Just no habla too much on the denwa...you might get away with it.

Promptly getting embarrased when the truth comes out...

this could backfire big time. with my luck it would at least. I can see it. try the few lines a person knows in a language and it ends up the person you are tlaking to can speak that language fluently. than exit as quick as you can.

Well, some people genuinely are, others are lying and exaggerating. Having taken Japanese in college, I can tell the difference between a native Japanese speaker and a doofus that took it at college and thinks they're a genius. I'm not even fluent either, and I guess it's not hard if you know what I mean. I think if the person brags about it, they're most likely pretending...some people love to highlight it on their websites and so on...watch out for them.

a couple i know were attending their 5 year old son's first parent-teachers conference. the teacher could do nothing but praise him. she was so grateful to have him in her class because this was the first time she had a couple spanish speaking students and their son had been helping translate for her. my friends looked at each other in shock, embarrassment and amusement. their son could not speak or understand spanish. those poor children were probably asking to use the restroom and louie was telling the teacher they were asking for a pencil.

Depends. I'm not fluent, but I can get by in another language. . .when I was struggling with a native speaker at a party, some insecure ass tried to bulldoze me by loudly asking "do you think you're smarter than us?" I simply said "Yup" and kept practing with the object of my conversation. . .

I think this one definately belongs on the "How to Make People Think You're a Complete Idiot" list.

You had better hope no one asks you to translate anything.

Like pig Latin???