Awkward Moments Where People Didn't Know The Other Person Could Understand Their Language

by Ayoub

People usually don’t dare to criticize others to their faces so they either do it behind their backs or anonymously through the internet. The equivalent of that would be to say something bad about someone in a foreign language that they supposedly don’t understand so they won’t be able to know what you’re saying about them. People often base this bold decision on people’s looks and they assume that since they belong to a particular race that they couldn’t speak a certain language. Of course, this rule doesn’t apply to everyone, and that can lead to a couple of awkward situations.



1. HonestEthan I'm a white guy who has been living in Singapore for the last two years. I speak fluent mandarin. I hear a lot of people talking about me but one of the cutest moments was as I was walking out of the train an older lady looked up at me in shock and said "wow handsome man" to her friend in mandarinI replied "wow pretty woman" as we walked by each other. It couldn't have lasted longer that a few seconds. The last thing I saw was her blushing and her friend laughing at her as the doors closed. 2. brownclown96 I'm an American who is fluent in German. This past fall I was studying abroad in Bologna, Italy. I was shopping for food and a German tourist comes up to me and asks if I speak English, I say yes I'm American. He asks "do you know if I can drink a beer in the street, or are there laws against it?" "I'm not sure, I drink outside all of the time and have never had an issue but to tell you the truth I don't know if it's illegal." He says thanks, then turns to his friend and says in German "I have no idea what she just said." So then I say, in German "I can explain it to you in German if you think you'd understand it better." He was surprised but we laughed and had a good conversation in German after that! 3. bigred1987 I studied Mandarin in college for a few years, and ended up travelling to China for a summer. I was in a small corner store one day and there were two women working. I'm a 6'4" American man and I heard one of them say, "He is so big!" The other woman said, "Shh..He can hear you!" The first woman said, "No, he doesn't speak Chinese." They giggled to each other, and I just went about my way getting the items I needed. When it was time to check out, I walked up to the counter, then decided to have a little fun with them. I said, in Mandarin, "Do you have any grape juice? I wasn't able to find it." The first woman's eyes got really big and the other one just started to laugh. I thanked them then went on my way.https://www.reddit.com/user/bigred19874. simonrozalWas walking with my polish friend and all of a sudden we see this gorgeous girl walking through the hallway. I say to my friend, "Wow, she's beautiful" in Polish to my friend and the girl turns around and responds with "thank you" in Polish.



5. lameio69 My grandma could speak Arabic fluently. One time we are out and some women behind us in line are mocking her calling her tacky, making fun of her bad dye job etc. She turned around and said in Arabic "I may be tacky, but at least I'm not stupid enough to assume nobody can understand me." They were so mortified. 6. rulerofgummybears When I lived in China I went to an international school so would frequently use English with my classmates even though I spoke/understood Chinese. One day, I was walking with a classmate when I overheard these old Chinese ladies talking about how it was obvious we were American because we were so fat. We were both average sized--neither fat nor thin. My friend doesn't understand Chinese so I decided to ignore it since we were just passing by.Later, we were at the fruit stand and the ladies come around looking to buy fruit. I'm standing in front of whatever they were trying to look at and any time they'd try to move around me I'd shift subtly so they couldn't. I hear one of them start huffing about how she can't get by, and in Chinese I respond with "I'd move but as a fat American it'd do no good." The ladies just looked at me then started laughing and were like "Ooh, the fat American has good Chinese!"No shame. 7. LilyRM Not mine, but my English teacher (I'm from a Spanish speaking country). She told the class that when she was in her early twenties, she and a friend were on a plane coming back from Italy. About two rows in front of them, there was an allegedly gorgeous man, that had spoken to the flight attendant in Italian. My teacher and her friend proceed to extensively and continuously talk about how hot the dude is throughout the flight. Of course, since they're speaking in English and the guy is obviously Italian, they're not particularly careful about being in any way discrete and have their conversation pretty loudly. At the end of the flight, the dude unbuckles his safety belt, grabs his bags and turns to look at my teacher straight in the eye and tell her "You know, you're not the only ones who speak English." in perfect English. He grinned and proceeded to get off the plane. Suffice to say that my teacher was very insistent on us being aware of what we say when we think no one can understand.



