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

  • Daemon Silverstein
    3•3 months ago

    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•3 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.