History Main / BilingualDialogue

* The multinational characters in the ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}'' games speak various languages like English, Japanese, Mandarin, Korean, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian or Arabic in their cutscenes and never seem to have the slightest trouble understanding each other (though subtitles are provided for characters who are not speaking the player's native language). None of these characters seem to even make an attempt to speak any language but their native ones, and nobody ever comments on it, makes it seem as though every person in that universe is an {{Omniglot}}. Even novelty characters who communicate with clicks or animal noises manage to get their point across just fine.

* In ''VideoGame/PlayStationAllStarsBattleRoyale'', there is a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xZ1d0gOoBo rivalry cutscene]] between Heihachi Mishima from ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}'' and Toro Inoue from ''Doko Demo Issyo''. While Heihachi speaks Japanese, Toro [[AnimalTalk speaks by meowing]] and they can understand one another. It makes sense for Toro to understand Japanese, but the other way around? Not so much.
** Maybe Heihachi [[SpeaksFluentAnimal learned to talk to animals]] by hanging around [[BearsAreBadNews Kuma]] all the time.

* The multinational characters in the ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}'' games speak various languages like English, Japanese, Mandarin, Korean, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian or Arabic in their cutscenes and never seem to have the slightest trouble understanding each other (though subtitles are provided for characters who are not speaking the player's native language). Even novelty characters who communicate with clicks or animal noises manage to get their point across just fine.

--> '''Ying:''' 喂 Fang, 为什么你不要 "Helang Bayang?" [[labelnote:Translation]]Hey Fang, why didn't you summon Shadow Eagle?[[/labelnote]]\\

--> '''Ying:''' 喂 Fang, 为什么你不要 "helang bayang?" [[labelnote:Translation]]Hey Fang, why didn't you summon Shadow Eagle?[[/labelnote]]

--> '''Fang:''' 我紧张吗! [[labelnote:Translation]]I panicked okay![[/labelnote]]

* This sometimes happens in households when a married couple has different native languages. In fact it’s considered a valid strategy for raising bilingual children. Each parent communicates in their native language only, thus the children end up speaking both languages fluently.

* In ''Webcomic/StarslipCrisis'', the good gentlemonoliths of the Council respond to all conversation in telepathy that the reader is not privy to, making for some good ''Series/{{Newhart}}''-style one-sided conversations.
* ''Webcomic/BobAndGeorge'''s Future Alternate Bass has this with an Expy of R2-D2, Mettool D2. [[http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/041122c Bob has it too.]]
* In ''Webcomic/TalesOfGnosisCollege'' the Sultan of Pazar speaks in English to a Russian girl who replies in her native language.

* A page in chapter 3 of ''Webcomic/{{Paranatural}}'' had an interesting conversation between Doorman and [[spoiler:someone who isn't quite Max]]. Doorman's language initially seems to be gibberish, but was translated by the fans.

* In ''Webcomic/{{Rascals}}'', attempted on this [[https://rascals.kemono.cafe/comic/rascals-pg-447/ page]] between Issy and her adopted dad, the exchange between the two is converted to English for the fans.

* This is the entire premise of the web series [[https://www.youtube.com/user/afternoonhirusagari Afternoon no Hiru Sagari]]. Youtubers [[https://www.youtube.com/user/Ciaela Ciaela]] and Micchy meet each other in the local park during lunch time. Ciaela speaks only English and Micchy speaks only Japanese. They understand each other perfectly.

* In the obscure French cartoon ''WesternAnimation/FlyTales'', all the characters speak gibberish, which sometimes can sound very close to French.
* While Más y Menos from ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' speak only Spanish, only about half the cast can understand them. Control Freak even got so frustrated he changed their language to English using his remote!
* Done in ''WesternAnimation/TheAngryBeavers'' by masked wrestler El Grapadura. (El Grapadura can be loosely translated to mean 'Stapler'.) In addition, Grapadura stars in the episode 'Norberto Y Dagetto en El Grapadura y el Castor Malo', which is entirely in Spanish and based off of El Rey detective movies. Grapadura is again seen in the episode "Pass it On", where he speaks Spanish to Dag. His subtitles are in Korean, and Dag calls him Swedish. He also throws out a bit of ''Gratuitous English''. ('Ey, baby!')

* In ''WesternAnimation/ChipNDaleRescueRangers'', all of the other rangers seem to be able to understand Zipper the Fly's incomprehensible chatter, as he understands their English.
* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' with the Japanese-American character Toshi. He understands English perfectly and responds in subtitled Japanese, but it soon becomes apparent that his friends aren't actually listening to him. Toshi himself refuses to speak any English out of sheer nationalistic pride and sometimes makes very rude statements that suggest he's HidingBehindTheLanguageBarrier.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode "It Ain't Easy Being Breezies", the Breezies speak vaguely Swedish/Norwegian-esque gibberish that only Fluttershy can understand, but they appear to understand English/Equestrian, although only Seabreeze actually speaks it.

