There are numerous advantages to being bilingual.
Knowing the language of the country you may be traveling to, being able to translate for those who need help, not to mention, knowing what some people might be saying as they are literally talking behind your back.
Indeed, many people wish they could be fluent in at least one other language.
Though these same people likely also wonder, how exactly does the brain of a bilingual person work?
How easy is it to jump between multiple languages?
Is it really as easy as it looks to jump between languages?
"Bilingual people, what is a thing that non-bilingual will never understand?"
They All Blend Together
"The fact that I no longer 'translate' in my head when I use my second language."
"The fact that I can be unaware which language I am reading."
"I have a bit of a stutter in one language but not the other."
"Jokes that work in both languages are the funniest."- Mortlach78
"Speaking two languages at the same time."
"Usually because you forget certain words in one language but remember it in the other or because a word is easier to say."
"'Je nāai aucune idĆ©e what the f*ck youāre talking about'.ā- ctwheels
There's Not A Word For Everything
"Literal translations rarely work."
"A lot of monolingual people seem to think other languages are like their language but with other words, and every word as an equivalent."- TheAmazingKoki
Knowing The Language Doesn't Mean They'll Understand You
"Having an 'accent' regardless of which language you're speaking."
"Learning a language allows you to feel better understood as we interact and build connections with others."
"So it's frustrating when you feel as though you're not communicating as clearly as you would like to express yourself. It's been great to feel understood!"
"I've enjoyed reading through the comments and learning that there's a lot of people that are actively becoming multicultural."- Silv3r_lite
Less Gets Lost In Translation Than You Think...
"Translating is a whole different skill than speaking another language."
"When I first learnt English, I would translate things in my head to understand them."
"As I became fluent, I stopped doing that because I didn't need to."
"When someone speaks to me in English, I don't translate stuff in my head back to french to understand them, I just automatically understand it."
"Cue to if someone speaks English, and another person doesn't, and ask me 'hey, can you translate what he said ?'"
"I completely suck at it, I can ultimately do it but it means I need to take what was said in English, and reprocess it in French and find the most adequate words for translation and it's honestly not that easy to do."- Matrozi
Words, Words, Words
"How near-impossible it is to translate words when there is only one word for something in one language but multiple variants of it in another."
"For instance, the word 'cousin' in English is just 'cousin', but there are eight different words for cousin in Chinese, all extremely specific."
'Older male on maternal side, older female on maternal side, younger male on maternal side, younger female on maternal side, older male on paternal side, older female on paternal side, younger male on paternal side, and younger female on paternal side."
"There is no general cover-all term for 'cousin'."
"So when an English speaker says, 'I was having dinner with my cousin last week', how do you translate that into Chinese, for a Chinese audience, without knowing which of the 8 cousin categories it falls into?"
"It creates a '404 Error: Cannot Compute' in the interpreter's brain."
"If you are ever giving a speech in English to a Chinese audience and want to see a look of crazed terror on your interpreter's face, just use the word 'cousin' and watch the panic and despair unfold."
"Was an interpreter."- SteadfastEnd
There's No Simple One And Done
"That the way language is constructed is not straightforward."
"It's not just a different set of words and rules of grammar, it's kind of a whole different way of processing thoughts into speech."- Peanut_Butter_32
It Ain't As Easy As It Looks
"Real-time translation takes a LOT of mental energy."- selfawarescreen
What's The Word?
"Brain fog, when asked to translate, at a critical vocabulary moment."
"You need that one word to make the perfect translation."
"But it is not there."- toyoung
Forgetting Your Native Tongue
"Forgetting words from your native language if you are using the second language too much."
"I have lost count of how many times I knew what I wanted to say in any other language, yet I forgot how to say it on my own native language."
"I end up remembering them later on anyways, but it is such an embarrassing feeling."
" Also, another little thing."
"Accidentally switching languages in the middle of a conversation."
