By Jan - 27/02/2013 04:50 - United States - Ann Arbor

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
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Top comments

bach2121 13

Now you know your family is racist!

75 2

Comments

pradip 26

Names of countries more often remain the same or sound similar in any language. Can't believe someone tricked you with that.

21 9
lulubelles 33

Not always, take Germany for example, in German it's Deutschland, and the French word for it is Allemagne, the three sound nothing alike so it's not as straightforward as you're making out. Poor OP, I guess you better translate all the words you think you know!

23 3
icetea4life 5

Comment moderated for rule-breaking.

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5 46
Missy2612 11

Comment moderated for rule-breaking.

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4 26
botanistjessica 24

Because people pause their face-to-face conversations to get on Rosetta Stone...

11 1
21jason 9

So your saying to trust rosetta stone over your family who is fluent and has been speeking German their whole life?

5 2
Enslaved 36

"It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from you There's nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do"

20 5
perdix 29

"Sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti" How did they fit that mouthful with the music? Not well.

10 4
enra64 4

ape Land would be Affenland in german... not sure why one would use that

10 3
MoodyBlue320 11

It's not that illogical to believe that. I mean Germany in German is "Deuschtland" (sorry if I misspelled it) so it wouldn't be very unlikely to think that Africa was said differently as well.

2 2
blackvyper 8

I find this hard to believe but perhaps you are in fact a moron.

0 0
perdix 29

Just apologize for being a dummkopf and be glad you weren't trying to speak Latin, where the word for "black" will get you punched in the face.

21 1
rattusrattus 18

... Nero? (I believe you're thinking of Spanish.)

1 0
KatjaM 15

47-Black is spanish is negro pronounced neh-groh. Which doesn't really sound like the derogatory "n word" either :)

0 0
perdix 29

#47, it's "niger" just like the country, except if you give it the proper Classical pronunciation, it'll sound close enough to the n-word to get you a face-punch.

2 0
rattusrattus 18

Ah. My Latin's a bit mediocre. Damn correspondance course. :P

1 0
TheDrifter 23

And now you know that the two most common historical names for African slaves and their descendants simply mean black in their original language.

1 0
upallnight11 19

At least you tried, right?

2 1