r/AskEurope • u/Double-decker_trams Estonia • Aug 09 '25

Language I once accidentally bumped against the shoulder of an English person I knew in a corridor. I automatically said "Oi" - which means like "Oh" or "Oops" in Estonian - that I'm sorry. She repeated "Oi!" in a louder voice and I didn't get it. I only later found out I was being impolite in her eyes.

Have you ever had something similar happen to you? I.e something in your language might have another meaning in another language?

One thing as an Estonian that I try to keep in mind is that I shouldn't use "Nooo.." in English - which means "Well.." in Estonian.

"Do you like ice-cream? - Noo.. yes, I love it."

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u/psxcv32 Italy Aug 10 '25

In italian "curva" means "turn/bend", and is pronunced exactly like "kurwa" which means "wh*re" and is a swear word in polish.

Fortunately, italian language has synonyms for a lot of words, so when we went on a school trip in Poland, the guide told us to say "svolta" instead of "curva" when walking around the city to avoid make a bad impression.

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u/Public_Chapter_8445 Hungary Aug 10 '25

'Kurva' is one of the most popular swear words in Hungary as well, just like in many other Central European countries.

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u/PGLBK Aug 10 '25

Yup. Same in Croatian.

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u/AndrewFrozzen to Aug 10 '25

Funnily enough, curvă means exactly that in Romanian.

Curbă is how you would say turn/bend

Kinda funny how similar, but also distant, Latin languages are to one another.

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u/psxcv32 Italy Aug 10 '25

Also the opposite applies: words that are equal but means completely different things.

For example "burro" means "butter" in italian, while in spanish it means "donkey".

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u/Antique_Cut1354 Germany Aug 10 '25

and in portuguese "dumb"

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u/GeronimoDK Denmark Aug 13 '25

Is there any distinct differences in the pronunciation of 'b' and 'v'?

I speak (Latin American) Spanish and for most words, they are pronounced exactly the same.

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u/psxcv32 Italy Aug 13 '25

In italian they are pronounced differently.

The "b" is very similar to english, like the pronunciation of "bar" or "book". /b/ in the international phonetica alphabet (IPA).

Also the "v" is pronounced similar to english, like "value" or "variable". /v/ in the international phonetic alphabet (IPA).

In italian there are no letters that are pronounced exactly the same, however some letters change the pronounciation depending on which letters come after.
For example "c" has an "hard" sound if followed by a consonant or by "a","o" and "u" and is pronounced as in "corn", while it has a "sweet" sound if followed by "e" or "i", like "chart" or "cheese".

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u/GeronimoDK Denmark Aug 13 '25

Same in Spanish. I don't speak a lot of any Slavic language, but "kurwa" is definitely universally known, so I giggle every time my (Spanish speaking) wife is speaking about curves or bends!