"I may be talking to someone in English, and when I didn't understand something, I would be like 'QuƩ?'(What? In Spanish), all without even thinking about what I did until I realize that I spoke in Spanish by mistake."
"It's not really common for it to happen, but I do remember each and every single time it does."- AruPeachy
"When some word only comes to mind in another language, and you just can't remember what that word is in your native tongue."- Acceptable-Damage43
Not All Sayings Are Universal
"The struggle of explaining / understanding sayings."
"Americans use a lot of sayings like ā'etās play it by ear', and in Spanish we also have sayings that donāt quite translate."
"Also when Iām too excited/ angry etc my brain switches to my native language and canāt quite express myself correctly the other language."- immigrantme
Humor Isn't Universal
"Some jokes make no sense in other languages."- Dukanduu
The Emotion Behind What You're Saying
"You have different personalities based on the language youāre currently speaking, and your native language has emotional ties that arenāt always present in other spoken languages."- P-Wizzl
One needs a fairly active brain to be successfully bilingual.
Though, one can only imagine that internally worrying about your everyday problems in French would likely make them seem a little more romantic.
"Qui sait?"
It pays to know another language. Being bilingual can open many doors.
It's also pretty useful for eavesdropping, not that we're endorsing that.
As a Spanish speakerāhooray for growing up in a bilingual household!āI have always been rather humored by moments when people were talking about me... under the impression that I didn't know what they were saying.
Imagine their faces once I proved them wrong!
Those who speak any other language have undoubtedly had a similar experience at least once.
People shared their stories with us after Redditor 64eight asked the online community,
"Multilinguals, what's your 'They didn't realise I could understand their language' story?"
"I was in Germany..."
"Am ethnically Chinese but grew up learning German."
"I was in Germany for student exchange and attended a dorm party one night. Two German guys at the party started flirting with me and openly discussed who would be able to sleep with me that night."
"Played dumb and rejected both their advances. A week later at another party I conversed with other friends in fluent German in front of them. Their expressions were priceless."
howlingowls123
I bet they were shocked! What a power move.
"My dad was down the aisle..."
"Very innocent comment towards my Dad, but regardless they clearly didn't think I could understand them. I once overheard some middle aged guys say that my Dad looks like "the oldest kid from The Brady Bunch if he grew up" in Spanish."
"My dad was down the aisle getting something and I was manning the cart and they were semi near me. I just start laughing because my mom had a crush on Greg from The Brady Brunch as a kid,so it was perfect! Even my Dad's name is Greg!"
"No one was offended, but the guys did look scared for a minute."
complexismygame
I bet they were scared. Must have given you quite a laugh!
"I responded in Spanish..."
"It happens to me all the time because I look middle-eastern when I'm really Hispanic. I was working at a coffee shop and two hispanic men came in talking mad s**t about our food and confused about the menu."
"Right in front of me the guy's like "Lets ask this guy" "This guy? What's this camel gonna know about anything here" (I guess camel is a slur for middle eastern or something?). I responded in Spanish and it was back-pedal o'clock."
Serves them right, if you ask me. Hopefully they learned a valuable lesson.
"In high school..."
In high school I spoke Spanish fairly well. It was not common for that time and for my area."
"A family was buying groceries, and as I was ringing up the items the father said "he has not seen the stuff on the bottom, don't get it."
"I rang up what was on the belt, and sat there, after a few moments I asked about the stuff on the bottom. They would not look at me for the next 2 mins or so of the transaction."
cmichael00
Few places can inspire interactions like this more than the supermarket checkout line!
"I took a youth group to Six Flags..."
"I took a youth group to Six Flags. We had extra tickets from a couple of no-shows, so I decided to scalp them."
"A Korean family walked up and I made my pitch. They conferred together in Korean. I'm a white guy, but I lived in rural Korea for a year and bargained with a lot of shopkeepers, so I knew their counter-offer and what they were willing to pay before they announced it in English."
gud_speller
A secret skill! Look at you go. Oh to be a fly on the wall and see their reactions!
