What’s the biggest cultural miscommunication you’ve had while traveling?
October 22, 2025
Mention any examples.
26 comments
Was on holidays in France with the family and went to a beautiful restaurant overlooking the sea.
The waiter seated us and took our order and left our table.
The owner walked past us heard my boys talking about Liverpool vs. United, stomped over like thundercloud and told us that they were closing and we couldn’t eat.
The waiter ran over and he and the owner had a loud discussion.
***”Sorry, Marc thought that you were English.***
***I told him you were Irish. Marc’s very sorry, he will cook for you and you can eat for free”***
An Egyptian masseur pointed at my swimming shorts mistaking them for regular shorts.
Me not wanting to disrespect Egyptian massage customs confidently took them off hoping he would hand me a towel.
The rest of the massage was awkward.
This happened in 2004, I was on a high school trip in Bulgaria. As a Macedonian native speaker it is very close to Bulgarian, but totally different modern phrases.
I wanted to buy CDs with Bulgarian music and asked for “cedinja” that is how we are calling them in my local dialect and was offered strainers which are called “cedilo” 😄😄 the CDs were called “cedejki” in Bulgarian. Close enough but still so much different.
I bought few CDs and when I opened then at home I saw that they were free samples 😄😄😄
I wouldn’t say I was shocked, but when I was in Italy, I noticed that some Italian women wear boots even when it’s warm.
I also noticed that some Italian men whistle from time to time.
And a couple of times, I observed that when friends meet, they don’t just shake hands but also exchange kisses on the cheek.
Not being used to 24 clock and the look of shock when I told someone in Poland I would pick up my luggage at 3:30.
Similarly to the Macedonian/Bulgarian comment, Croatian and Serbian also have some funny false friends. Or rather, Croatian and Serbian slang words sometimes have different meanings.
For instance, “bulja” means “head” in Zagreb slang (Croatia), but in Serbia it means “ass”.
“Bariti” means “to hit on” in Belgrade, but it means “to make out” in Zagreb.
All of this can lead to some pretty funny situations.
In Paris, I ordered a coffee with oat milk. Turns out, to French ears, that sounds a lot like coffee without milk. So they brought me a black coffee. Didn’t have the heart to complain/ send it back
This is not really travel-related, but it’s a cultural miscommunication anyhow.
I once knew a German Erasmus student, a girl from a well-to-do noble family. Her parents had given her a horse, and she excitedly told us — in Germanised English — “I became a horse!” All of us who knew German quickly figured it out, but the others thought the poor girl had lost her marbles.
I didn’t understood that in germany you ask for receipt and pay right at the table. In italy you usually go to the counter, tell them your table and pay there.
Awkard moment since I didn’t even had my first german course and understood 1/10 german words
First time I went to southern Spain, Malaga (I was about 20 years old first time traveling) I thought everyone seemed so angry.
It was because they speak quite loudly and used their hands a lot when they spoke (hand gesticulation. “speaking with you hands” I dont know how to call it..).
We dont do that unless we are angry or upset.
It took a while until I realized that they just are like that.
I was in New York and said to someone i was going out to smoke a fag.
I misunderstood coachsurfing for kite surfing in a conversation with a German, turned in to the most confusing conversation I’ve ever had after I told him an anecdote about my friend who tried “that” once, got caught in an upwind and flew in to the roof of a building next to the beach.
Edit: LOL, it was unintended but as it became another misunderstanding I will let it stand. It should of course be couchsurfing. Thanks for pointing it out.
Apparently, in Italy fish on the menu are priced by the amount of an ounce. We though that it would mean the price of the meal. The bill turned out waaay more expensive than we would thought. Took a bunch out of our holiday budget… quite embarrassing.
My wife and I visited Bologna where our son was living in a student flat. When the three of us turned up at our hotel the manager didn’t want us going upstairs – he thought we were swingers or something similar
Norwegian here. When I first moved to Copenhagen I couldn’t fathom why everyone kept mocking Jewish people, or why they seemed to consider rock musicians a societal threat. Turns out I misheard the word “jyder” (people from Jutland) as “jøder” (Jews), and didn’t know that the Danish term “rockere” referred to violent gangs.
For me the usual is the assumption that I’m a sex worker whenever I’m asked to confirm my employment.
“Lawyer” as a term does not exist in England. You’re either a barrister (making court appearances) or you’re a solicitor (doing all the paperwork and instructing the barrister to do the court appearances.
“Solicitor” does not translate well.
Sometimes I get a better result by saying the French “advocat”.
I went to Italy with a couple friends. We went to a little bakery to get breakfast, one guy wanted a large Latte so that’s what he ordered. The lady behind the counter didn’t speak a word of English. She gave him a weird look but didn’t say anything.
He was served a tall glass of milk.
I lived in Germany for almost a year before I found out the “ts” tongue click with the upwards head nod is not a thing outside the eastern mediterranean region.
My german roommate told me one day that he finds it funny and that he had to figure out it means “no” by himself. I then had flashbacks of all the wierd looks I got everytime I did it.
Went to England and wasn’t prepared for the “How are you?” greetings. You’re just supposed to say “fine” – not explain in detail.
