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Hello good-bye (Dutch/German)

This is story on Dutch-German language confusion. A German friend of mine was working in a homeless shelter in The Hague, serving coffee one afternoon. Without thinking, he automatically greeted one guy who came up to the counter with the question, Alles klar?, which means in German, "Everything OK?" The visitor however, heard the Dutch phrase Alles is klaar, which means "Everything's finished", and promptly walked away again. So much for friendly service.

Sent by: Iain

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Anonymous 2011-07-03

alles is klaar means everything is ready not everything is finished

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Galadriel 2009-08-27

Oh, I think German and Dutch are very closely related to each other.

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