History Main / EloquentInMyNativeTongue

* Draak from ''Webcomic/IrregularWebcomic'' is highly intelligent and has a rather keen grasp on complex ideas, like "quark" and "gene" (despite being in a medieval fantasy setting), but only speaks in mono-syllables. In his own tongue, he's quite eloquent.
* ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'' uses this briefly (in a reversal of how this trope usually works): As seen [[http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=455 here]] (via the TranslationConvention), Antimony's Polish isn't as good as her native English. Gamma is very shy and isolated because of not understanding English, but a veritable chatterbox with Zimmy.

* [[Webcomic/DominicDeegan Donovan "Little Pink Man in Pink" Deegan]] is only capable of speaking Orcish in the sense that he seems to have a rather large vocabulary. He just doesn't know what those words mean. When speaking his native Callanian (The "English" of the world) he is the world's most renowned poet and bard. It turns out that [[spoiler: he speaks Orkish perfectly and acts otherwise because [[RuleOfFunny he thinks it's funny.]]]]
* In ''WebComic/TheCobraDays'', [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater The Sorrow]] is only just learning English. Occasionally when they're having trouble understanding him, one of the other Russian-speaking members of the Cobra Unit will tell him to switch to Russian, his native tongue.
* [[http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?sid=6947 Vaelia]] from ''Webcomic/{{Drowtales}}'' starts the story speaking next to nothing of the drow language, but improves over time and proves to be quite eloquent in her internal monologues and when she gets to speak her native tongue.
* Done both ways in ''Webcomic/GaiGin''. The USA native Gin's Japanese starts out on YouNoTakeCandle levels ("Aah ... eat tomato, and again you see tomato I ate. No wanna eat tomato?") and improves drastically over the course of the strip, though it gets worse again when she's emotional. Her Japanese boyfriend Pyon is slightly ditzy but perfectly intelligent, going into BadassBookworm levels near the end when he [[spoiler:researches frantically for a way to stop Gin being deported]], but his English is hopeless: "Hi Daddy! Me name Pyon-Pyon!"
* Inverted in ''Webcomic/JupiterMen''. Arrio is a partly-Hispanic high schooler who is specifically flunking Spanish, much to Quintin's disbelief. He says he has to go to "trabago" (he means "trabajo", as in "work") and has to be corrected on it.
* In ''Webcomic/TheLawOfPurple'', Thud is a native of a jungle where people speak a different language than the rest of the planet. At one point he even informs someone that he's not stupid, he just has a thick accent.
* [[http://wintersinlavelle.com Xan]], a Gard from ''Webcomic/WintersInLavelle'', has a very tenuous grasp on English- even though he's been speaking it for probably around a decade, most people assume that he doesn't speak English and so won't speak to him; and one of the few exceptions, Rio, usually just lets Xan slip into Gardish around him. However, [[http://wintersinlavelle.com/?p=941 when Xan speaks his native tongue,]] he's shown to speak perfectly well, and even [[HypocriticalHumor chides Rio for his broken sentences.]]
-->'''Rio:''' (In Gardish) Ease, Xan. Patient be. We uses this for a vantage.
-->'''Xan:''' ... Your Gardish is ''terrible.'' We really ''must'' work on this.
* GeneralRipper Luca from ''Webcomic/TheMeek'', shows a clear case of SpockSpeak and some minor YouNoTakeCandle issues, although the latter tends to come out more when he's upset. WordOfGod is that's because the language being spoken at the time is Luca's third language, and sure enough, when Luca does speak other languages either in flashbacks or when talking to [[spoiler:[[SpiritAdvisor The Dagre]]]], he uses contractions and doesn't make any speech flubs or grammatical errors.

* Gwynn of ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'' gets ported through time and has to learn to speak an ancient language from scratch to communicate. After a few months, she is understandable but extremely awkward, especially in her grammar, and [[YouNoTakeCandle sounds a bit loopy (and/or a lot ditzy) to the locals]].
* ''Webcomic/StandStillStaySilent'': Downplayed. Lalli is TheQuietOne most of the time. However, when talking with a fellow Finnish speaker, under the benefit of the TranslatorMicrobes from the TalkingInYourDreams system or simply needing to vent, he can come across as quite talkative compared to his usual self. However, he's not that big of a speaker even in his native language, so long paragraphs coming from him remain few and far between.