First time in a Japanese pub (only non Japanese person there). I wanted to order sushi, but I wanted to know what exactly was inside. The waiter thought I was literally asking what sushi is. So I ordered anyway. The sushi was brought by the chef, who stayed to watch me “try sushi for the first time.” They both seemed pretty happy when I said I like it.
I think the funniest one happened in a work trip xD
A Brazilian (me, who lives in NL), two Germans and 2 Brits walk into the hotel, we check in and before we go up to our rooms we discuss when we would like to regroup in the lobby to go out for dinner. We agreed “half seven”.
At 18:30 I meet with the Germans in the lobby and we wait. About 15 minutes later we start to get worried and call the Brits. They’re very confused because we’re calling them 45 minutes early xD
Turns out that “half seven” in British English means half PAST seven (or in a literal translation to Portuguese, “seven and a half”), not half TO seven like it means in German and Dutch which is what myself and the Germans were used to
So that’s how the team agreed that we would always use X hours Y minutes when discussing times LOL
I asked for a latte in italy. Then the waiter asked if I really wanted hot milk. And I said sure. Well I was surprised.
When we were in China, we wanted to buy a couple of tea cups, and since we didn’t speak any Chinese, we tried to sign that we wanted two by holding up our thumb and index finger.
The shopkeeper looked at us, smiled, and suddenly started packing eight cups. We had no idea what was going on until someone explained that this hand sign actually means eight in China, not two.
That’s also when we realized that every time we’d been signing “one” before, people just thought we were saying “okay.” No wonder a few earlier transactions didn’t go as planned.
So yeah, somewhere in Beijing there’s probably a shop owner who still remembers the foreigners who accidentally tried to buy an entire tea set instead of two cups
2nd hand story **BUT** : a French girl looking for the English word for a *seal* in English, couldn’t find it , so just winged it with the French word in an English-ish accent .
She said “I went to the beach , I saw ze phoque , I LOVE phoque”
She was popular apparently . It was in Dublin talking to an Irish guy . I hope it’s true .
Calling a teacher “Du” instead of “Sie” while attending primary school in Germany
My friend wanted to eat bull penis in Asia, and after the umpteenth attempt of asking around at various restaurants, we were referred to a theater where we could also dine.
After asking the waiter, we got to speak to the manager and after we explained our story, the manager told us to be patient, and then walked away.
Some time later he came back with the most flamboyant gay transgender prostitute and he asked us if this is what we wanted.
There was some confusion, and during that commotion it was made clear to us that apparently all along, what we were asking for at these restaurants, is that we wanted to eat dick.
26 comments
Was on holidays in France with the family and went to a beautiful restaurant overlooking the sea.
The waiter seated us and took our order and left our table.
The owner walked past us heard my boys talking about Liverpool vs. United, stomped over like thundercloud and told us that they were closing and we couldn’t eat.
The waiter ran over and he and the owner had a loud discussion.
***”Sorry, Marc thought that you were English.***
***I told him you were Irish. Marc’s very sorry, he will cook for you and you can eat for free”***
An Egyptian masseur pointed at my swimming shorts mistaking them for regular shorts.
Me not wanting to disrespect Egyptian massage customs confidently took them off hoping he would hand me a towel.
The rest of the massage was awkward.
This happened in 2004, I was on a high school trip in Bulgaria. As a Macedonian native speaker it is very close to Bulgarian, but totally different modern phrases.
I wanted to buy CDs with Bulgarian music and asked for “cedinja” that is how we are calling them in my local dialect and was offered strainers which are called “cedilo” 😄😄 the CDs were called “cedejki” in Bulgarian. Close enough but still so much different.
I bought few CDs and when I opened then at home I saw that they were free samples 😄😄😄
I wouldn’t say I was shocked, but when I was in Italy, I noticed that some Italian women wear boots even when it’s warm.
I also noticed that some Italian men whistle from time to time.
And a couple of times, I observed that when friends meet, they don’t just shake hands but also exchange kisses on the cheek.
Not being used to 24 clock and the look of shock when I told someone in Poland I would pick up my luggage at 3:30.
Similarly to the Macedonian/Bulgarian comment, Croatian and Serbian also have some funny false friends. Or rather, Croatian and Serbian slang words sometimes have different meanings.
For instance, “bulja” means “head” in Zagreb slang (Croatia), but in Serbia it means “ass”.
“Bariti” means “to hit on” in Belgrade, but it means “to make out” in Zagreb.
All of this can lead to some pretty funny situations.
In Paris, I ordered a coffee with oat milk. Turns out, to French ears, that sounds a lot like coffee without milk. So they brought me a black coffee. Didn’t have the heart to complain/ send it back
This is not really travel-related, but it’s a cultural miscommunication anyhow.
I once knew a German Erasmus student, a girl from a well-to-do noble family. Her parents had given her a horse, and she excitedly told us — in Germanised English — “I became a horse!” All of us who knew German quickly figured it out, but the others thought the poor girl had lost her marbles.
I didn’t understood that in germany you ask for receipt and pay right at the table. In italy you usually go to the counter, tell them your table and pay there.
