History Main / HidingBehindTheLanguageBarrier

* ''{{Film/Scarface}}'': It's evident that most people at the refugee camp don't understand English since nobody reacts to Tony and Manny's conversation about getting green cards.

* Often employed for playful teasing between friends or in romantic relationships. [[Website/{{Yahoo}} Yahoo Answers]] is full of questions like "my friend/gf said/wrote something she wouldn't translate, could ''you'' please translate it?"

** In ''The Quiller Memorandum'', the Bureau has its shadow executives taught an obscure Pakistani dialect they can use to communicate with the Bureau when simple SpySpeak isn't enough. Later when Quiller has been drugged and starts babbling in that language, his interrogator notes the use of Native Americans for this trope during WW2 and assumes the Bureau got the idea from that.

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** The Literature/{{Quiller}} novels by Creator/EllestonTrevor

* In ''The Peking Target'', British spy Literature/{{Quiller}} has been captured by the Soviets, who force him to make a radio transmission giving a false report to his base. Unknown to the KGB boss, his translator is on Quiller's side. So the KGB boss tells Quiller what to say in Russian, the translator tells Quiller what the actual Soviet plan is in English, and Quiller must then transmit that information to his base in a manner that sounds plausible (if the false information contains the words Seoul or Peking, for instance, the KGB boss would be suspicious if he didn't hear those words) while inserting code words so his handler knows what information is false and what isn't. It's not for nothing that particular chapter is titled "Minefield".

Subtrope of LanguageBarrier. If this is done just to tease and intrigue Claire, it is TeasingFromBehindTheLanguageBarrier. If this is done to insult Claire without her knowing, it is InsultingFromBehindTheLanguageBarrier. If Alice and/or Bob pretend to not know Claire's language because they simply don't want to talk to her or want to eavesdrop on her, it's LanguageFluencyDenial. See also RealityHasNoSubtitles. Compare AsLongAsItSoundsForeign.

Subtrope of LanguageBarrier. If this is done just to tease and intrigue Claire, it is TeasingFromBehindTheLanguageBarrier. If this is done to insult Claire without her knowing, it is InsultingFromBehindTheLanguageBarrier. If Alice and/or Bob pretend to not know Claire's language because they simply don't want to talk to her or want to eavesdrope on her, it's LanguageFluencyDenial. See also RealityHasNoSubtitles. Compare AsLongAsItSoundsForeign.

* Creator/CharlizeTheron confesses that she and her mother like to speak in Afrikaans in public because it allows them to make snide remarks about people in their vicinity. This [[BilingualBackfire backfired]] once when the person they were talked about turned out to be an ''Afrikaaner''.

** In both World Wars, Welsh regiments of the British Army spoke Welsh in clear on radio transmissions, knowing the likelihood of a Welsh speaker turning up on the German/enemy side was vanishingly small. (On one occasion when the 3rd Battalion Welsh Guards was fighting in the [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII battle of Monte Cassino]] its positions were showered with [[AsLongAsItSoundsForeign leaflets in]] [[UsefulNotes/KiplingsFinest Urdu]][[note]]To the untrained ear, Welsh can sound kind of like an Indo-Aryan language. Not terribly like one, but if one is hazarding a guess based just on sound it's not the worst one could come up with.[[/note]] soon after its radio messages had been intercepted by Germans.) This idea was copied by the Americans, who used American Indians as signalers to similarly confound Japanese and German intercepts. Unfortunately for Welsh regiments in WW 2, Welsh was thought of by the Nazis as a dawn-language of the Aryan peoples, and a School of Celtic Studies had been set up at one German university. Once the Germans cottoned on, they had a certain number of Welsh speakers available to monitor radio transmissions... the practice was, however, maintained by Welsh units in the Far East. It is no longer used by the British army as so many countries have universities that teach Celtic languages. It did not go un-noticed that a fairly recent enemy, Argentina, actually has a Welsh-speaking minority population. And at least one university in Northern Ireland has a Celtic Studies department offering Welsh language as a module. For that reason, Welsh units serving in Ireland were strictly ordered to observe standard radio operating procedure and not to think of using the old trick, as it is just too well known.

** In UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, the Japanese used former students who had studied in the US to listen in to American radio transmissions, so Navajo soldiers were used to speak their own language, completely baffling the Japanese. Canada did the same with Cree speakers.

* ''{{Film/Scarface}}'': Tony tells Alberto in Spanish to wait until the journalist is alone so they can kill him without killing his wife and children. When Alberto refuses, Tony tells Ernie and Chi Chi "This fucking guy" since he knows Alberto doesn't understand English.

Subtrope of LanguageBarrier. If this is done just to tease and intrigue Claire, it is TeasingFromBehindTheLanguageBarrier. If Alice and/or Bob pretend to not know Claire's language because they simply don't want to talk to her, it's LanguageFluencyDenial. See also RealityHasNoSubtitles. Compare AsLongAsItSoundsForeign.

* ''Film/ChinaSeas'': The Malay pirates don't speak English. So, while smiling cheerfully and acting like he's trying to talk to the Malay chief, Gaskell actually yells to Davids the location of the bombs that they will use to counterattack the pirates.

* ''Series/Warrior2019''The Chinese talk to each other in English, but talk in subtitled Chinese whenever white people are around

* In ''Fanfic/HowToSurviveInMiddleEarthWhenYoureATeenagedGirl'', for a moment in book 1, chapter 13, Priscilla speaks English to prove that she is a foreigner. The characters of ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' have no knowledge of English.

