foreign languages

When I was little, I thought that everyone was born knowing english, but had to learn the langauge in which they lived to 'fit in' and 'be normal'

Ann-onymous

When at school (in wales) we were taught umah was "here" (not sure if thats the correct spelling). So when we moved to england "umah" was a slang for oh dear or you've done somthing wrong.

Ummaahhh. "Yes i know your here."

lol haven't been told otherwise yet. ;)

Jonat

when i was small i used to think that french was just a distorted form of english and was convinced that i could speak it!!

frenchi

I used to believe that there is not only one english or one french language but that they're mixes.
Only German would speak german german but not the english english but german english.

Hm it's hard to explain. :)

TE

When I was a child I used to thank God for the fact that I wasn't born in another country, because then I wouldn't speak the language.

Anon

I used to think in other countries they said it in their language but thought it in english.

Wendy

When I was in third grade, we had these planners that we wrote down our homework in every day. There was sections for math, science, social studies. And there was one labled English/Reading. I knew what it ment, but this idiot that sat next to me named John did not. My friend Elizabeth asked me what section to write down some homework we had in, and I told her English/Reading. Then John said something like, "You wouldn't put it there! We don't live in England! We don't speak English we speak American!" He denies it to this day and I still burst out laughing whenever I think about it.

Emmy

My son who is 5 thinks that any other language other than english is spanish, i was getting a peticure and the lady who was giving it to me was speaking chinese, my son loudly advised me that the lady is speaking spanish. She asked him how old he was and he looks at me and said can you tell that lady i do not know spanish. But to impress her he started counting to 10 in spanish lol.

Malinda

I used to believe that Polish was just spitting noises and garbled words. I only saw it written down and it looked really hard to pronounce. My mom is of Polish descent and sometimes i would hear her speak Polish while talking on the phone with someone. I just thought she was speaking French and didn't think about it anymore.

Sally

I used to believe that cats and dogs in foreign countries would bark and miaow in a different langauge, I also used to make occassional attempts to emulate the sounds they might make.

Sam B

whn i was about 5 i used to believe english was the easiest language to learn and couldnt understand y everyone did nt just speak english it would make life so much easier i contiued to believe this for another 6 years!!

turty

i used to believe that before you were born, your spirit was taught how to speak your mother tongue beforehand lol. when i was 3 or 4 i asked my mum "who taught me to speak?"

queen-without-a-crown

I used to believe that foreign languages just had different letters, and if you knew what the letters sounded like it would make sense in English.

Ima Hogg

When I was little I used to think foreign languages don't exist and that people just pretend. That they, in fact, translate each word from my language into another in their head and then speak out. That the world essentially only has one language. Mine, of course. I'm a linguist now :-)

Ana

I used to think that the Chinese spoke Spanish...I was really confused when I found out the truth.

Anon

When I was a child I used to believe that Italian was the only spoken language in the world and foreign songs were sung using invented words without meaning.

Anon

When I was about 7 years old, my family and I were going to take a trip to Finland and Sweden. I knew they didn't speak English there, but, for some reason, I believed that their laughter would sound different than mine, as they would laugh in a foreign language!

Kristin G

I used to think that people who didnt speak english translated what they spoke or heard from other people into english in their head!

Sammi

When I was young and I first heard about Tina Turner, I thought her name was Tina TrØnder. A Trønder is a person who lives in the middel of Norway, and since I'm norvegian it made perfect sence to me... My brother is still mocking me for beliving in that...

Language-Alien

When I was maybe eight or so, I found a piece of paper that had instructions for something in English, and the below that in Japanese. I decided that each one of those Japanese symbols must be the equivilent of an English letter, and I was always mystified as to why the Japanese words had so few "letters", even if the English word for it had ten letters.

Anon