* ''Film/{{Cronicas}}'' has a few instances where IntrepidReporter Manolo speaks to his crew in English and they reply in Spanish. The team works for a Spanish-language TV channel that broadcasts out of Miami, so it's understandable they'd speak both languages.
* ''Film/ErnestGoesToCamp'': Ernest and Chief St. Cloud speak this way, along with sign language.
* ''Film/ThePeculiaritiesOfTheNationalHunt'':
** Partly played straight in this Russian film, in which a group of Russians go hunting with a visiting Finn. While the Finn understands and speaks Russian, to a degree, he still has trouble communicating with the gamekeeper. There is a scene in the film when both are shouting at one another in their native languages, obviously having absolutely no trouble understanding one another, while the other characters look at them in amazement. The general then asks the gamekeeper how he understands the Finn. The confused gamekeeper asks him "What Finn?" Apparently, he wasn't even aware he was understanding Finnish.
** In another scene, the two characters get drunk and suddenly realize that they speak fluent German. Once they sober up, they forget the language.
* Abel Gance's ''Film/{{Austerlitz}}'' features a trilingual dialogue at one point. During a heated Allied strategy meeting where the Russian and Austrian generals are arguing in their respective languages, the French ''émigré'' Langeron interrupts them and certainly speaks for the (French-speaking) audience when he says: "I am French, General, and you know that I understand neither German nor Russian", prompting everyone to switch to French. (Ironically, the actual General Langeron was fluent in both languages.)
* ''Film/TheWindThatShakesTheBarley'' has a few examples of this with English and Irish. The film takes place in a period where Irish was mostly spoken as a first language by the older, rural population, but younger generations were taking a renewed interest in it and taking efforts to learn. This is shown when Michael gives his name in Irish at the beginning of the film and when Teddy identifies himself in Irish to make a political statement. When the main characters escape from prison and hide out in an elderly couple's cottage, the couple converse with them in Irish but they reply in English, which then prompts the couple to switch to broken English for the sake of the non-Irish soldier with them. In addition to this, urban Irish people sometimes resented Irish-speakers because they never had the opportunity to learn it properly, even if they might know some bits and pieces. This is best shown in the courtroom scene, where the elderly monolingual defendant declares ''"Níl fhios agam, ní thuigim"'' (I don't know, I don't understand) and the prosecutor contemptuously replies "What are you saying ''Níl fhios agam'' for? You know fine well!"
* ''Film/{{Pilgrimage}}'': Characters in medieval Ireland speak in English, Gaelic and French, often in the same conversation.
* In ''Film/StandClearOfTheClosingDoors'', Ricky and Carla speak English at home, while their parents speak Spanish.
* ''Film/SavingFace'': Around 40% of the film is in Mandarin. Often Wil speaks to her mom in English, who answers her with Mandarin.
* Much of the dialogue in ''Film/CrystalFairyAndTheMagicalCactus'' is in a mixture of English and Spanish.
* ''Film/BreakingAndEntering2006'': When Amira and Miro argue, Amira switches back and forth between Bosnian and English, while Miro sticks to English.
* In ''Film/FreebieAndTheBean'', Bean's wife talks to him in a mixture of Spanish and English, while Bean mostly sticks to English.
* Most characters in ''Film/SpaceSweepers'' have earpieces that translate other languages, depicted as people speaking their native languages with subtitles for the viewer.
* ''Film/{{Rafiki}}'': Characters in the film often use English and Swahili alternately when speaking.
* ''Film/GetReadyToBeBoyzvoiced'': There are a few scenes featuring dialogue in both English and Norwegian, most notably those involving American record company CEO Brian Kauffman and the commercial that the band members shoot for Frionor Seafoods.
* ''Film/SignatureMove'':
** Parveen talks to her daughter Zaynab in Urdu. Zaynab mostly talks back in English, though she speaks Urdu fluently as well. Parveen speaks English as well, but not as often.
** Rosa, Alma's mother, also speaks with her in Spanish as Alma answers using English generally.

* Played for laughs in ''Backstage Lensman'' by Randall Garrett, a take-off of ''Literature/{{Lensman}}'' SpaceOpera. Sir Houston Carbarn is the most brilliant mathematical physicist in the known universe; one of only a handful of living entities who can actually think in the language of pure mathematics.
-->Sir Houston Carbarn smiled. "(-1)(-1) = +1," he informed.\\
The Starboard Admiral slammed his palm against the desk. "Of course! The principle of the double negative! Two negaspheres make a posisphere! Our Gray Lensman has genius, Sir Houston!"\\
"?" agreed Sir Houston.
* Used in ''Literature/JaneEyre''. Adele often speaks in (untranslated) French, to which Jane responds in English. Charlotte Bronte's social class was expected to know French.

