Today, I found out that while on foreign exchange for over six months now, I have been pronouncing the word for "night" in German wrong. Apparently, this whole time, the way that I have been pronouncing it in German means "naked". This explains a lot. FML
Collection
Halloween
A failed costume, stolen candy and a very real scare: Halloween, the one night when fear is allowed.
Today, I found out the German I've been learning for nearly a month is a dialect only spoken by people in a small area of the country. This means I'll need to re-learn most of what I thought I knew. FML
Today, I returned to Germany for a break from my studies abroad. I got lost while out for groceries, so I tried asking a guy for directions. I went totally blank and strained to think of the right words, prompting him to mutter about rude foreigners not bothering to learn the local language. FML
Today, I found out that I've been pronouncing "quinoa" wrong for years. FML
Today, I arrived in Germany for a summer-long stay. The family I'm supposed to stay with had said they spoke fluent English. They don't. I don't speak German. It's going to be a quiet two months. FML
Today, I learned that I've been saying a word wrong my whole life and all my friends have been too polite to correct me, when I found out that "Segue" and "Segway" are pronounced the same. FML
Today, I arrived in Austria. Within about an hour, I realized that I couldn't understand any "German". Turns out they have a totally different dialect here to anything I was taught in school. I'm here till May. FML
Today, I found out that my German wasn't as great as I thought it was. Trying to give directions to some German tourists, I tried to say, "I hope I don't get you lost." Turns out I actually said something closer to, "I hope I don't seduce you." FML
Today, I found out that I was moving to Germany. I'm going to be put back a year in school because of the system change. I also don't speak a word of German. Why? Because my mother wants to brag about this experience to her friends. FML
Today, I have learned a lot of "big" words from reading so much, but can actually only pronounce about half of them correctly. FML
Today, a German guy came into the place where I work. Eager to use the German that I'd learned from my immigrant mother and her family, I started a conversation. Things were going well until the term I grew up thinking meant "Africa" turned out to be racist, translating as "Ape Land." FML
Feel like sharing it with the other FML users?
Thanks, your FML was submitted, and will appear in the moderation queue soon!
Top comments
WCARlover 35
Why would it take 6 months for someone to correct you? I can imagine you saying something like "last naked we went out to dinner" would make a person confused and then realize you meant night and would teach you how to say it correctly way before 6 months went by
BlackHawkSavior 28
I can just imagine OP asking, "Are we hanging out naked?"
Add a comment · Reply to
You must be logged in to be able to post comments!
Comments (75)
Tarlachia 33
"The night was young, and naked was the night."
oly49 10
lolll u made me giggled ???
h00tzForOsi 20
My favorite time of day is naked time"
l4urenz 23
For those who wonder: it's Nacht=Night nackt=naked
BlackHawkSavior 28
I can just imagine OP asking, "Are we hanging out naked?"
fallenshadow16 25
Are we hanging out night? What?
teentee401 37
Lol that still wouldn't make sense the right way
UnknownUs3r 3
And then OP would be really confused if they said yes and started taking of their clothes
Futacy 30
"Are we hanging out tomorrow naked?" Fixed it.
Xion0014 20
Hanging out tonight. I think thats what he meant
BlackHawkSavior 28
Thank you #35, by the time I realized my mistake it was already to late to edit it lol
WCARlover 35
Why would it take 6 months for someone to correct you? I can imagine you saying something like "last naked we went out to dinner" would make a person confused and then realize you meant night and would teach you how to say it correctly way before 6 months went by
askullnamedbilly 33
Because it was probably obvious from the structure of the sentence that he was trying to say 'Nacht', not 'nackt' - many foreigners have problems with the 'ch' sounds, so Germans generally aren't confused when someone mispronounces them. Also, I bet a lot of the people he was talking to secretly thought it was hilarious.
Migole 36
"Nacht" = night and "Nackt" = naked sound really similar when pronounced with a heavy accent. Most languages don't have a sound like the German "ch".
Ashamed_Sister 60
The J in Spanish sounds similar to CH in German.
baka4815 21
I don't know about Germany but I know in Japan people will not correct you. It's considered rude there.
no_playa_hater 14
As a German, I would probably not correct them. Especially since it sounds as though they speak with a Bavarian dialect haha
NalaBaloo 13
It is not particularly rude to correct someone in Germany but it is not very common to do so. I'd correct friends but that's it. I'm not quite sure how people in Switzerland would handle it (where this FML originated). :)
Coland 19
They could have thought it was an accent? Maybe?
Colon_Man 17
#20; One of my dispatchers keeps saying "ju hachi", thinking he was swearing. I finally enlightened him, yesterday, after six months. :) *it means "18".
Malsain_fml 10
Well, I've been living in Spain for 3 years now. It was only after 1 year and half that I was told that when I said "you are" (in the 4th person, when I am speaking to various people) was wrong. I was actually saying "six" (nothing ashaming) but people could understand and would not correct me, nor would I use the word so often for people to hear it.
no_playa_hater 14
There is no 4th person. When you're talking to a group of people, you use the 2nd person (plural).
mareike 16
Hahaha nice, as a German I can relate to the weird looks you must have gotten
Chrisrulez66 9
Haha ja ich auch
vikky538 29
The naked is still young
boredafthisyear 11
Hey! Good "nude"!!!!lol...
The_Avatar 22
Hey things couldve been way more awkward....i went on an anatomy conference and lets just say it can get weird
BiGTiMeNeRD 29
No please elaborate.
prdctnln 10
What are you even talking about.
ColonelCusswords 24
How sexy...
NalaBaloo 13
I don't see why this was such a big deal. I'm German and of course there's a difference between "Nacht" (night) and "nackt" (naked) but no one should've had any problems understanding you. It's quite common for native English speakers to struggle with the ch-sound because it doesn't exist in English (except for Scottish English). These two words have a completely different semantic meaning, so everyone should grasp from context what you wanted to say.
tranced_ 45
ahh I haven't talked in German like since the world cup :/
A07 48
And?