50 Of The Best And Worst Things Bilinguals Heard Someone Say When They Thought Nobody Would Understand Them

Amish in public places talking about us non-amish people and they're doing it in German. I took 4 years of German in school and can pick up some Amish phrases here and there. Sometimes they're rude. Sometimes they're curious.

When I was 13 my family moved to Switzerland. At first I didn’t understand french at all, but slowly i began to learn. My classmates didn’t realize I was learning though, so I got to hear them “discreetly” argue about who had to sit next to me, or who had to put me on their team in gym :(.

A friend and I (both male) were sitting at a restaurant. Two girls next to us were speaking spanish, arguing with each other about which one of us was more attractive. Eventually they both agreed on my friend so as we walked out he thanked them in Spanish and they both went beet red.

Back when I worked in retail, I had a very angry customer who DESPISED the idea of self-checkout lanes. Unfortunately for him and his wife, those were the only checkouts without a line, and they were not the type to wait.

The man used the machine for maybe 30 seconds before becoming so frustrated at the weight sensor that he dropped all his items and stormed out while yelling profanities in another language. His wife slowly followed out with a sigh, but not before I said 'good night' to them in the very same language. That got a hearty chuckle out of her!

I was in high school ordering food at a food truck and the person ahead of us in line had left a soda on the counter. Since the counter is below the window they couldn’t see it. We ordered our food and went to step away, leaving the soda, and I heard the guy after us tell the man at the window that we were stealing a soda in Spanish.

He wasn’t being malicious but I was glad I could understand him to explain that we weren’t stealing!

A polish guy at work started swearing at me profusely in his tongue , I learned a little polish from a friend , I told him I understood everything he just swore at me whilst I stared him straight in the eye . He didn’t say another word.

I was stationed in Germany and out processing to get out of the Army. I had been there for almost 4 years so I was pretty fluent by then. At one office worked a Germany lady and a German guy. The lady gave me a paper to sign and as I am reading it she turns to her co-worker and says hella snarkily, "die sind meine lieblings Kunden, die die Alles lesen müssen" or "they are my favorite customers, the ones that have to read everything.".

Korean family visited university i went to. They were lost and needed help. They dont speak English. As i was passing them.
Dad: "He looks Korean. Let s ask him."

Mom and daughtor " He s Chinese. Let s not ask him"


10 mins later. I met up with my friend and was walking toward dining plaza. They saw my friend and asked her "where is this and that"

My friend " sorry i m not sure" turns to me and asked " hey do you know?"

I ended up telling them in Korean where to go and watch their shocked faces as they didnt think I was Korean.



For info: i do kind of look like Chinese. Chinese families always asked me questions at school. So i had to learn "sorry i m not chinese. I dont know how to speak chinese. I am korean" in mandarin.

Ill just say as someone that knows sign language i can eavesdrop from across the room.

the other thing is deaf people dont have the same social political correctness if they want to say that they saw someone undo their pants, they WILL undo their pants to show what they want to convey even in public.

so i see a guy telling some others, in sign language, about someone commenting on his button fly jeans. he is standing in the corner of a coffee shop when he grabs his button fly and pulls it open. people around the room gasp in shock with WTF type comments. i was able to get the lead up to the fly show and he was talking about how someone asked how he undid all those buttons so quick.

I remember hearing two Chinese tourists, both males in their late teen/early twenties, in the United States talking about a woman they thought was attractive. Nothing overly inappropriate or rude, it was just kind of funny they were discussing it so loudly.