FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Things that sound better in foreign languages
Old Aug 23, 2013 | 9:23 pm
  #54  
BuildingMyBento
formerly known as Tad's Broiled Steaks
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Originally Posted by uastarflyer
Most foods.

And patisserie beats "donut shop"
Chinese doesn't make any non-Chinese food sound good. Not that it's a language for sore ears to begin with, but... Japanese OTOH can give me a chuckle.

Muffin, for instance. In Chinese, it's 松饼 sōng​bǐng. In Japanese, it's マフィン, or "mafin." Tacking onto this, 蓝莓松饼 lán​méisōng​bǐng, or blueberry muffin. For Japanese it becomes ブルーベリ マフィン, or "buruuberi mafin." Getting more ridiculous, chocolate chip blueberry muffin would add 巧克力脆片 qiǎo​kè​lì​cuì​piàn (qiǎo​kè​lì​ somewhat sounds like chocolate, mind you) and チョコチップ "choko chippu." Japanese is great; just open an English recipe book.

Anticlimactically, muffins in both Japan and China are terrible.
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