Awkard moment since I didn’t even had my first german course and understood 1/10 german words
First time I went to southern Spain, Malaga (I was about 20 years old first time traveling) I thought everyone seemed so angry.
It was because they speak quite loudly and used their hands a lot when they spoke (hand gesticulation. “speaking with you hands” I dont know how to call it..).
We dont do that unless we are angry or upset.
It took a while until I realized that they just are like that.
I was in New York and said to someone i was going out to smoke a fag.
I misunderstood coachsurfing for kite surfing in a conversation with a German, turned in to the most confusing conversation I’ve ever had after I told him an anecdote about my friend who tried “that” once, got caught in an upwind and flew in to the roof of a building next to the beach.
Edit: LOL, it was unintended but as it became another misunderstanding I will let it stand. It should of course be couchsurfing. Thanks for pointing it out.
Apparently, in Italy fish on the menu are priced by the amount of an ounce. We though that it would mean the price of the meal. The bill turned out waaay more expensive than we would thought. Took a bunch out of our holiday budget… quite embarrassing.
My wife and I visited Bologna where our son was living in a student flat. When the three of us turned up at our hotel the manager didn’t want us going upstairs – he thought we were swingers or something similar
Norwegian here. When I first moved to Copenhagen I couldn’t fathom why everyone kept mocking Jewish people, or why they seemed to consider rock musicians a societal threat. Turns out I misheard the word “jyder” (people from Jutland) as “jøder” (Jews), and didn’t know that the Danish term “rockere” referred to violent gangs.
For me the usual is the assumption that I’m a sex worker whenever I’m asked to confirm my employment.
“Lawyer” as a term does not exist in England. You’re either a barrister (making court appearances) or you’re a solicitor (doing all the paperwork and instructing the barrister to do the court appearances.
“Solicitor” does not translate well.
Sometimes I get a better result by saying the French “advocat”.
I went to Italy with a couple friends. We went to a little bakery to get breakfast, one guy wanted a large Latte so that’s what he ordered. The lady behind the counter didn’t speak a word of English. She gave him a weird look but didn’t say anything.
He was served a tall glass of milk.
I lived in Germany for almost a year before I found out the “ts” tongue click with the upwards head nod is not a thing outside the eastern mediterranean region.
My german roommate told me one day that he finds it funny and that he had to figure out it means “no” by himself. I then had flashbacks of all the wierd looks I got everytime I did it.
Went to England and wasn’t prepared for the “How are you?” greetings. You’re just supposed to say “fine” – not explain in detail.
First time in a Japanese pub (only non Japanese person there). I wanted to order sushi, but I wanted to know what exactly was inside. The waiter thought I was literally asking what sushi is. So I ordered anyway. The sushi was brought by the chef, who stayed to watch me “try sushi for the first time.” They both seemed pretty happy when I said I like it.
I think the funniest one happened in a work trip xD
A Brazilian (me, who lives in NL), two Germans and 2 Brits walk into the hotel, we check in and before we go up to our rooms we discuss when we would like to regroup in the lobby to go out for dinner. We agreed “half seven”.
At 18:30 I meet with the Germans in the lobby and we wait. About 15 minutes later we start to get worried and call the Brits. They’re very confused because we’re calling them 45 minutes early xD
Turns out that “half seven” in British English means half PAST seven (or in a literal translation to Portuguese, “seven and a half”), not half TO seven like it means in German and Dutch which is what myself and the Germans were used to
So that’s how the team agreed that we would always use X hours Y minutes when discussing times LOL
I asked for a latte in italy. Then the waiter asked if I really wanted hot milk. And I said sure. Well I was surprised.
When we were in China, we wanted to buy a couple of tea cups, and since we didn’t speak any Chinese, we tried to sign that we wanted two by holding up our thumb and index finger.
The shopkeeper looked at us, smiled, and suddenly started packing eight cups. We had no idea what was going on until someone explained that this hand sign actually means eight in China, not two.
That’s also when we realized that every time we’d been signing “one” before, people just thought we were saying “okay.” No wonder a few earlier transactions didn’t go as planned.
So yeah, somewhere in Beijing there’s probably a shop owner who still remembers the foreigners who accidentally tried to buy an entire tea set instead of two cups
2nd hand story **BUT** : a French girl looking for the English word for a *seal* in English, couldn’t find it , so just winged it with the French word in an English-ish accent .
She said “I went to the beach , I saw ze phoque , I LOVE phoque”
She was popular apparently . It was in Dublin talking to an Irish guy . I hope it’s true .
Calling a teacher “Du” instead of “Sie” while attending primary school in Germany
My friend wanted to eat bull penis in Asia, and after the umpteenth attempt of asking around at various restaurants, we were referred to a theater where we could also dine.
After asking the waiter, we got to speak to the manager and after we explained our story, the manager told us to be patient, and then walked away.
Some time later he came back with the most flamboyant gay transgender prostitute and he asked us if this is what we wanted.
There was some confusion, and during that commotion it was made clear to us that apparently all along, what we were asking for at these restaurants, is that we wanted to eat dick.