Most embarassing mistakes when trying to speak Mandarin?

Mandarin 普通话
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There were so many for me, but the worst was probably right at the beginning when I went for lunch in Beijing after class and wanted to order food in the university canteen. I couldn’t understand the menu so thought I just ask for something we had just learned in class: beef
Unfortunately I confused the words for 牛 and 女 and instead of 牛肉 asked for 女肉.
After being told that they dont serve this I repeatedly asked again to be served “fried woman’s meat” (I didnt know what else to ask for) and even wrote down 女肉 on a piece of paper thinking maybe just my pronunciation was wrong. After that I was banned from eating at that canteen.

I never made that mistake again…

Anyone else?

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I think the classic one early on is saying 請吻 instead of 請問… i.e. please kiss me instead of excuse me …

請吻 meme
請吻 meme600×767 97.7 KB

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Haha yes that one is dangerous.

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During a Chinese lesson at uni. Had to describe a classmate as an exercise. Instead of saying about my chatty classmate that he was loud (吵 chǎo) I said he was ugly (丑 chǒu). Dead silence in the classroom and I didn’t get why until someone told me😱

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oh my god!!! :joy::joy: I’m not sure I’m ever going to be able to open my mouth in front of Chinese people after this thread :joy::joy::joy:

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haha, it sounds scary, but it actually is not. Chinese people realize that foreigners do not speak fluent Mandarin and struggle with tones. In case you say something embarrassing they will assume you made a mistake or they misunderstood you due to your pronunciation.
You will never get into real trouble. A few smiles are the worst thing that can happen really.

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We’ve had so many new students of Mandarin in the past couple years I need to bring this topic back! :laughing:

What was the most embarrassing mistake you made when speaking Chinese?

If you’ve been here before, have you had any other funny mistakes since?

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I actually made one in a semi-formal situation last weekend at a store in Beijing :rofl:

I was looking for a real-leather passport case as a gift so I wanted to ask for real 皮革 (pi ge) but instead contrived to say 屁股 (pi gu) :joy:

For those who don’t know - 屁股 means backside (to put it politely).

The 售货员 let out a smile but I immediately corrected myself.

Those stories tend to stick with you :joy:

Have you made any in Taipei yet Marine? Always takes some days to get back into the swing of it doesn’t it :upside_down_face:

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oh that’s a good one :laughing:

I haven’t made any so far I think, only because I am having a hard time just speaking Mandarin again in real life situations, and when people see I am struggling even just a little to find my words or make a proper sentence, they speak English directly :sweat_smile: probably to help and make things easier/faster; but progress is slow!

I will of course update this thread as soon as I have one to share haha

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You got this!

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In a student canteen in Dalian, I mixed up zi xing che 自行车 and xi hong shi 西红柿.
Yeah, I ordered fresh bicycles instead of fresh tomatoes.

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Good one!!

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Real backside :joy::joy::joy: I was laughing so hard when reading this story

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It can’t get more epic than this. You even wrote it down, 女肉 :joy::joy::joy: so funny!! Thanks for sharing :grinning::grinning:

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I always thought 西红柿 sounds like 小红书. Also always get confused between 出租车 (chu zu che) and 自行车 (zi xing che) !!
My friend who’s a native speaker thought I’m ridiculous :joy::joy:

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Those moments never leave you!!