'This temple is dedicated to Little Richard?': 15+ Hilarious travel miscommunications

Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor

Jun 13, 2024 11:00 AM EDT

As a tourist in a country you've never set foot in before, making a few language mistakes is inevitable. Lots of people will study up on the language before they ever set foot on a plane, but even so, it's way different in person. You can read a little translation book all you want, but when a local speaks to you, you're probably going to be stumped. These days, a lot of cell phones can instantly translate for us, but even then, there are bound to be a few mistakes along the way.

In a lot of European countries, the locals won't even bother speaking their language if they sense you're American. If you're stumbling to order a ham and cheese sandwich while in France, instead of letting you finish your broken sentence, they'll just start talking to you in perfect English. In other countries, though, or places that aren't typical tourist areas, you might have to resort to gesturing in order to explain what you mean. One person shared that they travelled to Greece, but because the word for "yes" sounds a lot like "no," they were mixed up the whole time. Even though they confused a bunch of locals with that, it's probably a funny vacation memory to them.

Next up, this grocery store manager was totally fine with letting another manager boss them around — until they created their own demise.