* ''Literature/BloodMeridian'' follows a group of American freebooters in Mexico. All Spanish language is presented untranslated. The Americans can understand Spanish, but often choose to speak English to various Mexicans and Native Americans they meet.
* ''Literature/JohannesCabalAndTheFearInstitute'': {{Invoked|Trope}} when Johannes addresses a ghoul in the ghoul's BlackSpeech, only for the ghoul to tell him that his accent is atrocious and he should stick to a human language.
* In the ''Literature/{{Mageworlds}}'' series, the main non-human race, the seven-foot-tall saurians, understand human speech perfectly well but either can't or don't speak it themselves. Humans who have to deal with them learn to understand their speech and it's not uncommon for conversations to take place with each side speaking in their own language.
* ''Literature/MiracleCreek'': During Mary and Young's [[spoiler:prison visits]], Young speaks in Korean, while Mary speaks in English.
* In ''Literature/EyeOfAFly'', Ernest overhears a couple loudly arguing in Spanish and shouting death threats in English.
* ''Literature/TheLWord'': Bette and Jodi, who's deaf, often speak in a mix of ASL with English during their relationship.
* ''Literature/HayvenCelestia'': The krakun insist their {{Slave Race}}s learn Krakunese but forbid them from speaking it, while krakun easily learn new languages but don't deign to speak in such inferior tongues, thus conversations between krakun and their slaves usually consist of the krakun shouting orders in Krakunese while the slaves make apologies in their native language. This also means that Krakunese acts as a de facto CommonTongue in black market deals.
* ''Literature/{{Blubber}}'': Jill's live-in governess, Mrs. Sandmeier, is Swiss and trilingual, speaking English and French (it's not mentioned what the third language is, but one could assume it's German). Part of her job is to teach Jill and her brother French. Jill can understand what Mrs. Sandmeier is saying when she speaks to them in French, but usually answers in English because she's too busy to think of the right French words. However, when Mrs. Sandmeier goes on vacation late in the story, Jill writes her a letter and closes it in French.

* ''Series/{{Carrascolendas}}'' and ''Villa Alegre'' were two American Creator/{{PBS}} shows for children which had some characters who spoke only English, some who spoke only Spanish, and some who spoke both.

* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'':
** In ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'', minor alien characters usually speak their own language. The player character is experienced enough to understand most aliens and droid languages you come across (replaced with a version of TranslatorMicrobes in [[VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords the sequel]]), so their dialogue appears in subtitles in either [[EloquentInMyNativeTongue perfect English]], or not-so-perfect English when it comes to {{Strange Syntax Speaker}}s like astromech droids and users of borderline HulkSpeak. This adds to the "Star Wars" feel, and also saves on voice acting, since it can be replaced by randomly generated alien gibberish (there's actually only about five or six lines that are used for multiple languages). It's discussed a couple times:
*** The player character is surprised when Mission speaks Basic instead of Twi'lek, and is told that a lot of aliens can do it, but most don't.
*** A very minor human Sith character on Korriban speaks Twi'lek and tells the player that it's because his Basic is so bad and everyone understands Twi'lek anyway.
*** Somewhat highlighted with a droid left behind by {{Precursors}} encountered in a tomb on Dantooine, which tries a couple different ancient languages on the party before hitting on an archaic variant of Selkath that the PC and Bastila can subtitle.
** ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'' (by the same developer as KOTOR) does this with many alien and droid characters, including companions T7-M4 (astromech droid), Qyzen Fess (Trandoshan), Yuun (Gand), Bowdaar (Wookiee), Broonmark (Talz), Khem Val (Dashade), and Blizz (Jawa). Notably averted by two Hutt characters, though: the Archon and Dr. Oggurobb both address the PC in Basic. Unlike many nonhumans, most Hutts speak it just fine, they're just too proud to do so in public.

* In ''VideoGame/UltimaUnderworld'', all three varieties of lizardmen can understand English, but only one variety can speak it. The player can earn the lizardmen's favour by attempting to speak their language.
* The multinational characters in the ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}'' games speak various languages like English, Japanese, Mandarin, Korean, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian or Arabic in their cutscenes and never seem to have the slightest trouble understanding each other (though subtitles are provided for characters who are not speaking the player's native language). Even novelty characters who communicate with clicks or animal noises manage to get their point across just fine.
* ''VideoGame/VirtuaFighter'' has done pretty much the same in the later installments.
* Happens with the English-speaking characters in ''VideoGame/GunHed''.
** And Gun Hed itself: 'Gun Hed Pilot: [speaks subtitled Japanese]; Gun Hed: 'You could say that, yes.'

* In the ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'' games ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance Path of Radiance]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn Radiant Dawn]]'', Leanne speaks the ancient tongue and has a great amount of trouble with modern tongue. The few times she speaks the modern tongue, she shows her difficulty ("I...fight...yes?"). However, even the handful of other people who are fluent in ancient tongue usually address her in modern tongue, and she has no trouble understanding exactly what they're saying in a language that she is physically able to speak, but apparently is very bad at.

* In ''VideoGame/Yakuza3'', the character Andre Richardson exclusively speaks in English and has conversations with the otherwise all Japanese cast speaking exclusive Japanese relatively easily. It's at least justified in that he's either speaking with characters that know English or in Kiryu's case he's clear enough with his body language that Kiryu can pick up what he means.
* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'':
** In ''VideoGame/HaloReach'', this is heard between Jorge-052 and the Hungarian-speaking civilian Sara Sorvad at the end of the first mission.
** In ''[[VideoGame/Halo4 Spartan Ops]]'', [[spoiler:Dr. Halsey]] and Jul 'Mdama converse with each other in their native languages, respectively English and Sangheili.

* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'', Jabun and Valoo speak ancient Hylian while the King of Red Lions speaks modern Hylian (which is of course rendered as whatever language you're playing the game in), making only one side of their conversation understandable and keeping everything incredibly vague. In the NewGamePlus, all ancient Hylian is translated.

* A rather bizarre example in the ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' DLC "Old World Blues". [[PlayerCharacter The Courier]], if he has a high enough intelligence, can be able to converse with Dr. 8, a brain in a jar that can only communicate using [=RobCo=] code script. The player won't understand a single word he says regardless, but the Courier's responses give enough of an estimate.
* In ''VideoGame/PlayStationAllStarsBattleRoyale'', there is a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xZ1d0gOoBo rivalry cutscene]] between Heihachi Mishima from ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}'' and Toro Inoue from ''Doko Demo Issyo''. While Heihachi speaks Japanese, Toro [[AnimalTalk speaks by meowing]] and they can understand one another. It makes sense for Toro to understand Japanese, but the other way around? Not so much.
** Maybe Heihachi [[SpeaksFluentAnimal learned to talk to animals]] by hanging around [[BearsAreBadNews Kuma]] all the time.
** In another rival cutscene, [[VideoGame/{{Starhawk}} Emmett Graves]] and [[VideoGame/GravityRush Kat]] are able to understand each other despite Emmet speaking English and Kat speaking [[{{Fictionary}} a made-up language designed to sound French, Japanese and Latin]].
*** There's also a subversion. [[VideoGame/{{Killzone}} Radec]] can't understand a word [[VideoGame/MediEvil Sir Daniel Fortesque]] is saying due to the latter missing his lower jaw and only being able to make mumbling sounds.
* ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution'': During your trips to Hengsha in China, you'll frequently overhear conversations where one party is speaking English and the other subtitled Mandarin. The subtitles could also be interpreted as [[PlayerCharacter Jensen]] being able to understand Mandarin, possibly a result of his cybernetic enhancements[[note]]Given the extensive DiegeticInterface, it's entirely possible that he is actually ''seeing the subtitles''[[/note]], but not speak it.
* Played mostly for laughs during Leon's chapter in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil6'' with the gun store owner and the Japanese student. The student can only speak Japanese (though his sub-titles are in English for convenience), yet he and the gun store owner converse with each other in their own languages and are somehow able to understand one another completely.
* [=NPCs=] in ''VideoGame/JadeEmpire'' are voiced in either English or [[ConLang Tho Fan]], though all the subtitles are in English. And there are some cases where they hold conversations in both languages, the Forest Shadow speaks Tho Fan while her elephant spirit bodyguard speaks "English" for instance.
* The Sullustans, the Rodians, Chewbacca, and R2-D2 all speak their own respective languages in ''VideoGame/StarWarsBattlefront2015'', but that doesn't stop MissionControl from informing you on enemy whereabouts in English. Justified, unless you happen to be in fluent in Wookee.
* In ''Videogame/{{Nioh}}'', the protagonist William is an Englishman in Japan who speaks solely in his native language while other Japanese characters typically speak Japanese. This is handwaved by a spirit magically granting him the ability to speak and understand the local language, meaning that he's actually speaking Japanese to them. This trait carries over in his appearance in ''Videogame/MusouStars''.
* In the ''VideoGame/{{Bayonetta}}'' series, the angels and demons Bayonetta fights speak to her in Enochian, while she speaks to them in English/Japanese. Averted in ''Anime/BayonettaBloodyFate'', where she and the angels instead converse with each other in English/Japanese.
* In ''Videogame/Cyberpunk2077'', Saburo Arasaka only speaks in Japanese even when talking to non-Japanese people. This is due to his [[NaziGrandpa Japanese Imperialism]] causing him to despise the English language, as well as the fact that since practically everyone in this setting has cybernetics that can translate speech there's no need for him to use any other language.
** Other residents of Night City can manage this as well. Hwangbo, V's client during the gig "Flight Of The Cheetah", talks in Korean the entire time, with V responding in English, and random [=NPCs=] can occasionally be heard holding bilingual conversations of their own.

* In ''WebAnimation/GenLock'', Iida speaks Japanese while everyone else speaks English. Unlike with [[WebAnimation/RedVsBlue Lopez]] though, everyone can still understand him thanks to their AugmentedReality implants providing subtitles.
* ''WebAnimation/TheFrolloShow'' have many characters from [[MassiveMultiplayerCrossover different sources]] who speak many different language including english, japanese, spanish, russian and arabian, but everyone still understands each other.

