foreign languages

My first language is English, and when I was little I thought that everybody in the world could automatically speak and understand English, even though they could speak their own language as well.

I used to complain about only knowing English, that everybody else in other countries could speak it to and how boring it is having a language that everyone in the world could speak.

Then my sister finally explained the concept of languages... hahaha

Gabs

I used to believe that "paparazzi" was a Italian word that chefs said when they were making pizza. I stopped believing when my mother and my sister were talking about paparazzis. I asked what it meant, and they said that it is a photographer who takes pictures of famous people.

Mahaer Mahmud

When i was about 6 i though that english was a mix of all the languages in the world because in the US they spoke english and people in the US where from all over the world.

figbush

I use to think that there was some secret code to translate english into a different language so for the first semester of my spanish class i sat there wondereing when the teacher would teach us the code

Lilly

When i was little, I was so jealous of people who could speak a different language. Even though i had enough with my own, I decided i was going to learn one. However, after watching tv and not being able to follow along with people and not far enough along to read sub-titles, I decided I was going to find a language most people didnt know and pretend i could speak it. I still think this is a clever idea even though i did make one mistake. I waited to hear a languge on tv and then went to my mom and said, "Mommy, I can speak ENGLISH!" Of course, she laughed and said, "I know." I kept insisting she didnt until finally i broke out in jibber jabber then saying, "There. See? There's english!"

Hannah

My sister and her friend used to go around and speak jibberish. They told me they were speaking Chinese, so I argued non-stop with them. In the end I believed that they could really speak Chinese.

Bashful Britni

Janine was getting ready to study abroad in France and her friend was very concerned that all Janine's e-mails would be written in French automatically.

Babette

I used to believe that everyone thought in English, so people in stores and such that could speak Spanish must be SUPER smart.

Y

I used to believe that if you would go to an other country and talk about music you would have to translate the band's name into that native language. (i.e. The Doors = Las Puertas)

Cassandra

I used to think that all languages were written the same, just spoken differently. I even asked my mother this, and she said that was true! It took me a while to figure out languages.

Emily

I used to believe that the Pakistanian was a joke. Like some kind of language to be laughed at. I thought you could speak it by saying gibberish. Me and my friend used to talk to eachother in 'Pakistanian' all the time.

"Bugoober globbity blooboo beefeefeem buh glah?"

Lecia

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

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

I used to believe different languages were just the English alphabet in a different order eg for french A was D or G was T and so on, I thought learning a different language just meant learning the code!

Catriona Scotland

I don't totally recall how this worked, but I was convinced that there were various languages in the world: French, Chinese, etc. but English was "the REAL language" and referred to it as such.

Darren

I used to believe that "foofa" was the F-word in Spanish.

Anon

I always thought "amscray" was a foreign word. My Dad would use that to tell us to get out of the car and I thought it was some kind of foreign word for "get out". I was in college before I figured out it was pig latin for "scram".

julie

I used to think Chinese people spoke English and just had accents to make them Chinese, because Godzilla was dubbed.

Allie

I learned a bit of Spanish growing up in Texas. In the fourth grade, I suddenly realized that people who spoke Spanish didn't translate it into English in their heads when they talked. It was a revelation that when they spoke, the words just menat what they meant without being translated back and forth.

marshmallowgodzilla

When I was child, I used to believe that at the begining of the world, many people of each nationalitys talk together to choose a language for each one and that's because each nationalitys had their proper language.

Anon