History Main / LanguageFluencyDenial

* In [[ComicBook/LuckyLuke]],One Indian that ambushed a convoy is pretending to not understand English, Luke spots him when the [[SirSwearsALot stagecoach]] interrogates them and the Indian is blushing.

* On an episode of ''Series/TheWire, done to Lester Freamon and Bunk Moreland during the TerribleIntervieweesMontage by members of a ship's crew, at least until Lester and Bunk call them out on it (though they still deny it):

-> ''Cecil: "I thought you didn't speak English?"''
-> ''Truck driver: "Not to drunken gringos, no."''

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E14ScenesFromTheClassStruggleInSpringfield Scenes from the Class Struggle in Springfield]]", Marge meets a now-wealthy old friend of at the Kwik-E-Mart. When the woman tried to get Apu to pump her gas [[RichInDollarsPoorInSense despite it being a self-service station]], Apu pretended to not speak English even though she just heard him talking to Marge seconds earlier.

* Spoofed in ''Film/{{Sahara}}'' when [[Literature/DirkPittAdventures Dirk Pitt]] and friends are waylaid by Malian troops. (Dirk's just buying time.)

--> ''Translation: No, I don't speak French. I have had a small gadget installed in my head and I see subtitles under people when they speak.''

* Spoofed in Film/BonCopBadCop, as with ''so very many'' language tropes. When Ontario Provincial detective Martin Ward reveals in front of a room full of ''Sureté du Québec'' detectives that he actually ''is'' fluent in french (and thus massively owning the Quebecois cops, who all think they've been HidingBehindTheLanguageBarrier the entire time they've been mocking him in French), he plays this trope:

* Spoofed in Film/BonCopBadCop, as with ''so very many'' language tropes. When Ontario Provincial detective Martin Ward reveals in front of a room full of ''Sureté du Québec'' detectives that he actually has been HidingBehindTheLanguageBarrier the entire time they've been mocking him in French, he plays this trope:

A subtrope of LanguageBarrier. Compare to HidingBehindTheLanguageBarrier, when one person really ''doesn't'' speak the language and is deliberately cut out of the conversation as a result.

* Vladimir from ''Shounen Note'' can speak Japanese fluently, as [[ButNotTooForeign his grandmother was Japanese]], but pretends not to speak much for kicks.

* Comedian Creator/JasperCarrott played a practical joke on British holidaymakers in Spain by pretending to be an incompetent Spanish waiter who understood no English, bodged orders, spilled drinks and generally exasperated people. Hidden cameras would catch the action as the holidaymakers got progressively more annoyed. However, one clued-up ButtMonkey saw through the set-up the very first time Carrott replied with a suspicious ''[[FawltyTowers ¿Que?]]''

!Examples:

** PlayedForDrama much later. After [[spoiler:Misha's death]] Shizune goes into a HeroicBSOD and won't leave her room. Later when Hisao confronts her she reveals [[spoiler:she's been able to [[LipReading read lips]] the entire time they've known each other, but she hides it from everyone]].

* Used twice in the [[WhatCouldHaveBeen beta version]] of ''VisualNovel/KatawaShoujo'', both in reference to Shizune (who is deaf):

** PlayedToDrama much later. After [[spoiler:Misha's death]] Shizune goes into a HeroicBSOD and won't leave her room. Later when Hisao confronts her she reveals [[spoiler:she's been able to [[LipReading read lips]] the entire time they've known each other, but she hides it from everyone]].

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* In ''Franchise/AceAttorney'', a witness (Olga Orly) tried to avoid testifying by claiming she can't speak English. The judge pointed out to her that she'd been speaking English fluently seconds ago.

* Michael Palin's post-Python TV series ''Series/RippingYarns'' had an episode called "The Testing of Eric Olthwaite". Eric is possibly the most boring little tit in Yorkshire and has two interests: shovels and rainfall. He notes that his own father would pretend to be French so as not to have to speak to him.

* Sammy Sosa's English comprehension skills got significantly worse during the Congressional hearings on steroid use in Major League Baseball following the publication of the Mitchell Report.

* In ''Series/{{Friends}}'', while Monica was working at Alessandro's, one of the chefs told her, "I don't speak English" when asked to do something. When Monica tells her that she knows she does, because she heard her speaking English just a minute ago, the chef replies, "Well, I don't know what to tell you", and walks off.