Bilingual speakers, what is your "They didn't realize I spoke their language" story?

Subscribe to ReallySparked!: ‪@ReallySparked‬
We work extremely hard to serve you guys the highest quality story reading content. Each video takes a lot of effort when it comes to thinking of topics, ideation, editing, voice-acting, recording, etc. All the content in these videos are owned by us!
Our Work Process:
1. Come up with questions, research, script, come up with opinions/commentary, polish until ready for recording.
2. Record voice acting the stories/questions, sharing thoughts and opinions and performing it in a creative and transformative fashion for viewers to enjoy.
3. Record gameplay until there is enough interesting footage to use for the background
4. Throw the gameplay in the editing software and then begin typing up the captions, cutting/trimming the voice acting, adding SFX, color correction, removing/adding clips, etc.
5. Final review of the video, if video is not up to the quality desired for this channel. Either go back into the editing software, re-record some lines, change opinions/commentaries.

[@victorcampudoni2682]

My father spoke 9 languages and he said he learned them just so he made sure people didn't pop shit about him to his face.

[@Ocro555]

Just curious, which 9? A huge couple of my friends know 3-4 languages while one for some reason 8 and I'm always jealous of them lol I am only fluent in English and Chinese, but I am learning German, Japanese and Esperanto rn, and I can only form a few broken sentences with the first 2. Planning to learn Malay, Spanish, Korean and Russian next lol

[@victorcampudoni2682]

@Ocro555 English and Spanish were his main. His other fluent languages were French, Mandarin, Vietnamese, Russian, Italian, Japanese, and Korean. At the time of his death, he was teaching himself Hindi

[@Legorreta.M.D]

@@Ocro555 why esperanto? No country has it as a native language and you can’t really have clients or users who speak it natively

[@Ocro555]

@@victorcampudoni2682 Ahh, I see, that's so cool

[@coco_1002]

I totally relate with your father on that (though at the moment I speak only 6 languages). I once visited Italy for a quick vacation and was eager to use the Italian knowledge I got from school. It wasn´t perfect, but I could understand a lot of things. It´s quite hilarious to listen to people´s conversation, assuming that you don´t understand them. The face they make, once they realize that you understood pretty much everything they´ve been talking about is priceless.

[@sms756]

I have 2 in 1! I was in London with my friend who’s half Swedish and half Polish. We were on a bus for a while, and the two girls in front of us was talking polish. My friend seamed to ignore it, but after a while, she couldn’t anymore. She told me, in Swedish, what they were talking about. It was some extreme insane family drama with the mother in law from hell (like a top-rated Reddit story). We laughed a little at the absurdity as she continued to translate some of what they were saying. At one point I said something like “why doesn’t she just divorce this guy, his family sound awful” (in Swedish). At that, the girl turned around and replied IN SWEDISH “don’t worry about it, I’ve already filed for divorce” 😂

[@giulia6344]

That’s really one hell of a coincidence!p

[@juangiraldo9342]

Woah

[@br3669]

😂😂😂😂

[@bluehaze2001ify]

That’s awesome

[@justiceness284]

I can relate to the stories about ASL speakers. I am a hearing person, and while I am not very good at sign language yet, I have been learning it, and I can carry out short conversations. I had never really used ASL in person before, until recently. A couple of months ago, I was working as a hostess at my job when this elderly gentleman in a very cool suit came in. I sat him near the front, close to where I was stationed, and I watched as the waitress for that section helped him. I noticed that he seemed a bit stiff and wasn't really saying anything, which was a little odd, but I just figured he was shy and moved along with my work. We were pretty busy that day, so I wasn't paying too much attention to him at first. Eventually though, I passed by his table, and I decided to stop in and check on him to see if he wanted a refill for his drink(and maybe I wanted to compliment his cool suit, sue me) . In the middle of me greeting him, he motioned for me to stop and signed/told me he is deaf. When I realized that, I quickly apologized to him, and I switched to sign language. In broken ASL, I asked if he wanted more to drink, and I swear to god, his reaction was priceless. He was confused at first, but then he started to act more relaxed and happy. He probably hadn't expected anyone to be able to understand him, so when I could, I think it shook him up a little bit. Before I left the table, I let him know that I liked his suit, and he smiled and thanked me. After that, he stayed in the restaurant for quite some time, and he seemed to be a bit more relaxed than when he came in. His waitress ended up sending me over to him a couple more times after she found out I could talk to him, and I helped see him out. I doubt that interaction was all that memorable to him, but to me, that made all the time and effort I spent learning ASL feel worth it.

[@1bootliz]

How lovely! I had a similar experience when I was learning ASL in college. I was working at Subway as well, and one day a deaf/hard of hearing couple came in. I saw them signing to each other and so greeted them in ASL and asked how I could help. They were very kind and patient with my limited vocabulary, and the husband even taught me the signs of all the ingredients they wanted on their sandwiches. It was such a neat experience and I was glad I could communicate with them in their own language, at least a little bit.

[@stephanginther9051]

I once met a woman that was the only hearing person in a family of deaf people. She said that her parents were both deaf from birth and had genes that basically guaranteed their children would be deaf. She had something like a 2% chance to be born with normal hearing and she won that lottery. She also had several siblings, all born deaf. She said her parents had to get her tutors to teach her to talk since she couldn't learn that at home. ASL was her first language and speaking was her second.

[@Becky-uz8em]

I don't know ASL (save the words please, thank you, and banana), but I can spell my name. I used to volunteer doing activities at a senior living home, and one day a guy from the kitchen came in with his mom. He was giving her a tour of the building and introducing people. When he got to me, I let him say "and this is" before spelling my name. Both he and his mom lit up!

[@valkyrie1066]

In Mexico, at a surgeon, having minor surgery, I brought a Mexican friend to make communication more smoothly. He spoke to them. As soon as the surgery commenced, the doctor and hurse began to talk about how these rich Americans come to Mexico for medical care to they can pocket more money. When he paused, I said, in Spanish, "I clean the houses of rich people. I can't afford insurance." DEAD SILENCE. "Oh..." the doctor stammered in English "You understand Spanish?" "Un poquito mass de nada." A little better than nothing. He gave a nervous laugh. "me too" That began a ten year relationship; I returned for surgery every few years. (Sebaceous cysts on my scalp)

[@Gaawachan]

Do they not realize that most of the Americans going overseas for health care are doing so because they can't afford it in the USA? Oh, well.

[@anabelroutledge]

Have three quick ones: 1) In highschool a guy signed in ASL to a friend that my motorcycle helmet was cool as I was walking to first period. I signed "Thanks. Would let you try it if your head wasn't so big." Made a new friend that day 2) Two Swedish flight attendants were talking in line for a ride at the Mall of America were I happened to be on vacation. They talked about a women who drooled while she slept and I couldn't help laugh at it with how discriptive they were. Made two new friends that day 3) Had a group of spanish speaking guys talking about my curvy friend and Viet friend while we were bowling. It was quite crude and while my friends didn't understand it felt wrong to just ignore them. Went over and asked in Spanish if I could take one of their 15 lbs balls because my arms were getting too tired for my 18 lbs one. They looked scared and left within a few minutes. Big take away I can give is expect everyone can speak your language. Also, don't underestimate people in the US when it comes to language! Plenty learn and/or are not originally from the US in the first place

[@StarLightGem]

That first one was kinda mean from your part lmfao

[@xtremefps_]

​@@StarLightGemI mean if their head was bigger than his then it would be appropriate to say.

