foreign languages

When I was young, I thought other people's languages sounded like english to them, and english would sound like their language sounds to me, like spanish speakers heard english when I heard spanish, and they heard spanish when I heard english.

Anon

I used to believe that everyone thought in english, but spoke in different languages.

kelly

Oddly enough, a lot of people seemed to have this belief. I believed everyone in the world thought in english, but people who spoke other languages translated into their language before saying it out loud. I believed this up until 7th grade when my french teacher, who was fluent, told us she sometimes dreamed in french.

Anon

I don't know how I managed this one, but I'm currently a French 3 honors student and, until someone corrected me this year, I believed the word 'Oui' (it means yes) was spelt 'Qui'. I guess I thought this because the u after q rule. I have no idea how I came this far without a teacher correcting me.

Anon

I used to believe that to speak another language all you had to do was speak english with an accent. So if I wanted to speak French, all I would do was speak English with a French accent.

Valerie

When I was about 4 or 5 I used to believe that all black people could speak Spanish.

Anon

English is not my primary language, but I used to believe that people on T.V. uses our country's language, Tagalog.

Herbert R. L.

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 think that all babies were born knowing how to speak English and if they lived in a different country their parents had to teach them the native language.

Jamie

Growing up in Southern California, my brother and I used to believe that every foreign language was Spanish and thus anyone not speaking English was speaking Spanish.

Tanda

When I was about 4 or 5 I saw a documentary on the history and mythology of Ireland on tv. So I naturally assumed Ireland was a place where warriors and unicorns and leprachauns went after we got rid of them, and if I learned to speak Irish, they'd let me live with them.
At age 20, I first visited Dublin. And was actually a little disappointed. Then again, I still don't speak Irish, so who knows?

Devilfish

I used to believe that the spanish was spoken in the whole world.

Marce

I used to believe that all languages were based off of english. One day, i saw a japanese girl reading a book in japanese and told her: "you japanese people must be really stupid cuz our language looks nothing like that!" she was very upset and i told her that it wasnt my fault i was american, i was just more special. then she got really mad!

Anon

When i was little i used to think that English was the only language that made any sense and that everyone else just
babbled i always wondered how they understood each other.

Anon

When I was smaller I used to think it was england's fault my friends, family and I spoke english and not welsh and that we were forced to - I was so...diddeall!

LostprophetsLover

When I was little I used to think that everyone spoke english and no other languages

Anon

I used to be afraid to learn Spanish fluently because my native language is English. And I thought that if I learned enough Spanish I would eventually forget English.

:-P

I used to believe that when people spoke a foreign language they were just babbling and I wondered how they could possibly understand each other.

Anon

In the city where I grew up (In the Unites States) there is a golf course named Bonnie Brae Golf Course. I eventually learned that "Bonnie Brae" is Scottish, meaning "lovely hillside", and that it is a common name for golf courses, reflecting the fact that golf originated in Scotland. But before learning that, I went through quite some time thinking that Bonnie Brae must be some prominent local person, and that the golf course was named for her.

Dave