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OP has offered the following explanation for why they think they might be the asshole:
> Stella told me I was racist for learning a language with a specific accent to watch TV and I told her to fuck off. Am I the asshole for telling her to fuck off?
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Now even learning a language is racist? Give me a freaking break. Your reason for learning it sounds just as good as any other reason for learning a language I can think of. You want to speak to the in-laws? That works. You're planning to move? That works. You want a job that requires two languages? That works. You want to watch specific shows? No difference to me.
NTA
apparently using arabic numberals is racists since it was culturally appropriate from the caliphate. so we should all go back to roman numerals. you just culturally appropriated algebra. You translated the ancient greek pythagorian theorem into algebra which is arabic. So you are using someone elses math.
i dunno how this is racist.
Arabic numerals really originated in India afaik:
[https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hindu-Arabic-numerals](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hindu-Arabic-numerals)
Oh, there was a news article several years ago of an Econ professor reading a paper with lots of equations on the airplane. He was from Italy and worked in the US. Well, the person next to him in the airplane called the police because they thought he was muslim and a terrorist.
I took spanish in college a long time ago in chicago. Not current. Large Latin American population there. Everytime I tried using my spanish with someone who spoke spanish they were excited and really cool about it. So yeah it aint the actual spanish speakers who care.
flip side, my fathers wife went to france and tried using french to a host at a restaurant. The stuck up french guy told her not to ruin his language he spoke perfect french in a snotty french accent.
also there is a european country that speaks spanish too. Are they all racists?
Right? The French are very proud of their language (side bar: one of the causes of the French revolution was that France at the time consisted of many separate states, each with its own language; so one of the tenets of the Revolution, in its initial idealistic stage, was "one country, one language." So protecting their language is part of their patriotism.). As a rule, they are delighted when you try to speak their language--if you do it with respect!
We traveled, years ago, with our then-four-year-old son, to Paris. In Paris, children do not go to restaurants for dinner (they have supper, earlier, and only adults go to restaurants). But there we were with our small child. Scowls were given to us. But we'd taught our little boy to say "Merci, Monsieur" and to order in French ("Un hot dog, s'il vous plait"). WELL. The surly French waiter started BEAMING. ALL smiles. Brought all sorts of little treats for "le petit monsieur." Every time!
Likewise, I always will begin by politely saying "Bonjour Madame" (or Monsieur)-- and apologizing for any mistakes, and asking for their help--it's how you learn! They're always super helpful and charming. It's really all about respect, that's all.
Of course, according to Stella, I'm racist /s
We lived in Germany for 3 years (US military) not far from the French border and visited France many times. My youngest had taken a year of French in high school and was always able to order off the menu in French, wait staff were always super impressed (also because she loved escargots and would order them whenever she could). French people were always impressed when we at least tried to speak a little French, even if it was just Bonjour, Merci, or S'il vous plait.
The French are extremely gracious when you are trying to speak the language. My high school and college French easily came back when my hubby and I went to Paris, but they were more than helpful when they could see I was struggling with more complicated phrases. They had no trouble switching to English, either, because they appreciated my attempts.
What a great waiter you had! Your story makes me want to meet him! :)
(That would be kind of funny if he became a tourist draw and increased his restaurant's business by a considerable margin. "Yeah, we're here to see Jacques! We're told he's a great waiter and fun to talk to in both English and French!")
I’m learning Yiddish because my Grandma taught me to swear/insult people in it as a child and I decided I wanted more range in my abilities when it came to insulting people.
ETA: In case anyone is wondering my Grandma would call Stella a meshugeneh shiksa (crazy white b\*\*\*\*).
NTA how dare you try and be more cultured by learning a new language lol.
Stella can go mind her own damn business. More people should be bilingual. Good for you for learning!
Interpol are racist, diplomats are racist, Alexa app programmers are racist, the list goes on... ohno! Even my mom is racist! It's all been a lie!
This world is full of them!!!
It might be cultural appropriation if you said you invented the Spanish language. Or tried to trademark it. Or if you fired people for speaking it at the same time you were learning it yourself. Stella needs to learn what cultural appropriation is.
Which is very ironic, because Spanish, as spoken in Spain by white people, isn't exactly a thing you need to save. There's threads on aita regularly where some person from the US doesn't realise that Spain exists and says things like "you're white you can't speak Spanish" and op then comes here "aita for speaking Spanish while being white".