[@anabelroutledge]

@@StarLightGem Deaf/ hard of hearing people have some of the best humor naturally I think. Also, you can sigh with "inflections" and facial expressions to show if something you're sighing is conversational, sarcastic, or if you're yelling at them

[@evanmcclure67]

My gf and I had a love at first fight story. I was walking in her direction. And she was very distracted crashed into me spilled her coffee. And she was like "you stupid gringo, watch where you're going" And I replied in Spanish "Me? you're the one with your face glued into your phone why don't you actually pay attention to your surroundings" About a minute in, she realized I speak Spanish. We'd see each other in passing and she told her friends not to gossip in front of me. Eventually I overheard them saying "just talk to him if you like him" Then like the menace I was I said "yoo-hoo " so we ended up dating

[@JosephGiannelli-eu6os]

My younger brother's work took him all about the world. He is also fluent in many languages. He returned to the USA for something and met with my parents and me for dinner. I could tell he was somewhat distracted by the men at the table closest to ours and my mother asked him what lnguage they were speaking. My brother said Portugese. After several wonderful hours together, we got up to leave, and he stepped to the men's table on the way out. My mother asked him what he said, and he replied that he just told them the woman they were discussing through the meal happened to be his sister. Diane, using Joe's tablet

[@askylibrarianoftheoceans4102]

You're hearing/reading/seeing priceless said a lot because, well, it is - that moment of "oh shit, I fucked up" cannot be valued

[@FNaFFan101]

Real

[@_nob0dy_297]

Fr

[@rennoc6478]

Real

[@vez3834]

Priceless

[@blueroux4776]

No shit

[@ExSharkV]

I'm fluent in French and speak with a strong Quebecois accent. Once while vising Quebec City with my family, my sister and I decided to go to a bar (we're both of age) while our parents went out to dinner together and since my sister doesn't speak French we were speaking English. We both order our preferred drink and I hear one of the bartenders tell the other in French "Don't put liquor in the American girls' drinks. Just give them straight soda." So I call out, in French, "I'm not sure if things are different in Canada but I'm pretty sure a traditional whiskey old fashioned doesn't have soda in it. If you don't want us "Americans" to go elsewhere, you'll put liquor in our drinks." They comped our drinks.

[@cheezyvr7497]

So speaks french and english i see

[@owlbyovrprepared1128]

"You can't [be 16] when your wisdom teeth are all the way out." Uhhhhh ... My parents must have lied about what year I was born then because mine were as fully in as they could be (impacted b/c mouth too small) by the time I was 16. Glad they caught that scam though.

[@KitKat10281]

Yeah, as a dental hygienist, I kinda chuckled at that one

[@NarwahlGaming]

_"You're telling me you could have been buying us all booze the whole time?!!"_

[@Dragoninja26]

yeah that sounded quite strange to me too

[@olgahein4384]

Right, i had mine removed cause my skull (or chin?) is aparently too small for teeth in general, but when my wisdom teeth came, they all grew in an angle towards the other teeth and were literally pushing all my backteeth out of my gums. I had to go to an oral surgeon cause they could not be pulled out and they had to cut open my flesh to be able to pull them the other way, away from the teeth they were pushing against. I was missing school for a week, partly cause i couldn't talk properly and had to eat liquid food for a few days through a straw. I was 13.

[@Jesse78]

I never got wisdom teeth but I grew all my 12 year molars by age 9, I had some moderate crowding as a result

[@xC0NTRAy]

That first one… that must be so cool for you to do that

[@Eli-yo9qq]

yuofgas duns dhuf

[@mariahazcueta3621]

I am a teacher and I don’t look like I speak Spanish. I catch kids swearing and boy to I have a GOOD time with it when I respond to them in Spanish and everyone is looking around like they just saw a ghost. My other favorite is when a student will say “Fine! Call my parents! It’s not like you speak Spanish anyways.” That’s a fun thing to tell the parents when I tell them about the behavior and most of the time they aren’t happy

[@_nob0dy_297]

Fr

[@thisishowitends]

I literally had one of these two days ago! To be fair, I run into these pretty often. I'm a Black guy living in the southern US. I work at a retail/consumer electronics store. I was working at checkout, and a lady walked up who I immediately assumed was Hispanic. I never assume about language abilities cos you never know (clearly) so I greeted her in English as I started the transaction. She was buying a screen protector for her new phone, and the brand she purchased offers a lifetime warranty that my store can fulfill with proof of purchase. We also have a digital receipt program that allows us to look up a customer profile and attach any transactions to it. These two things in mind, I asked if she had an account with us, but I could tell from her demeanor, hesitance in her response, and the thickness of her accent that she wasn't comfortable with English yet and hadn't understood what I'd asked. So I asked her "Prefieres hablar en español?" She immediately lit up, verifying that I spoke Spanish, thanking me, explaining that English is still hard for her. We had a nice conversation as I wound up the transaction... until I explained that the store charges to put screen protectors on devices for clients, which did not make her happy. No matter where you are or what you speak, retail is still hell.

[@BazilYat]

It's hell for sure, but little moments like that sure take the edge off.

[@jenniferhudson-gensler1147]

My Oma is Prussian. I ran into an elderly man in a Target in Florida once with the same accent as my Oma. He was completely floored that I even knew Prussia had been a country, let alone that I recognized his accent. It was amazing and I think I made his day. He definitely made mine.

[@michelleafton2377]

Ok so I don't know abt history and all much ...but Prussia was a country / empire before but now is part of Russia , Germany and I guess some other countries right. ? Correct me if I'm wrong I'm so sorry ....soo what language do they speak ? I'm curious to know and I hope you will tell ! Thanks 😊

[@jenniferhudson-gensler1147]

@@michelleafton2377 yes. Poland also. I haven't looked at the history in many years now. Prussians spoke German, but they had their own dialect/accent. My Oma no longer speaks German on a daily basis, but her accent is still quite pronounced.

[@jeffreymontgomery7516]

I worked the takeout area in my local grocery store for a while. I ran the register, and people came up with chinese, pizza, coffee, sandwiches, ... Well the people making the chinese food were, in fact Chinese. They taught me a few basic phrases (which have all but left me now from misuse.) Well I was out with my mother while still working there, and we went to a Chinese restaurant (buffet style) for lunch. The place was all but empty as it was a bit later in the afternoon. The staff were talking to each other (in Chinese) and my mom said at one point "I think they're talking about us." I said "They are... don't worry about it." When we were leaving, I looked straight at them and said "Thank you. The food was good. The people bad." The color drained from their faces... and I stopped my mom from leaving a tip, having confirmed from their expressions and reactions that they were badmouthing us the entire time. I might have known about 40, 50 words.... if that... but it was enough.

[@valkyrie1066]

Spanish. I'm a white lady, moved all over in my life. A donut shop in California. Full of locals, mostly histpanic. I come in with my daughter and order. When we sat down he began to casually gripe about white people. I turned around to face him and said "EXCUSE ME?" in Spanish. The whole place got quiet. The other people eating heard him, looked at each other, and were grateful I didn't understand. But I did. The men left immediately. The staff stared daggers into them as they left. The man actually returned, hat in hand, and apologized. He pointed out that I must be from somewhere ELSE because local white people did not bother to learn Spanish. AND he regretted his actions . ❤

[@mcarrowtime7095]

I hope you didn’t accept his apology, being racist isn’t ok

[@trumpetmom8924]

The Hebrew word for Mexican is מקסיקני which, best pronounciation I can give you is “meks-ee-kan-ee”, accent likely on the last syllable. My husband has a story also: when he was in college his choir went to sing at Carnegie Hall. He went out on his own, to the observation deck of the Empire State Building where two French tourists were talking smack about the United States and Americans. Well, my husband grew up mostly in Ontario where he had to learn French, and when his family moved to Colorado, he kept taking French in high school. He understood everything they said and finally got sick of it, so he replied something along the lines of, “Well if you dislike it that much, go back to France” in near perfect Parisian French. They were mortified that ANYONE could understand them, and left shortly after. After we met, he came to a drum corps rehearsal we had in Montreal and got lost on a Sunday, when he went for a walk while I was in practice. He happened across a family on their way home from church and asked the way back to the school we were rehearsing at. By then his French was a bit rusty, but he made himself understood well enough that he found his way back. He said they were a bit surprised because he doesn’t look remotely French Canadian. Probably the red hair and super fair skin…

[@amazaf]

Yeah, I’m surprised why OP would have an issue with pronouncing mekseekanee… seems simple enough

[@JamesDavy2009]

@@amazaf Consider the fact that Hebrew writing is an abjad-all consonants, no vowels and the syllabic vowels can only be learned through careful study just like Arabic. For words or syllables that began with a vowel sound, they use the letter aleph (their equivalency for the letter "A") for the glottal stop.

[@amazaf]

@@JamesDavy2009 I see your point, but wasn’t OP trying to pronounce the word, as opposed to trying to read it in an alphabet he doesn’t know?

[@JamesDavy2009]

@@amazaf Likely scenario, yes.

[@GilTheDino]

@@amazafמקסיקני

[@owlbyovrprepared1128]

I appreciate the use of a video clip of sign language in the background at the start of this one. ASL, BSL, and FSL are important languages to recognize.

[@jasthequeen]

What’s FSL

[@owlbyovrprepared1128]

@@jasthequeen French Sign Language. I believe it's actually the oldest of the three sign languages I listed.

[@KaiHenningsen]

@@owlbyovrprepared1128 How does it compare to PISL?

[@owlbyovrprepared1128]

@@KaiHenningsen Are you asking how they compare in age or some other comparison? I'm not the most knowledgeable either way.

[@KaiHenningsen]

@@owlbyovrprepared1128 Yes, you mentioned age. And given that PISL isn't exactly new ...

[@lyc_ant]

oh dear.. we had a german kid move to our school in Illinois and I so happened to be from germany. I don’t look like it much, pale ginger. the kid said under his breath during a class “no one here knows german at all, how am I supposed to understand this?” (In german of course) and I respond, with my somewhat limited understanding of the language, “I can translate if you’d like.” He looked shocked. As many people here said, it was priceless.

[@Shaytan.666]

Pale and ginger isn't really uncommon in Germany

[@cyberherbalist]

I was waiting for a ferry at Port Angeles, Washington, as my son was coming over from Victoria, BC, and was there to pick him up. I was leaning against my car's hood, watching the Strait of Juan de Fuca, when another drove up and parked near mine. The family got out while their car was still running, but as one of the children got out she inadvertently locked the car. With the car running on idle. The dad kind of went ballistic and was low-key shouting at the kid in German. It turned out that they were from Germany on vacation with a rental car. They were trying to figure out what to do, but nothing helped, as the car keys were still stuck in the ignition. Finally, the dad gave up and approached me to see if I could help. He spoke in reasonable English, but I could speak fluent German and so knew what the problem was already. As this was pre-cell phone, I couldn't just Google "locksmiths," but I took him into town where we found a telephone booth with a phone book. I arranged for a locksmith to come to where the car was, and returned him to his car. He thanked me, and off I went, as the ferry was now coming in. But I probably shouldn't have admitted I spoke German, because he was embarrassed that I understood him as I heard him going off at his kid about locking the car. I told him, don't worry about it, it was perfectly understandable!

[@morticiaaddams7866]

Hello fellow Angelean!👋

[@cyberherbalist]

@@morticiaaddams7866 Well, thanks, but although I'd love to live in Port Angeles (it's a lovely town), I am actually an Olympian. 😃

[@k.r.3598]

I remember one time when a friend of mine and I were conversing solely in Spanish to practice the language. We had stopped in to a local chain convenience store to pick up a few things for a get-together. My friend was asking me about the monetary denominations that the ATM in the store offered, in addition to discussing what we needed for the party. By this point I had already approached the counter with a handful of items but, having heard her question, didn't quite shout back my answer to her query. I then turned to the cashier and began chatting with him in fluent English. He just about fell over out of surprise, telling me he had no idea that I even spoke English. I'd been in there before but hadn't really ever spoken before to either him or his coworkers. Mind you, my friend was obviously Hispanic, but I had auburn hair, hazel eyes and skin of a tone to make my Scottish and Irish ancestors proud...

[@FNaFFan101]

This isn't my story but here's one: My mom was in Mexico with her class in High School I think and speaks fluent Spanish. Apparently some dude was talking to another person and said, and I quote "Kill the Americans" and she told the rest of her class to get out of there.

[@Angst-traum]

Thats absolutely terrifying.

[@__-fl3yt]

😂😂😂😂😂😂 your mom is a liar.

[@Shaytan.666]

@@__-fl3yt no 😂

[@__-fl3yt]

@@Shaytan.666 we don't see USA citizenes as Americans. We have another name for them

[@BazilYat]

Story 2: I can totally see how that would happen. If you're interested in the conversation and listening there's a non-zero chance that you'll completely miss the language swap.

[@brag0001]

I've asked myself so many times after the fact which language I had a conversation in. 😂 That's practically guaranteed to happen once you are fluent in several languages. There is so much humor build on being multilingual ...

[@BazilYat]

@@brag0001 I'm not polylingual, but I do understand a little about how the brain works and I can totally believe that! Comprehending the words and recognising the language happen in different parts of the brain.

[@cyberherbalist]

I'm bilingual in German, and my late wife was German-born, but had been American citizen for three-quarters of her life. I would occasionally talk to her in German, but she would always answer in English. I finally asked her why she did this, and her response was "I do?" It turned out that what she heard was what I said, not what language I said it in. And so she responded in her preferred language, which was English. After this she tried to respond in German when I spoke to her in it.

[@LoonyTonks]

I had a friend who is half English and half Taiwanese, but looks very english. Though she can speak Chinese and has been to local school. I look Taiwanese and have quite the accent too, I can also understand and speak some Taiwanese. So me and this friend were walking in a park, speaking English, and these two older kids in front of us decided to speak crap about international students in Chinese and using insults in Taiwanese. I turned to my friend and asked her in overly polite tone “the weather is just PERFECT isn’t it?” And she replied “yes absolutely, perfect for a nice stroll” in perfect Chinese. One of the girls turned around stared for a second, so I looked at her and said the Taiwanese slang for “whatchu looking at?”. I have never seen two people make a right turn so fast.

[@sonyatheforestgaurdian3152]

So to preface, I speak native English, partial French, Ukrainian, Russian and Tagalog and working on bringing the languages from A2 to B1. I have family in the Philippines, Russia, Ukraine and look more German with some Filipino features yay genetics. I have multiple stories so I'll share 3. 1) In high-school when the Ruso-Ukrainian war started a bunch of students flocked to learn Ukrainian. I was helping a friend with congregation. And some Putinheads started insulting me in Russian. Something like stupid idiot how dare you toss pearls to pigs (slurs and cussing omitted) So I Responded in Russian, "Watch your tongue, being a Romanov I can send the KGB after you." Then returned to helping my friend. They turned deathly pale and avoided me for the rest of the year. 2) Same school different friend group. I was comisserating some refugee friends from Ukraine. The conversation turned to how we lost family on the front lines. When another snobby Ukrainian diaspora student walk by and told me to stop pretending to be Ukrainian drop the act. Responded with a stare sharper than daggers, "Unlike you my cousin just died on the Frontline. I'm more Ukrainian than you are. I hope there's glass in your intestines and you jam your toe on every coffee table while stepping on a lego." That kid's face gave an oh poop grimace. 3)I was at a fillipino restaurant with my family during your occasional reunions. There was French, Ukrainian, Russian, English and Tagalog being spoken at the table. A few waiters were standing at thier station right behind me. Chatting about how annoying my family was being and why can't we just speak Tagalog. I guess they didn't think I knew Tagalog. At the end of the meal gather the money from the family and went to pay the $700 bill. And they asked why no tip. I responded in spotless Tagalog, "Well I was going to give a $300 tip for being willing to serve 50 people. But after hearing all your complaining, I don't think this establishment is worth our patronage." The servers got management involved and apologized reduced the price a bit and chewed out the servers for loosing the chance at $1000.

[@Echo_the_half_glitch]

Honestly, people should keep their opinions on others to themselves. (At least those kind of opinions) Who knows who can understand them?

[@Echo_the_half_glitch]

I'm not saying don't have an opinion, but people shouldn't go around insulting other people, expecting they won't get caught

[@franciscom.bodinho2219]

I'm Brazilian and polyglot, some family from USA was around here in my city doing tourism stuff and they asked for directions IN SPANISH, not even a proper spanish, they blabbered something that i don't even payed attention, i was pissed, said ''I don't understand'' in a heavy accent and they started to talk shit about me and my country in english, i was like ''And if i send then to a very dangerous hood just for fun?'' but i just let it go and walked way. If you going to visit a country, be respectful with locals, they can really ruin your day

[@hypercatneversleeps8042]

R

[@franciscom.bodinho2219]

@@hypercatneversleeps8042 ?

[@tay-dor7147]

Sounds like you were the rude a-hole. At least they were trying to speak the language. The shit talking was in response to your rude attitude.

[@mcarrowtime7095]

Ah yes, the cardinal sin of not knowing the local language, attempting to use the next closest substitute

[@xLucy_Hx]

Mf gy is hispanic but looks white. She works in healthcare. The amount of racist people only wanting her services is astounding and she'll often respond to them in Spanish only. A story of mine wasn't someone being rude, but I was in Heathrow waiting for my plane, when 2 elderly couples wanted to sit near my but there weren't enough seats for all 4, I responded in perfect Danish that they could take mine and I moved away. They were a little surprised but thanked me :)

[@NarwahlGaming]

I think it's more that your girlfriend is hot, and not so much racism. 😂 Congrats on the hot nurse.

[@Tracymmo]

​@@NarwahlGamingSo the many seniors I guarantee were asking had the hots for her? Creepy

[@SusanaXpeace2u]

@@NarwahlGaming måske er hun læge

[@NarwahlGaming]

@@SusanaXpeace2u Suimemasen, onegishimasu! Watashi wa nihon geksai desu. ☺️

[@alysgottafigureitout2482]

I used to work as an omelet cook in a high end international hotel chain. I had so many customers get nervous when trying to ask for what they would like in their eggs because they didn’t speak English well enough or they didn’t speak it at all. None were stupid so it was pretty easy to show them displays which helped me get their orders correct without anyone feeling bad. It was always awesome to see a look of relief when they could just point and didn’t feel judged for it.

[@Echo_the_half_glitch]

Ah yes, the universal language of pointing to a picture.

[@wilderwatz]

Your German pronunciation was pretty good! I didn’t have any trouble understanding what you meant. Well done! 👍🏻

[@charlieboy6315]

My grandfather once got on a train in the UK and found himself in a 6-seater compartment with a married couple who started to have an argument in Malay - apparently the husband had been caught cheating and the wife was understandably upset. Unfortunately for them, my grandpa happened to be fluent in Malay and, as the conversation got increasingly heated and personal, he felt it would be impolite not to inform them of this (he was an old-school gentleman). "My apologies," in interjected in Malay, "but I think you should know that I speak Malay." Not another word was spoken by anyone for the remainder of the journey!

[@crazyman1108]

One of my favorites, I was working retail during the holiday season. I was wrapping gifts at the service desk when this Spanish family comes and brings all these gifts to be wrapped. In rather broken English they ask this and that gift wrapped. As I'm wrapping, I hear them making comments re me having this menial job though I'm an adult. I'm Latino but I'm very Caucasian (think Albino Latino) and I do speak Spanish but I kept my poker-face as they continued to ridicule me. Once I finish wrapping their gifts I hand them the packages and in the biggest sh*t-eating grin I could muster, I say in perfect Spanish "Here are your gifts, and I hope you have a good day and a Merry Christmas." The silence was deafening. No one in the family said a word, they just grabbed their packages and left. I walked out from behind the counter to follow them out and yelled out "And have a Happy New Year!" And they couldn't leave that store fast enough The other shoppers waiting in line heard the whole thing applauded me.

[@torigiovannini807]

4:20 My great grandmother that was alive for half of my current life all the great grandkids called Oma. (We are American though she was of German ancestry) Hearing that word sent memories through my veins and I was not expecting that.

[@__-fl3yt]

I am mexican I worked with a old lady the whole crew called her Oma I really thought it was her name.

[@Echo_the_half_glitch]

I'm guessing it's german for grandmother or something around those lines?

[@Shaytan.666]

@@Echo_the_half_glitch yup and grandpa is Opa

[@simonederobert1612]

Growing up in rural Kentucky, there was not likely to be any opportunity to ever go any place where another language was spoken, nor was it expected. That being said, it was also the case that if you went to college you were required to have at least been in a class for another language besides English, and if it turned out that you went on to graduate school and worked your way up to a Doctorate, you were not only expected to know how to speak two other languages, you were also expected to be able to translate those two languages. So I took French, but in high school as well as college since there were no others besides classmates in French classes, I never became fluent. Later on, as it turned out, I was in a professional capacity which took me to a clinic where most, if not all of the clients were Spanish-speaking immigrants. So I learned Spanish by listening closely. To this day, in the era of more and more Spanish speakers where I live (still relatively rural, but not KY) I can communicate and have surprised more than one by speaking Spanish. But French, my language of study. still is difficult for me. I discovered, after he died, that my father could at least read Celtic, translate in German and had a good understanding of Sanskrit. Not sure how many other languages, but sure there were more.

[@nicolad8822]

What do you mean by Celtic? Irish, Scots Gaelic?

[@simonederobert1612]

@@nicolad8822 Dad has been gone since 1983, and this was after looking at all the stuff in his office to clean it out after his tragic death. So quite a few years ago. There were several magazines, as I recall, that had not-translatable-by-me writing, but the English translation of the title said the magazines were in Celtic. There are still Celtic areas of Wales as well as Eastern Great Britian. Based on that and the fact that his research was in folklore of the Appalachian mountains of KY, WVA, NC, VA, and these communities were largely settled by pioneers/immigrants from Great Britian, that is where my guess is. He also had found that some of the folk tales he had collected in the Appalachian mountains could be traced back to Sanskrit. He man had to be a genius, IMHO.

[@barbott5941]

I have a story my daughter told me. My daughter was a flight attendant at the time, just out of flight school. She was in Salt Lake City with some wait time, heading to Las Vegas. The crew was waiting for an inbound international flight from Paris, which had most of the passengers for the flight she’s on. As she’s waiting for these French passengers to board her plane, she’s listening to all the people speaking in French. Note - my daughter is trilingual : proficient in English, French, and Italian. As a group of men are on the skyway, waiting to board, they’re making disparaging remarks about the ugly uniforms the flight attendants are wearing. My daughter and the other flight attendants are greeting the new arrivals with pleasantries in English. As these young men are greeted by my daughter, she speaks in perfect Parisian: “Thank you for flying with our airline, and enjoy your flight. I hope your stay in Las Vegas is a pleasant one.” 😊 The men’s jaws dropped. My daughter said she had a pleasant flight to Vegas that day. The group had a blast. The other flight attendants were in awe. None of them knew she spoke other languages! 😂

[@valkyrie1066]

ASL is not exactly a "different language" Working in a coffeeshop, I saw my teenage coworkers panic and head out of our work area. It was a nice old couple. ??? It was apparent, as he spoke, that he lacked most of his hearing. I signed "can I help you?" He exploded delightedly into full ASL....I wrote on a sticky note "I don't know MUCH" They nodded and laughed, and ordered their coffee, two pounds, columbian ground, and two large, with cream and sugar. I handled their order every other week or so. The manager came out after seeing the others flee and watched my interactions. I was smiling, and signed "Later!" as they left. What...what was that? (he was a YOUNG manager) "ASL. They are deaf." Apparently, they had come in and tried to order food on a few occasions and got an extremely sad/awkward greeting. Dear Gods, learn about your world. I didn't pass a whole bunch of my awkward ASL to my daughter; but she was raised realizing people are blind, deaf, etc. When SHE runs into someone who has difficulty modulating their voice and waving their hands; she's on it, she hands them a pad and paper.