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* A series of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soF_556BHIo commercials]] for Hyundai of Canada featured a trio of executives from Hyundai's competitors in Germany, Japan and America, [[EnemyMine working together]] to find out why Hyundai's cars are so much better than theirs. Each one speaks in their own native language (outside of loan words and Hyundai trademarks, of course), but they all understand and reply to each other in discussion.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* In ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'', all the humanoid or animal like characters speak Japanese whereas the various talking machines speak either Midchildan or Belkan (represented as [[GratuitousEnglish bad English]] or [[GratuitousGerman bad German]], respectively). There is most likely some TranslationConvention going on here as Midchildans on Midchilda would presumably speak Midchildan to each other. Although why the machines don't get translated is unexplained.
* In ''Anime/TokyoGodfathers'', the Hispanic immigrant mother only speaks Spanish, and Miyuki only speaks Japanese (plus a little English that she learned at school), but they manage to carry on a conversation (with the Spanish unsubtitled for either the Japanese or the English-speaking audience).

* In ''Manga/{{Saiyuki}}'' Hakkai, appears to understand Hakuryu/Jeep's chirps, although none of the rest of the party do nor the viewers. Hakkai occasionally acts as an interpreter.

* Happens a bit in the ''Literature/ACertainMagicalIndex'' series. Most foreign characters speak Japanese for the benefit of Touma (it's the only language he knows), but Cendrillon in particular only speaks French (though she understands Japanese and English just fine). Subverted in the ''Shopping Mall Demonstration'' side story where Mikoto and the New Light cabal are speaking with one another in Japanese for Mikoto's benefit, but when the group switches to their native English, Mikoto switches as well and continues the conversation without missing a beat.
* The Glacians in ''Anime/LastExileFamTheSilverWing'' speak Russian as their native language. One of their Navis acts as an interpreter for the main characters.

* ''WebAnimation/ZanyToTheMax'':
** Used with the Zarner siblings. Jakko will explain plans to Takko and Zot in Finnish, and Takko and Zot understand him completely. [[spoiler:[[BilingualBackfire So does Sikko]].]]
** Jakko actually speaks both Finnish and English, as do Takko and Zot (though they speak Finnish much less often than Jakko).

* In Kill la Kill AU's ''Aikurou Babysits'', we have this sort of argumentative exchange occur with Satsuki and Nui.

* In ''Fanfic/IncompatibleSystem'', humans and thranx soon reach the point where they can easily understand each other's main language, but it's noted to be rather difficult for them to speak it due to biological issues. For thranx speaking English, it's because their mouths aren't as flexible as a humans. For the humans, it's because Low Thranx requires a lot of gestures involving body parts humans lack. A mention is made that those humans and thranx working closely together are creating a sort of hybrid between their languages.
* In ''Fanfic/FairyTalesAndHokum'', [[Film/TheMummyTrilogy Alex]] understands Arabic but doesn't speak it well, and Ardeth's daughter Maira speaks better English but prefers to stick to her own language. Their conversations are usually a mix and match of both languages and hand gestures.
* In the ''VideoGame/PunchOut'' fanfic ''Fanfic/MaFille'', each boxer can understand each other without needing translations (which are provided to the audience).
* ''Fanfic/NoStarsInSight'': Granny Skuldu speaks to her partner Agnisia in English while Agnisia mostly speaks in the [[BlackSpeech Hive language]]. Both are able to converse with each other and understand what the other is saying without any problems.

[[folder:Films — Animation]]

* In ''Franchise/{{Cars}}'', Luigi and Guido often speak to each other, although Luigi always speaks in heavily-accented English, while Guido (except for the occasional mention of "pitstop" and "okay") only speaks Italian. Oddly enough, both are Italians, which means both should speak their native tongue with each other.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewGroove'': Kronk (impersonating a fast-food cook) repeats an order given in regular English entirely in HashHouseLingo, proving he speaks it perfectly.

