When I was like 4 or 5, I loved those Sesame Street movies where Big Bird visits other countries. I really liked learning Japanese words in "Big Bird in Japan", but unfortunately almost all the words they focused on sounded exactly like English words: "hai" (yes) sounds like "hi", "ohayou" (good morning) sounds like "Ohio", and "ichi, ni, san" (one, two, three), sounds like "itchy, knee, sun." Because of this, I thought for a time that Japanese, and probably other languages besides English, had all the same words as English, but the meanings were just switched around.
A childhood belief about foreign languages
others believed things like this
- I used to believe that if I spelled Norwegian words backwards, it would be English. I don't anymore...— Gudrun
- I used to believe that foreigners' ears translated English words to their own languageAnon
- I used to wander what my name would be in other languages. I thought that names worked the same way as words. — Simon
- I used to believe that all languages were just jiberish and I asked my mom why they didn't use real words.Anon
- I used to think that even people who spoke something other than English, thought in English— Peaches
- I used to believe that all four-letter words are bad words.Anon