[@Echo_the_half_glitch]

Yeahm ASL is much like written english, its just another form of the language through a different medium. (Sorry, I'm bad at explaining things.)

[@metgath]

My favorite was that my family hosted a female foreign exchange student from Italy, Mary, when my sister was a senior in high school. After graduation they went to Italy so that she could show my sister her home country. While my sister was buying souvenirs with her boyfriend Mary waited outside. Two guys were talking about her saying the kind of stuff that they really didn't want her to hear. She had lost her Italian accent when in the US so they thought that she was an American that wouldn't understand them. She pretended not to understand anything until my sister came out of the store. She then turned to the boys and said goodbye in perfect Italian. They turned bright red when they realized that she understood EVERY WORD.

[@Salmakia77]

On a train in my native Italy some 15 years ago: I was sitting next to a couple of Americans and I was minding my own business, working on my iphone and ipad. They started criticising me saying “kids nowadays, they have too many devices”. When I stood up, passed in front of them and said “by the way, have a lovely day” with my best Oxford accent.

[@Echo_the_half_glitch]

Old people I'm guessing?

[@Echo_the_half_glitch]

Because that is very much an old person sort of thing to say.

[@Azulakayes]

My husband is biracial, English-Chinese(Cantonese from HongKong) but had worked in East Africa for years and that's where we met. He told me a story of how mechanics tried to scam him in Nairobi, conspiring in Swahili and sheng, because of how he looks and his RP accent. They were going to charge him thrice the usual cost to change his spark-plugs & were going to use second hand ones from one of the old cars in their yard. He let them finish talking then asked them in the slangiest of Kenyan Swahili that while they were going to buy the 'new plugs' if they could get him a cigarette. They became his friends & trusted mechanics.

[@dank_memes_101]

I got one! My friend from Lebanon (Middle Eastern country) once went to Italy with her friend. They're leaving their hotel room, and these 2 guys get into the elevator with them. So she starts talking about them in arabic to her friend, calling them ugly and every name in the book. At one point, one of the guys says in English "oh you're our neighbors," and she goes "oh you mean room neighbors?" He goes "yes, country too". She goes, "You're Syrian?" He goes "yup". Syria is just across the border from Lebanon, where you guessed it, they speak Arabic.😂😂

[@sylvanaire]

I’m kind of shocked at all of the people who get caught who apologize. Seems like more people are apt to double down on their rudeness.

[@mcarrowtime7095]

These kind of people are cowards, only throwing insults because they think they won’t get caught.

[@jenniferokele7049]

I had this happen too. I'm Belgian and speak 4 languages, which isn't uncommon here. I went on a daytrip to Germany and some employees in a store made fun of me because apparently I looked like a 'stupid tourist' . I told them, in my best German, that they chose the wrong stupid tourist to insult cause the Belgian ones can usually respond to your crap in several languages. One one the other employees had to actually sit down because she fell over from laughter.

[@Echo_the_half_glitch]

At least they took it well, or the one laughing did.

[@reesofraft4166]

but unfortunately this mostly just works for the flemish part of belgium...

[@theunknown7683]

I was speaking to a friend of mine, who speaks Japanese better than English. Some guy in a MAGA hat, made the comment that we should go back to our own country. I looked at him and said "my friend here has a green card, and you should just shut up and mind your own business. I am sick of people saying that to a frankly very kind person who just wants to live in America with her family." Guy tries to back pedal. The problem was I wasn't the only person there that spoke Japanese and English. Someone walked up to my friend and said something along the lines of "Apologies for my countryman. He thinks he is better than you." That guy was livid after that and stormed off and I made a new friend.

[@Echo_the_half_glitch]

As someone also from the US, I am embarrassed that I have to share this space rock with people so stupid they can't see that they're in a cult. This isn't saying the democratic party is perfect, but at the moment the republican parties representatives are both embarrassing their party and themselves, and are an embarrassment to anyone here who has any ability to think for themselves.

[@ShadowService]

Lady I knew in the military always had piles of these stories - unsurprising as she was tested fluent in 14 languages/dialects (English, French, Hindi, Spanish, German, Russian, Arabic [8 dialects]). She was a 5' 4" white girl with short hair and as many tattoos as possible while staying within U.S. Army dress/appearance guidelines and out of uniform dressed like a movie portrayal of a ghetto biker street urchin. So, totally not the type the average person would look at and assume to be fluent in all those languages. Unfortunately, it's been about 2 decades since I last chatted with her and if I tried to retell some of her stories I think I'd be inventing a lot of the forgotten details so I won't even try - I just remember she had heaps of them. Wish I'd kept in touch with her, she was sassy and they were good stories.

[@NippyBooks]

This will sound so narcissistic omg. I was once on my way to meet my friend in the city. Was standing on an escalator with two guys behind me. Two Korean guys. I heard one of them saying "She's pretty." I turned around and thanked him in korean for the compliment. They both looked shocked and then laughed. Just a quick moment that ended as swiftly as it begun. Besides that I can only ever pull those "I can understand you" cards at the cash register at work, when we have Korean or Spanish speaking customers and I realize their german is not good enough to understand me or the amount I'm saying they have to pay. Of course I only do it if I have interacted in the store with them before and know this might make it easier for them. I also wanna add that my Korean and my Spanish are very basic but it's enough to get me by, it's more like the "I can understand what you're saying but it will be very hard for me to answer you" (Unless I just have to say numbers or thank someone for a compliment haha) Besides that, I'll always get called to help by my co-workers since I now live in a part of Germany where not many people speak English, while we also have a lot of foreign uni students. So if a customer needs help and asks my co-workers they start to panic and call me over lol the amount of "I wish you would've been here yesterday!" I get from them because someone once again needed help is unbelievable.

[@vminhope3040]

Start charging for being a translator

[@jediping]

The people who talk badly about others in languages they think cannot be understood are probably just generally rude. I spent several months in Russia, where I understood a lot more than I spoke, but I would never badmouth people around me to my fellow study-abroad students in English, whether the other people could understand or not!

[@DarkKnightofIT]

Haven't had anything like this because I can only speak English (for now), but my dad convinced some of his friends that my friend (Who's from the Philippines) didn't speak English very well, so when they introduced themselves they did it _very carefully,_ my friend, not knowing they'd been put up to this, wax like "ok...?" And no one was told or figured it out until like an hour later when he actually said a full sentence in perfect English (he's a quiet dude). All the while my Dad's having the time of his life watching one side be super careful to be easily understood and the other side be _very confused._ And yes, everyone involved found it hilarious, and we refer to friend as "Piamo", my "adopted brother from the Philippines" to this day.

[@v4n1ty92]

This has to be the most infuriating power wash simulator gameplay i have ever tried to watch

[@n4b1k1]

I have kind of an opposite story. I was in Kyoto buying some hair pins. At the counter I pulled out my US passport so I could get the duty free price, and the girl behind the counter was absolutely shocked and said, "You're not Japanese?!" My mother was Japanese, but I was born and raised in the US.

[@nebbygetinthebag7263]

Hey! If you want to learn pronunciation in Hebrew, Do It in Hebrew offers a romanized spelling of the words as well as the Hebrew itself absolutely free, though having it spoken to you does cost money, you can find many Hebrew speakers on KZbin who pronounce words for those learning! For the word Mexican, it's pronounced pretty much the same (mek-si-e--kan-y) as you would english, just with more y's!

[@Echo_the_half_glitch]

From the romanized spelling it looks like it should be pronounced Mexicany, at least to me. I'm sure that's not 100% accurate though.

[@chuckfilming]

I was a peace corps volunteer in zambia. The amount of times people openly discussed how much more money they would charge me for something was ridiculous. For example, taxi drivers would often have multiple passengers. And the other passenger and the driver would conspire to charge me 10x the price, then split the money. The idea was that the other passenger would “pay” the amount i was charged to make it seem legit, then they’d get their money back plus a little more. I loved their reaction when i butted into the convo and said something like, “charging 10x is too much…the white man will know it’s a scam”. 🤣

[@zuvasq]

"it is ok, you are one of us" - Excuse me sir, but I'm not a dumb FU.

[@jgw5491]

And the jerk thought it was a COMPLIMENT.🤮

[@MTTT1234]

Wow, story 51 started out so nice, only to end on such a sad note. Surely this story's OP's father left a good lasting impression there. Also, Kudos to your German in story 54, you did really well there. Really sounded like somebody who spoke German as a non-native, but was clearly understandable!

[@dontymck]

Not my story, but worked with a lovely woman, who in a previous job, went out on a works meal out, to an Italian restaurant. They had a large group, all women of various ages, and the Italian waiters apparently talked in detail about the looks, good and bad of the various guests, a lot of it fairly graphic! Unbeknownst to them, their manager was born to Italian parents, and understood every word. At the end of the meal, in Italian, she demanded to see the manager, and proceeded to tear him a new one for allowing such behaviour in his staff. He apologised profusely and waived payment for the whole group, including many bottles of wine!

[@NflolddudeYT]

Favorite one yet ❤️

[@BraxtonMeyer]

story 5 is so fucking sweet. helping out the kindly german ladies who were just psyched someone understood them. Story 20: i absolutely adore the brazilian accent when speaking english. it's so fucking good.

[@jgw5491]

Oh, man, I so agree with your opinion of the Brazilian accent. It is so fluid and charming! That and a East African accent are my favorites.

[@hendrikrozijnenblad8666]

I'll never forget the doctor that decided to switch to English to "inform" my Dutch parents their kid had "brain damage". (The 80's, what a time to grow up neurodivergent.) I guess he reasoned a 9 year old wouldn't know what he was saying. Kind of like spelling out "bath" in front of a dog. One problem though: My parents weren't very good at English. I on the other hand had a bunch of English speaking classmates, and was fully conversational in it by that age. So, confronted with unexpected english, my confused father turned to me and asked (in dutch): "What did he say?" Captain bedside-manners could have just asked me to leave the room, but instead ended up gifting me the memory of his "Oh no, I just F-ed up" face, as I started to verbatim translate his less than ellegant diagnosis to my increasingly displeased parents. Not a fond memory, but at least it has that silver lining.

[@noblestsavage1742]

im english but grew up and did my schooling in wales. But because i have an english accent they assume i dont know welsh, the amount of times ive had to respond to derogatory speech about 'the' english.

[@zarahfrancisco3734]

there was this vid I saw online of 2 female tourist buying stuff in the flea market and the vendor was chatting with someone about how big she'll charge those girls. They look kinda dumb and rich and she will earn so much, etc, etc. Turns out those tourist were half local, and despite looking like foreigners, are quite fluent in the local language. The girls said as much and you can see in the vid how the vendor was trying to apologize and go after them to make a sale. lol

[@thebest12123]

This is why I want to learn more languages. Spanish is hard but I still want to learn and I want to learn German. Japanese is one language I feel like I have to learn because I want to go to Japan with my friends soooo might as well learn Japanese

[@JamesDavy2009]

Have fun learning two syllabaries, thousands of Chinese characters and more pronouns and honorifics than you're used to. Depending on whom you talk to, you likely have to alter your entire vocabulary.

Priceless

[@Solnct]

I’m Mexican American and my first language was Spanish but i am white asf. Me and my group of friends had just finished performing at a parade then went to the fair. While waiting in line I went to take our bags to the sister of one of my friends and then went back to the line. I guess it seemed like I shortcut in front of these girls and they started shit talking me in Spanish calling me a pendeja (which is like saying stupid b*tch in English) and other cuss words. I am not a confrontational person so I just stood their acting like I didn’t understand when a friend of mine turned around and started going of on them in Spanish , saying I understood cause I’m Mexican then she explained that I wasn’t short cutting and that I just went to take our bags to her sister. They didn’t try to argue and just stayed quiet until it was our turn to go.

[@cyberherbalist]

When I was in the US Army I was stationed in Germany for three years as part of an international unit. Because the communications equipment I was supposed to be servicing required training, there was an instruction course I had to take. In my class there were soldiers from the US, Germany, Netherlands, and Luxembourg. The classes were taught in English (because everyone could speak it). We worked on the equipment exercises with a partner, and I was assigned to work with a German soldier. He could speak quite good English, though not perfect, and I suggested that since I was bilingual in German, we each speak our native language to each other. This worked well, because there were no misunderstandings -- we each understood the others language better than we could speak it. I can imagine that it sounded odd, though, to the others. Remember the conversation that Han Solo had with Greedo in the first Star Wars film? It would have sounded like that.

[@Mai-Mai.girl0]

This happened to my grandma about 37 years ago. She is welsh and understands quite a lot but struggles to make sentences with it. So when my mom was 13 my grandparents went on a holiday. My mom and my grandma were in a shop and looking for food when these ladys walked in and started speaking bad about my grandma, after about 2-3 minutes of this my grandma turned around and said “I understand what you said about me, I know welsh“. These woman turned bright red😂 -experience from my mom

[@SilverStarlight5555]

The partner struggles to speak spanish so we speak english any time we're out and honestly, it's always a pleasant surprise when people can communicate with them so, I'm very thankful for all the kind bilingual people we encounter in our days

[@Paige0_0]

The game play is driving me crazy lol also I work in a museum and run simulators. We have kids that come from all over the world to attend the camp that’s affiliated with the museum and it’s all on the same campus. So the camp kids come to ride the simulators everyday. I understand way more Spanish than I can speak and I know I have a thick southern accent so I never really attempt to speak Spanish until I get kids calling me horrible names when we have to kick them off for not following our safety rules. I will let them know that I understand what they’re saying then I speak with the counselors who are in charge of them so the kids are not allowed back on the simulators unless they apologize and agree to follow the rules. The name calling happens often because the museum is very strict with safety protocols

[@Rotzahn]

You did quite well with your German pronunciation :D (Thanks for making the post authentic / Danke das du den Post authentisch gemacht hast) (Post is also widely used in german as a loanword i think is what that's called ^^)

[@Carnibee]

These are my favorite kinds of stories

[@emmybeland]

i makes me laugh so much how u says the french names of the places 😭😭😊

[@singinwithceline]

I havé 2 very sweet stories. I’m American and disabled. I don’t look like i speak anything but English. I took French from middle school all through high school, about 7 years. My dad is also half deaf and I attended a preschool for disabled kids when I was a toddler. My class was Deaf, So I learned ASL. I can’t tell you the amount of times I’ve ran across a Deaf person who hasn’t expected me to speak ASL and it’s made their day and/or lead to a fantastic friendship. For 3 years, I lived in a group home because I couldn’t find housing. The house was owned by a Kenyan immigrant so many of her employees are from various African countries. One of the employees was from Madagascar. They speak French there. I needed help one day because I was spasming, and she was on the the phone flirting with her boyfriend in French. I tried getting her attention in English but she wasn’t paying attention. So I said in perfect French ‘I’m so sorry for interrupting your phone call, but I need help in the bathroom. Im shaky. ‘ She was SHOCKED and absolutely lit up! We were friends until she quit to go to school. The day after that first conversation, she told EVERYONE at the office because she was SO excited about it. Cute!

[@christopherhamill525]

I speak Irish to a decent level, higher than most Irish people anyway. The day I go abroad and get called out for chatting shit as Gaeilge is the day I kms because the odds of it have to be so marginally low.

