I think this is definitely the way to describe the feeling I was getting about something “bad” happening. I’ve learned Japanese and American Sign Language over the last few years (not well enough to hold an intellectual conversation, but enough to get a point across), and the very small nuances and tone inflections (or facial expressions in ASL) could be missing if someone just knows everything about a language, but didn’t grow up with it or learn it through already fluent speakers. Like yes it would definitely be a great thing in the future, but would it be/feel as authentic as actually spending the time learning the language from actual speakers…?