* Subverted in the ''WesternAnimation/SofiaTheFirst'' PilotMovie. Sofia and Amber are the only two people in the castle unaffected by a sleeping spell [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain Cedric]] cast, including Cedric himself. They search Cedric's lab for the counterspell and Cedric' evil [[CreepCrows crow]] familiar Wormwood gloats to himself that they have no idea it's hidden in the desk. Sofia, whose amulet allows her to [[SpeaksFluentAnimal Speak Fluent Animal]], cheerfully replies "thanks" and retrieves it.

* In UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, the Japanese used former students who had studied in the US to listen in to American radio transmissions, so Navajo soldiers were used to speak their own language, completely baffling the Japanese. Canada did the same with Cree speakers.

* In both world wars, Welsh regiments of the British Army spoke Welsh in clear on radio transmissions, knowing the likelihood of a Welsh speaker turning up on the German/enemy side was vanishingly small. (On one occasion when the 3rd Battalion Welsh Guards was fighting in the [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII battle of Monte Cassino]] its positions were showered with [[AsLongAsItSoundsForeign leaflets in]] [[UsefulNotes/KiplingsFinest Urdu]][[note]]To the untrained ear, Welsh can sound kind of like an Indo-Aryan language. Not terribly like one, but if one is hazarding a guess based just on sound it's not the worst one could come up with.[[/note]] soon after its radio messages had been intercepted by Germans.) This idea was copied by the Americans, who used American Indians as signalers to similarly confound Japanese and German intercepts. Unfortunately for Welsh regiments in WW 2, Welsh was thought of by the Nazis as a dawn-language of the Aryan peoples, and a School of Celtic Studies had been set up at one German university. Once the Germans cottoned on, they had a certain number of Welsh speakers available to monitor radio transmissions... the practice was, however, maintained by Welsh units in the Far East. It is no longer used by the British army as so many countries have universities that teach Celtic languages. It did not go un-noticed that a fairly recent enemy, Argentina, actually has a Welsh-speaking minority population. And at least one university in Northern Ireland has a Celtic Studies department offering Welsh language as a module. For that reason, Welsh units serving in Ireland were strictly ordered to observe standard radio operating procedure and not to think of using the old trick, as it is just too well known.
* Similar to the above Welsh example was Irish during the early years of the Congo Crisis. Irish peacekeepers deployed in the 1960s would radio secure communications in Irish so as to provide an extra layer of security towards whoever was monitoring, whether Belgian, American or Congolese.
* Another example is Wenzhou dialect during a few wars in China. Wenzhou dialect is one of the most difficult dialects among the [[UsefulNotes/ChineseLanguage chinese languages]], making it suitable to be used as a code.

* Creator/CharlizeTheron confesses that she and her mother like to speak in Afrikaans in public because it allows them to make snide remarks about people in their vicinity. This backfired once when the person they were talked about turned out to be an ''Afrikaaner''.
* In UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, the Germans began looting art from German-occupied France. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_Valland Rose Valland]], a French woman who was the overseer of the Jeu de Paume Museum, where the looted art was being stored, faked being unable to understand German. For four years, she secretly recorded where 20,000 French and Jewish art pieces were being sent.

* As with the British and the American examples above, during UsefulNotes/WorldWarI the Italians would use Sardinians as code talkers and even couriers, as at the time many Sardinians didn't even ''speak'' Italian (though they could understand it) and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sardinian_language their native language]] being different enough from the other languages spoken in Italy (that are close enough to standard Italian to be relatively easy to understand) that the speakers of Italian and Venetian in the Austro-Hungarian ranks wouldn't be able to understand either the radio messages or the couriers. While UsefulNotes/FascistItaly's ultranationalist prevented it from reusing the trick during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, Italian [=POWs=] would use Sardinians, and even learn the language, to communicate without the guards understanding them.

* Subverted in the ''WesternAnimation/SofiaTheFirst'' PilotMovie, Sofi and Amber are the only two people in the castle unaffected by a sleeping spell [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain Cedric]] cast, including Cedric himself. They search Cedric's lab for the counterspell and Cedric' evil [[CreepCrows crow]] familiar Wormwood gloats to himself that they have no idea it's hidden in the desk. Sofia, whose amulet allows her to [[SpeaksFluentAnimal Speak Fluent Animal]], cheerfully replies "thanks" and retrieves it.

* Subverted in the ''WesternAnimation/SofiaTheFirst'' PilotMovie, Sofi and Amber are the only two people in the castle unaffected by a sleeping spell [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain Cedric]] cast, including Cedric himself. They search Cedric's lab for the counterspell and Cedric' evil [[CreepCrow crow]] familiar Wormwood gloats to himself that they have no idea it's hidden in the desk. Sofia, whose amulet allows her to [[SpeaksFluentAnimal Speak Fluent Animal]], cheerfully replies "thanks" and retrieves it.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "The Real Housewives of Fat Tony", Fat Tony marries Selma. He tricks her, though, because she doesn't speak Italian and the wedding is officiated in Italian. Selma was asked to be Tony's mistress, not his wife.[[/folder]]

* ''Fanfic/Lokid'': Hiccup, much to the annoyance of most of SHIELD including Fury, has all his notes written in his native dialect of Norse. On top of that, Hiccup tought Tony Stark Norse so they can have private conversations in front of others.

* ''Series/{{CSINY}}'': When chasing a perp to Greece in "Grounds for Deception," Stella and Mac don't let on to the local officials that she knows Greek. She occasionally does the BilingualBackfire thing to suspects in NY as well.