Dear Prudence,
When does knowing another language you don’t look like you “should” know count as eavesdropping, if ever? I am white with blonde hair and blue eyes, but thanks to Spanish classes while growing up, I still can understand it perfectly (though I can’t speak it well anymore due to lack of practice). I recently had a situation where I was in an elevator with my kids with a couple who were speaking Spanish, and they started talking about my kids. It was positive, basically just talking about how cute they looked dressed up (we were going to take Christmas card pictures), but I still felt uncomfortable—like I was eavesdropping since they seemed to think we couldn’t understand them. Should I have said something to the effect of, “I can understand you”? That also feels complicated since I can’t say it very well in Spanish. Should I just pretend like I can’t? Which is what I did but I didn’t feel great about it.
—Probably Overthinking This