foreign languages

When I was about two or three, I used to believe that EVERY country in the world had its own language, that one language, and everyone in the country knew no other language...unless of course, they learned another one in school.
So one day, I was watching something on TV about England, and my dad asked me if I'd ever want to go to England, and I declined. He asked me why, and I replied, "Because I don't know the language!" As a toddler, though, I didn't exactly make the connection that "England" and "English" sounded alike.

Anon

I thought that the word 'chicanery' was a racist slur against Mexicans until I heard it pronounced. Then I looked it up and realized it was a French word.

Soap

I thought that people who spoke a different languages were aliens.

Phoebe

This one is not me,but someone else who was not at all literate in the French language.He went to a city where French was spoken.He was trying to inquire about ownership of certain fixed assets.But the answer he got from passers by was always,"je ne sais pas" (I don't know).
He concluded that Mr. "je ne sais pas" must be the wealthiest man ever.He owned everything from cars to hotels to to every home he saw.
He really used to believe that.

epimeno01

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

When I was a kid, I used to believe that if you knew a language, it would sound like English if you heard it. IE, whenever I heard people speak another language, I thought to them it sounded like English.

Anon

When I was about 5 years old, I used to think that I can speak English simply because I spoke French with a thick English accent (or well as it could have sound in my ears at the time) Since my mother tongue is French I was really proud to say I could also speak English...

Michou

i used to believe that cursive writing was a secret language that only grown-ups could understand.

nicole

When I was little (1-5), I had a babysitter who would always write in these squiggly lines (now I know it to be cursive). I always thought that she wrote in her own different language, and was astounded when other people could read her writing.

Joe

I used to think that in every language other than english, there was a key. like, "a" was "e" in spanish, "a" was "o" in chinese, and so on. so i always wondered why i had to learn the language while i could just print out the sheet with the key on it. i didnt notice that in some languages words were longer than in english.

Not telling!

When I was little I always thought when Asian people spoke their language I always though they added more to the sentence than it actually was.

Kayla

When I was young, my mom would make "au gratin" potatoes. I always thought she was saying "og rotten" potatoes. I always wondered why something rotten tasted so good.

Jo

When I was little, my mother convinced me that putting 'el' in front of a word made it Spanish. (El I el was el easiy el fooled!)

Nadia

I used to be 100% positive that everyone in the world thought in English. I did, so why wouldn't everyone else, right?

So, I'm at the store with my dad one day, and we stop next to a Hispanic lady who's talking to the guy with her in Spanish. I said "You think in English, so just talk in English, duh." (I was 5 or 6 at the time)

Well, the lady did understand English, and it took my dad some serious explaining to escape that situation!! :)

AUDREY

I used to believe that English was the only real language and that foreign people only spoke jibbrish so that Americans couldn't understand because they didn't trust us. I also believed that animals knew english, but didn't speak around humans for the same reason. It never occurred to me that if they spoke random words, they couldn't understand each other.

I am wierd :)

Okies dokies, when I was SUUUUPERR little, I would run out in the backyard and scream "Chinese"; which for me was "CHONG CHING!" OR something like that; and I assumed everyone in China could hear me and would shout back something in "American".

I was so cool. =]

Does not speak Chinese.

I used to belive that african was the language they spoke in all of africa

quark