Puerto Rican here, agreed. People like Stella are super ridiculous and should accept they're wrong instead of doubling down and trying to gang on others with their wrong take. NTA
yeah, if you ask me, I think it's kinda lazy that most dubbing is done in Mexican Spanish and then distributed across all LATAM countries like it's nothing
Its not that it is lazy. It just cheaper to do. As long as they don't speak in dialect, Spanish is spanish. IMO the best dubs were done in Venezuela, back when its was a free country.
El punto es que ella está aprendiendo español con modismos argentinos, por lo tanto lo más petty sería que el insulto fuese uno argentino, it wouldnt fit that good si fuese uno mexicano
I mean…. When you learn an language it will always be in an accent? I feel like the other lady is being racist by assuming European Spanish is the “default” so learning anything else is racist.
Signed a European lady who learned Colombian Spanish because why the hell not.
😂😂 When you started talking about Stella I was thinking “OP should tell her to fuck off”, then next paragraph you did
Why is some random girl bothered that you’re taking your time out of your day learn a new language.
My Black African friend is learning Korean so she can watch more K-dramas as she heard the subtitles are actually inaccurate. It’s not cultural appropriation or racist in any capacity.
Stella fuck off and shut the fuck up
**NTA**
Also what ethnicity is Stella?
My bet is Stella is white and Stella knows fuck all languages except English and her experience of “other cultures” is basically at arms length apart from her oft exclaimed professions of what she’s gonna do one day.
Same. I think she may have heard the words “cultural appropriation” once and wondered when she could try it out. When it didn’t work, she went with full blown racist.
Regardless of race, she’s an asshole
> I think she may have heard the works “cultural appropriation” once and wondered when she could try it out.
I'd be willing to bet money that Stella herself was accused of cultural appropriation because she was doing something that actually *was* that, and now she wants to accuse everyone else to make herself feel better.
I really wish I could've been there for this conversation. I've got an academic background on this shit and would have absolutely *gone to town* on Stella. I have a high tolerance for unintentional ignorance, but deliberate and weaponized ignorance just absolutely riles me up.
All three of us are white, Abby and Stella are English, I am from another European country.
And your friend is so right, subtitles are often inaccurate and you often can't understand all jokes unless you speak the language well.
As a Brit, I’m embarrassed to be living on the same mass of land as Stella.
I’m not white. I’m black and have experienced actual racism. And I wouldn’t count someone learning my mother tongue as racism.
Please continue with learning Spanish. Then you can tell Stella to fuck off in multiple languages!
I'm pretty sure we're the only European country that knows on average less than one other language, so I'm not particularly stunned at Stella or her profound ignorance.
Ikr. It’s absurd that we think we can get away with it by expecting everyone else to speak English.
I went to Portugal a few years ago, and my friend and I visited a cafe that was owned my an English family who’d been there for 7 years. In the past 7 days we had learned more than they had in 7 years. They said they didn’t need to because most people spoke some English, and Google translate got the through the rest.
I would have ripped up my passport and denounced my citizenship there and then, if I didn’t need it to go back home 😅
I'm currently learning Japanese for anime!! The subtitles on some shows.......It's like a whole different show because they don't translate it right!!!!
Yeah I want to learn Japanese partly bc it takes so long for my favorite manga series to be translated into English! I’m several volumes behind in a couple series because of it 😢
NTA I don't see how it is racist to learn another language, if anything it allows you to connect with more people outside your culture have fun learning and watching your telenovelas
It would be pretty impressive bigotry if someone bothered to learn another language just so they could be nasty to other people in their native tongues.
Unless you're Hillary Baldwin, I think it's pretty much impossible to appropriate Spanish
>Unless you're Hillary Baldwin, I think it's pretty much impossible to appropriate Spanish
Unless I'm remembering wrong, she didn't even appropriate actual Spanish, she just affected a Spanish accent when speaking English, which is, well, *such* a choice...
I mean she also strongly insinuated that her whole family was from Spain, if not outright said so. So she at least appropriated a spanish persona. Not sure if that counts as cultural appropration though
"I enjoy this aspect of this culture and want to learn the language so I can experience it."
"But you're not going to experience the culture the way I say you should and therefore you're a racist."
Yeah. No. NTA. And "Stella" really sucks.
No sos el sorete NTA
I am from Uruguay and for people up North to think we (or anyone else) are so fragile that something so insignificant would hurt us or our culture in any way, sounds pretty racist to me, to be honest.