[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]
* ''Franchise/StarWars'' does this fairly often. Alien species and certain types of droids will speak either Huttese, their native tongue or droidspeak, and a human character will understand and respond in Basic (English or whatever language the films are dubbed in). This is usually due to the nonhuman species not possessing sufficient mouth or throat structures to pronounce [[TranslationConvention Galactic Basic]]. Sometimes the alien speech is subtitled, and other times you just have to infer what's being said by the Basic responses.
** Han Solo especially. His conversations with his longtime companion Chewbacca all play this way. The prequel film ''Film/{{Solo}}'' shows that young Han understood the Wookiee language,[[note]]Shyriiwook[[/note]] even before he met Chewie. He has trouble speaking it, though (Han's Wookiee lines are subtitled [[YouNoTakeCandle with fractured English]]). He also communicates with a repair droid on Hoth, Jabba the Hutt, and Greedo, though Greedo's speech is subtitled.
** Wookiees in general all do this. Their vocal cords are not capable of making the sounds necessary to speak Galactic Basic, but they can understand it. And it mostly goes the other way too, as humans cannot speak Shyriiwook without getting a sore throat from making the necessary sounds, but they can understand it. Out of universe, the Shyriiwook language was created by recording sounds of various animals, mostly big cats.
** [=R2-D2=]'s chirps and beeps are understood by everyone. In the novels, it's explained that Artoo communicates with despondent beeps, inquisitive beeps, affirmative beeps, etc. and people just get the gist of what he means. In ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'', however, Luke has a text screen in the cockpit of his X-Wing that gives him a translation of R2's beeps. A pilot wants more than the ''gist'' of what the mechanic is telling them, after all. In addition, one of R2's lines while in a swamp is easily recognizable in English.
--->'''Luke:''' R2. ''(points toward the shore)'' That way.\\
'''R2:''' ''(in Binary)'' Oh. Thank you.
** Jabba the Hutt has similar bilingual conversations with several characters, though he is one of the few aversions to the trope by using C-3PO as a translator.[[note]]Finally giving C-3PO a chance to be useful. The prevalence of this trope does rather undercut his supposed function in life.[[/note]] When he's not using a translator, his dialogue is subtitled. At one point, Jabba uses C-3PO in a conversation with an alien who speaks neither Huttese nor Basic, but understands the latter. In this case, it is a ''tri''lingual conversation, since both Jabba and the alien Boussh can understand Basic, meaning that not only can C-3PO convey what each is saying to the other, they can also make sure that they are being accurately translated. [[spoiler:Of course, it's actually Leia in disguise, who speaks Basic perfectly, but that's not the point.]] Most Hutts can and do speak Basic, but they usually perceive it as a language inferior to their own, and would rather rely on translators rather than demean themselves by speaking an inferior language. The 1997 Special Edition adds subtitles for Boussh's and some of Jabba's lines, though these were taken back out in the 2004 DVD release and later versions.
** Jabba's Twi'lek stooge Bib Fortuna, whose dialogue with Luke in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' is not subtitled. Since Luke has Fortuna thoroughly [[JediMindTrick mind tricked]], it's not hard to work out what he's saying.[[note]]It also implies that Jedi mind tricks don't have a language barrier.[[/note]]
---> '''Luke:''' You will take me to Jabba ''now''.\\
'''Bib:''' ''(in Huttese)'' I will take you to Jabba ''now''.
** Lando and Nien Nunb, his Sullustan copilot in the Death Star run in ''Return of the Jedi''. Nunb is actually speaking the Bantu language Haya. [[https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Kipsang_Rotich (His voice was performed by a Kenyan intern.)]] It gives the conversation a BilingualBonus, since it's full of RepeatingSoTheAudienceCanHear:
--->'''Nunb:''' ''I'm not getting any reading on the shield''.\\
'''Lando:''' We've got to be able to get some kind of reading on that shield, up or down.\\
'''Nunb:''' ''I think they're jamming us''.\\
'''Lando:''' But how could they be jamming us if... [[ExplainExplainOhCrap if they don't know we're coming]]...
** In ''Film/TheForceAwakens'', Poe Dameron and Rey both understand BB-8's droidspeak chirps clearly. Finn... not so much.
** ''Film/TheLastJedi'' has C'ai Threnalli, an Abednedo Resistance pilot who usually speaks only in his native Abednedish because he has trouble properly placing his translator device. However, many other members of his species such as Ello Asty and Oddy Muva have taught their tongue to C'ai's fellow pilots, allowing for a more efficient communication with him, even if they always reply in Basic, which C'ai seems to understand alright.

* This occurs in all three of the Ocean's movies with Yen. In ''Film/OceansEleven'', Danny Ocean (George Clooney) and Rusty (Creator/BradPitt) can understand Yen's Chinese, but always speak to him in English, which he understands. In the sequels everybody seems to understand Yen just fine, making this something of a RunningGag.
* Subverted in ''Film/GhostDogTheWayOfTheSamurai''. The title character speaks English to his best friend, who speaks French back, but they don't understand a word of each other's language. Even still, they seem to share a psychic connection and are always talking about the same thing.
* In ''Film/GhostInTheShell2017'', Chief Aramaki only speaks Japanese while his subordinates speak English back to him, presumably because they are all using [[TranslatorMicrobes translation software]] in their neural augmentations.
* ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2014'': Groot only speaks by saying "I am Groot" in different inflections which Rocket can somehow interpret into complex statements, which he replies to in English.

* In ''Film/NineteenFortyOne1979'', the Japanese crew of a submarine speak only Japanese, and a German on board speaks only German. Somehow, they understand each other perfectly. It's a pretty goofy movie.

* Happens in some Canadian movies, most notably ''Film/BonCopBadCop'',see the entry below, and ''Film/TheRocket''/''Film/MauriceRichard'', the biopic of the legendary French-Canadian hockey player. Sometimes it's played for laughs or dramatic tension, but for the most part, you simply have different subtitles on the bottom of the screen, depending on the version of the film, and the dialogue stands on its own.
* ''Film/BonCopBadCop'', being a movie about the relationship between Ontario and Quebec as much as it is about the serial killer, has two bilingual protagonists, and several Francophone and Anglophone supporting characters. The dialogue of the movie is nearly equal in French and English, and there are a whopping SIX subtitle options on the DVD, for Francophones, Anglophones, and Bilinguals, with hard of hearing options for all of the above.
* Several of Wong Kar-Wai's movies feature bilingual dialogue, the most notorious being ''2046''. This movie casts several Hong Kong actors, Chinese actors and one Japanese actor, all of which speak their own native language throughout the movie. The whole movie is filled with (seemingly) perfectly natural conversations where one person speaks Cantonese and the other speaks Mandarin. Not to mention that while most of the movie is narrated in Cantonese, the first five minutes is narrated in Japanese, making the movie virtually impossible to watch without subtitles.
* The Pai Mei training scene in ''Film/KillBill''. She even says flat out she only speaks 'a little' Cantonese, but he continues to speak as if she's fluent... and she understands every word he says, apparently, without any problems. In return, she speaks with extremely halting and limited Cantonese and Mandarin peppered with English and ''he'' has no problems understanding ''her''.
** She tries to speak Japanese instead, which she knows much better, only for Pai Mei to immediately shut down the idea, claiming that he hates the Japanese.
* In ''Film/District9'', the [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters humans]] and "[[FantasticRacism prawns]]" clearly lack the vocal setup to speak each others' language, but the Prawns understand English perfectly well and human workers in the District understand the alien language.

* ''Film/{{Kukushka}}'' is based almost entirely on bilingual (sometimes ''trilingual'') dialogue. The three protagonists only speak and understand one of Russian, Finnish and Sami, so neither understands what the other two are saying. This makes for some [[FunWithForeignLanguages interesting]] [[HilarityEnsues misunderstandings]], some with [[spoiler:almost]] tragic consequences.
* In Ridley Scott's ''Film/RobinHood2010'', Isabella of Angoulême speaks mostly in French, and everyone else responds mostly in English. This is mostly HollywoodHistory - minor gentry like Robin, Marion et al would likely have been bilingual in Middle English and Norman French, but the Norman aristocracy who Isabella is speaking to would have spoken Norman French (pretty close to Isabelle's French) as their first language. Famously King Richard could barely speak any English at all. English didn't become the language of court until the reign of Henry IV.
* Used Extensively in ''Film/ManOnFire''. Justified, since Creasy can speak Spanish and it's a border town, so most people will understand English anyway.
* In the movie ''Film/TheFifthElement'', Father Cornelius is able to understand Leeloo's rapid-fire delivery of her, "divine language." And she has no problem understanding his responses in English. Leeloo does eventually learn how to speak slightly broken English.
* In the movie ''Film/LargerThanLife'', Jack meets A Native American Chief. Chief says something, which is subtitled to English, then Jack replies, which is subtitled to Navajo.
* It's pretty common in the movie ''Film/{{Machete}}'', but specifically for ThoseTwoGuys who work as dishwashers. One will of the guys understands what his friend says in Spanish but will only answer in English.
* Played with in ''Film/TheBeatThatMyHeartSkipped'': The French-speaking protagonist and his Vietnamese-speaking piano teacher seem to understand the gist of each other's words, even though neither speaks the other's language. See them have a bilingual argument [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoF_A4v-4xQ&feature=share here]].
* In ''Film/SeducingMrPerfect'', Robin, the American protagonist, speaks English almost exclusively but can understand several different languages. Meanwhile, Min Jun, the South Korean protagonist, has some difficulties speaking English but can understand Robin as long as he doesn't use American euphemisms and slang. Her response to him accusing her of "doing it" with someone was to genuinely wonder what he was accusing her of doing with said person. [[spoiler:She was wrestling with her brother when he called, causing him to misinterpret the sounds and the meaning of her words. The phone was hung up before he could speak.]]
* In ''Film/JoyeuxNoel'', which depicts the UsefulNotes/WorldWarI Christmas Truce between the French, British and Germans, most of the characters are unable to speak more than one language (and only two can speak all three), resulting in many exchanges of Bilingual and even Trilingual Dialogue.

* ''Film/DemolitionMan'': At the San Angeles sewers, John asks for a burger to a Latino woman. They clearly understand each other despite speaking different languages. This is downplayed as at one point John asks "What's in this meat?" in Spanish.
* Downplayed in ''Film/PacificRim'' where there are moments where Mako speaks to Pentecost in English and he replies in Japanese and vice versa and also Raleigh talking to Mako in English and she answers in Japanese. But these are few and far between.
* In ''Film/PacificRimUprising'', most of Newt's conversations with his boss Liwen Shao are in English on Newt's side and Mandarin on Shao's: she prefers to speak Mandarin, but is fluent in English and loathes Newt's YouNoTakeCandle mangling of her native language.
-->'''Shao:''' ''[In Mandarin]'' Speak English. Your Mandarin makes you sound like an idiot.\\
'''Newt:''' I know, I'm terrible.
* An odd flipped version: in a brief scene from ''Film/BatmanBegins'', where Bruce Wayne in his early days, has just been caught for stealing in China, a Chinese police officer speaks to Bruce in English...and Bruce responds in Mandarin.

** [=R2-D2=]'s chirps and beeps are understood by everyone. In the novels, it's explained that Artoo communicates with despondent beeps, inquisitive beeps, affirmative beeps, etc. and people just get the gist of what he means. In ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'', however, Luke has a text screen in the cockpit of his X-Wing that gives him a translation of R2's beeps. A pilot wants more than the ''gist'' of what the mechanic is telling them, after all.

* In the ''VideoGame/{{Bayonetta}}'' series, the angels Bayonetta fights speak to her in Enochian, while she speaks to them in English/Japanese. Averted in ''Anime/BayonettaBloodyFate'', where she and the angels instead converse with each other in English/Japanese.

--->'''Cop:''' Where are you going?\\

* In Ridley Scott's ''Film/RobinHood2010'', Isabella of Angoulême speaks mostly in French, and everyone else responds mostly in English.
** This is mostly HollywoodHistory - minor gentry like Robin, Marion et al would likely have been bilingual in Middle English and Norman French, but the Norman aristocracy who Isabella is speaking to would have spoken Norman French (pretty close to Isabelle's French) as their first language. Famously King Richard could barely speak any English at all.

* In the movie ''Film/TheFifthElement'', Father Cornelius is able to understand Leeloo's rapid-fire delivery of her, "divine language." And she has no problem understanding his responses in English. Leeloo does eventually learn how to speak English, to a point any way.

* This is how [[Ride/DisneyThemeParks Disnayland Paris]] handles its live shows and ride pre-shows; half the characters will speak either French or English, and repetative dialogue is used so that the audience only needs to understand one of the two languages.

* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' with the Japanese-American character Toshi. He understands English perfectly and responds in subtitled Japanese ,but it soon becomes apparent that his friends aren't actually listening to him. Toshi himself refuses to speak any English out of sheer nationalistic pride and sometimes makes very rude statements that suggest he's HidingBehindTheLanguageBarrier.

* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' with the Japanese-American character Toshi. He understands English perfectly and responds in subtitled Japanese ,but it soon becomes apparent that his friends aren't actually listening to him. Toshi himself refuses to speak any English out of sheer nationalistic pride and sometimes makes very crash statements that suggest he's HidingBehindTheLanguageBarrier.

* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' with the Japanese-American character Toshi. At first it seems like this is going on, as he understands English perfectly and responds in subtitled Japanese, but it soon becomes apparent that his friends aren't actually listening to him. Toshi himself refuses to speak any English out of sheer nationalistic pride.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'': "Fly home, Buddy. I work alone." "Et ton costume est complètement ridicule!" Although it wasn't really a conversation, as the only person who understood French was the one speaking it. Strangely enough in the French translation, his dialogue is still subtitled, despite all characters involved (and those watching) being able to understand it.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'', Luigi and Guido often speak to each other, although Luigi always speaks in heavily-accented English, while Guido (except for the occasional mention of "pitstop" and "okay") only speaks Italian. Oddly enough, both are Italians, which means both should speak their native tongue with each other.

* In the ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' anime, most of the Pokémon themselves speak in languages consisting entirely of [[PokemonSpeak variations of their own species name]] (a Pikachu, for example, can only say the word "Pikachu" or single syllables of that word). While the human characters are consistently shown to be unable to understand this speech in most cases, there are numerous instances where two Pokémon of different species will carry on a conversation where they understand each other perfectly despite each being unable to speak each other's languages.

* Happens a bit in the ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'' series. Most foreign characters speak Japanese for the benefit of Touma (it's the only language he knows), but Cendrillon in particular only speaks French (though she understands Japanese and English just fine). Subverted in the ''Shopping Mall Demonstration'' side story where Mikoto and the New Light cabal are speaking with one another in Japanese for Mikoto's benefit, but when the group switches to their native English, Mikoto switches as well and continues the conversation without missing a beat.

* In ''Film/GhostInTheShell'' Chief Aramaki only speaks Japanese while his subordinates speak English back to him, presumably because they are all using [[TranslatorMicrobes translation software]] in their neural augmentations.
* ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'' Groot only speaks by saying "I am Groot" in different inflections which Rocket can somehow interpret into complex statements, which he replies to in English.

* In ''Film/{{District 9}}'', the [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters humans]] and "[[FantasticRacism prawns]]" clearly lack the vocal setup to speak each others' language, but the Prawns understand English perfectly well and human workers in the District understand the alien language.

For whatever reason, two or more characters can't speak the others' language in anything better than heavily mangled, imprecise gobbledygook. ''However'', all involved can understand the others' language when spoken. This results in unnervingly cool, creepy, or cantankerous scenes depending on the set-up, as you have two people listening and responding to each other in completely different languages, creating a Bilingual Dialogue ([[TranslatorBuddy and sometimes acting as interpreters to any third parties present]].)

* An odd flipped version: in a brief scene from ''Film/BatmanBegins'' where Bruce Wayne in his early days has just been caught for stealing in China, a Chinese police officer speaks to Bruce in English...and Bruce responds in Mandarin.