Woman’s Family Keeps Responding To Her BF In A Language That He Doesn’t Understand, He Leaves Dinner
Interview With Expert
It would seem to be obvious that you should communicate in a language that everyone can understand if you are interacting socially with someone who is foreign-born or who doesn’t speak the same language as you. It’s not only basic manners and respect but also, you show that you want that person to feel welcome.
However, it looks like it’s not obvious for everybody. One Reddit user shared his story online after he stormed off from dinner with his girlfriend’s family as they kept speaking in a language that he doesn’t understand.
More info: Reddit
Refusing to switch to a language that everybody would understand because you hate to speak it – well, it’s extremely impolite
Image credits: fauxels (not the actual photo)
This man shares that he and his girlfriend are from different regions of Spain and she speaks Catalan, which he doesn’t; however, in Spain, everybody speaks Castilian Spanish
Image credits: Eder Pozo Pérez (not the actual photo)
One day his girlfriend invited him over to her parents’ house, where they greeted him in Catalan and he answered in Castilian, informing them that he doesn’t speak Catalan
Image credits: Engin Akyurt (not the actual photo)
The man noted that as they ate dinner, they made some conversation in Castilian, but the GF’s family would often switch to Catalan despite his reminders that he doesn’t understand
Image credits: Puzzleheaded-Owl4052
However, after a few more instances, the man had had enough and decided to leave, causing a lot of drama and exchanging swears
A few days ago, a Reddit user shared his story online asking community members if he was being a jerk for leaving dinner with his girlfriend’s family because they kept speaking a language that he didn’t understand, despite his reminders. The post caught a lot of attention and collected over 8.3K upvotes and 2.7K comments.
The original poster (OP) starts his story by giving a little background, sharing that he’s from a region in Spain that speaks a language similar to Portuguese while his girlfriend is from Barcelona and speaks Catalan. He noted that everyone in Spanish speaks Castilian, at least the basics. Now, his girlfriend invited him over to her parents’ home, where they greeted him in Catalan and he informed them that he doesn’t speak it.
They ate dinner, his GF’s sisters and their husbands were there, and everybody was discussing things in Castilian, but they would still often switch to say something between each other in Catalan, despite the man’s polite reminders that he didn’t understand. After a while, since the situation didn’t change, OP had had enough and announced that he was leaving as he didn’t feel welcome.
This caused a lot of drama, with the girlfriend’s father complaining that they prepared a big meal and the man complaining that they didn’t even respect him enough to speak in a common language that everybody understood.
Community members backed the man up in this situation and gave him the ‘Not the A-hole’ badge. “NTA. it’s disrespectful to speak in a different language in front of the guest. they should know better,” one user shared. “I was going to go with E S H, until you said explicitly that you would ask a question and they would respond to you in Catalan. It would be different if you were just upset they were having side conversations in Catalan without you,” another added.
Image credits: Kampus Production (not the actual photo)
“There’s a HUGE difference between being in a family situation where the other party DOES speak a common language yet refuses to speak it versus DOES NOT,” shared Diane, the creator of Oui In France, an American expat from New Jersey who’s living now in a region in the West of France with her French husband, in an interview with Bored Panda.
“It’s incredibly important to be aware of the dominant language in a given social setting and do our best to accommodate all parties whenever possible,” she pointed out. “If there’s no common language, someone is going to have to act as a translator.” She added that making sure everyone is at ease and assigning multiple persons to serve as translators so that the burden isn’t placed entirely on one person at a time is the kind thing to do. However, that isn’t always feasible.
Speaking about the emotional impact of feeling isolated from conversations due to language barriers, Diane emphasized that it’s easy to get angry or shut down, especially when no one seems to be translating to you, but maybe even more so if there’s a common language but people aren’t speaking it.
So if you are navigating similar challenges with language proficiency, Diane noted that it’s really important for the language expectations to be communicated ahead of time whenever possible. “I think it’s important as well for the person who doesn’t speak the language to accept that they aren’t going to be able to communicate like they do in their native tongue and they may miss parts of the conversation or not be able to express themselves. It’s part of the process so don’t get upset about it.”
Finally, Diane pointed to a post she wrote sharing tips on when the foreign in-laws meet each other that would have been useful for the characters of this story as well. “Make sure mealtimes aren’t overly dominant in one language and that someone is always jumping in to always translate. This is important because no one wants to feel left out, but at the same time, no one wants to feel like they’re a burden either and constantly asking what is being said.”
