Bilingual People Share Their Greatest “I Didn’t Know You Spoke the Language” Stories
Speaking more than one language is a skill that not everyone has, but anyone who is bilingual knows that it can sometimes come in handy to overhear a conversation in your second language.
These satisfying stories are all told by people who came up with the greatest comebacks ever after revealing that they could understand the hushed insults told to them in a foreign language.
They Know Nothing
I buy my coffee beans here in Amsterdam from an Ethiopian woman in Dutch. My Dutch sucks and I probably sounded like an 8-year-old the other day describing the flavor of bean I was looking for.
I didn’t know she spoke English until on my way out of the shop she said to a friend, “These are my customers.
They know nothing about coffee.” brianfit
Languages Aren’t Secret Codes
I was on holiday in Moscow, and in the subway I heard another tourist tell his mate, in my native tongue, “You know, when we speak Dutch, nobody here will understand a word of it.
It’s kind of a code language here!” To which I replied, “Yeah, about that. It’s not as effective as you might think.” ametheus
SuperMom
My wife and I have adopted two kids from China on two separate occasions. We had some time to wait before the first one so we learned some basic Mandarin to help with our trip and connect a bit with our daughter’s birth culture.
While there, a day or so after we got her, we were in the Walmart (yes, Walmart) in Zhengzhou, when a younger woman walks by, sees a large American guy with a pale redheaded wife carrying a Chinese toddler in a sling, doubles back and with a fake smile says, “ni bu xihuan ni de mama, ma?” which works out to “You don’t like your mom, do you?”
My wife spins around and, in Mandarin, basically says, “Oh yes she does.” The look on that woman’s face carried me through the day.
If You’re Paying…
I was at a Mexican restaurant with a bunch of my girlfriends and one guy friend. We were at the bar and my guy friend overheard the bartender joking with another worker saying, “Let’s get this gringo inebriated.” He looked at them and responded, “This gringo speaks Spanish, but if you’re paying…” shigg1975