13 Situations When Speaking Another Language Was a Total Game-Changer

Did you ever imagine that knowing another language could turn you into a spy without intending to? Many bilingual people have experienced moments both awkward and amusing when they have overheard conversations that were not meant for their ears. From unexpected gossip to embarrassing confessions, what they overhear can change everything.

• End of a taxi ride in the Middle East. The driver called over a passer-by to translate Arabic to English for me (I’m European). They were talking across me, so I could hear everything they were saying.
  In Arabic, the driver said the journey cost 10, the passer-by instantly translated this into English as 20. I retorted in Arabic that he said it was 10. They both pulled back a little, laughed, and accepted 10. I’m guessing there were bits that I didn’t understand, where they both agreed to up the price. © Schmicarus / Reddit
• I used to work in close spaces with a man who was newly-wed to his French wife. He would take phone calls from her, and with nowhere to go, I would try to politely tune it out (we weren’t allowed to have headphones due to safety concerns).
  I got to hear some very sweet conversations. Hearing him tell her how much he missed her and loved her was very cute. I never told him, or anyone I knew. It’s none of my business. © Classic_kitty / Reddit
• I worked at a restaurant in northern New Brunswick, literally the last English city before the Acadian coast to Quebec, and we got Acadians in all the time. I took French immersion and was fully bilingual, but if a French table came in speaking English, straight away, I responded in English.
  This one table talked trash about me the entire time they were in there (parents and two kids, great example you’re setting), so at the end of their meal, I brought the bill and, in perfect French, told them to have a great day. Their faces were priceless. How you could think a waitress in northern New Brunswick wouldn’t know any French is beyond me, we’re a bilingual province! © ozicanuck / Reddit

• Back when I was a research student, I taught undergraduate basic IT. The university I was at had a lot of Greek students at the time. My research partner was Greek, so he taught me a lot of Greek insults and the like.
  Anyway, whilst teaching a bunch of Greek undergrads, they were calling me all sorts of stuff. I didn’t acknowledge it, eventually won them round, and they were okay at the end. © Technical-Yard4538 / Reddit
• My ex spoke to his friend in their mother tongue, as he didn’t realize I understood (thanks to knowing languages that are from the same language family). My ex was talking about how he missed his ex and how he still couldn’t get over her, etc. I was sitting next to him at the table.
  We broke up shortly after. That man was a devil, and his choosing to speak in the language he thought I wouldn’t understand speaking about another woman was the smallest of the things, and I should have left sooner. © jayjayol / Reddit
• A group of tourist girls in public transport were pressed up against me because it was packed, and one of them said in their native language, “Look at that idiot with his jacket above his head.” The idiot was me.
  I replied to her in her language that I had a project for Uni wrapped in my jacket, and I was protecting it, and I even unwrapped it a bit to show her. But she didn’t see it because by that time she was looking red-faced at the floor while her friends were giggling. © Loko8765 / Reddit
• I’m a tall dude, and while in Japan, one day I was wearing my green hoodie and walked past a couple of guys who said something to the effect of “He looks like Godzilla!” So I made a quick “Rawwr!” sound and the monster thing with my hands and kept on walking. Their shocked expressions were hilarious. © Candle-Jolly / Reddit

• Working in a Toronto bank, we were interviewing a contract firm from Montreal. The two parties start talking badly about us in French. My boss, who knew I spoke the language, kicked me under the table with a very subtle head shake.
  After giving the potential firm’s employees enough rope to hang themselves, I let them know the meeting was over and wished them a safe trip home...in perfect Montreal French. © Faster_Rat / Reddit
• When I went on a college trip to Japan, we were in the customs line at the airport when an elderly Japanese woman in line behind us started making all sorts of snide comments about us as foreigners. Most of the people in my group knew either very basic Japanese or none at all. I wasn’t fluent by any means, but I knew enough that she was talking smack.
  So I turned around and told her in Japanese I’d been excited about the trip because I’d heard Japanese people were SO KIND. The look on her face was priceless. © __silent_wishes / Reddit
• I trained to be a Japanese translator/interpreter, but don’t have a drop of Asian blood in me, so no one would ever know unless I told them.
  At one point in my career, I worked at a company with a lot of Japanese colleagues and was on a call with them and some non-Japanese speaking employees. After some heated back and forth, the Japanese colleagues asked if they could switch to Japanese to talk internally.
  The first thing out of their mouths was, “Why don’t these Americans ever listen? They are so difficult to work with!” I had to put myself on mute to laugh about it. I signed off the call in Japanese, just to make them sweat a bit. © kuzubijin / Reddit

• I sound English because I was born and raised in the United Kingdom. My parents were immigrants from Asia, so although I’m not fluent in speaking their language, I can understand 90% of it because I’m used to hearing it often.
  I used to work in a call center in my youth, and often when a customer who couldn’t speak English but spoke my parents’ language called up, they’d have a relative with them to translate. I caught quite a few relatives blatantly lying about what our customers had asked them to say in English. Some were trying to defraud them.
  They were sent straight to the fraud department, and the accounts were locked down. From then on, those customers dealt with us directly with our own interpreters. © Consult-SR88 / Reddit
• I spent a few years in Indonesia due to my parents’ work, so I speak the language fluently. This couple was in the window and middle seat, I was in the aisle seat. They asked if I could change seats to the window seat, and I said, “Sorry, I needed the aisle seat.”
  They then talked to each other in Bahasa Indonesia, saying they would drink lots of water so they would go to the toilet a lot and inconvenience me the whole flight. I laughed and kept quiet and waited for them to do this during the flight. Sadly, they didn’t do what they had plotted to do. © Little-Blueberry-968 / Reddit
• I was on vacation, and I was taking public transport. I was on my own at that moment, so nobody knew what languages I spoke. A group of girls (18-22-year-olds or so) got on the bus, and immediately started judging everyone in their and my native language. I wished them a nice day in our language when they got off. © ElfjeTinkerBell / Reddit

Knowing another language can open doors... and also prying ears! Has something similar happened to you? Tell us in the comments what you overheard thanks to your linguistic superpower.