Notes on the bilingual

• If you surprise the bilingual with your ability, they might laugh at you. This can be an aversive experience.

  we're talking about English here. the global lingua franca. Nobody wants to know shit about your efforts to learn anything else.

• If they don't believe that you can understand what they say, then they're less likely to speak naturally.

• If English is your second language, and the only other language you've attempted, you will tend to believe that it is the easiest.

• If a bilingual speaker is not saying anything during conversation in a language you're learning, they're probably waiting to help you — in English. Or, the worst, to ask you "do you understand this?" Assholes.