People like to say to never judge a book by its cover. That's never been truer than when being around people who everyone assumes speaks a different language than everyone else.
The people in the following stories know that all too well. They recently shared on Reddit the times people around them thought that they didn't speak the native language, when in reality, they understood everything that was being said about them. Take a look at some of the best stories from the bunch. All posts have been edited for clarity.
They Picked The Wrong
“I was taking the bus across town and I have a bad habit of listening in others conversations. Anyways, I’m listening in on these two guys talking about their attitudes towards immigration (I live in Australia, and there is a lot of xenophobia). It was all a bunch of stuff like ‘Oh, they don’t assimilate into our culture, they shouldn’t be coming into our country if they’re muslims.’
Eventually, they notice an Asian couple get on the bus, the couple start talking in Malay. The two xenophobes go on in the conversation about how that they shouldn’t have to learn their language and they should have to speak our language in public, because they wouldn’t understand it if the couple were talking about them. This annoys me and I try and tune out of their conversation.
Due to my terrible habit, I tune into the couple’s conversation. I speak Malay because I had learned Indonesian in high school which was extremely similar, and my step family is from Singapore and they speak a variety of different languages. They were talking about general day to day things. Then one of the Australian guys shouts ‘Speak English! Asian wanks!’
That was the last straw, for both me and the guy from the couple.
The Asian guy was built like a tank and ready to knock these dude’s teeth out, whereas the natives were puny, skinny and very un-intimidating. He got up to talk to them before I did, I got up just in time to yell out to the Asian guy, ‘Hey come on man, it’s not worth it. Just leave them be.’ I mean I was going to give them an earful about how dumb they were acting, but if a fight broke out, the Asian guy would have knocked them out which would only worsen these racist pricks’ attitude towards foreigners. The Asian guy was pretty surprised to hear me speak Malay, but he recomposed himself and got off the bus with his girlfriend.
I felt pretty awesome telling these guys afterwards that if they weren’t acting they way they were, that might have not happened and that if I, an Australian, hadn’t learned another language, they would be bloody and beaten.”
What’s Worse – What They Said Or Their Reasoning?
“I was in the swimming pool area with a hot tub in English-speaking Canada. A group of men were sitting in the hot tub. There were a number of children playing in the pool area.
The men start talking about the children in French. One of the men singles out a little girl aged approximately 4 or 5 years old and talks to the others explicitly about her body and her ‘future love life.’ This is the least offensive way I can express what they were actually saying. They laughed and joked and made similar comments about some of the other children. They had no idea I spoke French.
I was literally speechless. They changed the subject, continued to talk for a while while I gathered my thoughts (was in shock). As they exited the hot tub, I said in my most confident voice, though I was shaking on the inside (in French): ‘Hey – be careful what you say, you never know who might understand you.’
They were stunned, but one of them threw back at me: ‘So? So what? We weren’t saying anything wrong, it’s all just the truth.’
Later on (this took place in a hotel) – I stepped into the elevator (my parents were with me at this point), and there they were, with their wives. Never before or since seen a big group of guys all go white in the face at the same time.
In a subsequent discussion with my parents (‘What was all that about? Why did those men get so nervous/why were you glaring at them/why are you so mad?’) I never was able to bring myself to tell them exactly what the men said. To this day, the only person I told was my husband. I regret not saying more at the time – if only I had been a few years older.”
A Traveler Strikes A Blow For Freedom
“One time I crossed the Mexican-American border by foot and walked into a burger joint 3 blocks away. I had on a flannel shirt, dirty jeans and muddy boots. The reason is that I help my uncle in Mexico with his fieldwork.
My dad would drop me off at the border and he would pick me up on the other side, it was just easier this way to avoid the traffic. Anyway, I walk in dirty, and I’m sure I smelled a little, to use the restroom.
When I walked out, I heard the manager speaking to his co-workers and telling them that I looked like I just ‘hopped the fence.’ So I stayed quiet and acted like I didn’t understand a single word he was saying.
Fast forward ten minutes and these 2 cops entered the establishment. They seemed interested in buying food, but in reality, they were they to see what I was up to. The officer asks the manager what I was doing there and this girl from the back told them that I was just wandering around aimlessly.
After exchanges back and forth, the officer calls me over in Spanish and asks for my identification. I acted like I didn’t hear him the first time so he gets angry at me and yells ‘Donde estan tus papeles?’ (where are your papers) in front of at least 15 people eating their meal.
I take a deep breathe and begin to answer every single question of his in perfect English and give him my I.D. As I was handing it over, he said never mind, apologized and they went on there way. I look at the manager and his posse and told them that next time, all they have to do is ask and not assume. This was done to me by my own people. I’m Mexican by the way.”
A Date She’ll Never Forget
“I can speak Chinese and at one point I was dating a Chinese guy. We were serious and had been together for about three years when we ran into a family friend of his mother’s at a restaurant and her daughter. My then-boyfriend introduced me to them, they seemed pretty nice, and we sat at a table close enough to hear them. Suddenly this family friend started ranting to her daughter in Chinese, saying how disgusting it was that we were together, that I had no right being with someone like my boyfriend, and that my boyfriend should have been ashamed of himself for being out in public with me. Her daughter told her that she didn’t have anything to worry about and that she wouldn’t do anything as embarrassing.
