متن پادکست:

You are listening to Cyber podcast Episode 23 – Funny language misunderstandings

A: May I help you?

B: We’ll be asking the questions old man. Who are you?

A: Yu.

B: No, me, you!

A: Yes, I’m Yu.

B: Just answer the damn questions. Who are you?

A: I have told you.

B: Are you deaf?

A: No, Yu is blind.

B: I’m not blind, you blind.

A: That is just what I said.

B: You just said what?

A: I did not say what. I said Yu.

B: That’s what I’m asking you.

A: and Yu is answering.

B: Shut up! You!

A: Yes?

B: Not you, him! What’s your name.

C: Mi.

B: Yes, you.

C: I am Mi.

A: He is Mi and I am Yu.

Did you get confused by what you just heard? Well, you are not to blame. The conversation is quite easy and straight forward. Even someone with basic English knowledge can answer the question “What’s your name?” or “Who are you?” but as you heard, simple questions as such can also be misunderstood. But why? What causes this misunderstanding? I’m Edith your host and in this podcast, we’re talking about some funny language related misunderstandings and why they happen. So, stay with me to see if any of these mishaps ring a bell for you?

سوء تفاهم برای همه پیش اومده و خیل ی هم مسئله رایجی هست، حتی زمانی که داری با هم زبانت صحبت میکنی! اکثرا هم با یه عذرخواهی ساده و یه

شوخی کوچولو برطرف میشه. البته ممکنه قضیه جدی تر باشه اما اکثر اوقات مشکل خاصی ایجاد نمیکنه. اما زمانی که بحث مکالمه دو غیر همزبان پیش

میاد که سعی میکنن به زبان همدیگه صحبت کنن اتفاقات خیلی خنده دار یادی میتونه بیفته که گاهی خجالت آور و شوکه کننده هم میشه. امروز میخوایم

در مورد سوء تفاهم های بین فارسی و انگلیسی زبونها صحبت کنیم و ببینیم برای چی پیش میان.

So, I was around 25 at that time and I used to work in a well-known Korean company, where I sometimes had to accompany foreign representatives of different companies for their business deals and stuff. So, one summer afternoon, around 3:00 we had just finished a meeting and were headed back to our office. So, we, I mean 3 Korean high-ranking representatives and I, are on our way back but since the job is done and we are almost about the closing time, they suggested they’d first drop me off at home instead of the office, and they’d go back to their hotel. Happy about the fact that I’d be going

home a bit earlier, I directed the driver to my address and when we arrived, I got off the car, thanked them and as we Iranians do, …

B: Oh, I know what you’re gonna say…[laughingly]

E: [laughing] yeah, so, just trying to be polite I said “would you like to come in and have some coffee?”

B: Oh, no! [laughingly]

E: [laughingly] God! you won’t believe how fast they were to get off the car ready to come in!

[everyone laughs]

E: I was only expecting an Iranian type of taarof or let’s say, back-and-forth kind of pleasantries. But I couldn’t believe what I’d put myself into.

[everyone laughs]

بیخود نیست میگن تعارف اومد نیومد داره! داستانی که براتون تعریف کردم کاملا واقعیه و فقط زمانی که نماینده های کره ای از م اشین پیاده شدن تا بیان تو

و قهوه ای که بهشون تعارف کرده بودم رو بخورن باید قیافه منو میدیدین! قبل از اون هیچوقت تا این حد از اینکه تعارف کرده بودم از خودم عصبانی نشده

بودم! البته که یه قهوه واقعا چیزی نبود، اما اینکه من فقط تعارف کردم و اینطور غافلگیر شدم درسی بهم داد که هرگز فراموش نمی کنم. این یه سوء تفاهم

به خاطر بلد نبودن زبان نبود، بلکه به دلیل عدم آگاهی از فرهنگ! خب، کلمات این بخش رو با هم مرور کنیم: گفتم یکی از مسئولیت های من این بود که

نمایندگان رده بالا یا high-ranking representatives رو برای برگزاری جلسات همراهی یا accompany کنم. یه روز بعد از یکی از این

جلسات ک ه داشتیم بر میگشتیم، راننده منو جلوی خونه پیاده کرد. پیاده کردن به انگلیسی میشه off sbdrop . زمانی که تعارف می کنید و مثلا چیزی رو

رد می کنید ولی در نهایت قبول می کنید به این کا ر در انگلیسی میگیم forth kind of pleasantries-and-back .

B: Oh, you’re absolutely right. You mentioned back-and-forth pleasantries and it suddenly hurt so bad [laughingly]. I have a similar story, something I remember from when I was only 14 up until now!

E: Oh!

B: You bet! See, we had some family friends who were not Iranians, they were from the far East. We have really different customs when it comes to taarof.

E: Yeah, right. I don’t think any nation has so much taarof as we do.

B: So, as I was saying, once we were invited to their place and as we were just hanging around the house playing and having fun, I noticed some very tempting chocolate cupcakes in a covered cake pedestal on the table. So, I was just waiting for the right moment to gobble one up. So, it was after dinner and the hostess took the serving dish around to offer some. She approached me saying “would you like some?” and I was just trying my best to be a well-behaved boy, and so I said “No, thanks” on the first time and I waited for her to insist! And guess what happened!