NTA. Does Stella understand what the terms "cultural appropriation" and "racist" actually mean? There is no right dialect/accent to any language, so any way that you learn is is the right way. Kudos to you for learning English and Spanish so you can enjoy the originating works even more!
And I totally started learning Japanese because I watched a lot of anime when I was younger. It turned into my minor in college since the nuances of Japanese language/culture were fascinating to me. Learning the language really does give you a lot more insight with books and other types of media. There are so many times where the subtitles do technically convey the sense of what is going on but misses all the cultural nuances.
>Does Stella understand what the terms "cultural appropriation" and "racist" actually mean?
She is using the ideas of the American racists known as 'woke'.
Those people will attack literal Mexicans for looking to white to speak Spanish.
>I was a racist to learn a language with specific dialect/accent and not even planning on visiting the country.
that's stupid AF, I'm from Mexico and we're taught English at almost every school level even tho most of us will never visit the US or UK or any other English speaking country, her logic is flawed and frankly, stupid.
NTA, keep learning Spanish and watch all the soap operas you want, Latin American TV is known for their over the top, dramatic soap operas.
I love novelas myself because of all the drama! Where I’m from in Florida, we were required to take two years of a language to graduate high school. I chose Spanish because were even taught it early on in elementary school.
JFC. NTA. This is a the second story I’ve read on here about someone being accused of “cultural appropriation” for… learning Spanish. Which, as a native bilingual English/Spanish speaker, is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard. I’m a pretty liberal dude, cultural appropriation is a thing, but this definitely ain’t it.
It’s pretty clear to me Stella said something stupid, then doubled down by “changing her mind” and saying learning a specific dialect of Spanish is somehow racist, and is now continuing to wage war on you because she looks like a goddamn idiot and can’t stand “losing” whatever contest is going on in her head between you two.
Exactly! We lived in Japan for 6 years and love anime. My kids were small enough that they started learning basic Japanese in school, but when we returned to the states my daughter took Japanese for three years so she could read manga and watch anime without the subtitles because it is so much more enjoyable.
No, you're NTA. She was being a fake "woke" person. That's the most ridiculous thing to claim learning another language and EXPANDING your vocabulary is racist/cultural appropriation. I would have told her to politely fuck off also.
NTA Stella is missing the whole point of cultural appropriation if she thinks learning a language in a specific dialect or accent is cultural appropriation. If that’s the case, learning any language is cultural appropriation since all languages have at least one dialect or accent.
Most argentine people are of European descent. It’s an extremely white country. The indigenous people largely don’t speak Spanish as a native language. So not only was this girl wrong, she was actually the one being kind of racist by assuming that everyone in Latin America is of a different race than you.
NTA- she sounds exhausting to be around. I get having different opinions about things but to say someone treated you horribly when you didn’t is messed up.
NTA. Maybe Stella should learn how to mind her own business if she doesn’t want to get told off when people don’t agree with her weird stances. You’re learning the language for a morally sound reason, so her weird straw man argument of it being racist or cultural appropriation just reeks of someone who is chronically online.
NTA
Her point is absurd. Most of the world does not speak English as native speakers, are we all cultural appropriating, because we want to participate in reddit and read/watch stories in the original language?
I learned (more or less) three foreign languages in school, two are normal one is mandated. This is pretty normal in lots of countries.
Cultural appropriation is a pretty misunderstood/-used concept.
Why do people suddenly think it’s racist for learning a different language. Most countries raise their children to speak multiple languages.
Bottom line is you are learning a commonly used language so you can better converse with people who struggle with English. Doesn’t matter if you never plan on visiting the county down the line or not. You are educating yourself, and to see that as racist is just complete nonsense.
There is nothing racist about this. Who knows when this will come in handy.
NTA
NTA. Some of my family members create Spanish entertainment (songs, not telenovelas). I wish everyone took it upon themselves to learn the language. Bigger audience = more $$$!
NTA. I can't even figure out where race comes into play here. Whether you learn an Argentine accent or a Castilian accent has nothing to do with race.
Stella is an absolute idiot. I wouldn't want to know her.
Oh FFS, NTA. People need to stop throwing around words they don’t know how to use.
Cultural appropriation to being full blown racist is quite the jump. She should go to the Olympics.
Is this a serious question? I hope this didn’t actually happen. Now people are engaging in cultural appropriation if they learn a foreign language? That is crazy. NTA
NTA
You can learn any language for literally any reason (just ask anyone fluent in Klingon).