It hit right to my core, but I got through eating, and when we left, we said goodbye to them, and I said goodbye in Chinese. As we walked away, this friend had the nerve to say, ‘I don’t care if she understands, at least now we won’t have to hide how unwelcome she is around here.’ It was one of the worst moments of my life, and I will never forget it.”
He Kept His Cool For As Long As He Could
“I used to work with this guy who was an average white American who was married to a smoking hot Dutch lady. One evening they went out for Chinese food and after being seated, he noticed the entire male waitstaff started cycling by their table to get an eyeful of his wife. Okay fine, it kept his water glass topped off, and it’s not like he wasn’t used to it.
Then he noticed the guys all congregated at the bar, talking and laughing. After a few minutes, he motioned for his waiter and asked to speak with the manager. The waiter asked if everything was okay, but my friend just repeated that he wanted to see the manager. Their waiter left and returned shortly with a guy from the group at the bar that said he was the head waiter.
My friend told him that he didn’t want to talk to any of them, he wanted to speak with the manager. The head waiter assured him it that wasn’t necessary as he could take care of any problem. Through gritted teeth, my friend looked at him and said, in perfect Mandarin, ‘Get the manager right now.’ He told me the color drained from both waiters’ faces as they stumbled backward like they were trying to get away from an evil spirit.
The head waiter dashed off to the back and returned a short time later with the manager. Speaking in English, my friend told the manager that the waitstaff had said some pretty nasty things about him and his wife. Figuring his ‘get the manager’ comment was something picked up from Google Translate, the manager sought to assure my friend that Mandarin was a challenging language for foreigners to master, so he was likely mistaken with anything he thought he might have heard.
At that point, my friend lost his cool and switched to full-on Mandarin. He very loudly repeated what he’d overheard the waiters joking about throughout the meal, like how he must be rich because there was no way he was satisfying his wife with his tiny package. The group at the bar suddenly stopped smiling and became very interested in their shoes. The manager stood open-mouthed and speechless as my friend pointed to each of the waiters, and, using the proper slang, recounted what each said they’d do to his wife.”
Tough Times In The Soviet Union
“My grandmother spoke German, Russian, and Latvian. After the Soviets were handed Latvia in 1939, she was on a train trip to Riga from the countryside where she lived. Four young Soviet officers got on the train and sat in the same train compartment as her. She was in her mid-20s at the time and was dressed in a way which identified her as a Latvian peasant. They started making remarks about her to one another in Russian; started talking about how they should arrest her arbitrarily and take her off the train and violate her.
What they obviously didn’t know was that she understood everything they were going on about. She was absolutely terrified, but at the same time was certain that if she let on that she understood that they would make good on their ‘joking.’ She kept a bored, straight face and when she saw the conductor going by outside the compartment she got up and followed him down the corridor and got off at the next stop.
The things both my maternal and paternal grandparents went through is amazing to me.”
Whispered Insults Are Still Insults
“I started dating a Mexican guy and had told him I spoke little Spanish. After a lot of joking about how I don’t really know Spanish, he started to say phrases I knew were intended to test my understanding, which I found rude considering I was sympathetic that he didn’t speak perfect English. So I played dumb. Eventually, he began to believe I understood little to nothing.
One day we were laying in bed, him on top of me. While gazing into my eyes, he began:
‘You have the most beautiful eyes.’
I smiled. He continued:
‘And you’re not that smart, kind of a low-class gangster. Not to mention crazy, and we won’t be dating long. And it’s so nice that you don’t understand the things I’m saying.’
His seductive speech was littered with kisses and a few other insults. And he said this with the sweetest grin. I just smiled sweetly and said in English, ‘I do. You can go now.’
It was enraging.”
A Close Call
“Well, I once escaped being violated. I was walking home from the club with my French friend. I lived on the west coast (of a small island in the Indian Ocean where the official language is English but mostly French and creole are spoken) which is a tourist area, so seeing tourists everywhere was pretty common.
Anyway, we are walking back home (about 5 minutes walk but somehow lasts 15-20 minutes when you are wasted), chatting in German (her mom is German).
A couple of local guys proceed to follow us and one of the creeps tells his friend to call their other friends as there were some chicks walking alone at night and they should take care of us (they clearly stated their intention in my local language). They thought I couldn’t understand. I told my friend about it but we were not sure what to do.
I was lucky that a colleague of mine was driving by to pick-up tourists from a hotel for their departure flight. He saw us and gave us a ride (basically a few meters home).”
Talk About Racism
“I (African American teenager) went to a Chinese restaurant, and immediately the lady behind the counter looked up, and back at her husband and shouted in Mandarin, ‘One ape in the door! Go serve it.’
It took me a minute to realize I hadn’t translated that incorrectly. When the husband asked what I wanted, I responded in Mandarin, ‘This ape doesn’t want to give any money to your establishment,’ and left. I will never forget the look of terror, shock, and stupidity that left on her face.”
