‘The look on their faces? Ab-so-lu-te-ly priceless’: Bilingual woman calls out a brazen French family who thought they could secretly insult her in another language

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Jesse Kessenheimer • Writer and Editor
Jan 16, 2025 8:00 PM EST

In North America, nobody expects you to be bilingual if your first language is English. Unlike most other countries in the world, where most people can speak multiple languages, the US of A and Canada are special in that most of their population is beholden to a single language–but not this woman in our next story. 

Fluent in French, yet still 100% Canadian, this woman used her bilingual skills to put a couple of French travelers in their place. While riding in the elevator up to her apartment, she caught them chatting en français and decided to eavesdrop on their convo. To her surprise, she noticed they were talking smack as a 'lesson,' in rude insults. But when they finally got around to throwing around some unsavory comments about her appearance, she decided it was time to put them in their place.

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  • Cheezburger Image 10454318080
    via JuniperImages

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • So, my husband is French. When we met, I didn't speak a lick of his native language (per my earlier comment about Americans being notorious single-linguals), but eventually learned that we could have ‘secret’ conversations with each other in French if I put my nose to the Duolingo grinding stone a little more often. Alas, after 8 years, I'd say I'm fairly fluent–in a survivable sense–and this particular story about the bilingual woman calling out the guys dissing her really strikes me. 

  • Because quite frankly, you never know who's listening in on a conversation and you can never assume someone's language skills or you might be finding yourself shoving your foot in your mouth in shame… Like the Frenchmen in this next story.

  • "He made a rude comment in French in front of me, thinking I couldn’t understand… but I did."

    I (F28) live in a 50-floor high-rise building, in downtown Vancouver. I just got back from a sweet sunset run. A family entered the building with me, and held the door for me. They were speaking French
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  • together, but I thanked them in English, the main language here in British Columbia. We all walked towards the elevators and ended up all in the same one. It was a couple and their three kids, all boys around 8-10 years old. I am bad with ages, but they
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  • were the age of being able to speak and think enough to understand what is "right" and "wrong". They were chatting in French, and since it's my mother- tongue, I could understand everything they were saying.
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  • As we were going up more than 30floors, (it takes a little time) the dad turned to his kids and asked: - "Alors, elle est belle ou pas belle?" "So, is she pretty, or not pretty?" My brain suddenly froze, thinking, could he speak about me?
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  • One of the kids quickly responded: "Pas belle." "Not pretty." stopped breathing for a sec, realizing now fully, that it was truly me they were blatantly judging right in front of me.
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    via IPGGutenbergUKLtd

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • I froze, sadly, that's mostly how I react when situations are just unbelievable. With just a few floors left before I could escape the awkwardness, I had a choice to make: let it go (nooope) or seize this once-in-a- lifetime opportunity for PERFECT
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  • linguistic revenge. I'm not the confrontational type, but I couldn't let this slide. I wasn't the one deserving to feel awkward in this elevator. I kept my cool, though, and as I exited the elevator, I turned back
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  • and said with the most sassy French accent I could give: - "Bonne soirée." / "Have a good evening." The look on their faces? Ab-so-lu- te-ly priceless. I left quickly, but in hindsight, I wish I'd made direct eye contact until the doors closed.
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  • I've dealt with rude comments before, but this moment was chef's kiss. I've always dreamed of a situation like this where I could use another language to surprise someone who thought I couldn't understand them. I'm just saying, but keep your language skills to
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  • yourself, you never know when it can become handy! Learning multiple languages is 100% worth it just for bamboozling people like that! The mom stood there silently the whole time, almost like she wasn't
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  • really present. I couldn't help but wonder if she faces this kind of behaviour from him too. There are a few Airbnbs in my building, so I'm guessing they were tourists. I never saw them again (unfortunately, no chance for a second revenge!).
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  • Texastexastexas1 I wish you'd said “And yall are not exactly what I'd call handsome."
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  • pip-whip The fact that you called them out while being polite was the best part of this. They went low. You went high.
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  • InevitableTrash9596 I have the same experience in France. They don't expect foreigners to speak French but I do. Yes, I made them feel arkward a few times.
    via InevitableTrash9596
  • Aggravating Yak 1006 I hate dealing with the "ici on parle français" crowd. Like if I'm speaking English to my children it's so that they can learn it and speak to their American family. They (the ici on parle français ppl) always get all flustered when I then explain that to them in french.
    via Aggravating_Yak_1006
  • sleepingovertires Drove passengers for the rideshare platforms for about 5 years in SoCal. Had Spanish speakers easily 1,000 of my 15,000 trips The prevailing fear for many Americans is that the Spanish speakers are saying unkind things about them. And that
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  • they are purposely speaking Spanish to avoid detection. As a very white, blue eyed guy, nobody ever guesses that I lived and worked 6 years in Spanish speaking countries. Before I ever started driving people, I was fully fluent for over 25 years.
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  • Speaking, reading, writing and even dreaming in it. Naturally, I would eavesdrop on their conversations. I didn't do it because I thought they were talking about me. They weren't. Never. Not even once.
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  • A lot of it was family/work/ gossip type conversations. Really just the normal stuff that people talk to each other about. Life. It always brought me such joy that as they were about to get out of the car, I would say to
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  • them in perfect, region neutral Spanish "Que tengan buena noche" (have a good night using the formal sirs/madams ustedes conjugation). Reactions ranged from surprise and delight to shock
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  • and embarrassment. It was always fun to watch them replay everything they just said over the course of the ride in their heads, knowing that the driver heard and understood everything. Most wished me the same and/or thanked me in Spanish. It was always fun!
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  • And with that, folks, I guess what we can glean from this tale of two languages is that you should never underestimate the people around you. You never know who's got an ace up their sleeve in the form of a perfect, unadulterated accent in your native language. 

    Bonne soirée!

  • I had a choice to make: let it go (nooope) or seize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for PERFECT linguistic revenge
    via photology2000

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females woman empowered empowerment Female Empowerment relatable interesting foreign petty revenge language womens memes womens female french ladies payback called out women bilingual lady
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