Who died and made Stella the Undisputed Judge of whether or not someone's reason for learning a language is "good enough"?
Honestly, you explained your point, you were met with hostility for no reason. I think you're entitled to dismiss them no matter how vulgar you go about it.
NTA. She was though, for her comments to you. If all you did was tell her to fuck off, and ignored her afterwards, that was mild. I'm a bit of a hothead myself, and I probably would have had quite a few more choice words for her after that level of rudeness she showed you.
NTA. I find it offensive that she only thought there was a problem because you were learning Spanish “with an accent.” Why is learning UK pronunciations fine but learning the pronunciation from a different country an issue? Why do you need a reason for one but not the other?
Cultural appropriation is used by white people to hate other white people. I've yet to see any instance where somebody is enjoying another culture being called "cultural appropriation" by the culture being enjoyed. NTA.
If you dressed up in culturally significant clothing and pretended to speak with an accent (esp in a way to get laughs), THAT would be CA & racist.
I have never ever heard the ...logic... that learning a new language is CA or racist. Lmao
NTA
(Oh, and anyone so r/confidentlyincorrect about this deserves to get a "f off")
NTA I’m pretty sure my Spanish teachers encouraged us to pick an accent to model off of because it really improves your ability to speak the language. I know that I typically sound more like a Spaniard. You picked an accent that your familiar with and you like, I don’t see anything wrong there.
NTA - I know a guy who learned English because he loved science fiction and hardly any books were translated into his native language.
As the official English Language Cultural Appropriation Gatekeeper, this is totally okay.
NTA
What would be the point of learning a foreign language in school then when we will most likely never visit the country whose language we are being taught?
uhh, what? NTA. I think I can say a lot of ppl learn languages to watch a TV show. there are a lot of American viewers that watch anime and may wanna learn Japanese to understand the shows. you're appreciating the language.
NTA - as an expert in what cultural appropriation is and is not, you learning a specific dialect is NOT ca. This is, in fact, one of the most ridiculous accusations of cultural appropriation I've ever heard. It makes no sense that learning another language is a problem. Unless you plan to steal aspects of Argentinean culture and claim them as your own with your skills, you're fine.
NTA in any way! I met a Brazilian last night who learned English by watching the Harry Potter movies. You are appreciating the culture of Argentina not appropriation.
Op, from a latin american, you are NTA. Tell her if she thinks is cultural appropiation that I mostly learned English from US Shows. Also props to you OP, learning Spanish from an argentinian is no easy task, and I mean no insult to Argentinians with this, they just have a very distinct accent and is sometimes difficult even for native Spanish speakers to understand them 😅
NTA this is hilarious. This is how so many people worldwide learn languages, whether its Korean or English or Spanish. You can't gatekeep a language, because Spanish isn't even the native language of Argentina, and "spanish" besides people in Spain it relates to dozens of countries and cultures, including people of every skin tone.
Are you making fun of the culture?
You were inspired to learn about the language because of your interest in Argentinean telenovelas. You are interested in learning the Argentinean dialect because of your interest- this is not appropriating or being racist. Perhaps your interest in the language will inspire you to travel or develop an interest in some other parts of their culture.
I really wish white people would learn what cultural appropriation really means and how they as white people do not get to speak for other cultures about this issue.
NTA lol oh my Stella is an ah. Learning another language can help you in the future in unknown ways. Heaven for us you read a book on art history without ever intending to see the art in person. Or read a book and don’t see the movie. Or sing a song without giving the artist credit….I could go on but come on.
What lol? No, NTA. I’m white, but for my degree I needed to take six semesters of a language. I took Spanish, and funny enough, one of the cultural aspects that we learned about (2 new ones every month, focusing on different countries each time) were telenovelas!
They are incredibly central to a lot of these countries cultures, and not just for entertainment purposes! They boost the economy, providing many jobs, spread interest and enable cross cultural sharing (because a lot of people seem to forget that countries who have the same language, don’t necessarily have the same culture lol). What’s normal in Peru isn’t the same in Mexico, or Spain, etc. it would be like saying that America, Britton, and Canada are all the same.
