We’ve uploaded a new version of lingopal, which is now available in 7 languages.

It’s still early days, and it’s only working on a handful of phones, but check it out and let us know what you think. Meanwhile we are working away on our beta version, which will be launched in all 22 languages, with many more coming.   

Pretending to be foreign in the hope of making one seem more attractive to the opposite sex is not an uncommon thing - I failed miserably as Viktor the Lithuanian poet, and Helmut the German conscientious objector, until Phillipe Jeanneau emerged, the sailor from Marseilles.

Back then I had a bare smattering of French words, but a passable accent and enough fabricated mistakes when speaking English worked wonders.

Of course they were never sustainable.

Rosie caught me out the following night when she passed me in a bar as I was talking to a friend about rugby.

Tamara (I placed bogus emphasis on the second syllable of her name) overheard me talking normally on the phone, and things really hit the skids on the night I made moves on a young lady who turned out to be a French teacher.

Much the same thing happens in Foux Da Fa Fa, an amusing parody of ’60s French songs by Flight of the Conchords, the NZ duo who recently won a Grammy award.

Enjoy.

I loved that movie. But I tend to get the idea that it was something else lost, not the language. I guess that was the point.

I’m sure there are 100’s of good language confusion stories where we wish we had Lingopal. Here is one of mine.

I was staying in a backpackers in Sweden and walked into the shared bathroom. There were two guys there speaking German (I think). I was about to walk into the shower cubicle when I thought about tinea (athletes foot) and decided to ask the guys what they thought.

“Do you need to wear thongs in the shower?” I asked.

“Sorry?” one replied.

“Thongs, is it a good idea to wear them in the shower?” I answered.

“Um, I’m not sure. I guess it’s up to you.” he said in a very puzzled voice.

So I decided, what the heck and had a shower anyway. As soon as I was in my shower cubicle, I heard them starting to laugh. I picked out the word flip-flops in their discussion and realised my mistake.

In Australia, we call flip-flops, those casual rubber shoes you wear to the beach, thongs. But in most of the world, a thong is a G-String.

Um, yeah.

For a short time only, you can try out all the Flirta and Voyage text and voice versions absolutely free!

That’s right, be multi-lingual on your mobile for nada, nicht, zero!

In return for this great offer, we ask that you drop back in and tell us what you loved about lingopal, and what needs more work.

You can download the applications from here.

And then register to get the full versions here.