* Trolls of various species in ''VideoGame/TheWitcher'' series tend to get stereotyped as stupid, violent monsters due to their behavior, [[BlueAndOrangeMorality decidedly non-human way of looking at the world]], a few examples of trying to eat sentient beings and most of all their odd way of speaking by the common folk. They may not be ''quite'' on the same level of intelligence or eloquence as humans, but if one is patient and takes the time to understand what they are saying, most of the time they prove to be reasonably intelligent, as Geralt repeatedly proves. Trolls are also praised for their bridge making abilities, and one troll in ''The Witcher III'' proves to be a talented artist.

* In the ''Star Wars: The Clone Wars'' fanfic ''Fanfic/ByTheSea'', both Cody and Obi-Wan sound a bit YouNoTakeCandle-ish while trying to speak the other's language. A hallmark of this Mando'a-English dialect seems to be the overuse of present participle forms of verbs, e.g. "I'm knowing", instead of "I know". They even manage some dirty talk with their limited command of the other's language. Since the first story is entirely from Obi-Wan's perspective with Cody trying to figure out English from scratch, it can be easy to forget that Cody is in fact not just well-educated, but also [[spoiler:a reigning monarch, a skilled politician, and a military commander]].
* In ''Fanfic/{{Daemorphing}}'', most [[LizardFolk Hork-Bajir]] have an imperfect understanding of English and a better grasp on Galard and their own languages.
* Izuku in ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/29961147/chapters/74618067#workskin Izuku Midoriya the Rabbit]]'' is, well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a rabbit]] who needs a communicator to speak with humans. When he has to give the opening speech as the Sports Festival without his communicator, most of the audience can't understand his squeaks, honks, chirps, and foot thumpings. Mirko, the only one present who ''can'' understand him, is driven to tears by how inspirational his speech was.
** Later on, a video of Izuku and Mirko talking to each other in rabbit-speak goes viral due to how cute they sound. Unknown to everyone but Izuku and Mirko is that the two are having a heated argument, with the former [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech calling]] [[WhatTheHellHero out]] the latter for refusing to participate in the Yakuza Raid and rescue a little girl (Eri) because [[IWorkAlone "she doesn't do teamwork"]].

* In the ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' fanfiction by ''Creator/RewindGoneNuts'', Shampoo is depicted as speaking very eloquent (indeed, formal-sounding) Chinese, despite her ineptitude with the Japanese language leaving her with her chAracteristic HulkSpeak. She often mentions how much it annoys her that she can't grasp Japanese as easily as her UnwantedSuitor Mousse did, and/or that it bugs her that people think she's dumb because of it.

* Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger ran into this trope while filming ''FilmConanTheBarbarian1982''. As anyone who has read his autobiography can atest, he's actually a genius, but couldn't speak English well enough for the producers' liking, which is why Conan got hit with a case of AdaptationalDumbass.

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* Wiki/{{SCP|Foundation}}-[[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-811 811]] doesn't exactly have a native tongue due to [[WildChild growing up in a swamp]], but she does have complex thoughts and she gets frustrated at her difficulty expressing them.

* Minami in ''LightNovel/BakaAndTestSummonTheBeasts'' is in the lowest-level class in their school, despite being of probably above-normal intelligence (she's already fluent in two languages at the age of 15). She gets very good grades in math, however, ''as long as there are no word problems'', because, having lived in Germany most of her life, she only reads Japanese at an elementary-school level.
* Inverted in ''LightNovel/HighSchoolDXD''. The "Gift of Languages" allows a Devil to speak with anyone by magically appearing to use whatever language a listener knows, and makes the Devil hear anything that's said in their own native tongue. Shortly after being reincarnated, Issei notes that he's had to put more effort into consciously getting his English consistently wrong for the sake of [[{{Muggles}} his teacher]] than he ever did while trying to learn it conventionally.

