IdiomDaily LifeFrench

Une tour de Babel

Meaning: A place of hopeless confusion, especially one where nobody speaks the same language.

Literally: A tower of Babel

Example: “Avec vingt nationalités autour de la table, la réunion était une vraie tour de Babel.” — With twenty nationalities around the table, the meeting was a real Tower of Babel.

English equivalent: A Tower of Babel

Equivalents in other languages

Origin: From Genesis, where humanity builds a tower to reach heaven and has its single language confounded into many so the work cannot continue. The name puns on Hebrew balal, to confuse.

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