Basic Trope: A character who is perceived by others to speak only one language is actually fluent in another language.
- Straight: Bob who has only spoke English to his friends suddenly speaks Swahili when talking to Alice, a native Swahili person who isn't good at speaking English.
- Exaggerated:
- Bob is actually an Omniglot who can speak in any language whenever he talks to someone that speaks in a different language.
- Bob can understand any constructed language.
- Bob can understand alien languages.
- Downplayed: Bob can speak a few of the basic Swahili words that are enough to have a sufficient conversion with Alice.
- Justified:
- Bob has taken Swahili language classes.
- Bob has family members that speak Swahili.
- Bob is from eastern Africa himself.
- Subverted: Turns out Alice can't understand Bob and she actually speaks Afrikaans
- Double Subverted: Bob is also fluent in Afrikaans and uses it to chat with her
- Inverted: Alice, a native Swahili switches to English when talking to Bob since Bob doesn't understand her native tongue.
- Parodied:
- Averted: Bob is unable to speak in Swahili or any other language besides English.
- Defied:
- Zig-Zagged:
- Enforced: There are many people out there that can speak foreign languages.
- Lampshaded: "Wow, Bob. I never knew you can actually speak in another language"
- Discussed:
- Conversed:
- Invoked:
- Exploited: Bob uses the opportunity to have a secret conversion with her since no one else speaks Swahili.
- Played for Laughs:
- Played for Drama:
- Played for Horror:
- Implied: Bob's friends have said that Bob speaks with other people in a language they couldn't understand.
- Deconstructed:
- Reconstructed:
