foreign languages

When I was little (about 5) my parents were friends with a spanish speaking woman and a german speaking man (married couple) I only understood German and English so I use to think if I spoke in any gibberish sounding words (that didn't make sense to me) that the woman would understand because anything I made up just had to be spanish since it wasn't English or German.

Momtotwo

I used to think that people who spoke other languages had transaltors in their brains that made them hear in english. I was always so amazed when people could speak more than one language.

melissa

I used to believe that, being American, all the people in the world who did not speak English actually understood the language, and just took the extra time to 'convert' it into their own language so that we could not understand what they were saying. I thought this up through first grade, while we occasionally learned Spanish during that time so that we could also disguise our conversations as well

Anon

In kindergarden, my friend told me American was a seperate language from English. He started claiming that he was bilingual because he could speak both.

Anna

I used to think there was one "fundamental language", and English couldn't be it because of the strange grammar and stuff (and I don't know how to speak any language other than English!)

Anon

I'm Irish, and over here we learn Irish in school.

I remember when I was about five asking my mom what country spoke Irish (because we sure as hell didn't).

Toto

I used to believe that people who spoke a different language laughed differently as well. I thought that they would laugh with an accent or something.

strycc

When I was a young chap I couldn't understand why we had to learn English in school. I supported this with my belief of that every country had their own twist of English. Norwegians spoke Norwegian-English, the swedes spoke Swedish-English and so forth.

Norwegian fella who now LOVES English

I used to think that every word meaning something had the same pronounciation in all languages-the difference was only with the scripts (Example Mom was always called Mother in English, French, Hindi etc). No wonder than that when i wrote my first Hindi exam using English words and Hindi scripts, my score failed to move beyond zero.

Bala

When I was a child I couldn't understand how a radio made in Japan could play songs in portuguese ou english. If they are made in Japan, so they should just be able to play japanese songs

Daniel, from Brazil

When I was about 5, My mom and dad took me to my grandmother's house (she only speaks spanish), So I asked my mom "How do you laugh in spanish?"

Jezibela

As a kid I didn't understand English at all (I'm French Canadian). So when that little English girl asked me something (I was 4-5) my answer looked like "Aw chaw cho no wo err loo."
I really believed she would understand since it sounded English to me.
Until I saw her puzzled face...
Would be cool if it were that easy, wouldn't it? :o)
Until I saw her puzzled face...

AnneMarie

When i was small i didn't know what french kissing was so i asked my sister. she simply responded "it's kissing a while speaking french" so i was like "o let me try!" i grabbed my doll and started to speak the lil french i knew a while kissing it. my mom walked by when i was "french kissing it"....she later told me the truth...

Anon

One of my brothers thought that everybody thought in English and that people who spoke different languages had to translate the words in thier heads and spoke in a different language because it sounded "cool."

seth thomas

I legitmately thought that my mom wouldnt be able to read my diary if I wrote it pig latin!

Ashley

I used to believe that if I spelled Norwegian words backwards, it would be English. I don't anymore...

Gudrun

English was my first language ... but until the age of five or six, I thought that everyone spoke it. The first time I heard someone speak a foreign tongue, I stared at them in disbelief until my mother told me about languages. But the idea of someone not speaking English was so alien to me - because the languages I overheard were utterly incomprehensible to my ears - that I figured that everyone speaking a foreign language simply MUST be at least thinking in English. They must be translating back and forth in their heads even as they speak German or Japanse or whatever, because how ELSE could they understand that strange gibberish coming from their mouths?

I immediately felt bad for them and thought I was lucky because I only had to think and speak English instead of worrying about translating words from foreign languages into English in my head.

Anon

Growing up in Germany and not understanding any other language when I was young I used to believe that the "Long Vehicle" signs on lorries meant that that was the country they were actually coming from.

shansi

I used to believe that the word "english" was a universal word meaning "your language" so therefore i would assume that the subject english at school meant we are learning to speak and understand our own language better. So I therefore assumed that when people from another country (eg. France) were taught French at school, they were being taught their English.

MandaMoo

I used to believe that different languagess were because peoples ears heard things differently. I had never heard anyone speak a different language before...

Aly