Uh, I don't speak Italian...

Started by Pendraflare May 9th, 2014 7:12 PM
  • 846 views
  • 27 replies

Pendraflare

Age 32
Male
Pennsylvania
Seen July 30th, 2021
Posted March 29th, 2021
6,263 posts
9.8 Years
What do you do when you're faced with something of a language you've never learned? Like say a foreign person tries to start a conversation with you and you don't know what they're saying. Do you ask them if they're speaking some language you don't know, or what they're saying? What if you run into something on the internet of a language like that? Do you usually try to translate it? In other words, how are you with being shown languages you don't know?

Discuss.
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Sonata

Don't let me disappear

Age 27
Male
Indiana
Seen 8 Hours Ago
Posted March 25th, 2023
13,619 posts
10.2 Years
On the internet I will try to translate it to "I don't speak your language" but if it happens in person I have like a subconscious bank of every language and so I can understand basic conversation, but only in person. It's like an adrenaline rush in my head.

Oryx

CoquettishCat

Age 30
Female
Seen January 30th, 2015
Posted December 27th, 2014
13,184 posts
12.2 Years
Shake my head and shrug. They'll get the message that I don't understand them. Maybe say "I don't understand you" in English so they know what I speak in case they also speak English. I live in America though so I almost never have someone walk up to me and assume I speak any language other than English.

On the internet I only bother if it's in French because I have a working knowledge of French. Anything else and I leave it to other people because Google translate is useless.


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Female
Seen September 14th, 2017
Posted June 28th, 2017
284 posts
9.7 Years
Depends on the language, I guess. I know a veeery small amount of Spanish just from where I live and by barely paying attention in middle school, so I would just tell them "I don't speak Spanish" in Spanish and hope for the best. I'm learning German though, so if someone came up to me speaking German I might have a chance at a conversation.
Last year my uncle got married, and my new aunt is from China. Her half-sister, my new half-aunt, was there too, and she's about my age, so we hung out, even though she knows no English and I know no Chinese. My aunt translated for us for a while, but when we were left alone I gave my half-aunt my DSi and we sat together playing games. Looking back I kinda wished I had set up Mario Kart because that would have been really fun but oh well. :>

Hiatus

Seen 6 Days Ago
Posted July 24th, 2021
12,283 posts
10.8 Years
When I get approached by somebody who doesn't speak English, I tell them something along the lines of "I don't speak your language; sorry." They might be able to understand me, but I do make movements with my hands to show what I'm trying to across, and that always helps. :]

Khoshi

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Age 24
Male
Sydney, Australia
Seen January 3rd, 2020
Posted October 16th, 2019
2,646 posts
10.1 Years
There's a good reason I take interest in learning how to say "I only speak English" in a bunch of languages. That, or I say that I don't know their language. If they don't know English, then I'm doomed really. That, or I break out the non-verbal hand communication.

Ich spreche nicht gut Deutsch. Je ne parle Francais. I just..like to learn how to say I suck at their language, really.

Oh, and Google Translate is op.

Cherrim

Age 34
she / her
Toronto
Seen 19 Hours Ago
Posted 19 Hours Ago
33,052 posts
20.4 Years
I feel like I could manage to be helpful if it was in French, but I've never had anyone come up to me and ask me anything in French because anyone who speaks it here probably speaks English better than I speak French anyway, hahaha. If it was in Japanese, I might be able to fumble my way through a very basic conversation too? I remember almost offering to help a group of Japanese tourists once a few years ago who were looking confusedly at a map but I was too shy. :( If it were any other language, I'd stare blankly at them and then apologize in English about not speaking their language. I'm not even sure how well I'd be able to identify most languages spoken to me point-blank.

Via text, I can at least recognize most languages when I see words or script from them, but unless I know it's about something I'm interested in reading, I'll usually scroll right on past it if it's not a language I know.


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Starry Windy

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Male
Liberty Garden
Seen April 28th, 2020
Posted April 28th, 2020
9,307 posts
10.4 Years
I'm reminded when someone was speaking to me in Portuquese in a certain battle server via PM, I relied much on Google Translate to know what does he say and how to talk with him in his language, and telling that I'm not quite good in that language, actually. Not to mention that the translation might be imperfect in some cases.

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Age 29
Male
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Seen August 19th, 2014
Posted June 2nd, 2014
46 posts
9.3 Years
I would say in English: I don't know your own language.

If this person is in my homeland, I would say: Я не говорю ваше язык. Ты нужно говорить русский, извините друг. (Basically means: I don't understand your language)

Платить для ваше покемон. Eсли нет, ты умрешь от АК-74УН Доммино. Да?
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Age 29
Seen November 5th, 2017
Posted November 5th, 2017
3,499 posts
14.9 Years
Most people speak English, when I'm approached every time they switch to English when they realise I don't get it. It's lucky the rest of Europe makes up for the UK's laziness.

The only time I've had to talk with people who don't speak it is in bars & restaurants, in which case three useful gestures of pointing, smiling and nodding have always sufficed.

Fernbutter

Murder is the way.

Male
The depths of the internet
Seen June 10th, 2017
Posted June 2nd, 2014
821 posts
9.4 Years
Funny though because I can understand technically a lot of languages because I do lots of personal research and stuff, also it was kind of a study thing that I had as a personal assignment, so I wouldn't really bother with it too much, but I can't speak any language back, well aside for some.

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Male
Seen July 21st, 2017
Posted June 14th, 2017
1,333 posts
11 Years
If I'm lucky, that person could be speaking in Dutch or German, so I can try replying to them in a basic-ish conversation in Dutch or a very very basic conversation in German. I can also work my way through Spanish, French and the Scandinavian languages if the person speaking is really really slow at speaking. Otherwise, I'll try to signal them that I don't understand. I'll just shrug or something.

there is no fire like passion
Seen January 1st, 2023
Posted March 23rd, 2022
3,316 posts
9.2 Years
yeah one time this happened to me in LA with a Hispanic man and when I told him I couldn't speak Spanish he said, "No Spanish?" "You're beautiful" grabbed my hand and kissed/sucked it. I then ripped my hand away and walked off and he followed me and tried playing with my hair and touching me until I walked towards the college we were outside of that had security around it and then he ran off. And that was my one experience with someone trying to talk to me in another language!!

Nick

Seen 4 Weeks Ago
Posted July 28th, 2021
17,572 posts
18.6 Years
I don't bother with it if it's online. I don't read it, I don't bother translating. It's whatever. If a stranger came up to me and spoke to me in some other language, I'd try to communicate that I only speak English and don't understand what they're saying, but I do try to understand.

Raine

Age 29
Female
Ontario, Canada
Seen December 16th, 2017
Posted October 5th, 2017
3,722 posts
9.3 Years
I'd like to think that I'm well acquainted with different languages enough to know which one is which, but I still wouldn't have any idea what people are saying unless it's Cantonese, Vietnamese, or English. Even in my mother tongue, which is supposed to be Vietnamese, I'm unable to completely understand whole sentences because it depends on the person. There are people who use simple words, and those who use the more difficult to understand synonyms \: That goes for Cantonese as well.

There haven't been many instances where I've come across people who have started throwing foreign words at me, but I would probably just give them an expression that say, "I have no idea what you're saying," or one that simply says, "I'm confused."

Altairis

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Female
database database
Seen December 29th, 2022
Posted October 5th, 2018
5,170 posts
11 Years
Whelp, I'm going to Japan this summer and other than my exposure to Japanese through media I haven't formally learned it at all, so it'll probably be a lot of communications through hand gestures until I learn enough, haha.

If someone came up and started talking to me I would probably try to find out what they want but if that proved impossible I would probably just apologize since I wouldn't be able to help them any more.

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Age 30
Male
plushies resort
Seen May 30th, 2019
Posted February 28th, 2019
5,557 posts
13.4 Years
If someone tries to speak to me in any language part from English/Swedish I will just say I do not understand that language.
If it is on the internet I will just leave that page or if on an forum/social media not read it.

Steven

h e l p

Age 30
Male
Ohio
Seen January 4th, 2023
Posted September 11th, 2021
1,380 posts
12.3 Years
I just nod. I do that with English speakers too. I don't have good hearing.

If someone tries to speak to me in any language part from English/Swedish I will just say I do not understand that language.
If it is on the internet I will just leave that page or if on an forum/social media not read it.
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Shiny Pokemon
Age 29
Male
Melbourne, Australia
Seen January 2nd, 2015
Posted November 28th, 2014
910 posts
12.1 Years
Just repeat 'yes' in whatever language it sounds like they're using until they get frustrated and walk off. I once said 'si' to a guy talking to me in Spanish for a good 3 minutes before he got angry and stormed away it was awesome and I'm not sorry.

Juno

OK I PULL UP

Age 28
Female
Seen 2 Days Ago
Posted 1 Week Ago
4,561 posts
9.5 Years
Most people understand English in addition to whatever foreign language they may speak, at least where I live. So if someone starts speaking a language I don't know to me, saying "I'm sorry, I don't understand" usually gets the point across. Otherwise, a quizzical expression works, too.

There have been a few occasions when people speak Mandarin to me and I'm a little embarrassed/don't want to admit that I don't really understand it (I'm Cantonese and sometimes people just assume I speak Mandarin too), so I'll just smile and nod when appropriate, which usually gets me through the short, random conversations strangers strike up sometimes. If I don't feel like it, again, the "I'm sorry, I don't understand" line works too.

If it's on the internet, if I really care about the topic or something, I'll put the text through an online translator. I know they're not accurate, but you can generally piece together the keywords and sort of understand what they're saying.

Vincent

Often moronically charismatic

Male
Slatesville
Seen November 5th, 2021
Posted June 23rd, 2017
230 posts
9.5 Years
Personally, I find a different language that I don't clearly understand quite a hassle and frankly I just do what any person does... smile, nod and err- more smiles but recently I've been given the choice to pick between Italian, Korean or French to learn and I jut went with French 'cause amour. c: