Hilarious Mistranslations American, English, French, Spanish,

 

I received a flattering description of myself as a teacher of English, describing me as respectable. I fell about laughing because to me respectable means morally respectable, married, rather than single, in a previous era it would have meant no longer an unwed mother, nor prone to one night stands.

I was brought up in Britain and in America we would say goodnight to a friend in a hotel, asking, 'Shall I knock you up in the morning?', meaning, knock on the door. 

But in America to knock somebody up means to have sex and get pregnant. 

The next  surprise was to hear myself described as beautiful inside out. I think the admirer was typing in a hurry. The Americans do tend to drop the word and. Without and, inside and out becomes inside out. You can have a sock or jacket or dress or garment turned inside out with the inside seams showing. But how could a person be inside out!

French

The French call this kind of verbal misunderstand faux amis, in English literally false friends.

A French speaking toastmasters international speakers training meeting is known as a reunion, meaning a regular weekly or fortnightly or monthly meeting. But in British English a reunion would be a meeting taking place once or annually or after a long period of time, such as a reunion of people who met on holiday, or a graduation class from school or university.

A French toilet cubicle is occupe - occupied (not engaged).  (Engaged means committed.)

Spanish

A Spanish speaking friend of mine from Toastmasters club Harrovians in London gave a speech about similar sounding or identical Spanish and English words which can cause confusion.

Useful Websites

wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_American_and_British_English

https://www.myenglishpages.com/english/vocabulary-lesson-faux-amis.php

About The Author Angela

Angela Lansbury is a British author who has lived in the USA.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

Angela Lansbury teacher of English (advanced and English as a Second Language or English as a Foreign Language, French and other languages, aspiring polyglot.

Angela Lansbury, author and speaker. Member of many toastmasters  speaker training clubs and speaking contest judge.

Angela Lansbury, the author of 20 books including Wedding Speeches & Toasts, and Quick Quotations, has lived in the USA, Spain and Singapore. 

She  has several blogs and writes daily on at least two of the following:

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

French words which are useful at Toastmasters International French groups

A friend of mine is giving a speech at a French Toastmasters group in Singapore and sent me the programme. I've listed the words in alphabetical order so I can practise them when I go to French speaking meetings. You will find French speaking clubs in France, Belgium, Canada, England, Switzerland and Singapore. Have I left any out? Please send me your club details.

Francophone meets at Cairnhill Community Club in Singapore. They meet monthly.

FRENCH - ENGLISH
A-D
accompli - accomplished or advanced
aller a l'essentiel (project 3) go/get to the point
L'Animatrice - the toastmaster
argent - silver
arrondissement - area
auditoire - audience
Asie - Asia
Avril - April
briser la glace - break the ice (project 1)
chronométeur - timekeeper
clôture - closure or closing
Communicateur - communicater
Compétant - competent
contenu - contents
corps - body
de - of
début - start / opening
devenir  - to become / create
discours prepare
distingue

E-K
en - in
est - is
et - and
être - to be
evaluateur - evaluator
Français - French
huissier - bailiff or sergeant at arms
la fin - the end
Improvisations - impromptu speeches / table topics
jardin - garden
jardinier - gardener

L-R
la - the
la langue - language
maintenant - now
manuels - manuals
membre - member
merci - thank you
meilleur - best
meilleur orateur - best speaker
mois - month
mot de la fin - last word - final speech/ closing speech/address
mot du jour - word of the day
notre - our
n'oubliez pas - don't forget
orateur - speaker
persuasif - persuasive
Présidente sortante - past president (ex or former president)
premier - first
la recherche - research
région - region
relations publique - public relations
remettre - give
remise - handing out, distribution, awarding of
Reunion - meeting (a reunion in English is usually an annual or anniversary meetings such as a gathering of holidaymakers or a graduation class from a school or college every year on the last day they previously met such as Jun 10
réservez - reserve

S-Z
Secrétaire - secretary
Singapour - Singapore
supports visuels - visual aids
trésorier / trésorière (female) - treasurer
variete vocale - vocal variety
vendredi - Friday
volet - way, path or track
volonté - will
dos / votre - your

ENGLISH - FRENCH
A-D
advanced - accompli
April - avril
area - arrondissement
audience - auditoire
best - meilleur
break the ice - briser la  g l a c e
closing - clôture
competent - compétent
contents - contenu

