have you ever been insulted in another language because the person didn't think you would understand?

Question

my son was about 5 months old, and i was with my congregation (of all places). my son was fussy and crying, so i took him to the back and stood, holding him upright, so he could look over my shoulder.

shortly thereafter, some kid came to the back to use the restroom and get some water, and on his way, he stopped. after he asked how me and my baby were doing, he went around to my backside, took my son's hand and said "este feo...este feo" in a cutesy little baby voice.

i turned around and said, "he's not ugly!"
(mind you...we were speaking in hushed tones)

the kid looked shocked and said "oh...you understand? uhh...err...well, i was only joking." and then he proceeded to the restroom.

i was mad at his comment, but also pretty satisfied that he was embarrassed.

have you surprised someone like this by understanding them when they assumed you would not know what they were saying?
or been surprised yourself when someone understood you?

meg...i once went to a convenience store and bought some canned cat food, and while i was there grabbed a bag of chips. when i got to the counter, the two gentlemen exchanged words and laughed. i couldn't confirm it, but i'm pretty sure they were talking about me eating the chips and catfood for dip.

Answer 1

LOL. Yeah. Once my french teacher was talking to another French teacher and she was calling me merde which means sh*t. Any way I was like really angry, and thought I'd take the risk, and I responded, non, Merci madame mais je prefers quelqe'un autre que vouz! She was very angry, but couldn't say anything because she started it.

Another time, I was talking with my sister in a crazy language me had invented about my cousin's mum, and we were calling her **** any way, the kid who was like 6 was like no she's not!

Answer 2

I certainly have and the nerve of them! I was at school in Hong Kong, and had just arrived from Canada some few years back. I'm a Chinese- Canadian and my parents speak Cantonese to me at home. The classmate thought I woudn't understand what they were saying. Ha! How very wrong they were. I'm not going to tell you what exactly they had said, it just wasn't very nice, actually, they were swearing. They thought I wouldn't understand it because it was Chinese slang and stuff. But it turned out for them that I did, and it was so funny...
Then there was this other case where this person said things to me in very slow English. I think I might have mislead her. This happened in Hong Kong and the English of many Hong Kong students aren't very good. I was just nodding and saying yes before. She went on very very slowly. It was when she asked this question where I had to give a lengthy answer did she realize that I spoke English perfectly. Was she suprised!
It's the same with the people in Canada. They are always suprised to find my English "accentless" as some like to put. Because they ask me where I come from and I say Hong Kong. Many would proceed to ask when I came to Canada and truthfully, I've just come back in August and they get all confused after that. In Hong Kong, the English teachers were suprised that I didn't have a Chinese accent when I spoke English...

Answer 3

Because I am American, it's assumed I don't speak any foreign languages so I use that to my advantage sometimes. Riding the subway in Boston once, there were two Danish au pairs and they were making fun of the way a lot of us were dressed or looked. It was crowded so I made my way over to them, and on my way out, I bumped into them purposely and excused myself in Danish. They looked horrified. I have similar stories from Spanish-speaking parts of the world since I don't blend in. I

I did run into a group of Irish men at a pub in Bosnia and they were speaking Gaelic (and it seemed like they were talking about the females there). I don't really speak Gaelic but I know a few phrases and I said one to them and they just blushed, thinking I had understood whatever they had been saying. I was able to bluff for a couple more minutes before they realized I was full of it...but they were still embarrassed for a few minutes.

Answer 4

Well, these both stories happened a long time ago and they didn't even happen to me (though I was a witness), but I thought that the responses to the insults were great:

When I was in high school (way back when) whenever my friend and I would go to San Francisco on the weekends at the end of our trip we would always stop by a Russian food store to buy some yummy snacks. One day, as we were waiting in line, an African-American man, dressed very elegantly, came into the store and took his place in line. While he was waiting behind us some generic babushkas started chatting about him rather loudly. They were saying: "What is this black man doing here? Does he even know what he is going to buy?...etc." After the man bought his things he stopped by the old ladies, tipped his hat and in a completely perfect Russian without any accent said to them: "Good evening ladies, how are you doing today?" The babushkas turned green, then white, then bright red, they could barely respond to him and were just incomprehensibly muttering excuses. My friend and I couldn't help but laugh after we walked out of the store, it was such a great response to their insults, I bet the man taught those women a really good lesson that day.

Another time was when my other friend's grandmother took us to an Asian market. Though the grandmother couldn't speak Mandarin, she could understand it very well since she spent her childhood in China. We were at the fish stand and the salesman was speaking to his co-worker in Chinese as we were looking at the fish. All of a sudden my friend's grandmother got really angry and said to the man: "Listen, instead of insulting me as an old, ugly whore you better give me that fish, clean it, empty it, and sell it to me for a better price!" The man felt so embarrassed that we got the fish for cheaper than it really was.

So yes, as you know yourself already, one should NEVER judge by appearances and talk behind the back of a stranger, because you never know, he or she might speak your language even if they don't look like it.

Answer 5

confident, by way of a hispanic guy. I even have been everywhere in the rustic. i spotted that human beings have been much less probable to try this throughout Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. i've got self belief that's because of the fact there are a number of bi-lingual human beings in those states. subsequently that's extra risky to assume that some white guy would not talk Spanish.

Answer 6

Yes, Sometimes it's better to ignore.I mean we would better not claim. Once I was touring a German Group as they watched a traditional dance of ours,one of them said that they dance like monkeys. I answered him in German and he became very ashamed ,

Once I was walking in a German City Center. As a Penner (Street Alcoholic Wanderer ) found out that I am foreigner started to use the worst language insulting me.
First I wanted to give him a physical lesson but I thought he doesn't worse a dime. So I looked at his eyes smiling and passed by.

Answer 7

Isn't it funny when that happens? I am Black (or to be PC, I guess African-American) and I comprehend, speak, and write Korean, German, Spanish, Italian, and French (working on Russian).

Trust me... I have been in MANY similar situations, at restaraunts, shopping, at work and socializing.

I most often ignor the "insults" - if that was what was being said... and merely greet the speakers in their language - just to let them wonder about my reaction. I do so get a kick out of their expressions when they realize I understood them... and frankly, rude is rude in any language. Just because we speak different languages... we all understand that, eh?

Good question.

Answer 8

yeah ive had a little spanish and when some one asked "donde esta Saul" and someone replied "yo no se" I said yhat i had seen him outside and i dont think they thot i could understand even tho that was about the extent of my understanding then they thot i knew what they were saying all the time and i was only pretending not to know lol
but i would not say anything rude because i thot someone wouldnt understand

Answer 9

Yes, once me and my friends were going to a ground to play.When we entered the court, a few people who were playing there looked at us and said "look at those suckers".In his regional language,which is Tamil.

He said that because one of their friend was planning to hit us with the ball.
But immediately I reacted and said him that I understood what you said and If you know waht's good for you then you better stop what you are about to do right now.

Answer 10

When I was in northern Nigeria, people often used to greet me: "Sannu bature !" which is Hausa for "Greetings, white man." Note that it's perfectly acceptable in Nigeria to call a white man 'white man'. However, on one occasion, a Fulani man greeted me: "Sannu batuure" (with a very long vowel) and I happened to know that 'tuure' in the Fulani language means 'saliva'. So I replied in his language: "Ginnaado, dillu !" ("You fool, bugger off !") He got quite a shock, because very very few Europeans bother to learn any Nigerian language, except for a bit of Hausa perhaps.