this post was submitted on 11 Sep 2024
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I get wrong numbers all the time in other languages. I only speak English fluently. The languages I studied previously were mainly in writing so speaking other languages is quite intimidating for me.

Top languages in my area: Spanish (mainly Mexico and Puerto Rico), Vietnamese, Korean, and Russian. I've also encountered Igbo, Yoruba, Arabic, and Haitian Creole.

Learning how to say something like "I only speak English" would be helpful as well.

I did find this website but I have no way of knowing how accurate it is:

https://www.indifferentlanguages.com/words/wrong_number

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 2 months ago (3 children)

int main() { printf("[you have the] wrong number");

return 0;

}

[–] abrahambelch 14 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I'd return a non-zero value so they know it's their fault ^^

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 months ago (3 children)

Excellent. Thank you. How do you pronounce () {?

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 months ago

open parentheses close parentheses open curly boi

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

Those are silent, they're there for history reasons.

rit de façon maniaque en français

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Oh See Paren Left Brace Whatmark

For loads of alternatives, see the Jargon File

[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 months ago

VERWÄHLT! .

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 months ago

As a practical point, saying it in English will almost certainly communicate what you need to communicate. Almost everyone who makes international calls will recognize that you're speaking English even if they don't understand what you're saying, which suggests that the Russian or Korean speaking person they're trying to reach is not at that number.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago
[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago (1 children)

“U bent verkeerd verbonden” (for calls)

“U heeft het verkeerde nummer” (generic)

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Punnological the first sentence can also mean; 'your bandage has been applied incorrectly'.

It's hardly relevant, but I felt like sharing that

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

When you try to call the Red Cross to ask why you failed the first aid exam 😄

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Or when you try to file a complaint with the hospital, but they hang up on you every time...

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I'm really curious to learn how you get calls in so many different languages. I could definitely see Spanish, English, and maybe Vietnamese all being spoken in a general geographic area, but you listed a lot of diverse languages. Pretty cool if that's really all within one area!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

I would love to know also. They are all spoken here for sure (quite a large population of people who speak the languages I listed) but what confuses me is the area codes are usually not my region for these calls.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

Use google translate, it has lots of languages to transcribe to

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago

☠️ 📵 ☠️

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Uzran , laqad ittasalta birragami alkhata>

It means " sorry , you had the wrong number " in standard Arabic...

Ana atahaddathu al-injliziata faqat >

It means " I only speak English "

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

This is helpful. Thank you

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Simpler to say is

Raqam ghalat

That's what I say, you could throw in a sorry at the end

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Possible too , but I wrote the standard way because Arabs understand it no matter what their dialect is

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

In Brazil, there are regional variations and word/phrasing variations as well.

Formally:

  • "Você ligou para o número errado" (you called the wrong number)
  • "Você discou o número errado" (you dialed for the wrong number )
  • "Você está ligando para o número errado" (we call it the "gerúndio", something like "-ing", as in "You're calling the wrong number")

Informally/casually:

  • "Discou errado, irmão" / "Discou errado, mano" / "Discou errado, cara" / "Discou errado, mermão" ("dialed wrongly, bro", with "bro" variations across Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro (the latter being the latter variation))
  • "Tu ligasse errado, visse" (some Brazilian northeast states, something like "Thou calledsth wrongly, see?")
  • "Né aqui não, moço" (Minas Gerais, something like "It's not here, boy")

There are lots of other variations and I'm not really aware of all of them.

Also, the way I answer depends a lot on multiple factors such as: my emotional state (wrath? Sad? Okay? Excitedly happy (rarely)?), my current pace (rushing? Chilling?), among others. Generally, "Não é aqui não" (the Minas Gerais variation without the ending "moço" and a fully spelled "Não é" instead of "Né", because I'm originally from interior of São Paulo state but highly culturally influenced by a part of the family from Minas Gerais).

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

For European Portuguese it's the top choice. Or replace the first two words with "tu ligaste" for informal. You can always just answer with "Funerária pizaria Abel Frade, onde a perda da manhã é o almoço à tarde, como posso ajudar?" and that'll get the desired response.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Du har ringt fel nummer.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

We just say "pomyłka" (pol. mistake, error)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Instead of memorizing different phrases in different languages , a good advice would be to change your number if posible , or use a blocker to block strange numbers

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

I appreciate it, but I can't do either unfortunately since I have medical issues and need to answer many unknown numbers.