"I was in NYC..."
"I'm French. I was in NYC, on top of the Empire State Building and a young couple was standing next to me admiring the view, the guy turns to his gf and says in French "ahh I need to s**t so bad". I couldn't not laugh."
OliviaRowe
Can't blame you! One of the best things about knowing another language is catching moments like that.
"I was solo traveling..."
"I was solo traveling in Morocco. I'm 22, female and speak Arabic enough to understand conversations, basic words and phrases, etc. I was trying on clothes at a small shop and there were two women helping me choose what to try on."
"They started talking about me in Arabic, saying how I would be a great wife for one of the lady's sons. They were going on and on, and as I was leaving I responded in Arabic, "No thank you, but I appreciate your help," and they were stunned."
mynameissarah
Good thing you could speak enough to get by! You could have been in an awkward situation!
"Oh, the cooks..."
"Oh the cooks at my job still don't know I'm fluent in Spanish. Yes, I know everything you're saying, Alejo."
[deleted]
Restaurants must be full of juicy drama and you have heard all of it!
"My wife is Indian..."
"My wife is Indian and her family speaks Gujarati. I've spent many years trying to pick it up and have found it to be very difficult as there are no great resources that I am aware of to learn it. You just have to listen and try to guess the context."
"Anyway, over the years I've gotten pretty good, and when my wife's aunt was visiting from India she went right in to my wife about how much weight I'd gained and how bad my diet must be."
"I understood every word and stopped her about two minutes into her rant. Turns out it didn't stop her from continuing."
[deleted]
She didn't even stop? Boundaries much?
If you happen to know another language, you pretty much have a secret superpower at your disposal! People will think twice about what they say around you, as they should.
Have stories of your own? Tell us more in the comments below!
Bilingual People Break Down The Craziest Things They've Overheard Folks Saying About Them
When I was in college, my best friend and I lived in a triple with a girl we didnāt know. We tried to be nice and welcoming, asking her to join us whenever we went anywhere, trying to find out what we had in common, and asking her about her day.
She smiled and while she rarely accompanied us anywhere, she talked to us normally and we figured we were becoming friends. We were wrong.
A couple weeks into our freshman year, we found out our third roommate was complaining about us to her family in Spanish, thinking neither of us would understand. This time, she was wrong.
This is not a rare occurrence. There are lots of instances in which bilingual people overhear people saying crazy or mean things about them in a language they think the others around them canāt understand.
Curious to hear the stories, Redditor KayJayJetLee03 asked:
āPeople who speak a second language - what have you overheard people saying about you when they thought you couldn't understand them?ā
Flattery Will You Everywhere
"I was working as a server and a man came in who I used to work with. We chatted briefly. He was Hispanic and with his family. My Spanish is spotty at best, but his mom said something along the lines of āShe could be your girlfriendā and I replied with the fact that I was married. She froze for a second and then whooped this kind of contagious laughter cackle. Poor guy was embarrassed but I was flattered!"
ā BusyButterscotch4652
"My spanish is passable. I heard a little old lady saying how cute I was to her younger female companion. I assume it was her daughter. She was trying to get her to talk to me. I looked right at her and held up my hamd with my wedding ring. The daughter got beat red and granny started laughing."
"Grandma is all "He is cute and he understands spanish of course he is taken.""
"I was flattered. I love that there are people in the US that think spanish can be a secret language. There are a lot of us that have had to learn."
ā GoodRighter
When You Assume
"So it was actually one of my first languages. Anyway, I was working at a pizza joint. A group of 3 Indian guys came in. They were having a conversation. Nothing about me but they were using a lot of explicit words in Hindi. [The following conversation is all in Hindi] As they were talking one of them said "Dude. Calm down. He might understand you." And the guy said "Him? Nah. He looks like he was born here (Ohio)." And then turned to me and said "You don't understand me right?" And I responded "I'm from Mumbai, dude."