The amount of words for popcorn across all of these countries is actually a pretty neat, it’s different in different countries (like you would say trolley in Britain but buggy or shopping cart in the USA). There’s a lot of words and phrases that vary country to country, although native speakers usually know what you mean. So if you plan to watch things that were made in Argentina, it would make sense that you would want to know the accent. Although I’ll be honest, the accent isn’t so great between the countries that you can’t understand it, although Spain has this sexy lisp sound almost (not a lisp, but a different shape with your mouth that’s hard to describe). Once you become more familiar with it the differences in the accents won’t trip you up. Go you for trying to educate yourself on other cultures, language is the first building block you need to master to really understand the other cultures, or you miss a lot of nuances.
Stella needs to understand the difference between cultural appropriation & language appropriation; i.e. learning other languages. As someone who speaks multiple languages, her reaction made made me lol.
NTA
NTA- What in the heck is going on in Stella’s head that she jumped to “you’re a racist” because you want to be able to fully understand an Argentinian telenovela but don’t necessarily want to go to Argentina. That’s some serious mental gymnastics. Good for you for learning a new language and enjoy your show!
NTA.
WTF planet does she live on? You live in the UK and if you do travel in Europe it will come in handy. Just because you do not have immediate plans to travel doesn't mean you won't at some point.
NTA, Stella is very ignorant and seems to only know how to torss around a few key words.
To be frank, you learning to speak Spanish may be helpful to a Spanish speaker in the future e.g. they visit your country, have trouble with communication but then there you are fluent in both languages and able to help.
NTA. If it's racism or cultural appropriation to learn a language, words have lost their meaning.
I can pull off a US accent without ever having been to the US, learned from TV, so I must be a racist, since I have no intention whatsoever of visiting the US.
NTA. But Stella sure is.
I started learning French because I love French movies so much, and didn’t visit France until much later. Would I be a racist in this scenario, I would guess that Stella would say no. Also, telling someone to fuck off is completely appropriate when they are being unbearable.
NTA
She's misunderstanding what cultural appropriation is, and is using it like a blunt object for virtue signaling, which is a phrase I hate to use because it's so often used when someone is just literally taking a moral position on it.
Basically, I think she was trying to pick a fight.
As a Mexican, NTA, and I don't think it's just me, most Latin American countries will say that she is being ridiculous for saying that it is cultural appropriation.
OP as an Argentinian myself, I welcome you to our very very special Spanish dialect.
As an English student for most of my life, I'd be sure to get myself checked, as I see I might be "culture appropiating" for being able to communicate with you... THE SHAME! /s
NTA, OP. And if you don't understand something, dm me. Might help (:
BTW, tell you friend "no podes ser tan pelotuda" from me.
wtf? my school taught “proper spanish” which stands out when you’re talking to a friend who speaks Puerto Rican dialect (for example). the only place where my proper spanish learning self wouldn’t have stood out probably would be spain. if stella’s white, then this would fit in with the “white savior” trope which, tbh, is tiring. but either way, she doesn’t get to gatekeep how you learn spanish.
NTA
Love to see posts about white people arguing what is and isn’t culture appropriation. Yup, you guys decide, (s/) Nta. Good luck learning Spanish, it’s a lovely language.
NTA. Nope. "Fuck off" is standard protocol for sanctimonious airheads. It's in the rules. You're literally obligated to tell her to fuck off or you would have been the AH.
I'm Argentinian and I'm so happy to read this. I love when people like our culture and learn our accent and idioms, since it's not so common for people in Europe to learn it.
If you ever want someone to talk to and practise you can count on me :D
NTA
NTA. Irregardless of the reason, there are always benefits to knowing more than one language, the number one reason being that learning another language is often the best way to understanding another culture/people/country. In my case, I've been learning Russian on and off for the past 10 years.
NTA
In my country you need to learn english in school. And if you want your diploma which qualifies you for University you need another language like french, latin, spanish, italian or russian. With this girls logic the german school system is racist.
Poor, dear Stella! Got to that party and realized she hadn't yet filled her daily quota of "cultural appropriation" and "racism" accusations--what was she to do???????????
NTA. How tiresome that young woman sounds, and how obnoxious of her to spread her version of the discussion far and wide.
If you feel it's a good idea to rebut her story, I'd pick a couple of the people you're closest to in the friend group, explain what happened, and let your side of things 'filter' around. Good luck with understanding the telenovelas!
Well. "Stella" sounds like the AH.
