So I grew up in a bilingual household. But I am not bilingual myself. Much to my own embarrassment lol
But I do understand both languages, well enough and I can speak a little bit of my other language lol. And that has saved some face in public
Years ago at my job (deli) I accidentally skipped a lady waiting in line. I was just in a rush and there were many waiting. She accused me of acting racist, since she was of obvious Indian decent. Her demeanour changed quite quickly from anger to confusion and even understanding when I humbly apologised to her in (albeit awful) Hindi. She became a regular customer after that and would sometimes bring me sweets during a festival lol
I remember I was out with a friend at a fairly decent tavern, just having a nice meal and a few drinks
And there was a rude group of boys talking in another language near us. Spanish by the sounds of it
My friend is as white as snow, even whiter than me lol
But like me she is biracial.
Anyway even with the language barrier I had, I could tell they were insulting us.
Cue my friend, no doubt being emboldened by the “liquid courage” we had had, strolling over to them, pouring out said drink over the loudest boy and then furiously berating him in her mother tongue (Spanish.)
His friends were stunned into silence, as was I, since she wasn’t one for starting drama.
But I heard a couple of (yeah fair enough) responses muttered lol
We encountered one of them a few days later and he profusely apologised to us and to my friend in particular.
She later translated what she had said to the offending boy and well, let’s just say I’m not allowed to post such on here. In English anyway lol
How about you? Ever seen a failed bilingual encounter? Been in one yourself? Saw something as amusing?
Let me know guys. Just for fun
But I do understand both languages, well enough and I can speak a little bit of my other language lol. And that has saved some face in public
Years ago at my job (deli) I accidentally skipped a lady waiting in line. I was just in a rush and there were many waiting. She accused me of acting racist, since she was of obvious Indian decent. Her demeanour changed quite quickly from anger to confusion and even understanding when I humbly apologised to her in (albeit awful) Hindi. She became a regular customer after that and would sometimes bring me sweets during a festival lol
I remember I was out with a friend at a fairly decent tavern, just having a nice meal and a few drinks
And there was a rude group of boys talking in another language near us. Spanish by the sounds of it
My friend is as white as snow, even whiter than me lol
But like me she is biracial.
Anyway even with the language barrier I had, I could tell they were insulting us.
Cue my friend, no doubt being emboldened by the “liquid courage” we had had, strolling over to them, pouring out said drink over the loudest boy and then furiously berating him in her mother tongue (Spanish.)
His friends were stunned into silence, as was I, since she wasn’t one for starting drama.
But I heard a couple of (yeah fair enough) responses muttered lol
We encountered one of them a few days later and he profusely apologised to us and to my friend in particular.
She later translated what she had said to the offending boy and well, let’s just say I’m not allowed to post such on here. In English anyway lol
How about you? Ever seen a failed bilingual encounter? Been in one yourself? Saw something as amusing?
Let me know guys. Just for fun