* In ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney'', [[spoiler: Machi]] can speak English, but not very articulately, and for most of the trial, relies on [[spoiler:Lamiroir]] to translate.

* Inverted in ''Webcomic/JupiterMen''. Arrio is a partly-Hispanic high schooler who is specifically flunking Spanish, much to Quintin's disbelief. He says he has to go "trabago" (he means "trabajo", as in "work") and has to be corrected on it.

Can be used to hide the CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass, and may be intentionally used for ObfuscatingStupidity. Compare ElectiveBrokenLanguage (which can also be used for ObfuscatingStupidity), SwitchToEnglish, WorthlessForeignDegree. SisterTrope to GracefulInTheirElement.

* Kitty Pryde's "pet" dragon Lockheed doesn't make statements much more complex than "hmph" and the affirmative "yeh", but it's repeatedly mentioned through many ComicBook/XMen series that he is much more intelligent than any of the humans around, merely physically incapable of pronouncing human words. In fact, he's one of the smartest and most thoughtful members of the ComicBook/PetAvengers.
* Groot, badass tree (yes, tree) of the ''ComicBook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'', never says anything but "I AM GROOT!" But [[http://i.imgur.com/rtMlvOv.jpg his inflection and tone matter greatly]]. He used to be able to talk normally.

* Caleb from WebVideo/CriticalRole speaks pretty simple Common with a Zemnian (real life German) accent most of the time, and often missed idioms in the early campaign (less so as time goes on). However, when he's in-universe speaking Zemnian to other Zemnian speakers (signified by Liam O'Brien dropping the accent), his syntax and grammar are very advanced.

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* Stitch of ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch'' has elements of this, though normally seeming to be a SpeechImpairedAnimal when speaking English. Especially apparent in the movie's conclusion, Jumba even commenting on him making a good argument. A ''single syllable'' good argument. He also seems to be well versed in his native language's curses.

* In ''Series/{{Heroes}}'', Nathan "Flying Man" Petrelli and other characters initially underestimate Hiro due to his poor English. (Of course, even in Japanese he's still a geek...) This is also used to indicate where he is on his hero's journey. In the beginning, he's an utter loser, obsessed with comics, and his only plus is that he can stop time, otherwise, sucks to be him. Later, when he meets and falls in love with Charlie, he matures and grows, hence he learns better English. By the time he's completely fluent, he's a total badass and carries a samurai sword.

* The ''Series/BarneyMiller'' episode "Hunger Strike" included an encounter with a middle-aged inmate (Nora Meerbaum) of an institution who had wandered off and taken some flowers from a street vendor. She cheerfully greeted everyone with the phrase "mnogo ubav den"[[note]]eventually translated as "Isn't it a lovely day"[[/note]] and offered the flowers, which she called "tsvet"[[note]]"blossom"[[/note]]. Her supervising psychiatrist said it was "hebephrenic gibberish", but Dietrich suspected she was speaking a language; he took a recording of her speech to a Slavic Languages professor who identified it as a dialect spoken in Greece and Yugoslavia; playing the tape at Greek coffeeshops and markets, he found a native speaker (hey, it ''is'' NYC) who translated her perfectly sane speech. She had been in the institution for thirty years because nobody could understand what she was saying. Unfortunately, this is TruthInTelevision.[[note]]It's based on [[https://se-asiacenter.org/index.php/2016/11/19/david-tom-story/ David Tom]], a Chinese immigrant who was hospitalized for TB, and kept in institutions for 30 years because no one knew his Chinese dialect (given that he spoke both Toishan and Cantonese, which are ''extremely'' common, it's clear that nobody gave a damn). By the time he was rescued, he ''was'' insane. He won a lawsuit and spent the rest of his life in a Chinese-speaking settlement home (which now bears his name), where he improved and lived happily, surrounded by people who loved him.[[/note]]