“It’s our responsibility to make sure the parents are always involved and are a part of the conversation, on both sides. So someone needs to jump in, always, and provide a quick explanation of commentary, jokes, and everything else. It’s the polite thing to do and goes a long way toward the overall harmony of the meal.”
So what do you guys think about this situation? Did the man overreact, or should his girlfriend have stepped in and said something? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Redditors discussed that it was rude, especially as they know the common language and just refuse to speak it
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My ex is Russian, but came to the states as a teen. He's quite fluent. His mom is fluent -ish? Her boyfriend was Turkish, and accent aside quite fluent in English. He spoke no Russian, and I speak very little. We'd all have breakfast together most days. Mom did not like me. Despite a common language, she'd mostly just speak to her son in Russian. Her boyfriend had the perfect comeback... "Once, I was in a car for business. The two other men were Romanian. They spoke Turkish, but would have conversations in Romanian that I could not understand. I told them that I was okay with people talking behind my back, but it had never been done in front of my face before. That is how Lee feels, right now. You are being rude, and I understand if she wants to leave." I had already loved the man, but that just made my heart swell. OP didn't need to curse, but I completely get it.
I have lived this exact situation for the last ten years. It's complicated. My in-laws speak Valenciano by default. I know it's hard for them to switch to Spanish as this is not the language they speak at home. However, it's the reason why after ten years I still don't have a relationship with them. I've never thrown a fit over it, but I no longer visit them if I can avoid it because they will never make an effort to speak Spanish when I'm around.
we must take into account that his native language is Galician. He simply asks to use a common language in which both can understand each other. What he is asking for is what a German and a Portuguese would do if they did not know each other's language but both spoke English. Another issue is the bad manners of the possible future in-laws who use a language that he does not know between them when he is in front of them. It reminds me of other Bored Panda threads in which people switch to their native language to insult their interlocutor without him knowing it.
We must take into account that, independently the region, they all talk spanish. Another thing is not wanting to.
Load More Replies... He should have put a big smile on his face and responded back in Castilian the entire meal. Don't even respond to what they're saying, since you can't understand it anyway. When they ask you a question, just talk about the weather, or your favorite sports team, with a big, goofy grin. Then, after you've gotten home, dump your girlfriend. She apparently doesn't give one flying f***. He blew it by losing his cool.
There are some Spanish politics there that are relevant to the story, and I’m not sure that asking for the opinions of people on a predominantly American website is useful.
Spanish politics or not, you don't treat guests to your house that way. It's just rude, whichever nationality you are or affiliation you have, I don't care. Rude behaviour is rude behaviour and any discussion about politics is just a way to make excuses for your poor behaviour.
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I think if there is a common tongue amongst a group of peers, you are to speak that. If we are in a group of multi linguals, when you intentionally switch to another language only understood by some, you are indeed intentionally excluding somebody you know doesn't understand. It's different to ask for a translation in the non-common-language, and it's not always offensive to speak amongst yourselves, but the best course of action here would be to determine which language we're speaking at the table. Each party was refusing to budge and each were "surprised" at each other's blatant refusal to compromise for the conversation. At that point, it's becoming Catalan VS Castilian, and we probably should have switched to English or literally any other language to keep the peace.
In Malaysia, i found that a conversation would cycle from Malay to Chinese to English to Malay to Chinese to English etc., often in one sentence. You quickly learned a bit of all of those! But, if someone was obviously struggling, people would try to focus on the language they could understand. (To add to it all, the conversation would often finish with 'ciao'!)
Just to put this into perspective. English: "This is a text example." Catalan: "Aquest és un exemple de text." Spanish: "Este es un ejemplo de texto." Those two languages are extremely similar, and it's not that difficult for a native Spanish speaker to understand the meaning of what is said. They wouldn't be able to talk badly about him and it's more like a heavy dialect than a completely different language. I'm German. In Swiss, they don't speak plain German. They can, but they have their own German version called swiss German. Here an example of the same sentence. German: "Dies ist ein Textbeispiel." Swiss German: "Das isch e Textbiispiel." You bet that Germans and Swiss people understand each other if they care enough. This guy is an AH and she dodged a bullet.
And just to clarify what a European means when talking about dialect: English: 'this is an example for the difference between German dialects: German: "Das ist ein Beispiel für den Unterschied zwischen deutschen Dialekten." Bavarian dialect: "Des is a Beispiel fürn Unterschied zwischen deitschen Dialektn." Hessian dialect: "Des is en Beispiel fer den Unnerschied zwische deitsche Dialektn." Plattdütsch (Low German): "Dit is en Beispiel för den Untersched twüschen düttsche Dialekten." That guy is definitely a snob. His behaviour is inexcusably rude and in no matter at the same level as her relatives. His expletives are absolutely uncalled for.
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Interesting thing... people who can't tell a dialect from a language think he is exaggerating. Took me like 5 seconds to use google. If the family couldn't speak his language, things would be different, of course. But they just don't WANT to because they're lacking respect. So in this case, they are the a******s. Case closed.
He told his gf family to go f*** themselves? Wow.. how old is OP, 15?
The family was very rude, but OP will not have to be concerned for long - he no longer has a girlfriend. Two rudes equal a breakup.
I lived this, but the French/English version. I did my best to learn French but I was always told by my husband's family that no one could understand me with my foreign accent. Yet, no other French has had difficulty understanding me when I speak French. I'm now divorced, and good riddence!
I'm a Spaniard living in Catalonia. I can attest what this guy says it's true. A shop: ask a question in Spanish, be answered in Catalán. I swear they prefer to lose business rather than speaking the language of the colonialists, as they call us. In Barcelona l switch to English by default and they treat me far better. My friends are all expats or children of the first wave of immigration. We tend to mingle among ourselves and leave the arian catalans to enjoy their sense of genetic and cultural superiority. It's very possible to coexist without bonding with them, and it generally doesn't go any further than awkward interactions. But if OP is planning to enter a Catalan family l should warn him that he'll never be "one of them" regardless of how long he lives there or how well he speaks Catalan.
Ugh. Multi-language families (and relationships) are definitely hard work. I come from a multi-ethnic family. We are indigenous ethnic minority (Just to emphasize that we are not in any shape, way or form immigrants in the country we are living in. We are just simply not part of the ethnic majority.), but there are a couple of ethnic majority spouses in the family. When 99% of the time you are using X language because you belong to X ethnicity, then it becomes really hard to speak in Y, just because there's one person belonging to Y group. It's completely different from a Zoom meeting where everyone is using a common language. It's also so bloody difficult with the older generation. When I used to live abroad, I couldn't for the life of me make my mother understand, that if I am not alone, then it is going to be considered rude of me to speak in a language no one understands and I can't always step out, just because she's in the mood for a call.
My friend from Galicia explicitly told me about the various dialects when I started to learn Spanish and *****that they are not an issue for a Spanish speaker**** It might get a bit hairy, but it's not as if you don't understand the other at all. And yeah, the comment about how "nationalistic" the Catalonians are didn't sit right with me either. Truth is, Catalonia strives for independence. So does Scotland, and we get the same people online claiming that they were insulted in Edinburgh when they "disclosed" they were from England - while Edinburgh is to a great part English or foreign. Nah, I call b******t on this one.
I've lived in Catalonia for eight years now and counting. What the guy says happens on a daily basis, so most of us just mingle among non catalans or more accurately amongst non "pure" catalans (first generation catalans are usually welcoming and kind) My experience of eight years outweighs your gut feeling, sorry to tell you.
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This all sounds fake. Ragebait as others have said. I am English, but speak reasonable Spanish. Damn good for an Englishman, but nowhere near fluent. I have never had a problem with anyone in Catalunya or Valencia when I spoke Spanish. I can also understand some Portuguese (even conversing with them) from knowing Spanish and that the Portuguese S is pronounced SH. I can also read some Catalan because of my Spanish (though I find the accent hard when people speak to me in it). In my experience / opinion, Catalan is something like like 70% Spanish, 20% French and 10% something different, so I would assume most Spaniards can understand a moderate amount of Catalan. Unless they choose not to - my ex-MIL was Spanish, from Asturias, married to a Galician, yet absolutely refused to understand any Portuguese when we visited there. I translated for her by just changing the SH should to S, without knowing what I was saying. She then understood and replied. Sometimes ignorance is a choice
Honestly. If he actually said what he claims too, to them. Bravo! Thats exactly the kind of slap in the face lay it on thr table reply those hateful, low class, disgusting bigots deserve. Maybe simply walking out would have been fun in its own way. Or only responding in a language they dont understand. In the end though that family if human garbage showed their colors and maybe best to sever ties and move on. Hard to say if GF deserves a reply or not. She might be genuinely upset but cant stand up to her parents.
Get out now. It will never get better. They will always keep you as an outsider.