8. ivG1660 At a hot spring in Colorado after a long, relaxing soak, I was walking towards the exit with all of my belongings in my arms when a big yawn took over me. The woman in the closest spring exclaimed "You should really cover your mouth next time, I thought you were going to eat me!" in Polish. Without hesitation, I turned to her and said "przepraszam" (I'm sorry) and she laughed so hard out of embarrassment that we could hear her all the way to the parking lot. 9. redmob5 I'm fluent in English and Russian. I was on a train going from Philly to NYC and on one of the stops, these two elderly Russian ladies got on and sat across from me. The whole trip they were chit chatting, but about 15 minutes before my stop they started talking about me in Russian, mostly about the way I was dressed (I was going to the Governors Ball Festival, so I looked pretty colorful and casual). Of course, that generation of people tends to be a little judgmental and some of the things they said weren't very polite and kind. I paid no attention, just continued scrolling on my phone.When it was my stop, I put my phone to my ear, pretended that my mom called me, and started to have a pretend conversation with my mom in Russian as I was walking towards the exit. The looks on their faces were priceless. Better than any comeback. 10. Ajftbl I speak Dari, one of the two official language of Afghanistan. On a trip I overheard two Afghans. One was telling the other to be careful, Detroit was more dangerous than Kabul.



11. MrsTurtlebones We did this but fortunately it wasn't mean! My husband is American born and raised but grew up speaking German with his family. He wanted our kids to be bilingual so speaks only German with them.My kids and I were at Chincoteague island in Virginia where a lot of Amish people like to vacation. We were in line at an ice cream parlor behind a group of about 20 Amish, including 7-8 teen girls. My daughter is used to speaking German to me as if it's a secret code, and said, "Look at what they're wearing, those dresses and bonnets. And look at their hair, so thick and shiny! They all look pretty." The girls turned en masse and looked at her in surprise, which in turn surprised her, and I told her, "They clearly understood everything you just said!" She looked embarrassed, then shrugged and answered that she didn't say anything she wouldn't have said to their faces. It was still a new experience for her. 12. weetek Not me but my moms friend. Her and her aunt were on a bus. A very sickly looking woman sat in front of them. They just started talking between themselves and said something along the lines of "that lady looks like death." She turned around and in Polish said "I have cancer." 13. ElMangosto I was 18 and working at a car wash, which in my city is a great cash job for immigrants so it was staffed largely by Mexican dudes. I didn't let them know I spoke Spanish.In traditional Mexican style, their sense of humor was great but pretty mean. Like older brothers. And I was a tiny little blonde-haired blue-eyed preppy kid from the suburbs. They didn't realize that meant I took 4 years of foreign language in school.Anyways I kept my head down and didn't let on, til one day I heard them plotting a prank on me (which would have soaked me and probably hurt like a mother) so as I was hopping in a customer's car to move it onto the conveyor I casually shouted over my shoulder "Don't even try it assholes, or I'll shit on your face".Their reaction came in three waves:Shocked silence at the perfect Spanish coming out of my mouthBent over laughing when they processed what I just yelledBack to silence as they thought back to every single thing they had ever said in Spanish in my presence thinking I couldn't understand.



14. domestic_omnom I was picking up food from a local mexican place. The lady at the counter asked if I wanted salsa I said no. They guy behind me said in spanish that gringo's can't handle real mexican sauce. I turned and said in spanish "my wife is mexican, we make our own". The guy didn't say anything. On my way out I heard his friends laugh. 15.DarthPun Wasn't me but my dad.We, as good Canadians do, went on a ski vacation to Quebec. While my dad was parking his car a tour bus backed into our van. After seeing the damage, my dad marches on to this tour bus and starts talking with the driver. The driver apologizes profusely to my enraged dad, but when my dad starts asking for his name, employee number, and insurance information, he starts pretending that he doesn't understand English. My dad is fluent in French so without skipping a beat he continues questioning the driver en francais. The driver was super shaken up by this turn of events and his face turned red but surrendered his information in the end.