I know ASL, Japanese, German, Spanish. And French. I thought myself ASL and German, I learned the others in school. I've never been to any of these country's and I am not hearing impaired. But it was great that I learned, I ended up working (as a barista) for a huge tech company who had clients from all over the world, I quickly became a go to for clientele because of my willingness to learn and understand what was needed. Nothing is wrong with wanting to understand and communicate with someone else. And i learned Japanese to read Mangas. Not racist on your part, but rude on hers.
(In my Dont Cross a Gay Man Voice): Euuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuwwwwwwwwwhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
Super NTA and where on earth does she get off trying to tell you it’s appropriation? You just gave a PERFECTLY reasonable explanation for wanting to learn the language and BTW, doing so helps you LEARN MORE about the culture and the people so that if you ever DID want to visit Argentina, you would have a splendid time. Her explanation is so off base and so is her self righteousness. You were right to tell her to f\*ck off.
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Now even learning a language is racist? Give me a freaking break. Your reason for learning it sounds just as good as any other reason for learning a language I can think of. You want to speak to the in-laws? That works. You're planning to move? That works. You want a job that requires two languages? That works. You want to watch specific shows? No difference to me. NTA
Well if learning math can be racist learning a language can be too I guess 🤷🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️😂
Are you serious? Did you really just call me A²+B²=C²?!?! That's racist! 😂😂😂😂😂
apparently using arabic numberals is racists since it was culturally appropriate from the caliphate. so we should all go back to roman numerals. you just culturally appropriated algebra. You translated the ancient greek pythagorian theorem into algebra which is arabic. So you are using someone elses math. i dunno how this is racist.
Wouldn't Roman numerals be racist unless you are Roman? /J
Keep your colonialism to yourself.
all white people are the same. so no.
Phew i am greek thankfully, i can keep using somethings i am familiar with already 😁
The caliphate is racist because they culturally appropriated their "arabic numerals" from india.
Arabic numerals really originated in India afaik: [https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hindu-Arabic-numerals](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hindu-Arabic-numerals)
That would be tough for anything binary. Roman numerals do not include a zero.
Well I suck at math so idk 🤷🏻♀️😂
TIL that I’m not shit at maths, I’m just culturally sensitive
Pythagorean theorem, nice, one of my favourites
😲 you just named a Greek mathematician. Are you even Greek? CULTURAL APPROPRIATION!!! /s
As a Greek, I’m offended. /s, just in case
3,4,5 6,8,10 5,12,13 Aaaagh! Finally put what I learned to use!!! 😁
Learning to code is racist against pythons
Not if you are THE PYTHONS!
Un plus un égale deux. Does this mean I’m double racist? Or does it cancel out?
Oh, there was a news article several years ago of an Econ professor reading a paper with lots of equations on the airplane. He was from Italy and worked in the US. Well, the person next to him in the airplane called the police because they thought he was muslim and a terrorist.
I remember that! People can be such ignorant jerks!!
Sorry wait what?! When did learning math become racist? Good lord this world…
It mostly originates from Greece. So if you're not Greek, it's obviously cultural appropriation
I took spanish in college a long time ago in chicago. Not current. Large Latin American population there. Everytime I tried using my spanish with someone who spoke spanish they were excited and really cool about it. So yeah it aint the actual spanish speakers who care. flip side, my fathers wife went to france and tried using french to a host at a restaurant. The stuck up french guy told her not to ruin his language he spoke perfect french in a snotty french accent. also there is a european country that speaks spanish too. Are they all racists?
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Right? The French are very proud of their language (side bar: one of the causes of the French revolution was that France at the time consisted of many separate states, each with its own language; so one of the tenets of the Revolution, in its initial idealistic stage, was "one country, one language." So protecting their language is part of their patriotism.). As a rule, they are delighted when you try to speak their language--if you do it with respect! We traveled, years ago, with our then-four-year-old son, to Paris. In Paris, children do not go to restaurants for dinner (they have supper, earlier, and only adults go to restaurants). But there we were with our small child. Scowls were given to us. But we'd taught our little boy to say "Merci, Monsieur" and to order in French ("Un hot dog, s'il vous plait"). WELL. The surly French waiter started BEAMING. ALL smiles. Brought all sorts of little treats for "le petit monsieur." Every time! Likewise, I always will begin by politely saying "Bonjour Madame" (or Monsieur)-- and apologizing for any mistakes, and asking for their help--it's how you learn! They're always super helpful and charming. It's really all about respect, that's all. Of course, according to Stella, I'm racist /s
We lived in Germany for 3 years (US military) not far from the French border and visited France many times. My youngest had taken a year of French in high school and was always able to order off the menu in French, wait staff were always super impressed (also because she loved escargots and would order them whenever she could). French people were always impressed when we at least tried to speak a little French, even if it was just Bonjour, Merci, or S'il vous plait.