Spanish is my second learned language and I'm from America, not Spain. I find Portuguese much easier to follow along to than Catalan. So idk about that yta comment, maybe some Spaniards find it easier? Anyway I think esh in this case. The family was rude and he was an a*s in his response
This guy is full of it, the languages are so similar that there is no way that he couldn't understand what was being said. This is all about nationalistic pride. I can safely say that the woman is now is ex-girlfriend.
The languages are "similar" up to a point. You can understand a written text in general, at least get the general idea, but it's difficult to understand a conversation because of the accent, the pronunciation, the regional vocab and the speed. All Spanish people can speak Spanish. Even the Spanish Constitution states that every Spanish person has the obligation to know how to speak it and the right to speak it. When there's a"foreigner", speaking a language that person doesn't understand when you have a common language is extremely rude. These are the same people who claim the rest of us hate them and discriminate against them. I do hope they get their independence soon and f**k off.
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Seems to me like the OP was just being an entitled baby. He is in someone else's home, and he understands 1/2 - 2/3's of their language, and is all butthurt because they are not catering to him and only speaking his language? YTA dude. I only speak English, but if I had a girlfriend whose family spoke both Spanish and English but were native Spanish speakers, I don't feel like I would be offended if I went to a big family dinner at her house and her whole family didn't cater to me and speak only English the whole time. In fact, I feel like it would be rude and ridiculous to expect that. OP needs to get over himself and go with the flow, instead of feeling that the whole affair revolved around him. That's my take anyway.
Perhaps the only TA are the people who speak without having a clue... Spanish and Catalonian are two different LANGUAGES. In a meeting, if everybody has a common language, it's polite to use it instead of your regional language. Obviously, you can speak the language you prefer, but you can't complain if people who don't speak it feel excluded and angry.
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Oh please. I was there. 90% of the electoral census? Sure, considering people voted up to three times. Out of 1000 injured, 700 were nervous breakdown. Oppressed? The language of the administration and schools is Catalan, and has been for the last 40 years. Trying to spread misinformation where you can be easily shut down is not very smart
Load More Replies... It's NOT a dialect. It's a language, with its own history and development, not a dialect of Spanish. Both, together with French, Italian, Romanian and others, are Romance languages, but each of them is an independent language. If you appreciate your life, never repeat that in front of a Catalonian person! Please, read a little and get a little culture before speaking about a topic you clearly know nothing about.
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My husband is American and I am Welsh; when differences in our language use comes up it is fun and interesting. We talk about it. He’s absorbed several british and welshisms and it’s very cute.
Load More Replies... My ex is Russian, but came to the states as a teen. He's quite fluent. His mom is fluent -ish? Her boyfriend was Turkish, and accent aside quite fluent in English. He spoke no Russian, and I speak very little. We'd all have breakfast together most days. Mom did not like me. Despite a common language, she'd mostly just speak to her son in Russian. Her boyfriend had the perfect comeback... "Once, I was in a car for business. The two other men were Romanian. They spoke Turkish, but would have conversations in Romanian that I could not understand. I told them that I was okay with people talking behind my back, but it had never been done in front of my face before. That is how Lee feels, right now. You are being rude, and I understand if she wants to leave." I had already loved the man, but that just made my heart swell. OP didn't need to curse, but I completely get it.
I have lived this exact situation for the last ten years. It's complicated. My in-laws speak Valenciano by default. I know it's hard for them to switch to Spanish as this is not the language they speak at home. However, it's the reason why after ten years I still don't have a relationship with them. I've never thrown a fit over it, but I no longer visit them if I can avoid it because they will never make an effort to speak Spanish when I'm around.
we must take into account that his native language is Galician. He simply asks to use a common language in which both can understand each other. What he is asking for is what a German and a Portuguese would do if they did not know each other's language but both spoke English. Another issue is the bad manners of the possible future in-laws who use a language that he does not know between them when he is in front of them. It reminds me of other Bored Panda threads in which people switch to their native language to insult their interlocutor without him knowing it.
We must take into account that, independently the region, they all talk spanish. Another thing is not wanting to.
Load More Replies... He should have put a big smile on his face and responded back in Castilian the entire meal. Don't even respond to what they're saying, since you can't understand it anyway. When they ask you a question, just talk about the weather, or your favorite sports team, with a big, goofy grin. Then, after you've gotten home, dump your girlfriend. She apparently doesn't give one flying f***. He blew it by losing his cool.
There are some Spanish politics there that are relevant to the story, and I’m not sure that asking for the opinions of people on a predominantly American website is useful.
Spanish politics or not, you don't treat guests to your house that way. It's just rude, whichever nationality you are or affiliation you have, I don't care. Rude behaviour is rude behaviour and any discussion about politics is just a way to make excuses for your poor behaviour.
Load More Replies... I think if there is a common tongue amongst a group of peers, you are to speak that. If we are in a group of multi linguals, when you intentionally switch to another language only understood by some, you are indeed intentionally excluding somebody you know doesn't understand. It's different to ask for a translation in the non-common-language, and it's not always offensive to speak amongst yourselves, but the best course of action here would be to determine which language we're speaking at the table. Each party was refusing to budge and each were "surprised" at each other's blatant refusal to compromise for the conversation. At that point, it's becoming Catalan VS Castilian, and we probably should have switched to English or literally any other language to keep the peace.
In Malaysia, i found that a conversation would cycle from Malay to Chinese to English to Malay to Chinese to English etc., often in one sentence. You quickly learned a bit of all of those! But, if someone was obviously struggling, people would try to focus on the language they could understand. (To add to it all, the conversation would often finish with 'ciao'!)
Just to put this into perspective. English: "This is a text example." Catalan: "Aquest és un exemple de text." Spanish: "Este es un ejemplo de texto." Those two languages are extremely similar, and it's not that difficult for a native Spanish speaker to understand the meaning of what is said. They wouldn't be able to talk badly about him and it's more like a heavy dialect than a completely different language. I'm German. In Swiss, they don't speak plain German. They can, but they have their own German version called swiss German. Here an example of the same sentence. German: "Dies ist ein Textbeispiel." Swiss German: "Das isch e Textbiispiel." You bet that Germans and Swiss people understand each other if they care enough. This guy is an AH and she dodged a bullet.
And just to clarify what a European means when talking about dialect: English: 'this is an example for the difference between German dialects: German: "Das ist ein Beispiel für den Unterschied zwischen deutschen Dialekten." Bavarian dialect: "Des is a Beispiel fürn Unterschied zwischen deitschen Dialektn." Hessian dialect: "Des is en Beispiel fer den Unnerschied zwische deitsche Dialektn." Plattdütsch (Low German): "Dit is en Beispiel för den Untersched twüschen düttsche Dialekten." That guy is definitely a snob. His behaviour is inexcusably rude and in no matter at the same level as her relatives. His expletives are absolutely uncalled for.
Load More Replies... Interesting thing... people who can't tell a dialect from a language think he is exaggerating. Took me like 5 seconds to use google. If the family couldn't speak his language, things would be different, of course. But they just don't WANT to because they're lacking respect. So in this case, they are the a******s. Case closed.
He told his gf family to go f*** themselves? Wow.. how old is OP, 15?
The family was very rude, but OP will not have to be concerned for long - he no longer has a girlfriend. Two rudes equal a breakup.
I lived this, but the French/English version. I did my best to learn French but I was always told by my husband's family that no one could understand me with my foreign accent. Yet, no other French has had difficulty understanding me when I speak French. I'm now divorced, and good riddence!
I'm a Spaniard living in Catalonia. I can attest what this guy says it's true. A shop: ask a question in Spanish, be answered in Catalán. I swear they prefer to lose business rather than speaking the language of the colonialists, as they call us. In Barcelona l switch to English by default and they treat me far better. My friends are all expats or children of the first wave of immigration. We tend to mingle among ourselves and leave the arian catalans to enjoy their sense of genetic and cultural superiority. It's very possible to coexist without bonding with them, and it generally doesn't go any further than awkward interactions. But if OP is planning to enter a Catalan family l should warn him that he'll never be "one of them" regardless of how long he lives there or how well he speaks Catalan.
Ugh. Multi-language families (and relationships) are definitely hard work. I come from a multi-ethnic family. We are indigenous ethnic minority (Just to emphasize that we are not in any shape, way or form immigrants in the country we are living in. We are just simply not part of the ethnic majority.), but there are a couple of ethnic majority spouses in the family. When 99% of the time you are using X language because you belong to X ethnicity, then it becomes really hard to speak in Y, just because there's one person belonging to Y group. It's completely different from a Zoom meeting where everyone is using a common language. It's also so bloody difficult with the older generation. When I used to live abroad, I couldn't for the life of me make my mother understand, that if I am not alone, then it is going to be considered rude of me to speak in a language no one understands and I can't always step out, just because she's in the mood for a call.