E: Oh nooooo!!!!

B: Yeah, simple as that. She just took the cupcakes away and put them back in the cupboard! So, my dreams came crashing down!

E: Oh, that was painful!

B: So painful indeed!

خلاصه که تع ارف کردنهای ما ایرانیا میتونه خیلی کار دستمون بده. این موضوع انقدر برای یه سری از فرهنگها مثل فرهنگ غرب ناآشناست که حتی معادل

لغوی دقیقی در انگلیسی براش ندارن، بطوری که خود کلمه تعارف کم کم داره وارد زبان انگلیسی میشه و بکار میره.

توی داستانی که از علیرضا شنیدیم. چندتا کلمه خوب داشتیم که بد نیست اشاره ای بهشون بکنیم. کاپ کیکهایی که هنوز دل علیرضا رو میسوزونن توی

ظرف شیرینی خوری پایه دار بود که بهش میگن pedestal یا pedestal dish به استرس کلمه دقت کنین که روی بخش اول کلمه ست. وقتی

چیزی رو با ولع می خورین یا به اصطلاح می بلعین به این کار میگیم gobble که یه فعل هست. مثلا He wanted to gobble the cake. ولی

خب خانم میزبان یا همون hostess مجالی بهش نداد و کیکها رو قایم کرد .

E: But you might think this can only happen when you don’t speak a certain language but language is only one part of it. Culture has such a big role.

B: Absolutely right. Language and culture are intertwined. Sometimes the impact of culture is so great that even your body language; something you expect everyone to understood, might get misunderstood. Like you may have gestures in your culture that can be offensive in another.

E: Right, and something as simple as nodding or shaking the head. You see, here in Iran, if we want to show agreement we nod, I mean we move our head downwards and if we wanna show disagreement, we tilt our head upwards. In some cultures, tilting the head upwards means yes and shaking the head from side to side is a sign of no.

B: Seriously? That’s weird.

گفتیم فرهنگ و زبان رو نمیشه از هم جدا دونست چون در هم تنیده یا intertwined هستن و مثالی هم که زدیم در مورد زبان بدن بود. گفتیم یه سری

از حرکات دست یا gestures در یه فرهنگ خوبن در حالیکه در یه فرهنگ دیگه ممکنه توهین آمیز یا offensive تلقی بشن یا حتی گیچ کننده باشن،

مثل حرکت سر به سمت بالا یا upward tilt که معانی مختلفی در فرهنگهای مختلف داره.

E: Yeah, in my previous job, we would mean no but they thought we said yes and that was a problem. [laughingly]

B: But apart from culture and body language, a great deal of misunderstanding occurs due to mispronunciation. Especially, when two similar-sounding words are confused.

E: Oh, yeah. This reminded me of my very first day at work. You see, I was very young and inexperienced and it was the very first day I went to work. I mean, I went for the interview, got accepted right away and they asked me to stay till the end of the working hours of the very same day. So, as I said earlier, it was a Korean company, so, my manager and some colleagues were Koreans.

B: Did they speak English or Korean? Or perhaps Farsi?

E: Well, a combination of all the three! A little of each. [laughingly]

B: Oh, that’s even harder, especially with the difference of the accent.

E: Anyway, the manager came to my desk, put the big pile of paper in his hand down and said: “Edith, please give me a copy!” and left. So, very excited to do my very first task, I loaded the copy machine with paper and made a copy of the documents. I think they were something around 50 pages. I put them in a cover and handed them to him. He looks at the copies, looks at me puzzled and asks “What are these?” “The copies you asked for.” I said. “Me? When?” he said. Now, I’m beginning to feel nervous when he suddenly says: “No, no…I asked for a copy, not copy…a cup of copy!”

B: Oh wow...he wanted a coffee [laughingly]

E: Yeah. You see there is no “f” sound in Korean and they use “p” instead. I was soooo embarrassed and nervous that I’d wasted so much paper, I kept apologizing for the next 30 minutes, until he said “Are you going to give me a copy [coffee] or not?”

[everybody laughs]

So, what about you, dear listeners? Has ever anyone misunderstood your English? What was the cause? Write it in the comments and let’s find out the reasons this might happen.

تا اینجا متوجه شدیم که سوء تفاهم پیش اومده در زبان های متفاوت میتونه دلایل مختلفی داشته باشه. این دلایل میتونن فرهنگی یا صرف ا زبانی باشن. مثلا

تلفظ اشتباه یه کلمه میتونه یه معنی دیگه ای رو برسونه و باعث سوتعبیر کل جمله بشه. مثل اتفاقی که در اولین روز کاریم برام پیش اومد حالا شما بهمون

بگین، آیا چنین تجربیاتی تا حالا داشتین؟ چه مشکلات یا احساسی در شما ایجاد کرد؟ توی کامنت برامون بنویسین.

If you’re listening to this part, it means you’ve stayed with us throughout this episode, for which we are absolutely grateful. This podcast was brought to you by Safit language academy’s content development department. All the scripts can be found and downloaded on Castbox, Spotify and Shenoto. Until next week stay safe stay tuned, bye!

Word or expression

Definition

Meaning in Farsi</p