"The other two freaked the fu*k out like I just made a shot from half court."
ā PhreedomPhighter
Schooled
"One of the physicians I work with is lily white but speaks perfect Spanish. My favorite story is he had a pediatric patient to round on and the family all spoke Spanish only. So he calls for an interpreter as our hospital policy dictates and while waiting he greets them, heās smiling and playing with the baby, little Spanish words here and there. The family starts talking about his hair, his clothing, how heās probably an inept doctor, etc. He very pleasantly explains that heās waiting for the interpreter to arrive due to our policy but is more than happy to converse in Spanish - all in perfect Spanish. The faces!"
ā Immajustbrowse19
As If Waiting In Line Doesn't Suck Enough
"We lived in Spain. I was in line to pay my electric bill when a woman began complaining about me being in line. She thought I should be at the end of the line or something. I don't remember exactly what she said but she was not a fan of me or Americans in general. At one point she was pointing at me and she jabbed me with her finger. I gave her a look but didn't say anything."
"When it was my turn in line, I paid my bill, got my receipt, turned to the women in line behind me and said, "I hope you all have a blessed day, except for this rude one." And I pointed at Senora Jabby Finger."
"Ohmygosh, her eyes got so big. She was shocked and embarrassed and I kind of feel bad about shaming her but you really shouldn't assume people don't know what you are saying when you are talking about them right in front of them no matter what language you are speaking."
ā Maxwyfe
Always Understood
"I understand Spanish better than I speak it. For reference I'm dark haired and tan, I get asked if I'm Hispanic or Latina all the time and politely tell them no I'm not."
"Over my 22 years in the service industry, I've worked with a lot of people from Spanish speaking countries, Ecuador, el Salvador, Mexico etc. My last place of employment I walked through the kitchen for the first time and all of the cooks started at me for a sec and then began talking amongst themselves. A lot of it was what they did over the weekend or who wants to grab a beer after work, nothing really nefarious."
"For weeks I listened to their conversations. When certain servers would come to the window they would b*tch about the girls they didn't like. My name was brought up one day about how one of the cooks had a crush on me and they kept picking on him for it. I pretended I didn't understand them until one busy night the cooks were all angry."
"I was angry, the bartender was angry, everyone was fuming over one thing or another. I walked over to the food window (expo window) and politely asked for a ranch dressing missing from my order. All of the cooks looked at me like I had 3 heads. I asked again but a bit more direct. After they started talking sh*t I finally yelled at them, in Spanish, that I needed a f**king ranch and I'm not waiting anymore."
"Everyone went silent, apologized and they all had an epiphany. I heard EVERYTHING they had said for the past 3 weeks about me and the other people who worked there. They all ended up showing super mad respect to me afterward and I grew a good rapport with all of them, so much so, I never had to beg or yell for ranch again"
ā Novel-Command-8445
Being Bilingual Saved My Life
"I live in the UK. I was walking through London alone late one night in 2019, when I noticed two men appear out of nowhere and walk by in total silence, while both giving me a side eye. I watched their reflections in a shop window as they double-backed and started walking behind me. Nothing too nefarious, until they started speaking in German between themselves. Their conversation started with comments about me being short - generally taking the piss at first. Then they started plotting how they would pull me into the upcoming alley about 50ft further up the road. I thought I was about to be in big trouble when I looked ahead and noticed someone else waiting at the alley."
"I donāt know what came over me but I saw a light flick on in one of the houses nearby and I figured at least one person on this sleepy street was awake. So I spun around and started shouting in German and English that I understood everything they said, that Iād been on the phone to the police the whole time and that they were a minute away. Saw a fair few more lights on the street flick on - I genuinely felt bad for waking so many people. The two guys legged it. The alley way guy did too."
"I did actually report it to the police. Grateful that I did A-level German for two years."