My friend from Galicia explicitly told me about the various dialects when I started to learn Spanish and *****that they are not an issue for a Spanish speaker**** It might get a bit hairy, but it's not as if you don't understand the other at all. And yeah, the comment about how "nationalistic" the Catalonians are didn't sit right with me either. Truth is, Catalonia strives for independence. So does Scotland, and we get the same people online claiming that they were insulted in Edinburgh when they "disclosed" they were from England - while Edinburgh is to a great part English or foreign. Nah, I call b******t on this one.
I've lived in Catalonia for eight years now and counting. What the guy says happens on a daily basis, so most of us just mingle among non catalans or more accurately amongst non "pure" catalans (first generation catalans are usually welcoming and kind) My experience of eight years outweighs your gut feeling, sorry to tell you.
Load More Replies... This all sounds fake. Ragebait as others have said. I am English, but speak reasonable Spanish. Damn good for an Englishman, but nowhere near fluent. I have never had a problem with anyone in Catalunya or Valencia when I spoke Spanish. I can also understand some Portuguese (even conversing with them) from knowing Spanish and that the Portuguese S is pronounced SH. I can also read some Catalan because of my Spanish (though I find the accent hard when people speak to me in it). In my experience / opinion, Catalan is something like like 70% Spanish, 20% French and 10% something different, so I would assume most Spaniards can understand a moderate amount of Catalan. Unless they choose not to - my ex-MIL was Spanish, from Asturias, married to a Galician, yet absolutely refused to understand any Portuguese when we visited there. I translated for her by just changing the SH should to S, without knowing what I was saying. She then understood and replied. Sometimes ignorance is a choice
Honestly. If he actually said what he claims too, to them. Bravo! Thats exactly the kind of slap in the face lay it on thr table reply those hateful, low class, disgusting bigots deserve. Maybe simply walking out would have been fun in its own way. Or only responding in a language they dont understand. In the end though that family if human garbage showed their colors and maybe best to sever ties and move on. Hard to say if GF deserves a reply or not. She might be genuinely upset but cant stand up to her parents.
Get out now. It will never get better. They will always keep you as an outsider.
Spanish is my second learned language and I'm from America, not Spain. I find Portuguese much easier to follow along to than Catalan. So idk about that yta comment, maybe some Spaniards find it easier? Anyway I think esh in this case. The family was rude and he was an a*s in his response
This guy is full of it, the languages are so similar that there is no way that he couldn't understand what was being said. This is all about nationalistic pride. I can safely say that the woman is now is ex-girlfriend.
The languages are "similar" up to a point. You can understand a written text in general, at least get the general idea, but it's difficult to understand a conversation because of the accent, the pronunciation, the regional vocab and the speed. All Spanish people can speak Spanish. Even the Spanish Constitution states that every Spanish person has the obligation to know how to speak it and the right to speak it. When there's a"foreigner", speaking a language that person doesn't understand when you have a common language is extremely rude. These are the same people who claim the rest of us hate them and discriminate against them. I do hope they get their independence soon and f**k off.
Load More Replies... Seems to me like the OP was just being an entitled baby. He is in someone else's home, and he understands 1/2 - 2/3's of their language, and is all butthurt because they are not catering to him and only speaking his language? YTA dude. I only speak English, but if I had a girlfriend whose family spoke both Spanish and English but were native Spanish speakers, I don't feel like I would be offended if I went to a big family dinner at her house and her whole family didn't cater to me and speak only English the whole time. In fact, I feel like it would be rude and ridiculous to expect that. OP needs to get over himself and go with the flow, instead of feeling that the whole affair revolved around him. That's my take anyway.
Perhaps the only TA are the people who speak without having a clue... Spanish and Catalonian are two different LANGUAGES. In a meeting, if everybody has a common language, it's polite to use it instead of your regional language. Obviously, you can speak the language you prefer, but you can't complain if people who don't speak it feel excluded and angry.
Load More Replies... Oh please. I was there. 90% of the electoral census? Sure, considering people voted up to three times. Out of 1000 injured, 700 were nervous breakdown. Oppressed? The language of the administration and schools is Catalan, and has been for the last 40 years. Trying to spread misinformation where you can be easily shut down is not very smart
Load More Replies... It's NOT a dialect. It's a language, with its own history and development, not a dialect of Spanish. Both, together with French, Italian, Romanian and others, are Romance languages, but each of them is an independent language. If you appreciate your life, never repeat that in front of a Catalonian person! Please, read a little and get a little culture before speaking about a topic you clearly know nothing about.
Load More Replies... My husband is American and I am Welsh; when differences in our language use comes up it is fun and interesting. We talk about it. He’s absorbed several british and welshisms and it’s very cute.
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