E-K
end - la fin
evaluator - evaluateur
evaluation - evaluation
Friday - vendredi
garden - jar-din (no hyphen but spell check wants one
gardener - jardinier

L-R
language - la langue
meeting - reunion
member - membre
month - mois
0f - de
persuasive - persuadir
president - Présidente
public relations - relations publiques
region - région
reserve - reserves
ribbons / awards / certificates - récompenses

S-Z
secretary - secrétaire
sergeant at arms - huissier
silver - argent
Singapore - Singapour
speech - discours (like the British words discourse and discussion
thank you - merci
the - la (feminine) le (masculine)
timer - chronometeur (le)
Toastmaster of the evening - Animatrice
treasurer - trésorier / trésorière (female)
visual aids - supports visuels
vocal variety - variety vocals
will - volonté
Way or path or track - valet
word of the day - mot du jour
your - votre

Toastmasters Francophone de Singapour
Cairnhill Community Club
1 Anthony Road
229944 Singapour
Site web www.francosing.com

Angela Lansbury, language teacher, tutor, author and speaker,

Mother's Day Weekends Away, Surprises, DIY Cards, Recycling

The late rooms sites are offering a night or weekend away. I'd check with Mum if she'd like a meal out or a night or weekend away before booking one.

Weekends Away - Paris
I met somebody who told me he'd arranged a surprise weekend in Paris but kept it secret, planning to surprise her on Saturday morning. His girlfriend thought he'd done nothing for her birthday so she accepted an offer to take the train up north to see her sister and disappeared on Friday!

So make it clear that certain times are blocked out. Just keep the destination a surprise.

If you need to depart in a hurry and want the packing done, tell Mum whether it's warm or cold, city or countryside. Another option for surprises is the quite lunch or dinner. You could have a member of the family from another city waiting at the restaurant to join you. The more the merrier.

Alternatively or in addition, after eating out, return home to a big party. Or a member of the family or a close friend who has flown in from overseas.

If travelling overseas or abroad, make sure mother has a passport with more than 6 months left on it, same for you. Some countries won't let you in with a passport which is expiring within less than six months or a year.

Have a happy day.

Holiday Wish List
By the way, why not make a public wish list of places you'd love to visit. Then family can group together merging funds, or spot a special offer and whisk you away to somewhere you actually want to visit.

I'm happy to go anywhere I haven't been before, and anywhere I have been to before - to see if it has changed.

Still on my unvisited wish list: Iceland; Estonia, Ukraine - Lemberg and Odessa - any part that's in peacetime at the time of travel, Latvia, Lithuania.

Dinner a deux
Offers are flooding into my email inbox. Senders range from gourmet Galvin for family friendly Z i z z i  (one z then two). The latter offers a mimosa and a competition.

Group Dinners
To take advantage os special offers requiring a minimum booking of a table of four, combine with a next door neighbour's family, especially if their family also includes a mother (grandmothers and aunties may also be mothers with children overseas or in another city). Make sure all the mothers are given cards or gifts.

Google Searches
Google searches for you:
Late rooms
Luxury for less
Mother's day (add your home location)
Mother's day (add mother's chosen day out or holiday location)
Your local supermarket offers
Chocolate, champagne,
Your mother's basket on eBay and Amazon.

Mother's Day Cards
Short of a card on the day, or can't afford one, at the shocking prices? Look in Poundland and cheap shops. Find an old family photo, mount it in a pice of card making four diagonal slits to hold the photo corners. Anything will do, for example, a baby photo of the children, an only child being born,  and 'thanks for 35 happy years'.

DIY Mothers Day Cards
Want to do better next year? Through the year note down all the things mother does and write a list of thanks on next year's card, or print a certificate:

Thanks to the world's best Mum, for
Babysitting
Baking Cakes
Being a passenger
Cooking Sunday lunch
Cleaning
DIY
Doing the accounts
Driving us to school
Flower Arranging
Gardening
Helping with the mortgage
Kisses and cuddles
Sewing on buttons
Shopping
Taking in Parcels
Teaching us ...
Tidying up
Visiting us in hospital
Washing
None of the above - teaching us to be self-reliant.

Positive Negatives (a name I just invented)
You could make a joke tick list crossing off things she doesn't do such as drinking, gambling and taking drugs.

If you don't have a mother but you have a stepmother or friend or neighbour who is like a mother you could do something similar.

Recycling
Save this years card for next year. If your mother likes recycling, recycle one year's card for the next, but add a new page for each year.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer