Emojis to represent a girl's night out was translated as 'Bring any girl to a dance and she turns into a party animal'

An 'illness' emoji was interpreted as 'bicep implants' by French Canadians and 'smelly armpits' by Arabic experts

Each of these symbol-based 'sentences' were shown to translators who


Emoji is tipped to become the world's second truly global language and is the fastest growing form of communication in English speaking countries.

But despite its ubiquitous use, the 'universal' symbols can be easily misunderstood.

Now the world's largest online translation company has put the emoji's universality to the test, with often hilarious results.

'Universal' emoji symbols can be easily misunderstood. An emoji intended to show a speechless person (left), was misinterpreted by Arabic translators as saying 'No way! shocked'. Another symbol (right) intended to mean 'stay away from me,' was interpreted as saying 'stop now' in Spanish

One Hour Translation wanted to find out whether speakers of different languages interpret emoji similarly, or whether the symbols effectively have their own 'regional dialects'.

It came up with 13 sentences and expressions in emoji, for which it had pre-conceived definitions.

The team then asked a handful of translators across 11 different languages - French, French Canadian, Spanish, Spanish (Latin America), German, Hindi, Greek, Hebrew, Japanese, Chinese (Cantonese), and Arabic - to explain what each symbol means.

An emoji intended to show a speechless person, was largely interpreted correctly by the interpreters, but the Arabic translators thought it meant 'No way! Shocked'.

Another symbol, of a girl with crossed arms, meaning 'stay away from me,' was interpreted as 'don't mess with me' by Hindi translators and 'stop now' or 'Kung Fu fighting' in Spanish.

Most translators interpreted two emoji showing a sick face and a flexed arm to be related to sickness and getting better.

But French-Canadians thought of this as 'bicep mplants' and Arabic translators believed it to represent 'my armpits are smelly' - making it a bad choice to send when cancelling a date, for example.

Most translators interpreted two emoji showing a sick face and a flexed arm to be related to sickness and getting better (shown left), apart from Arabic translators who thought it meant 'my armpits are smelly'. Hindi translators thought the 'he farted' emoji (right) meant 'Look, there he goes'

An image of the moon together with a sleeping face and a hand gesture showing satisfaction was intended to mean 'good night, sleep well,' but instead it was said to mean 'when the moon is out it's time to catch some zzz's' by Spanish translators

Most German translators saw the same symbols as the 'strength of silence', and a Chinese translator was particularly dramatic explaining, 'I'll not say anything otherwise I'll be dead'.

An emoji message showing a pointing finger followed by a gust of air is intended to mean 'he farted'.

French translators found a more poetic meaning of 'blowing hot air in your direction,' while Hindi translators interpreted it as 'look there he goes' and Greek linguists said 'go with the flow'.

Arabic translators thought it meant 'you stink!'

An image of the moon together with a sleeping face and a hand gesture showing satisfaction was intended to mean 'good night, sleep well,' but instead it was said to mean 'when the moon is out it's time to catch some zzz's' by Spanish translators, while German experts said it means 'to be out all night is great, but sleeping is better'.

A string of five emoji meaning 'New York, the city that never sleeps' garnered a curious response from Hindi translators.

The experts believed it meant 'it's better to hit the bed instead of pouring over world's mysteries', while Arabic linguists asked 'free this evening for a sleepover?' in response.

A string of five emoji meaning 'New York, the city that never sleeps' garnered a curious response from Hindi translators of 'it's better to hit the bed instead of poring over world's mysteries', while Arabic linguists asked 'free this evening for a sleepover?' in response

Emoji explaining that a person is going golfing with a colleague but is running late and will be there soon, (shown) was found to be one of the most challenging in the test. The French Canadian speakers translated it as 'my job as a caddie involves racing around all day for two golfers, but one day it's going to be my turn!'

Only Japanese and Arabic translators recognised a cocktail as a Pina Colada in a string of eight emoji, meaning 'I love dinner and drinks at sunset'.

Although there were markedly different interpretations of the heart.

For example Spanish (Latin America), Hindi, Greek and Hebrew translators all assigned the heart to a person, whereas German, Japanese, Chinese and Arabic experts assigned it to food and the love of eating.

Most surprisingly, the French translators did not even bother to translate the heart at all.

Greek linguist said the emoji means 'looking for a lover to dine and wine and drink cocktails while enjoying the sunset,' while Japanese translators came up with 'I love eating and drinking Pina Coladas at the beach'.

A more complex string of 10 emoji denoting a 'girl's night out' (shown top) unsurprisingly confused those surveyed. The French translator thought it meant 'Bring any girl to a dance club and she turns into a party animal. However, a string of symbols showing a camping trip (bottom) was more easily interpreted

A more complex string of 10 emoji denoting a 'girl's night out' unsurprisingly confused those surveyed.

French translators said: 'Bring any girl to a dance and she turns into a party animal'.

While the symbols were interpreted by Spanish linguists as 'a friendly outing involving alcohol turns into a musical event'.

More literal German translators thought the row of symbols meant: 'First we met, had some food and wine, some more cocktails, some music and more music and then we danced the bunny dance'.

All the translators understood a collection of symbols describing the events of a camping trip, but a Hindi translator took it to a deeper level, saying: 'I wish I could also leave my everyday routine aside and go for a camping and fishing trip to a lonely place.'

Meanwhile, a string of emoji explaining that a person is going golfing with a colleague but is running late and will be there soon, was found to be one of the most challenging in the test.

One of the French-Canadian translators was particularly optimistic: 'My job as a caddie involves racing around all day for two golfers, but one day it's going to be my turn!'

A Hindi translator described this as: 'Hard work and discipline are the key to success in life'.