* ''Series/MadTV'' had Ms. Swan, a ModernMinstrelsy Korean woman whose CatchPhrase was "[[ShapedLikeItself He look like a man]]!" One skit fell into this, as the audience was given insight into her ''thoughts'', which gave an incredibly detailed description of the person... before she blurted out her catch-phrase instead.
* ''Series/TheWestWing'': President Nimbala from The Republic of Equatorial Kundu requires a translator beside him at all times, but he is extremely knowledgeable about world events, and you will do well to remember that he is an equal to President Bartlet, and not treat him like some African warlord.
* Omnipresent among the Chinese characters in ''Series/Warrior2019''. Its translation convention is that when the Chinese characters are speaking among themselves in Chinese, the actors all just speak American-accented English -- fluently, colloquially, and occasionally even poetically. When white people are present, the actors speak subtitled Chinese to one another, and broken or heavily accented English to the whites. The exceptions are protagonist Ah Sahm and his sister Mai Ling, both of whom speak flawless English but with an InUniverse explanation that their American grandfather taught them English as kids.

* Shenhua from ''Manga/BlackLagoon'' is Taiwanese and presumably speaks fluent Chinese, but her English (and Japanese, in the original) is utterly dreadful both in grammar and pronunciation, to the point where Revy (who is Chinese-American) nicknames her "Chinglish." It's ''not'' a good idea to take her poor language skills for stupidity, [[DarkActionGirl unless you want to be]] [[KnifeNut knifed to death]].

* ''Literature/ThereIsNoEpicLootHereOnlyPuns'': Seth frequently tells the people of Durence that MyHovercraftIsFullOfEels, and almost gets thrown out of the village for seeking a "quest", but when he catches up with his old friend ''Quiss'', it's confirmed that he just speaks a very different language, and Quiss is equally bad at speaking that.

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* ''[[TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms Azure Bonds]]'' plays with extreme variant. "Strange funny lizard dude" walks through the first part as obviously sentient but not communicable and is taken seriously only as a warrior, especially after spoofed "FirstContact" attempt. But when protagonists meet someone who can easily communicate with saurial, and old dragon first shows ''great'' respect to him and then informs his friends with ''whom'' they traveled, party is rather shocked (and remembers glaring evidence they dismissed). Later he learns thieves' sign language, though. [[spoiler:Saurials speak in mix of sounds out of human ear's band and pheromone releases, so as long as some [[TranslatorMicrobes translation spell]] is not used they appears to be mute.]] Though nothing prevents them from learning to understand spoken Common... and ObfuscatingStupidity.

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Can be used to hide the CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass, and can be intentionally used for ObfuscatingStupidity. Compare SwitchToEnglish, WorthlessForeignDegree. SisterTrope to GracefulInTheirElement.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' fanfic ''Fanfic/ByTheSea'', both Cody and Obi-Wan sound a bit YouNoTakeCandle-ish while trying to speak the other's language. A hallmark of this Mando'a-English dialect seems to be the overuse of present participle forms of verbs, e.g. "I'm knowing", instead of "I know". They even manage some dirty talk with their limited command of the other's language. Since the first story is entirely from Obi-Wan's perspective with Cody trying to figure out English from scratch, it can be easy to forget that Cody is in fact not just well-educated, but also [[spoiler:a reigning monarch, a skilled politician, and a military commander]].

* Yuzuru Hanyu (as of this writing) can explain his skating techniques and artistic choices very eloquently in Japanese, capable of both discussion with professionals and simplification for laypeople. He's nowhere near as eloquent in English, and his struggles with the language have gone memetic in his fandom. He will ask interviewers to "just speak Japanese" if it's an option, and there's video of him looking panicked when a MC informed the audience that "Hanyu will now answer questions in English".

* Inverted in ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar''. [[{{Omniglot}} Fujiwara]] spent so much time speaking foreign languages as a child (due to her mother being a diplomat), her fluency in Japanese started to degrade from disuse. The offical fanbook even lists Japanese Language as her worst subject.

* Creator/YuzuruHanyu (as of this writing) can explain his skating techniques and artistic choices very eloquently in Japanese, capable of both discussion with professionals and simplification for laypeople. He's nowhere near as eloquent in English, and his struggles with the language have gone memetic in his fandom. He will ask interviewers to "just speak Japanese" if it's an option, and there's video of him looking panicked when a MC informed the audience that "Hanyu will now answer questions in English".