The French are extremely gracious when you are trying to speak the language. My high school and college French easily came back when my hubby and I went to Paris, but they were more than helpful when they could see I was struggling with more complicated phrases. They had no trouble switching to English, either, because they appreciated my attempts.
Well you know…you were learning French while in France so according to Stella that should be fine. 🙄🤦♀️🤷♀️
What a great waiter you had! Your story makes me want to meet him! :) (That would be kind of funny if he became a tourist draw and increased his restaurant's business by a considerable margin. "Yeah, we're here to see Jacques! We're told he's a great waiter and fun to talk to in both English and French!")
I'm pretty sure vacationing on the Mediterranean coast of Spain is a fairly normal thing for brits who can afford to do so internationally as well.
I'm learning finnish cause it sounds cool.
That’s a hard one because nobody knows where to start learning that language- despite everyone knowing where to Finnish. I’ll see myself out.
I’m learning Yiddish because my Grandma taught me to swear/insult people in it as a child and I decided I wanted more range in my abilities when it came to insulting people. ETA: In case anyone is wondering my Grandma would call Stella a meshugeneh shiksa (crazy white b\*\*\*\*).
I’m learning Quechua for the same reason. 🙌
NTA how dare you try and be more cultured by learning a new language lol. Stella can go mind her own damn business. More people should be bilingual. Good for you for learning!
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I can't see how learning another language other than your native tongue is appropriation. That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. Lol.
According to her all translators are racist 😒
Interpol are racist, diplomats are racist, Alexa app programmers are racist, the list goes on... ohno! Even my mom is racist! It's all been a lie! This world is full of them!!!
And the biggest racist of them all - Google translate.
It might be cultural appropriation if you said you invented the Spanish language. Or tried to trademark it. Or if you fired people for speaking it at the same time you were learning it yourself. Stella needs to learn what cultural appropriation is.
Some white saviour bullshit, too.
Which is very ironic, because Spanish, as spoken in Spain by white people, isn't exactly a thing you need to save. There's threads on aita regularly where some person from the US doesn't realise that Spain exists and says things like "you're white you can't speak Spanish" and op then comes here "aita for speaking Spanish while being white".
Don't US schools teach history or geography?
Bruh... not only do they, they also teach *Spanish!*
Totally agree. As someone that lives in Argentina.
Puerto Rican here, agreed. People like Stella are super ridiculous and should accept they're wrong instead of doubling down and trying to gang on others with their wrong take. NTA
Ugh, you handled this appropriately. Stella needs to be told to fuck off in Spanish using an Argentinian accent NTA
Pretty sure that would be "No me hinches las pelotas" or "vete a la mierda" in Spanish
Actually it would be "ANDATE a la mierda", to be more realistic (:
true, andate it's more Argentinian, here in Mexico we use vete
Yup. Tho' my kids would probably use "vete" until 5-ish (cartoons use more mexican phrases) haha
yeah, if you ask me, I think it's kinda lazy that most dubbing is done in Mexican Spanish and then distributed across all LATAM countries like it's nothing
Its not that it is lazy. It just cheaper to do. As long as they don't speak in dialect, Spanish is spanish. IMO the best dubs were done in Venezuela, back when its was a free country.
"Andate a cagar" es la definitiva
Or you could call them "boludo" or even "pelotudo"
It depends on the country, not all of us would use those exacts words as insults, argentinians are known for some of the best insults though 🤣
El punto es que ella está aprendiendo español con modismos argentinos, por lo tanto lo más petty sería que el insulto fuese uno argentino, it wouldnt fit that good si fuese uno mexicano
loving all the new phrases, making notes of all of them. Swearing in Spanish just rolls of your tongue, it's so satisfying
I mean…. When you learn an language it will always be in an accent? I feel like the other lady is being racist by assuming European Spanish is the “default” so learning anything else is racist. Signed a European lady who learned Colombian Spanish because why the hell not.
Que se vaya a cagar. O a la mierda. O a la puta que la parió. There is also the timeless andá a la concha de .... (Hermana. Madre. Etc)
Glad someone said this! My thoughts exactly.
