# English words foreigners often get confused **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 16, 2013, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-foreigners-often-get-confused/668990 "2013-09-16T18:00:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dstarfire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dstarfire/32/5762_2.png) [@dstarfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dstarfire)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-foreigners-often-get-confused/668990/1 "2013-09-16T18:00:38Z")
So, watching some anime this morning, I noticed a couple of words\* that sound very similar (to my American ear) but were translated to very different meanings. So, what english words sound similar to foreign ears while having radically different meanings? The only examples I can think of (courtesy of a story from my grandmother) is “paper” and “pepper”, “trap” and “trip”, and “fry” and “fly” (courtesy of Lethal Weapon 4 (I think, it’s one of the LW movies, I know that much)). - the two words I heard sounded like byosai and gyoksai (and that b sounded a LOT like a g or k) ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-foreigners-often-get-confused/668990/2 "2013-09-16T18:50:12Z")
> [@dstarfire](#): > > So, what english words sound similar to foreign ears while having radically different meanings? I assume it depends on _which_ foreign ears you’re talking about. And also on who’s doing the pronouncing. ---
**Author:** ![SylverOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@SylverOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SylverOne)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-foreigners-often-get-confused/668990/3 "2013-09-16T18:52:33Z")
Years ago, we hosted a Brazilian foreign exchange student who couldn’t wrap his head around chicken and kitchen. He was always eating kitchen in the chicken… otherwise, he was a brilliant kid. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-foreigners-often-get-confused/668990/4 "2013-09-16T19:06:47Z")
There are going to be a lot of examples that differ mostly or entirely in their vowels, since English has many more vowel sounds than most languages. Spanish, for example, only has 10 distinct vowels, and so they tend to compress English vowels into those 10. South American acquaintances of mine have told me that they need to be very careful with the words “sheet” and “beach”, for instance, so they don’t accidentally turn them into “shit” and “bitch”. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-foreigners-often-get-confused/668990/5 "2013-09-16T19:23:05Z")
My Ukrainian MIL had tons of words she confused. Preheat and reheat. (“I’ll little preheatl the food.”) Wall vs. vault. Radish vs. reddish. Anything where ‘t’ and ‘th’ are involved. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-foreigners-often-get-confused/668990/6 "2013-09-16T21:21:47Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > There are going to be a lot of examples that differ mostly or entirely in their vowels, since English has many more vowel sounds than most languages. Spanish, for example, only has 10 distinct vowels, and so they tend to compress English vowels into those 10. South American acquaintances of mine have told me that they need to be very careful with the words “sheet” and “beach”, for instance, so they don’t accidentally turn them into “shit” and “bitch”. I’m reminded of the scene in “Stripes” where Harold Ramis’ character is teaching English, and that one guy hollers out “Son of beach! Sheet!” ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-foreigners-often-get-confused/668990/7 "2013-09-16T22:44:18Z")
Check out [talkboston.com](http://talkboston.com/learn/kahkeez) for some examples. ---
**Author:** ![PaulParkhead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@PaulParkhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulParkhead)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-foreigners-often-get-confused/668990/8 "2013-09-16T22:47:41Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I assume it depends on _which_ foreign ears you’re talking about. And also on who’s doing the pronouncing. Yes. Heck, it’s not only learners who have this problem. I watched _House MD_, and couldn’t easily tell whether his boss was Lisa Cutty or Lisa Cuddy. The way they’re pronounced by many Americans, they sound the same to me. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-foreigners-often-get-confused/668990/9 "2013-09-16T23:28:45Z")
Conjure. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-foreigners-often-get-confused/668990/10 "2013-09-16T23:44:37Z")
I misunderstand other Americans. Just recently I was headed to a friend’s BBQ and called to see if she needed anything and was told to pick up some “wildcot” fish fillets. I wrote it down b/c I figured it was a kind of fish I’d never heard of. It was only when I was at the counter that I realized she meant “wild caught.” ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-foreigners-often-get-confused/668990/11 "2013-09-17T00:23:49Z")
“Let us eat lettuce and write letters.” ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-foreigners-often-get-confused/668990/12 "2013-09-17T00:38:49Z")
> [@](#): > > Yes. Heck, it’s not only learners who have this problem. I watched House MD, and couldn’t easily tell whether his boss was Lisa Cutty or Lisa Cuddy. The way they’re pronounced by many Americans, they sound the same to me. Yes, but that’s not really a source of confusion, since neither of those really has a meaning beyond being a name. English word-pairs where swapping T for D would mix them up are fairly rare. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-foreigners-often-get-confused/668990/13 "2013-09-17T01:39:15Z")
My ex had a roommate from Belize who when asked where ex was would reply, “He’s in the chicken.” (meaning kitchen.) ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-foreigners-often-get-confused/668990/14 "2013-09-17T03:51:13Z")
Chicken and kitchen is a common one in Korea as well. My classmates in middle school would often say “I’m in the chicken.” ---
**Author:** ![Simmerdown](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simmerdown/32/14859_2.png) [@Simmerdown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simmerdown)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-foreigners-often-get-confused/668990/15 "2013-09-17T04:43:56Z")
An Eastern European leader once spoke at a gathering (paraphrasing): “It is a pleasure to be in a room with such distinguished liars!” They were lawyers. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-foreigners-often-get-confused/668990/16 "2013-09-17T06:10:03Z")
There’s a line in one of WoW’s dungeons where a librarian speaks of “sacred tomes”. I swear it always sounds to me like “secret”, I wouldn’t know it was sacred if not for the subtitles. > [@Chronos](#): > > Spanish, for example, only has 10 distinct vowels, and so they tend to compress English vowels into those 10. And all this time I thought we had 5 😕 Are you counting dyptongs as vowels? ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-foreigners-often-get-confused/668990/17 "2013-09-17T06:17:29Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > And all this time I thought we had 5 😕 Are you counting dyptongs as vowels? You probably mean [diphthongs.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diphthong) A _dyptong_ might be something you use to make battered finger food. As far as the Spanish language, I can’t help you there. I’m still working on English. ---
**Author:** ![BleizDu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@BleizDu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BleizDu)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-foreigners-often-get-confused/668990/18 "2013-09-17T06:37:48Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > South American acquaintances of mine have told me that they need to be very careful with the words “sheet” and “beach”, for instance, so they don’t accidentally turn them into “shit” and “bitch”. Man, I’m so guilty of that. (I’m french) ---
**Author:** ![sentrix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac8455/32.png) [@sentrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sentrix)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-foreigners-often-get-confused/668990/19 "2013-09-17T06:39:10Z")
my asian friend asked me about the australian general erection ( election ) recently. ---
**Author:** ![SecretaryofEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@SecretaryofEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecretaryofEvil)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-foreigners-often-get-confused/668990/20 "2013-09-17T07:06:52Z")
I briefly dated a young lady from Austria. She said the hardest sound for her to pick up was the _th_ sound. When she first came to America she couldn’t differentiate between the _th_ sound and the _f_ sound. She said they initially sounded exactly the same to her. I thought her accent was cute but her goal was to learn to speak accentless English. I once spent half the night teaching her how to pronounce the word “slut” properly. She’d been going around calling girls “schlots.” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-foreigners-often-get-confused/668990.md?page=2)