“At cross purposes”in other languages

Same idea, different pictures

Cantonese puts it most comically: 鸡同鸭讲, a chicken talking to a duck. Each speaks its own language and neither understands a word.

French makes it a cart. Hue and dia were the carter's calls to turn a horse one way or the other; a team given both at once goes nowhere. English “cross purposes” covers both situations, talking past each other and working against each other.