Just because I speak a different language with my kids, it doesnt mean I dont understand what you are saying, so get your judgey pants off!

[QuintessentialShadow]

Had some errands after school, had to buy ds1 crocs sandals for school (it was a letter home instructing us what to buy), and went for a meal in the food corner after. They had sausages and chips. I had a chicken salad. THEN they had an ice cream each. My treat for them. We had a horrible day yesterday, as I spent most of it in tears and hysteria (rare occurence).

So, this couple next to our table, started discussing how I could give my children ice cream at tea time. Bad mother, I should be home with my kids and feed them a healthy nutritious meal.

They obviously thought I was clueless, as I spoke English with my kids.

Till my son piped up in Norwegian "Mum, why are those people talking about us eating ice cream?" To which I had the pleasure of replying in Norwegian "Because some times people are rude, and conern themselves too much with other peoples business when they shouldnt."

Was I rude or unreasonable?

Brilliant!

I just know a woman in France was bitching about a friend of mine - we were eating together. Oh, how I wished, wished, wished, I could speak French so I could shoot her down but alas, apart from getting a train ticket to Lyon, a room with a bath and a cup of tea, my French is non-existent.

Respect Quint!

I had this once - I was on the tube in London and immersed in my book when the guy next to me said 'of course she doesn't speak spanish, she would have said something by now wouldn't she'

The other two guys he was with said 'yeah, of course she doesn't'

I got up to leave the tube on the next stop and one of them said 'bye' in Spanish. I replied (in perfect, colloquial Spanish) 'bye boys, behave yourselves'

You should have seen their faces. I will always wonder what they were saying about me.

You are my hero of the day. Good for you.

i remember serving an a guy in a pub and after telling him the kitchen was closed he then proceeded to demand to see the idiot who was in the kitchen, he then began to say that my mother was of a dubious proffesion in algerian, i then went and got the chef and explained what was happening and what had been said( chef was my then dh, who is also algerian) the guys face when h came out of the kitchen and told him many things in algerian that i think were not very nice was priceless and the grovelling apology i got was good too!!

love it..

my mother is dutch and speaks french, english and indonesian.

there were two ladies on the bus (who were dutch) and obviously were slating the people on the buses clothes and appearance and she understood every word!

but, there again sometimes my mother's english can get quite bad (especially with dialects etc) and a doctor asked if she was 'rushing?' and she said 'no, i am indonesian'.

cue lots of gwarforing, when she told what happened when she got home!

lol at all the stories.

I´ll add one of mine if you don´t mind!

Last summer an English friend and I were on the beach in the Spanish city where we live. Both of us speak fluent Spanish, but of course we were chatting in English.

When we came back to our towels after a dip in the sea we discovered that a middle-aged couple had set up camp right next to us, although there was masses of space all around.

We thought but got down to sunbathing and chatting.

We then overheard the couple talking about us and complaining about ´overbooking on the beach´, and ´guiris (horrible despective word meaning something like ignorant tourist) taking over their beach.´

They were very when my friend stood up and confronted them with the facts that we had been there first and anyway, who they hell were they to call us guiris...

Lol qs your son is a star :-)

my story is an opposite of that. Having spent 2 weeks in spain, we were having a night out in benidorm on the way back to the airport. I looked quite spanish, had dark tan and long dark hair, people kept speaking to me in spanish. We were a bit pissed and went for a kfc, i ordered it all in my best spanish, he asked if that was all, and i replied, yes thats all. I was so proud of myself and my new found language skills, then he asked Me something and i looked blankly

At him, he asked again. I then told him in spanish that i was english and didn't understand. He then said in english 'eat in or take away?'

oh, bless!

: )

We were on holiday in the US and had gone into a restaurant. DH asked if they had a menu we could look at. One of the waitresses said to the other one in Russian "Of course we have a f*ing menu, it's a restaurant" and then smiled at DH and handed it to him. After we had looked at the menu DH asked for a table for 4 in Russian!

QS, YANBU you were fab - the best bit about your story is that your DS just innocently asked the bleeding obvious!!!

Good on him and on you all!

And innocently asked it in Norwegian without realising the impact of what he was doing!!!

Quint, you & DS were fab and I am loving all these other stories - pretty much all of them based on the (generally fairly accurate ) perception of foreigners that the British just don't do languages

Actually, if anyone over here hears me/DH/DS speaking in English or Welsh, it is always assumed that we will not understand the local language. No-one is ever rude about us but invariably we hear them say "they don't understand, they can't speak" (in what I often perceive as a pitying tone of voice but am probably being over-sensitive! ). I then quite enjoy telling them as fast as I can (speed = perceived fluency natch ) that yes, we understand everything and we speak enough, and DS is fluent blah blah blah. Which of course sets me up for a fall - they start talking full speed back at me, life story, the whole thing, for ten minutes minimum, while I smile sweetly, pretending I do understand everything!! So it can backfire the other way too!

Greatgoogly, that is fab, PMSL

Just remembered another one. We were on the beach in Italy at Easter. Now, admittedly Easter was early this year and the weather wasn't what you'd call stonkingly hot, but it was sunny (and anyway my dds go in the sea in Cornwall at Easter and it was warmer than that!) and so my dds had stripped down to vests and pants and were paddling in the sea. Next to us on the beach was an Italian family complete with wellies, jeans, jumpers and puffa-type thick winter coats. I saw the kids looking at my two in the sea, and then I heard the mother say, in a pitying tone: 'You see... they are not Italian'.

No reply necessary to that one, but I enjoyed it!

QS, this happened to me years ago when I was looking after my neice and not speaking English with her. A couple of women were being really vile about her ear rings (pin sized studs BTW in case anyone wants a fight)

they got a shock when I turned around and asked them if they had the time.

There are times when I so wish I could speak a foreign language-in fact I sometimes pretend I can! For goodness sake-why beat yourself up over people you don't know & who don't know you? You are a normal parent treating the children-maybe something they could afford to do in their day?

Her face was quite a picture DM