when said quickly, sounds a lot like 'spring is'. So when Churchill commented to Gerbrandy 'Spring is in the air!', Gerbrandy replied puzzled 'Why should I, mister Churchill?'

** Also, Napoleon Bonaparte's brother, who Napoleon had made king of the Netherlands, once said 'Ik ben konijn van Holland' (I am rabbit of Holland.) it should have been 'koning'

*** Kennedy then replied "Pardon?", to which Luns responded "Yes, paarden!" (Dutch for horses.)
*** 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.
** 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 "chain of translations" trope supposedly actually happened in the Scottish town of Stornoway. A member of the town's Pakistani community was a witness in a court case, and he insisted he only spoke Punjabi. A translator was found from the community, but ''he'' said he only spoke Punjabi and Scots Gaelic. So another translator had to be found who could translate from Gaelic to English. The story goes that it later transpired that [[CompletelyUnnecessaryTranslator all three men spoke all three languages]], but objected to the case and wanted to wind the court up.
* Then french price 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 time Essa Ríos and Lita were making fun of Kai En Tai in Spanish, when the two Japanese wrestlers turned around and berated them in Spanish; they then left complaining about them in Japanese, to which the Mexican wrestlers responded to in Japanese.

* ''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) and "film noir" (my photos haven't come out).

* Google Translate. Anything sent through it enough times will sound like GratuitousEnglish in the end. Not only that, with Latin it has gag translations. Try ''Homo homini lupus'' ("man is a wolf to man") and you'll get "Is no free lunch". Or try running ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorem_Ipsum Lorem Ipsum]]'' through it.

* 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.

** Donovan Deegan, father of the title character, speaks Orcish -- to some degree. When he received the Orc name "Kulka Sheendo Dak", he was told it meant "bringer of peace and joy." Appropriate as that would have been, he found out many years later that "bringer of peace and joy" was "Kilka Shiendo Dak." As Donovan proudly dressed in pink most of the time, they had named him "little pink man in pink." His Orcish provided comedy on other instances as well, with such statements as "[[http://www.zestuff.com/dd/apparel/498/ My land mass erupts with kittens.]]"
** Recently, it's revealed that Donovan has not only been providing Fun with Languages, he's been [[spoiler:having his own fun with languages. He speaks perfectly fluent Orcish, coming out with a profound "I believe it goes, '<It is not the language of the clans but the language of nature to which one has to listen.>']] [[http://www.dominic-deegan.com/view.php?date=2010-01-12 Cue WTF faces from all present.]]
-->'''Dominic:''' [[spoiler:You... you've been able to speak Orcish all along, haven't you?]]\\

** Thus, the chicken, Myrtle, is able to read ''and'' write... but her "handwriting" is so poor that the humans can't quite make sense of it (even though, whenever readers are shown a page of her writing, Myrtle's "chicken-scratch" [[InformedAttribute is perfectly legible]]).
** More to the point: when a new character is introduced -- a cockatiel uninspiredly named Cocky -- who "can speak human, for real," ...it turns out that Cocky is fluent in "''French'' human," and comically inept with English. So, when the fox who urgently ''needs'' a translator asks Cocky to tell the humans this or that, Cocky ends up with gems like: "M'sieur! This girl fox photo of your wildest dreaming to begin? This fox Randy, she is not he!" (Which actually makes close enough sense, in context, but the human doesn't get it.)

* In the ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' episode "Macrocosm" Captain Janeway's habit of putting her hands on her hips turns out to be the 'worst insult imaginable' in the Tak Tak language, causing her and Neelix to narrowly escape execution. Shortly afterward she vows never to put her hands on her hips again. A few seconds later, she unconsciously does it again. Likewise Chakotay talks about his first away mission, when he failed to realize that males and females used different body language symbols and ended up proposing to the alien ambassador. "It was a while before I was allowed on any more away missions."