ā Rockyri
Not A Secret Language
"I was on public transportation in Switzerland and was asked for my passport by who I think were local police. I don't normally carry my passport and told them (in English) I didn't have it on me. They got pretty pushy and then started saying to each other (in German) how stupid I was. I just looked at them and said (in German) "I speak German. If you want to see my passport you'll have to ride the tram with me to where I have it.""
"Shut them up quick"
ā mockbird1
Their Faces Was The Best Piece Of Art
"My dad was born and raised in Paris, France til about the age of 10, and then his family moved back to the states. Because of this, my dad was fluent in French and retained the native accent."
"Fast forward several years, my family is on vacation in Paris. One of our days was spent at the Louvre, which was going well until my disabled mother needed accommodations, which we had asked about weeks beforehand and were assured that they would be provided. On the day of our visit the accommodations werenāt given to my mom, and my dad was livid."
"We were sitting in one of the customer service offices while my dad and one of the staff members argued in English. The mistake they made was assuming my dad didnāt know French - which is something I absolutely canāt blame them for thinking. My dad was one of the most American-looking tourists of all time - imagine every American stereotype rolled into one: super loud voice, a predisposition to smiling at strangers, very overweight, and dressed in New England sports T-shirts that were likely stained."
"Well, one of the staff members then looked at the other one incredulously and said something snarky in French, assuming that none of us would be able go understand what he was saying. Apparently heād said something along the lines of āLetās tell them thereās nothing we can do to help, maybe that will get them to leave.ā My dad responds, in his perfect Parisian accent, āYou can do something, youāre just choosing not to.ā Those staff membersā heads swung around so fast I thought theyād broken their necks."
"We ended up leaving on our own accord after that; the looks on their faces as they realized what had happened was absolutely priceless."
"The Orsay had better art to see anyway!"
ā 26june2016
Just So Rude!
"I am not deaf but know American sign language fluently."
"I was at work and a woman came up with her husband. She signed to her husband "ask her where the hair dye is". I said that I was sorry but I was new so I wasn't sure but I could get my manager."
"She's signed back to him "of course this dumb bi*ch doesn't know, I'm not surprised.""
"I signed to her "this dumb bi*ch has only been working here for two days. Have some respect for people.""
"She went beet red and immediately left."
ā give_em_hell_kid
Now He's Saying...
"MY wife is from Taiwan, I am from the Netherlands. We were one time in a Chinese Restaurant in Paris. There was a Dutch couple in there not too happy about the food, service etc. and discussing in Dutch. At the same time the Chinese owners were talking about the Dutch couple in Chinse. My wife and I were translating to each other what was said in Chinese and Dutch, and we had a blast since we could follow both sides."
ā dubstepdaddyo
Elevator Moment
"I'm Puerto Rican but I've been told I look more Italian. Anyway, when I was 15, I stepped into an elevator in Miami and these two girls start talking about me saying I'm cute in Spanish."
"Unfortunately for them, they didn't realize that Spanish was actually my first language so I understood everything they were saying even though they were speaking rapid fire."
"I was really shy at that age so I really didn't say much until the door opened on my floor. Then I thanked them for the compliments in Spanish and walked away slowly. I could hear them giggling all the way down the hall."
ListMore5157
Kidnap Attempt
"I had a friend who was at a bar in my small town USA. This group of six white guys were speaking Russian next to her while she was with one other girlfriend. They paid no attention."
"Luckily the bartender spoke Russian and heard them all plotting to kidnap my friend and that there was a white van waiting outside for them. The bartender didnāt let my friend leave and had the bouncer kick them out. Called the cops shortly after. There was a Russian human trafficking ring in my area at that time."
