Bilingual People Share Their Greatest “I Didn’t Know You Spoke the Language” Stories

Going Our Separate Ways

I was visiting Hiroshima in Japan and walking around alone. Then I see a caucasian guy walk up to me, and in fluent Japanese ask me to take a photo of him in front of one of the monuments.

For context, I’m Asian but I don’t speak a word of Japanese. So after a couple of seconds, I said, “Uh…. do you speak English?” Awkward silence ensues. He goes, “Uhhh…yeah.” Easily made my day. We did make small talk after but went our separate ways.

Kleindain