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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/42672
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

> To the kids, everyone's speaking English (though they know this isn't the case).

I'm going to propose a slightly different solution. What if instead of perceiving everything as English, they can hear the actual words and syllables and recognize that they are hearing a different language, but they can still intuitively understand what is being said. This can result in a really fantastic scene where the kids discover that not only can they understand a strange language, but they can _speak_ it as well!

> "_Hello, and welcome to our town!_" said the local man. How strange, thought the children. Those words were not in English, yet they could still understand him. "_Hey, you're not speaking English, how can I under- WAIT! I can speak this language too!_"

Using this method you might want to start by mixing untranslated Canaanite with English before establishing that from this point forward, everything spoken is Canaanite, even if it is written as English on the page.

This solves your problem with regard to the Hebrew song, because when it is sung they can still hear and perceive that is being sung in Hebrew and not Canaanite, yet they can understand the words as well.

Original score: 4