[@Averagetexan2011]

No crap a lot of people will have a priceless face when they assume something that is completely wrong and they are relying on said assumption

[@lachouette_et_le_phoque]

Your German pronunciation was decent, heavy accent but understandable, so good job! Many Germans will have learned French in school (it's the typical choice of second foreign language introduced in grade 9, used to be either French or Latin, though hopefully they are giving up on teaching Latin in favor of something more useful these days). So I'd guess perhaps half of people finishing their regular school education would have learned French at some point. That doesn't mean they will be able to understand any, especially some years on (I've forgotten most), but it's a risky bet to make as a tourist. My own highschool offered Spanish as a later choice as well, and some after-school program teaching Italian. It depends somewhat on the availability of teachers and sometimes proximity to certain countries - for example, in schools closer to the Dutch border, I've seen Dutch being taught. Wouldn't surprise me to hear of Russian language classes in Eastern Germany schools. The main constant for everyone is English, which is increasingly being taught in elementary schools already.

[@hyliandragongaming]

Which version of Powerwash Simulator is it you’re playing? I’ve got the Steam version, but either my settings are different, or maybe it’s motion control on Switch? *_is_* there a motion controls setting on the switch version? Cause that’d be awesome if there was!

[@McKavian]

I used to be fluent in American Sign Language. I've gotten into and out of trouble because of it. When I was in basic training for the army, the commsnd general has sponsored a deaf school. About 20 kids came in to tour my barracks. I saw two off to the side and started talking to them. The teacher stopped everything and asked me to take over the class. I was military police and I got to cuss out a deaf man for being dangerous to those around him and trying to play the "I'm deaf and don't know better" card. I have many more stories.

[@RinaSharma7193]

i am Nepali and i had multi lingual environment during my school days. i could understand hindi, Bengali, marwadi, Bihari and could speak to minimum capacity and fluent hindi. i was attending a birthday party of my marwadi friend, she knew I could understand the language but could not reciprocrate in the same language but could perfectly answer in hindi. her mother did not know about it and she asked my friend about something in their language about me that I don't remember now but my informed her i understand them and i answered her in hindi and she was surprised and embarrassed. and it happened around 19 years.😃😃🤣😅🤣

[@trphoenix_.]

here’s one i had: so, i am bilingual with speaking both fluent english and turkish. i was playing a video game while speaking english since that is a language most people could understand. i was just talking to my friend while suddenly two girls, one being a bilingual like me translated my sentences in turkish to the other girl. they trash talked behind my back not knowing what’s coming next. they were saying “idiot” “dumb b*tch clothing” etc. i private messaged the friend i was talking to abt the situation ( she was a multilingual person speaking 4 languages fluently ). then, i asked the 2 girls in a perfect turkish “ ‘iDiOtS’ like y’all huh? “ they were shocked. after that, i and the bilingual girl had a “non-fluent languages competition”. i was crushing her with some languages from europe, asia, and even fr*nch. she had like a total of 3 languages that wasn’t fluent and i had 7 (polish, spanish, fr*nch, japanese,german, russian and azerbaijani ) then the girls rage quitted and i emoted on them

[@JovanLemon]

Here is my story: I am from Serbia, but I know English and a bit of German. Once, my relatives were visiting. My uncle, who had recently moved to Germany, and his wife who used to live in Austria as a child. The topic of German came up, and for fun, she tried to check how much German he knew by asking him to say something in German, and they started talking about how he likes ass. After that, they said "good thing nobody here understands German", only for me to go "I do". The 3 of us burst into laughter, and then they promptly explained exactly what they were saying to the others. It was a hilarious moment, honestly (Also their son was there and he apparently also understood what they were saying, which is fun)

[@ComaToastOfficial]

th3e amount of times he says priceless should be counted 🤣🤣

[@pearlscraftcorner]

I was teaching at a high school. The school I was at had a large ESL population. Most of these students spoke Spanish. We had a few who spoke other languages. We had one girl who spoke Russian. She learned I spoke Russian when she said something about not liking the school. The funniest instance to me was when I was covering a study hall she was in. A girl who was not in the study hall entered the room. I checked to see if she should be here and returned to my computer. She then brings over her sister and asks the Russian girl to curse at her in Russian. The girl looks at me and says, "I can't. She knows Russian." The other kids look confused at me. In Russian, I tell her that she better not curse at this girl or I will write her up. She looked at me and understood. The kids who didn't know me looked shocked. She knew I was the only person in that building who could understand her Russian.

[@yorgunsamuray]

Came to hear some interesting language stories, hooked on the game footage. What game is that?

[@MrsChrisRedfield]

Think it's called power wash simulator :)

[@CurlyCross]

quick story. I was a bank manager for a period of time. One time i had a couple of women talking very rudely in Spanish about one of my bankers. I was training the banker so sitting next to them helping. What they didnxt know is this white guy is semi fluent in Spanish. After a few things they said I stopped talking to them in English (their english wasnt great, but was definitely serviceable) and started talking to them in Spanish. They looked at me stunned and asked (in Spanish) if i spoke spanish, I responded (in spanish) that i absolutely spoke spanish and if it were easier for them id be happy to talk in Spanish with them. They didnt really talk much after that. The training banker finished opening their accounts, they left. I also had two tellers that were new starting at same time talking about everyone in Spanish. Not all was the nicest stuff. I started talking to them in Spanish one time and was upset at myself for showing my hand too soon.

[@ninalehman9054]

I was stationed in the Air Force to a small base in Northern Japan. As I was female, the male Japanese who worked in the chow hall got quite a kick out of greeting me as “Sarge.” I guess they had never seen a female NCO before. One time, I visited a nearby national park. There was a volcanic lake (Towada ko) which was large enough to have double decker tour boats. I couldn’t understand the Japanese tour guide, but totally loved the gorgeous scenery. Then, a group of school kids and their teacher came to the upper deck, and spotted the American! They were so excited to get to practice their English on a real American. I had a small notepad on me. By the time the tour was over, every single kid had written something for me. The Teacher spoke fluent English, too. I didn’t even mind missing half the tour.

[@awikim]

Take a drink every time someone says "priceless"

[@gtron7692]

Thanks for reminding me that I need to pressure wash my walkway and deck.

[@bmiller2011vids01]

I’m a North American who grew up in Latin America and so am fluent in Spanish. As an adult I joined the US Army, and as a lieutenant I served in a unit with a lot of Puerto Rican NCOs (sergeants, for those unfamiliar with Army-speak) and we spoke Spanish from time to time. I left, got promoted to captain, and a year or two later I came back to command that same unit, and some of the same NCOs were still there. There were quite a few new NCOs who were also Spanish speakers, and they all chatted amongst themselves in Spanish quite often, sometimes when I was around. For whatever reason, the older guys never told the newer ones that I spoke Spanish. I’d been in command for a few weeks when we had a meeting and as I walked into the room, many of them were chatting with one another in Spanish before the meeting. I casually said something like, “Good afternoon. How’s everyone doing?” - in Spanish. The look on the new guys’ faces was priceless, as you could see them trying to think back on the things they may have said around me that they thought I hadn’t understood. The older guys laughed and said, “Yeah, the captain speaks Spanish.” Good Times

[@Chaotic-Outcast]

I love these stories, Ive been made fun of in spanish many times by girls in my classes, I was raised around a spanish woman and growing up, I had befriended some of the Janitors, who were spanish, so they would sometimes try to teach me some spanish. A few years ago I met the woman that taught me how to count to 10, so I counted to 10 in spanish for her, I was also friends with a store attendent who taught me how to ask how your day is, so I also asked her that. She got excited when I did and I felt embarrassed when I couldn't understand what else she said, but I was proud of myself because she seemed really happy that I asked even if I couldn't understand what she replied with. Anyways back to what I was saying, I couldn't understand spanish (very well) or speak it (much) but I knew enough and understood social cues enough to know they were bad mouthing me. Also side note but I'm sorry if everything is scattered, I havent taken my medicine for my ADD (I do not have ADHD) so my attention is all over the place. (For you that dont know the 2 disorders are basically but people with ADD cannot focus at all without medication and our attention switches all over the place, very similar to ADHD and we also have absolutely terrible memory, I myself have the attention span of a 5 year old and can't remember anything from 5 minutes before, sometimes less then 5 seconds, unless my mind deems it as very important)

[@floor.smorenburg]

Do people not know that spain is a european country?... of course caucasian people can speak spanish, not even mainly as a second language but also just... as a spanish person

[@Azulakayes]

It might be a US problem. Most of the world knows about a country in Europe called Spain that colonised Central and South America 😂😂😂

[@JamesDavy2009]

@@Azulakayes Hence why lots of countries along with Puerto Rico have Spanish as an official language. Only three countries in South America don't speak Spanish: Brazil (Portuguese), Guyana (English) and Suriname (Dutch); and one that I know of in Central America: Belize (English).

