On Luis Fonsi’s “Despacito” remix, Justin Bieber may sound proficient in Spanish — or at the absolute least, as if he studied the language for a couple of years in high school — but a number of recent live performances show that’s not the case. In fact, the vocalist of “What Do You Mean?” had trouble recalling the Spanish words he delivered on the studio version of the song.

‘Despacito’ was first released in January as a reggaeton-pop hit by Puerto Rican singers Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee, and was then remixed with Bieber’s vocals.

On Tuesday, Bieber was spotted at 1OAK Nightclub in New York City, and he doesn’t know what to do when the “Despacito” chorus starts playing. When listeners heard the singer singing in Spanish on the album, they were taken aback, but it appears that he was just interested in shouting “blah blah blah” rather than attempting to imitate his role in the song.

Fortunately for Bieber, the crowd at the club didn’t appear to mind that he reads Spanish better than memorizes it.

TMZ posted the footage, titled ‘Justin Bieber no hablo espaol.’

He gets a little more creative the next night at a show: “I don’t know the words so I say ‘pocito,’” he seems to say, referencing the Spanish word for “little.” “I don’t know the words so I say, ‘Dorito,’” he continues. He also jokingly replaces some lyrics with “burrito,” affirming that Bieber should not venture into a career in stand-up comedy — or a career in Spanish-language music, for that matter.

It’s a pity Bieber didn’t know the Spanish lyrics since they’re really very funny/intense, especially the chorus, which roughly translates to: “I wanna breathe your neck slowly/Let me whisper things into your ear/So that you remember if you’re not with me/

Slowly, I wanna strip you off with kisses slowly/Sign the walls of your labyrinth/And make your whole body a manuscript/Turn it up.”

It’s not just rude, but also somewhat racist, to treat someone else’s language as a throwaway toy to be scoffed at, and it’s a bad look to show utter indifference in knowing the lyrics to a song you’re extensively featured on.

It was a brilliant decision for Bieber to jump on Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s hit — by the time the Bieber-featuring remix dropped in April, the original song had already topped charts in 13 countries and had nearly a billion views on YouTube, and the Bieber version now looks like the front-runner for Song of Summer — but it’s undeniably new territory for Bieber. Prior to “Despacito,” Bieber got the closest to the Spanish language when J Balvin produced a Latino remix of “Sorry,” and again in 2012, when Bieber proudly spoke some basic words at a press conference in Mexico: