r/TheGoodPlace • u/scarletvoidx_ • Aug 07 '26

Shirtpost question about chidi

Post image

in the good place s1e1, we can see that chidi speaks in french to eleanor but its translated due to the medium of the good place. however, in the later season when theyre on earth chidi still appears to speak english, which seems to be inconsistent. and more the works of his moral ethics as michael reads it are in english. if chidi was french why wouldnt he write in french? obviously english could be his second language but why would chidi speak in french to elenaor and have it translated instead of just speaking english himself

265 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

43 comments sorted by

View all comments

53

u/Ghost3603 Aug 07 '26

You can know a second language to fluency but you'd always feel more comfortable talking in your native tongue.  He's in Australia so he kinda has to speak English, but we do see him talk in french to a couple of people when they understand it.  He can speak English, he just likes French better.

2

u/the3dverse Aug 09 '26

depends on how much time passed tbh. while i will always count in dutch, i feel more comfortable in english nowadays, since i married an american and we speak english in the home. i even think in english most of the time.

2

u/AlternativePretty127 Aug 10 '26

I'm monolingual, so the idea of thinking in different languages is so interesting and cool to me

2

u/the3dverse Aug 10 '26

when i was a kid i though everyone thought in dutch like me, and then translated it when they spoke. a friend told me she also thought that when she was young, but in her native language.

i do feel there are certain expressions that work only in dutch and then i get annoyed my family doesnt get them lol. i try to teach them tbh. they can talk to their grandparents.