[@simplymaya.1438]

I love bilingual stories!

[@paulinelol3930]

Not dramatic but short story Born, grew up, and live in The Phillipines but for some reason i couldnt pick up tagalog and i speak English fluently but cant really speak tagalog and thats known in my family. But i still understand some tagalog through context and my small vocabulary, which for some reason everyone forgets. It was a day after a family reunion and while i was eating breakfast my mom was fixing my hair while talking to my tita. I dont remember or understood what she EXACTLY said but i knew she was talking about my weight and how i should "be on a diet" so "i will be prettier when im skinny" in tagalog. Im pretty chubby. Not like big fat but im big and okay with it but i get insecure and annoyed when ppl tell me "you should eat less/be on a diet!!!!" So i told my tita in english softly "...uhmm i can understand you.." shes like "wait you can understand me??!!" My mom defended me and said i am pretty so yey, also i kinda wished i went harsher and said somethign like "your much fatter than me yknow" but this was like a year ago and i don't have the confidence to say that to someone lol

[@ArienDragon]

Had a similar experience to story 60. Worked in a Korean-American family owned businees for several years. The owners (husband and wife) would always talk in Korean to each other before approaching us with whatever decision or instruction in English. Myself and other long term employees never learned Korean, but after a while you start to get sense of, idk the flow? Like I have no idea what the individual words are but I can piece together the gist of the conversation and what they're about to tell us to do. One worker caught on to this flow much faster than anyone else. One of his first times working with the wife and her daughter, after listening to their Korean conversation for a couple minutes he got the understanding that the layout of something needed adjusted. He just walked over and started doing the changes. The wife and daughter were SHOOK and tried getting him to admit he must speak Korean. He did not, but from then on they would side eye him whenever they needed to talk in Korean.

[@pingidjit]

Please never use power wash simulator again as the background. It is so unsatisfying that I cannot focus on the stories. :(

[@namjoon-ahsaranghae2385]

Same here I had to rewind it and put it on 144 px and then use either captions or read whatever I can read on the screen 😭. ALSO I LOVED PASSING MY TIME ON A GAME LIKE THIS WHY THANK YOU KIND COTIZEN 😭✋

[@namjoon-ahsaranghae2385]

*citizen

[@Zaptrap101]

It was fine until the dirty thing light up orange and distract me

[@slimbomb]

You guys need to improve your attention span lol

[@SilentHotdog28]

My favourite language related story is when my uncle went to Spain at about 30 years old with his friend to go and see his mum, my uncle has a very thick Australian accent. Anyway, they got into a cab and asked the driver to take them to their destination, my uncle noticed that the trip was taking quite a long time and asked the driver (english) where they are going, driver said in broken english "don't worry, I'm taking you quick way, cheaper" my uncle responded "Ok mate" they drove a bit longer, then my uncle piped up in perfect Spanish "Hey dickhead, where the fuck do you think you are going? I know these streets like the back of my hand, I was born here you moron." The driver quickly apologised and proceeded to take them to their destination as quick as possible. He didn't charge them anything. My uncle was born in Spain, but moved to Australia at 9 years old, his younger sister was born in Australia and moved back with their mum and oldest sister when they were adults, but he decided to stay in Australia. So all 3 siblings have very strong Australian accents, but they all speak (perfect Spanish. My uncle infact says his 1st language would actually be English because of how much he uses it compared to his Spanish (which now is a little rusty because he is nearly 70) His younger sister came over to Australia for the first time in about 20 years just last year, her English was a little rusty as she never uses it, but she still has the strongest Australian accent haha. We had a party and her son and husband speak zero English and we don't speak Spanish, so my uncle, his sister and her daughter had to translate everything haha. It was still a good time.

[@homesweetesthome1726]

Omigosh, I laughed SO hard at that story! That's awesome! 🤣

[@Cortaxify]

Only similar experience I had like this was when I studies in Japan and was on a trip by myself down to Kobe on a vacation when I got lost. While I have encountered plenty of Japanese who speak english I likewise encountered my fair share who don´t do that and thus I learned basic Japanese as I consider that the least anyone can do if they live in another country if just as a show of respect to its natives...even if one isn't very good at it. Back to the story, on said trip when I was lost I approached a group of Japanese police officer all whom was fairly young and made my presence known to them and saw the expression of pure dread or maybe terror when the closest one realized I was a foreigner...I imagine he wondered how to deal with me due to language barrier. So the moment when I asked him in Japanese for direction...seeing the from that expression of dread change to a smile from ear to ear on both him and his other young colleges still makes me chuckle when I think back at it. Showing you can speak the local language is always appreciated when out traveling in my experience. :D

[@michellearzu1265]

I'm a solo latina traveler, and I was at Iguazu town at the north of Argentina, where you take the bus to go to the Iguazu falls. Basically a town in the middle of the jungle. A German guy asks me in very broken Spanish if he was at the right bus gate, and I answered in English that yes, we were heading to the same place. The look of relief in his face was priceless! He stayed with me the entire day so he wouldn't get lost in translation and I appreciated the company 😊

[@tokyobobcat]

Now I am wondering if the voice actor has been cloned to be used on other reader channels or this is his own real channel. But hearing him read some reddit things is awesome too.

[@Fade_NB]

This is a comment

[@PurpleTopHatGT]

!!!???

[@PurpleTopHatGT]

WHAT!!!????

[@xC0NTRAy]

No way!

[@xanithdegroot5407]

This is a reply

[@_.-Ink._.Sans-._1]

OMG- A COMMENT- WOAHHHH?!?!

[@ridiboo7738]

Ooooooh, I love this question.

[@TheRedGhost_]

One time, I went on vacation up north from where I live and away from an American area that speaks Spanish. I mostly speak English when the person I'm talking to also speaks English when I'm not with my parents. At this specific moment, I was with my older brother when some random strangers RIGHT NEXT TO ME started talking about my looks in Spanish. Almost immediately, I staryed talking in Spanish to my brother and their faces went red with embarrassment

[@user-sd6mt4ly8u]

You have a beautiful French accent. I’m impressed.❤

[@cademorris7592]

I was at a german restuarant once and they expected my dad to try and look up how to say the orders in german. Then me, the 7 year old started speaking german.

[@johnconner8437]

Good jobs 17 year old bros. And man who got laid speaking chinese

[@fawfulfan]

My wife (from Texas, has Irish ancestry) was at a restaurant in Spain, ordering everything in perfect Spanish, when an American couple who obviously didn't speak Spanish came in trying to ask for directions. Before the staff could answer, my wife pointed them the right way. Her server was surprised and said, "I didn't even realize you were American, I thought you were just a local."

[@maxurmon]

for the people that only speak one languague and don't understand the reason some people speak of people in a different languague in front of them: have you ever had this moment of silent communitation with someone else when you look at their face, make signals with your body and just like, you understand what each other means as you are both in front of somebody else trying to not let that person know the conclusion/plan you both made? like looking at somebody and going "can you believe this shit?" but with only your face since the other person would heard you if you said it out loud? thats the exact same, but we can actually say it out loud a more common example is like when you roll your eyes or facepalm at something at the back of someone else, but you can actually speak the words out loud and the same way that a nice person won't be rolling your eyes at you the moment you give them your back, insulting another person in a language they don't speak is the equivalent of pointing to somebody and fake puking when they can't see you, very rude behavior, and the same way that you can get caught if they look behind them, you can get caught if they know the language