She Could Only Play Dumb For So Long
“I’m an American traveling abroad in the Middle East. I recently went on a date with an Arabic guy. He asked me if I spoke Arabic, but since I’m not comfortable speaking it, I just said no. I can understand most things, though, and can speak if pressed.
Dinner was great, we got along well, and then went to smoke shisha at a local cafe. The owner, who was my date’s buddy, asked who I was in Arabic.
He smiled at me sweetly, squeezed my hand, and told his friend in Arabic, ‘An American harlot who I’m going to sleep with later.’
I kept a stupid, docile smile on my face. When the owner took my order, I told him in Arabic, ‘And one tea for the American harlot who he will not sleep with later.’
The look on both of their faces was priceless. Needless to say, I ended up taking a cab home.”
When Someone’s Racism Comes Back To Bite Them
“I was in the Dallas-Ft. Worth airport waiting to board a plane home to Seattle. You know how this is, everyone standing in a rush waiting for their boarding group to be called like it’s going to have a huge impact on their lives. About five feet to my right a pair of Arabic men in western clothing were conversing, not in Arabic but in French. On my left was your stereotypical redneck flying to Hawaii. Short, round, huge gut, too tight t-shirt, shorts, and a cowboy hat. Standing between them is me. 6’4, 220 lbs in jeans, plaid shirt, fully sleeved (tattooed) arms, and big straw beat up cowboy hat. I am nowhere fluent in French but can hold a basic conversations and get along there just fine without too much help.
Roly-poly redneck starts grumbling and making comments about how they (I made an assumption he meant the Arabic men next to me) better not be getting on his flight. He keeps this up for about five minutes before my deep seated desire to mess with people takes over.
I turned to the Arabic men and in French apologized for interrupting. I explained to them what was up and asked where they were going? Hawaii, really? Cause I think that’s where this guy is going too. I told them to have a good flight and thanked them for talking to me for a minute and to please not let this guy ruin their trip. I then turned to the redneck and asked how his day was going. He just kinda glared at me and didn’t say anything. So I asked, ‘Going to Hawaii?’
‘Yep,’ was the totality of his response.
All I said was, ‘Those guys are too, enjoy.’
At this point, my cattle-group number was called and I headed up to get in line to board. When redneck passed me sitting in business, he wouldn’t even make eye contact with me. But then again only one of the Arabic guys even smiled at me as they passed.”
Mean Girls In Paris
“While I was living in Paris, I had my high school friend from Germany visit me. We both speak French, but my friend isn’t quite fluent so it is easier for us to have conversations in English.
We were taking the train to go downtown from a Banlieue. We sat across from each other (the benches were all grouped together facing each other). Anyways, the train is freaking empty and two 14-year-old girls (we were 20 at the time) decide to sit right next to us (and it is getting tight in there).
They realized we were speaking English and for some reason they thought we didn’t know French. They started laughing with each other, saying that we smelled like old ladies They said other ‘mean’ stupid stuff but I can’t remember now. We get to our stop and they won’t get up to let us leave (both had their legs crossed, blocking the way out), so my friend got up and kicked their legs and starts running out, meanwhile I’m behind her having to deal with two ticked off teenagers.
She left a few days later and I was taking the train quite often that summer and I would see them at least once a week. Don’t know why my 20 year old self was so scared of two 14 year olds.”
They Picked The Wrong Person To Mess With
“I was walking down 5th Avenue in Playa Del Carmen when two men to my left began talking about how hot the white girl in the green dress was and detail all of the dirty things they’d do to her. One of them even started rubbing himself outside of his shorts.
I was the girl in the green dress, and I turned around and flipped them off and told them to get bent in Spanish. My Latino boyfriend, who was with me, hadn’t caught the conversation so he wasn’t exactly sure what was going on.
As we walked away, though, he was like: ‘Did you see that guy who was basically jacking off through his shorts?!’ I had to explain to him that that was about me! We both were very grossed out and thought it was weird that two dudes were just talking about girls walking by and basically jacking off in public. Weirdos.”
Their Mothers “Would Be Ashamed”
“I speak Farsi (Persian). While in college, I was waiting in line at Subway to order, and there were two other Persians behind me complaining about the girl in front of me taking too long to order. They began to comment on how hot she was and all of the naughty things they’d both do to her. One of them said something to the effect, ‘I wouldn’t mind licking some of that sweet onion sauce off her body.’ I was standing there smirking, fully aware that these guys had no idea I knew what they were saying.
She finished her order, paid, and as she left, she turned to the guys behind me and said in Farsi, ‘Your mothers would be ashamed to hear how you talk about women.’ I was as surprised as they were, but the difference was they looked mortified while I was trying not to double over with laughter.
I ordered my sandwich, and on my way out I smirked at them and said in Farsi, ‘She’s right, you know?’
I feel like if you’re in an area that has a healthy population of people of the same ethnicity, you might want to check what you’re saying (in any language). It’s like going to California and trash talking people in Spanish.”