Bilingual pun

A bilingual pun is a pun created by a word or phrase in one language sounding similar to a different word or phrase in another language. Bilingual puns are often created by mixing languages, and represent a form of macaronic language.

A general technique in bilingual punning is homophonic translation, which consists of translating a passage from the source language into a homophonic (but likely nonsensical) passage in the target language. This requires the audience to understand both the surface, nonsensical translation as well as the source text – the former then sounds like the latter spoken in a foreign accent.

"What did the computer order from the vending machine?" "Saftware." Saft is the German word for juice. By replacing the O in "software" to an A, it becomes "saftware", literally meaning "juiceware".

An updated version of the famous Who's On First? comedy routine by Abbott and Costello called "Hu's on First" is based on confusing Chinese and other names with English words.

Luis van Rooten's English-French Mots D'Heures: Gousses, Rames (1967), translates the beginning of "Humpty Dumpty":

The original English text reads:

while the translation, which imitates the sound of someone reading the English text with a French accent, literally means:

Many kosher restaurants have names punning on the type of food they sell and well-known Hebrew phrases. The kosher Mexican restaurant Burrito'lam references the Hebrew phrase meaning "eternal covenant", and the kosher barbecue restaurant HaKadosh BBQ, refers to the phrase HaKadosh Barukh Hu ("the Holy, Blessed be He") a term used to refer to God in Jewish tradition.

A Danish ice cream ad with the caption, "Take it Is'i". "Is" is the Danish word for ice cream, and Is'i sounds like "easy".

At the beginning of his short story "The Dead Lady of Clown Town", science fiction author Cordwainer Smith wrote:

In Chinese, An-fang can mean "Peace Square", while Anfang is the German word for "beginning."

- I run each teen me?

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