* ''Series/DropTheDeadDonkey''. JerkAss reporter Damien is taught an "ancient greeting" by Japanese journalists which actually means "Go have sex with a hedgehog". After their initial shock the Japanese executives he greets find it a lot more funny than he does. Henry repeats this situation with a Russian dignitary, introducing himself as a pregnant cabbage. On another occasion Damien pretends that a tearful witness in Nagorno-Karabakh is talking about how his family were shot by drunken soldiers. Unfortunately the cleaning lady is from that region and reveals he's actually thanking Damien for giving him money so he can visit Elvis Presley's home in Memphis.
* One of the funnier gags on ''Series/TheJamieKennedyExperiment'' involved Jamie posing as a clueless Maitre D' in a Japanese restaurant while the employees insulted him in Japanese. Jamie couldn't understand a word, but the customer knew exactly what they were saying. HilarityEnsues.
* The classic Dutch sketch comedy show Van Kooten en De Bie had [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6umgjdGSd-4 this]] song some time in the 70s. The subs don't quite match the actual lyrics. Presumably, the Dutch were less familiar with English profanity when this first aired than they are now.

* One episode of ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' had The Todd ask Carla's brother Marco to teach his a pick-up line in Spanish. Marco tells him to say "Yo tengo herpes genital, para ti."
---> '''The Todd''': Mucho herpes... grande!

** There is also a very funny scene involving Elliot trying to talk past a patient's kid with Turk in French. Turk's knowledge of that language is evidently limited to what his high-school classmates taught him. The subtitles are roughly accurate. What Elliot says is quite literate. What does Turk say? "I have the Eiffel Tower in my pants." I might add that he says it badly -- what he says translates word-for-word as "I have Eiffel Tower pants."
** Another episode of ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' had the Janitor acting as a sign language interpreter between Turk and JD and a deaf father and son.

** ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' loves this joke: in another episode Dr Cox asks Elliot how to tell a German patient he has lung cancer. Elliot, being annoyed with him, teaches him to say "Your wife has huge cans." Even better, when he says it, he's miming what he ''intends'' to be lungs...
* Sheldon on ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' attempts to learn Mandarin Chinese, but has just a bit of trouble with the tones. He then attempts to speak Chinese to various native speakers, with [[MyHovercraftIsFullOfEels predictable results]], as translated on screen in subtitles: "Long live concrete?" "Your monkey sleeps inside me." "Where is the mucus?" "Oxen are in my bed! Many, many oxen!"

* Happened twice with the same prankster and victim in ''Film/MyBigFatGreekWedding''; Ian at one point told Toula's whole family that he had three testicles.

* 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").

** 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".
* In the original anime ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds'', they figured the best way to get an announcer that would breathlessly broadcast the outcome of children's card games is to get a guy who doesn't know Japanese and get him to phonetically shout his lines at the top of his lungs. ''''. What's more, they got a body builder and tae kwon do fighter, Bernard Ackah, to do it.

* 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.
* 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.
* One of the later storylines of ''Manga/{{Cyborg 009}}'' has Joe travel to Germany to help 004 with mysterious going-ons. On the airplane, he manages to thank the stewardess in German, prompting her to tell him (also in German) that he speaks the language quite well. After she leaves, a mildly embarrassed Joe admits he had no idea what she just said. (Note that this is a bit of LaterInstallmentWeirdness on the part of the series. The rest of the manga has the cyborgs able to understand anyone, regardless of what language they were presumably speaking, and Gilmore's diagram of Joe's cybernetic upgrades included a computer chip that acted as a universal translator.)

'''Sergei Fedorov:''' ''[in Russian, subtitled]'' Go to hell, Shanahan. You freak.[[note]]Well, he actually says "Sup, Shan, go skate in the skies!" So that's double mistranslation for you![[/note]]\\

Then comes the poor foreigners and [[MyHovercraftIsFullOfEels their allegedly hilarious mangling of a second language]], be it an American trying a different tongue or an immigrant misusing English.

''Series/ILoveLucy'' started a joke that has been re-used several times. It involves a 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.)

** In ''Discworld/{{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 ''Discworld/AHatFullOfSky'', the "ancient dwarfish runes" on a magic wand translate as "Oh, what a wally is waving this".
** This could probably also work for hand-gestures. At one point in ''Discworld/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?"

** In ''Discworld/TheFifthElephant'' he also tries to speak Dwarfish he's learned on the street, identifying himself as "Overseer Vimes of the Look" (Captain of the Watch) and not knowing that the word he's using as "you" literally translates as something similar to "punk".
** In ''Discworld/InterestingTimes'', it's mentioned that "Argh!" translates in certain Discworld languages as "Your wife is a big hippo", "Hello, thinks Mr. Purple Cat", or "I would like to eat your foot" depending on inflection. This becomes a running gag, where various characters' screams are literally translated into these phrases; at one point, Rincewind screams "Argh!" and another character responds "What's that about a hippo?"

** In yet another episode, Frasier has to learn how to give a speech in Hebrew, and he asks Noel to translate the speech for him, in return for a favor that Noel asks. When Frasier fails to carry out the favor, Noel still translates the speech... [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments into]] [[HilarityEnsues Klingon.]]

->'''Brendan Shanahan:''' On our team,[[note]]The Detroit Red Wings, for those unfamiliar with 90s [[UsefulNotes/IceHockey hockey]][[/note]] we have Russians, Germans, Swedes - you name it, we got it. And we're all one big happy family.\\
'''Sergei Fedorov:''' ''(in Russian, subtitled)'' Go to hell, Shanahan. You freak.[[note]]Well, he actually says "Sup, Shan, go skate in the skies!" So that's double mistranslation for you![[/note]]\\
'''Brendan Shanahan:''' That means "Shanahan is a good and great man." ''(to Fedorov)'' I love you, too, my brother!

!!Examples

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[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

* In ''Manga/{{Eyeshield 21}}'', there are two brothers on the NASA Aliens football team that have kanji tattoos. The older brother has the kanji for "Big" and "Helpful", while the younger, smaller brother has the kanji for "Little" and "Helpful". What they don't know is that when put together, the kanji combine to form the words "Poop" and "Pee", respectively.

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

[[folder: Fan Works ]]

* Seems to be something ''Franchise/StarWars'' fans like to explore with Anakin, who apparently spoke Huttese fluenly along with Basic. In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8764319/1/Anakin-s-Annoying-Condition Anakin's Annoying Condition]]'', Anakin reverts to Huttese when he gets sick and a bit out of it, then keeps speaking it even after he's better just to annoy Obi Wan, who only knows a few words of the language, more. He gets slashy at the end, telling Obi Wan "hot body, want to bite your neck."
** There's another fic as well that has Obi Wan frustrated at not knowing what Anakin's saying when he's speaking the language.

-->'''Neville:''' [Harry] told me a proper greeting was 'Je suis un très vilain petit garçon'[[labelnote:note]]I'm a very naughty boy.[[/labelnote]]. I said it for about a week with people giving me funny looks before someone kindly told me what it meant.

[[folder: Film ]]

* ''Film/AceVenturaWhenNatureCalls'': Ace tries to communicate with the members of a strange tribe. His translator, either because he doesn't speak their dialect as well as he thinks he does or just to get back at the annoying pet detective, warps his every phrase. "I bring a message from the princess", for example, becomes "I am a princess."
** It also irks Ace when he notices that his translator referred to him as "white devil" in the tribe's language. His defense is that it is how the tribe knows him.
* The Canadian film ''Film/BonCopBadCop'' frequently plays with both official languages. The Quebecois cop gratuitously makes fun of the Ontarian cop in French...until he finds out his counterpart is fluently bilingual.
** "You speak French?" "Pas vraiment, j'ai un petit gadget installe dans mon cerveau et je vois des sous-titres sous les personnes quand elles parlent." (Not really, I had a small gadget installed in my brain and I see subtitles under people when they speak.)

-->'''Chevy Chase''' (subtitles): If you let me go, you can use my friend's head as a polo ball.
-->''Bandits all laugh. One of them takes Dan's head in his hands, testing it for size''
-->'''Dan Aykroyd''': What's he doing?
-->'''Chevy Chase''': Err, he's saying hello.
-->'''Dan Aykroyd''' (taking hold of the bandit's head): Hello! Hello!