Stupid Tricks
"I used to be a tour guide and families would hire me to show them the sites, sometimes for a set amount of time and other times it was more open-ended. This family had hired me for an open-ended day. The mother and kids would speak to me in English, but each other in French. I also speak French but the family wasnāt aware. The mom kept telling the kids to pretend that they were going to keep me hired into the evening, but that they were really only going to stay until right after lunch. She told them this many times like it was some weird secret. I have no idea to this day what she thought she would get by tricking me."
AudreyLockeĀ·
I donāt think Iāll ever stop laughing at that story!
Do you have similar experiences to share? Let us know in the comments below.
Bilingual People Share Their Best 'They Don't Know I Speak Their Language' Experiences
Knowing a second--or third or fourth--language is like possessing a secret power.
You walk around looking like everybody else, you appear completely unassuming, and yet you have access to entire realms of conversation occurring all around you.
The best part? All the eavesdropping.
When people don't know you can understand them, you're liable to hear all sorts of things--things about you that they'd rather you never heard.
Some Redditors shared their best stories from those moments.
msgbubba asked, "Bilingual people of reddit what is your best 'they don't know that I speak their language' story?"
Ghost Train
"I'm white. Was in Beijing on a train, and had a little kid (like, 4 or 5) call me a white ghost in Mandarin. I stared him down at which point he asked if I understood him."
"I nodded, and he proceeded to hug his mom terrified. š"
-- Dipsendorf
Parting DiscomfortĀ
"The tube in London"
"Two girls talking very explicit about their sex partners the Night before,in Swedish."
"Me and My mates all telepathically knew to Keep our mouths shut and dont look at them."
"When we got to our stop we loudly spoke Swedish so we knew they would hear :p"
-- Senalmoondog
Captive AudienceĀ
"My cousin and her friend were on a ski lift in the US, and these guys on the lift with them started speaking Chinese."
"The whole ride was like, 'Look at these two American-born Chinese girls. They speak to each other in English. They don't even know Chinese. How pathetic.'"
"They all exit the lift. My cousin and her friend turn to one another and start conversing very loudly (and fluently) in Chinese. Apparently, the looks on the guys' faces were priceless."
-- birdwalk
Mingling
"I once went to a party where most of the people where English exchange students and i'm Dutch but fluent in English and there where these 2 girls saying things like 'Omg i know for a fact that Dutch guy doesn't even speak English he looks like such a ret*rd.'"
"And 'He looks like he is having a hard time understanding us.' All i did was look over to them and said 'Well thanks for the compliment but i'm going to look for some nicer company.'"
"Almost seating area erupted in giggles meanwhile i smiled towards the door."
Two Assumptions
"I speak English and Russian, but this is happen to someone else. In high-school we were leaving school with a whole bunch of us Russian speaking students. Pretty much we all hung out together."
"As were are walking 3 of us there is an Asian guy who is walking about 6 feet behind us. One of my friends turns to us and says in Russian 'why is this Chinese kid walking with us. I noticed him following us since we left the school grounds.'"
"Next thing we know we hear a voice from the back reply in Russian 'I'm not Chinese, I'm Korean.'"
-- Imispellalot
Polyglot Power
"Portugal has a lot of emigrants in France, and they enjoy vacating in their home country, but when they return, they like playing the fool with their countrymen by speaking in French."
"Well, I'm fluent in 7 languages, including French, and I used to work at a general store to pay for my tuitions, so from time to time, I'd get these a**holes asking me for help while trash talking me in French and I would fake I didn't understand them..."
"...and curse them back in Portuguese to see if they reacted, and if they did, I would trash them in French and would call security on them in case they tried to press a complaint."
"Let's just say I liked my time in the supermarket more than most."
-- TudoCasual
An Interesting Apology
"Half black half Japanese here. When I was in a train at japan there were two women judging me, called me 'black monster' in Japanese, I turned around and asked 'who's a black monster?" in Japanese..."
"...they started bowing their heads really quickly and gave me a bag of marshmallows as a gift of apology, even when I told them it's fine lol"
-- b8ednm8ed
5 Star Rating Probably Took a Hit
"An Uber saying in Spanish over the phone that had to drive me and I was ugly."
