Page 5 | Neighbour doesn’t speak English at home

Identiy · 2025-05-16T11:23:57+00:00

I know I am just being nosey, but my new neighbour chats away in English to me, I always assumed and she is English. But I hear her chatting to her dog (she lives alone) and I don’t recognise the language at all. I have a fairly good grasp of French and Spanish, recognise German and Italian and a few others. I am just intrigued as to what she is speaking because I don’t recognise it at all. Would I be rude to ask her? I don’t want her to think I am eavesdropping, but then it wouldn’t matter anyway!! I am just really intrigued!

JudgeBread · 16/05/2025 15:20

I'd a friend who spoke to his cat in Latin. He said the cat was a snob and wouldn't respond to English.

Glad you found out OP, and I'm glad she's keeping one of our lovely old languages alive, even if it is just to her dog!

XWKD · 16/05/2025 15:19

FigTreeInEurope · 16/05/2025 13:08

Bet she's dutch. They come out of the womb tri-lingual, and have perfected another four languages perfectly by the time they can walk. I'm so jealous. My neighbour is dutch, it's like living with the fucking duolingo owl.

Edited

Or Scandinavian. I remember going into a shop in Stockholm with a group of obvious (from our baggage) non-Swedes and the man behind the counter asked me what language I'd like to speak "English, Francais, Deutsch, Italiano?"

Natsku · 16/05/2025 15:17

Ah I love that, gaelic for the dog!

I'm in Finland so my boss's dog obviously responds to Finnish commands but I'm working on teaching him English. So far he understands sit, lie down, and get back inside Ali!!

swimlyn · 16/05/2025 15:17

I know a cat adopted from Poland into an English speaking house who insisted the owners learned Polish to communicate.

Unbefuckinglievable!

Cats speak body language and tone of voice is also important.

If I was re-homing I’d look for a caring and loving home, preferably a ‘cat person’ of course.

Looking for a polyglot in the UK? Good luck with that!

ukathleticscoach · 16/05/2025 15:13

Is the dog a German shepherd?

Original poster

Identiy · 16/05/2025 15:12

Thanks for all the guesses. It turns out she is speaking Scottish Gaelic! Apparently she got annoyed when the dog was a puppy with family members calling commands at the dog and not making them do it, so she switched to Gaelic, now the dog views anything it’s asked to do in English as optional 🤣.

She chats in Gaelic, because their conversations are important and the dog needs to listen! 🤣🤣🤣

I’ve loved some of the stories here, but I love my neighbour’s answer too!

OP posts:

GoKatForDinner · 16/05/2025 15:10

WeHaveTheRabbit · 16/05/2025 14:43

You speak Scandinavian? What do you mean by that?

Show quote history

Norwegian, Swedish, Danish.

GoKatForDinner · 16/05/2025 15:08

Welsh? Irish? Afrikaans? Gaelic?

Youstolemygoddamnhouse · 16/05/2025 15:08

@2dogsandabudgie 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

sawdustformypony · 16/05/2025 15:08

ifionlyhadacat · 16/05/2025 13:32

My pets have always been talked to in both English and Welsh

Mine too - they prefer Welsh though

okydokethen · 16/05/2025 15:07

I’d find it weird to say you listen to her when she’s at home in private.
If she wanted to tell you where she was from or her cultural background I’m sure she would.

ElixirOfLife · 16/05/2025 15:04

It’s possible she knows you can hear her and is just playing you for entertainment value.

Lemonz · 16/05/2025 15:01

ChandrilanDiscoDroid · 16/05/2025 14:39

Sort of incidentally, my friend and I once spent a full day commanding her dog in French while practising for a GCSE oral, and he responded perfectly. Clearly the body language and intonation meant more than the actual words.

It definitely does. Most dogs will respond to any old gibberish in the right tone.

Most cats won't respond at all, regardless of words or tone. 😄

justasking111 · 16/05/2025 14:56

ClareBlue · 16/05/2025 12:45

I know a cat adopted from Poland into an English speaking house who insisted the owners learned Polish to communicate. It might be similar in that your neighbour has been forced to learn another language by her pet. It's more common than you might think.

My neighbours have rescued 5 dogs from abroad over the years. They've learnt words in their mother tongue.

In Bermuda the trained police dogs are issued commands in Dutch to outwit miscreants

Caspianberg · 16/05/2025 14:48

Our Cat is bilingual.

I mean he seems to be as far as cats go. We are a two language household and he responds to both.

We adopted him from a local cat sanctuary ( German). His old name was German for ‘crumb’. We changed it. But still call him Kleiner Krümmel sometimes.

WeHaveTheRabbit · 16/05/2025 14:43

MumChp · 16/05/2025 13:33

I speak Scandinavian to more or less any animal or baby hanging around. I don't mind people asking me what my mothertongue is. Go ask her!

You speak Scandinavian? What do you mean by that?

ChandrilanDiscoDroid · 16/05/2025 14:39

Sort of incidentally, my friend and I once spent a full day commanding her dog in French while practising for a GCSE oral, and he responded perfectly. Clearly the body language and intonation meant more than the actual words.

stayathomer · 16/05/2025 14:39

NoBiscuitsLeftInMyTin

When she's out break into her house and place some microphones arounds the place. When you've got some recordings post them here and we'll do our best to work it out for you. Simples.

I think this would be a good way to go👍👏👏👏

Cognacsoft · 16/05/2025 14:36

FigTreeInEurope · 16/05/2025 13:08

Bet she's dutch. They come out of the womb tri-lingual, and have perfected another four languages perfectly by the time they can walk. I'm so jealous. My neighbour is dutch, it's like living with the fucking duolingo owl.

Edited

A Dutch lady told me that one day a week in The Netherlands all schools teach the whole days classes in English only. Consequently the dc all speak English very well.

ChandrilanDiscoDroid · 16/05/2025 14:35

FigTreeInEurope · 16/05/2025 13:08

Bet she's dutch. They come out of the womb tri-lingual, and have perfected another four languages perfectly by the time they can walk. I'm so jealous. My neighbour is dutch, it's like living with the fucking duolingo owl.

Edited

I have a friend who's half Greek and half Swiss and speaks six languages, the absolute bastard.

Oriunda · 16/05/2025 14:33

I’m English, but speak two other languages due to dual nationality/living abroad. One of them is my default road-rage language; I can’t help it, it just pours out of me when I’m thwarted in the car!

MonoMono · 16/05/2025 14:33

Sounds like your natural curiosity is genuine and friendly.

No problem in asking her at all.

ItGhoul · 16/05/2025 14:30

My guess would be that although she's English she grew up bilingual due to having one parent or grandparents from a different background. My friend is English but her son is Spanish, and he speaks both languages almost interchangeably with no trace of a Spanish accent in his English and apparently no trace of an English accent in his Spanish.

I've also heard bilingual people say that sometimes each language feels 'right' to them for different things, so maybe for her talking to pets is something that just comes more naturally in her other language.

FagsMagsandBags · 16/05/2025 14:30

My last cat - he's still alive and well but due to my health he's had to go to live in London with one of my best friends - born and bred in Sussex but I taught him a little French because if I had to give him a mild telling off it sounded softer and more gentle in French and he would listen and sort of semi do what he was told in French, which was often just to come here. And we had some cuddly French moments. I don't speak a lot of French but in his new cosmopolitan life in London, my friend is just about fluent in French so she speaks to him in French a little too.

Did he need French? Nope. I think I'm just a pretentious twat.

TheGrimSmile · 16/05/2025 14:30

Please ask!