* In ''Film/EuroTrip'', the group of teenagers is trying to get a lift to Berlin:
-->'''Scott''': Let me handle this, I speak bad German. Hello!
-->'''Truck Driver''': Hello!
-->'''Scott''': [in German] My German is ill, but I can understand on you if the speaking is slowly.
-->'''Truck Driver''': [in German] German! I have been driving for 14 hours straight and I haven't slept in three days and I am wired on schnapps, benzedrine, and those little chocolate covered peanuts.
-->'''Cooper''': What did he say?
-->'''Scott''': He said he's driving, something...
-->'''Scott''': [in German] Do you know where is Berlin?
-->'''Truck Driver''': [in German] Berlin? Yes, I know it well. I stabbed a woman in a bar in Berlin. But I am going nowhere near Berlin.
-->'''Scott''': Berlin!
-->'''Truck Driver''': [in German] Berlin! I also sexually assaulted a horse in Berlin.
-->'''Scott''': He's going to Berlin.
-->'''Jamie''': Awesome.
-->'''Truck Driver''': [in German] Nowhere near Berlin.
-->'''Scott''': All right, come on, let's go.
-->[the group get in the back of the truck]
-->'''Truck Driver''': [to self, in German] I'll drive this truck off a cliff before I ever go back to Berlin.

-->'''Roverini:''' ''E possibile che Lei ha tendenze omosessuali?''
-->'''Peter''' (translating): He wants to know if you're a homosexual.
-->'''Tom:''' No!
-->'''Peter''' (translating): ''No.''

[[folder: Literature ]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

[[folder: Professional Wrestling ]]

[[folder: Radio ]]

[[folder: Theatre ]]

* This is OlderThanFeudalism, due to Plautus' POENULUS ("The Porridge-Eating Uncle"). A stock New Comedy slave claims he can speak Punic, but when actually interpreting for the titular uncle (who actually speaks Latin perfectly well), he resorts to "creative" translations of the Punic.

[[folder: Webcomics ]]

* Donovan Deegan, father of ''Webcomic/DominicDeegan'''s title character, speaks Orcish - to some degree. When he received the Orc name "Kulka Sheendo Dak," he was told it meant "bringer of peace and joy." Appropriate as that would have been, he found out many years later that "bringer of peace and joy" was "Kilka Shiendo Dak." As Donovan proudly dressed in pink most of the time, they had named him "little pink man in pink." His Orcish provided comedy on other instances as well, with such statements as "[[http://www.zestuff.com/dd/apparel/498/ My land mass erupts with kittens.]]"
** Recently, it's revealed that Donovan has not only been providing Fun With Languages, he's been [[spoiler:having his own fun with languages. He speaks perfectly fluent Orcish, coming out with a profound "I believe it goes, '<It is not the language of the clans but the language of nature to which one has to listen.>']] [[http://www.dominic-deegan.com/view.php?date=2010-01-12 Cue WTF faces from all present.]]
--> '''Dominic:''' [[spoiler:You...you've been able to speak Orcish all along, haven't you?]]
-->'''Donovan [[spoiler:(Orcish)]]:''' [[spoiler:<Only for the past twenty years or so.>]]
-->'''Dominic:''' [[spoiler:Then why the hell have you been pretending to speak '''gibberish''' for the past two decades?]]
-->'''Donovan:''' I'm a bard. Why do I do anything? (next panel) Because it's ''funny''.
-->'''Hukthak:''' <I knew it!>
* In ''Webcomic/FauxPas'', which focuses on an assortment of animals (foxes, rabbits, cats, a chicken...) and gives a few faceless humans only incidental roles, nearly all of the various animals are quite capable of understanding human speech. Because StatusQuoIsGod, though, FailureIsTheOnlyOption when the animals attempt to make themselves understood by whichever humans presently have control over their lives. Thus, the chicken, Myrtle, is able to read ''and'' write... but her "handwriting" is so poor that the humans can't quite make sense of it (even though, whenever readers are shown a page of her writing, Myrtle's "chicken-scratch" [[InformedAttribute is perfectly legible]]). More to the point: when a new character is introduced --- a cockatiel uninspiredly named Cocky --- who "can speak human, for real," ...it turns out that Cocky is fluent in "''French'' human," and comically inept with English. So, when the fox who urgently ''needs'' a translator asks Cocky to tell the humans this or that, Cocky ends up with gems like: "M'sieur! This girl fox photo of your wildest dreaming to begin? This fox Randy, she is not he!" (Which actually makes close enough sense, in context, but the human doesn't get it.)
** [[http://www.ozfoxes.net/fp/fp-125.jpg And don't forget this priceless strip.]]

[[folder: Web Original ]]

--> '''O'Malley:''' *''In subtitled Spanish''* Hey everyone! I am a purple jerk and I love to drink motor oil. [...] My butt is very big. And I like to rub my own butt. And I like to sniff my own butt and kiss my own butt. *''In English*'' That seems like an awful lot to say, "Hurry up."\\

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

[[folder: Real Life ]]

* 419 scam-baiters use this sometimes, relying on the fact that the scammer rarely speaks anything other than his native tongue and limited English. One example was a would-be scammer who stood for two hours at Madrid airport holding a sign that read ''chupame la verga'', which he was led to believe was Spanish for "hello my good friend" but is in fact an invitation for people to perform a lewd act "down there".
** Incidentally, using latin american sexual jargon in Spain usually flags something or somebody as narmish to locals.
* Google Translate. Anything sent through it enough times will sound like GratuitousEnglish in the end.
** Not only that, with Latin it has gag translations. Try ''Homo homini lupus'' ("man is a wolf to man") and you'll get "Is no free lunch". Or try running ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorem_Ipsum Lorem Ipsum]]'' through it.

*** The same joke was used in Chapter 16 of ''FanWorks/PlayTheGame,'' 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.

* Then french price minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin once held a conferrance 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!]]

* Sheldon on ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' attempts to learn Mandarin Chinese, but has just a bit of trouble with the tones. He then attempts to speak Chinese to various native speakers, with predictable results, as translated on screen in subtitles: "Long live concrete?" "Your monkey sleeps inside me." "Where is the mucus?" "Oxen are in my bed! Many, many oxen!"
* Again, Sheldon on ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'', describes his team for "The Physics Bowl", consisting of the Third Floor Janitor, the Lunch Room Lady and a guy who (due to Sheldon's poor skills on Spanish) is either her son or her butcher.

* The first part of episode 4 of the second season in ''Manga/ShinryakuIkaMusume'' 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.

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_As_She_Is_Spoke English As She Is Spoke]]

** In yet another episode, Frasier has to learn how to give a speech in Hebrew, and he asks Noel to translate the speech for him, in return for a favor that Noel asks. When Frasier fails to carry out the favor, Noel still translates the speech... [[CrowningMomentOfFunny into]] [[HilarityEnsues Klingon.]]

* ''Film/SkyCaptainAndTheWorldOfTomorrow''. Sky Captain asks Kaji, his contact in Nepal, about his Tibetan language skills. Glancing at HotScoop Polly Perkins, Kaji replies in Tibetan: "When cold, nipples hard."

** In ''Discworld/TheFifthElephant'' he also tries to speak Dwarfish he's learned on the street, identifying himself as "Overseer Vimes of the Look" (Captain of the Watch) and not knowing that the word he's using as "you" implies that the dwarf he's talking to is a criminal.

See also FunnyForeigner, BilingualBonus, TactfulTranslation.

* In the comedy ''Film/{{Water 1985}}'', American oil executives land on the island of Cascara and come across the local radical liberation front -- all two of them (one of whom is BillyConnolly, whose character only communicates through [[DreadfulMusician bad singing]]).

* This shows up in the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' book ''Jingo'', where 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".)

*** Later in the same book, in a deliberate nod to JFK, Vimes attempts to say "I am a citizen of Borogravia" and instead comes out with "I am a cherry pancake." Being Vimes, it doesn't bother him too much.

** In ''Discworld/InterestingTimes'', it's mentioned that "Argh!" translates in one Discworld language as "Your wife is a big hippo", "Hello, thinks Mr. Purple Cat", or "I would like to eat your foot" depending on inflection. This becomes a running gag, where Rincewind's screams are literally translated into these phrases; at one point, Rincewind screams "Argh!" and another character responds "What's that about a hippo?"
*** It also translates to "Quick! More boiling oil!" in yet another language. Considering one of the characters is an insane emperor, this has ''unfortunate'' consequences.

* Done in ''[[TheFlash Impulse]]'' when Bart Allen "teaches" his mentor Interlac.