"I didn't talk in all the time I was in the car but when I got out of the car I said to him (in Spanish) 'thanks for your compliment! Have a good day.'"
-- Mbeheit
Not a Baby and Not an Idiot
"I was young, like 9, and I was going on this huge roller coaster. I was kinda shivering (it was really big, ok) and the couple behind me started laughing and talking in Hindi. Saying stuff, look at this little baby and stuff like that."
"So as I got on the ride , I turned back and said in Hindi, I understand Hindi you know, so shut up. I will never forgot the looks on their face as I ascended."
"And the ride was actually really fun, went on it like 5 times."
-- Xeno1224
Cutting CornersĀ
"My origins trace back to Southern Asia and I was born in Europe. My parents speak their native language and I had picked it up overtime. I once went to a restaurant and ordered some wings and patiently waited."
"The guy at the counter told his employee to pack the remaining food from last night and leave the today's item fresh. I simply said 'Hey, I like the fresh food, Thanks.'"
"He was so shocked and gave me some extra food."
-- AzyCrw4282
Cussing in a Desperate Moment
"Delivered a patient's baby and while repairing her tear she was uncomfortable and called me a bi*** and a wh*re in Spanish. I responded with 'now that's not very nice to say to someone holding a needle near your bottom.'"
"Everyone in the room just stared as the patient's mouth opened and closed a few times before she apologized and said it hurt."
-- crruss
Graphic Secrets
"One time I traveled to Argentina, and I'm pretty good with Spanish. However, I'm white, blonde, and I have blue eyes."
"Sometimes girls would talk about me in Spanish. I don't know if they thought I would understand them, but their conversations seemed pretty.... personal...."
-- SaveTheClams
Too Embarrassed to Tip
"Waited tables on TX-MX border. Couple didn't know I speak Spanish fluently and he called me 'f*ggot' in Spanish multiple times, to the wife's total embarrassment."
"I waited for her to get up to go to the restroom after clearing their dishes and I told him in perfect Spanish, 'When you're ready to pay I'll be your cashier.'"
"His eyes got wide and he asked me if I really spoke Spanish. My response: 'Yes, but I understand more than what I speak.'"
"Got $0 in tips from them but I have a story I like to tell."
-- Bibber_Song
Hiding Raunchiness in Plain Sight
"Half of my family is Amish, and speak Pennsylvania Dutch. Little did they know, I'd picked up on quite a few words."
"One day my parents were talking about sex and sh*t in Dutch. (My dad taught my mom Dutch, since he knew it and his half of the family spoke it.) They were making a ton of sex jokes like just plain yelling, "big boobs" or dumb sh*t like that."
"They realized when I started smiling that I knew what they were saying and they instantly shut up."
"Glad I'm older now, and I'm allowed to laugh at the jokes now. Keeping a straight face was f*cking difficult."
Busted
"A substitute teacher came in to teach my Music lessons. Two kids who speak Spanish were mocking him (I assume, based on the tone of their voices, they were speaking Spanish and I only speak English) then they started laughing at the teacher."
"Anyway, he goes up to them, looks straight down at them, and breaks into fluent Spanish."
Confirmed
"My ex roommate is bi and overheard a gay couple commenting on how attractive the cashier was when we were having lunch at a Panda Express."
"After my ex roommate got his meal, he slowly passed by the couple and quietly told them that they were absolutely right."
-- pighalf
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Being bilingual can be beneficial in more ways than you can imagine. First perk that comes to mind is you can be a translator at your job if a tourist on the street needs directions. That's boring, though. What about romantically wooing someone in a different country? Even better, what about dropping ears into another conversation people think you don't understand? Surely, that's the best.
Reddit user, u/SpiralArc, wanted to know about the times when people though they were in the clear to badmouth others in a different language when they said: