Sunday, May 06, 2007

Lost in Translation

I was recently in a Chinese restaurant when I kept on trying to say a very complicated word in Slovak. I kept on repeating the first part of it, trying to get it right. My slovak companion could not keep a straight face when I was tryiing to pronounce the name of a Chinese dish. The first part of the dish was called Vyhonky. I can't remember what I ordered, but it was some chicken dish with black bean sauce.
I kept on repeating 'Vyhon,' trying to get the pronunciation right. I was apparently saying something extremely rude, which would normally be heard in a Go Go Bar, not a Chinese restaurant. I checked out the meaning of the word, and I apparently asked the waitress for a 'w***'
The woman in the Chinese restaurant made no comments about my mispronunciation of this word. Instead, she patiently looked at me and asked me to point at what I wanted/

1 comment:

dusoft said...

she probably didn't understand either... most of these chinese guys know only basic slovak and things like dishes or drinks.