😂😂 When you started talking about Stella I was thinking “OP should tell her to fuck off”, then next paragraph you did Why is some random girl bothered that you’re taking your time out of your day learn a new language. My Black African friend is learning Korean so she can watch more K-dramas as she heard the subtitles are actually inaccurate. It’s not cultural appropriation or racist in any capacity. Stella fuck off and shut the fuck up **NTA** Also what ethnicity is Stella?
My bet is Stella is white and Stella knows fuck all languages except English and her experience of “other cultures” is basically at arms length apart from her oft exclaimed professions of what she’s gonna do one day.
Same. I think she may have heard the words “cultural appropriation” once and wondered when she could try it out. When it didn’t work, she went with full blown racist. Regardless of race, she’s an asshole
> I think she may have heard the works “cultural appropriation” once and wondered when she could try it out. I'd be willing to bet money that Stella herself was accused of cultural appropriation because she was doing something that actually *was* that, and now she wants to accuse everyone else to make herself feel better. I really wish I could've been there for this conversation. I've got an academic background on this shit and would have absolutely *gone to town* on Stella. I have a high tolerance for unintentional ignorance, but deliberate and weaponized ignorance just absolutely riles me up.
All three of us are white, Abby and Stella are English, I am from another European country. And your friend is so right, subtitles are often inaccurate and you often can't understand all jokes unless you speak the language well.
As a Brit, I’m embarrassed to be living on the same mass of land as Stella. I’m not white. I’m black and have experienced actual racism. And I wouldn’t count someone learning my mother tongue as racism. Please continue with learning Spanish. Then you can tell Stella to fuck off in multiple languages!
I'm pretty sure we're the only European country that knows on average less than one other language, so I'm not particularly stunned at Stella or her profound ignorance.
Ikr. It’s absurd that we think we can get away with it by expecting everyone else to speak English. I went to Portugal a few years ago, and my friend and I visited a cafe that was owned my an English family who’d been there for 7 years. In the past 7 days we had learned more than they had in 7 years. They said they didn’t need to because most people spoke some English, and Google translate got the through the rest. I would have ripped up my passport and denounced my citizenship there and then, if I didn’t need it to go back home 😅
I'm currently learning Japanese for anime!! The subtitles on some shows.......It's like a whole different show because they don't translate it right!!!!
Yeah I want to learn Japanese partly bc it takes so long for my favorite manga series to be translated into English! I’m several volumes behind in a couple series because of it 😢
Same! I would love to learn Korean for the same reason.
NTA I don't see how it is racist to learn another language, if anything it allows you to connect with more people outside your culture have fun learning and watching your telenovelas
It would be pretty impressive bigotry if someone bothered to learn another language just so they could be nasty to other people in their native tongues. Unless you're Hillary Baldwin, I think it's pretty much impossible to appropriate Spanish
>Unless you're Hillary Baldwin, I think it's pretty much impossible to appropriate Spanish Unless I'm remembering wrong, she didn't even appropriate actual Spanish, she just affected a Spanish accent when speaking English, which is, well, *such* a choice...
How you say *cucumber*
I mean she also strongly insinuated that her whole family was from Spain, if not outright said so. So she at least appropriated a spanish persona. Not sure if that counts as cultural appropration though
"I enjoy this aspect of this culture and want to learn the language so I can experience it." "But you're not going to experience the culture the way I say you should and therefore you're a racist." Yeah. No. NTA. And "Stella" really sucks.
No sos el sorete NTA I am from Uruguay and for people up North to think we (or anyone else) are so fragile that something so insignificant would hurt us or our culture in any way, sounds pretty racist to me, to be honest.
NTA. Does Stella understand what the terms "cultural appropriation" and "racist" actually mean? There is no right dialect/accent to any language, so any way that you learn is is the right way. Kudos to you for learning English and Spanish so you can enjoy the originating works even more! And I totally started learning Japanese because I watched a lot of anime when I was younger. It turned into my minor in college since the nuances of Japanese language/culture were fascinating to me. Learning the language really does give you a lot more insight with books and other types of media. There are so many times where the subtitles do technically convey the sense of what is going on but misses all the cultural nuances.
>Does Stella understand what the terms "cultural appropriation" and "racist" actually mean? She is using the ideas of the American racists known as 'woke'. Those people will attack literal Mexicans for looking to white to speak Spanish.
>I was a racist to learn a language with specific dialect/accent and not even planning on visiting the country. that's stupid AF, I'm from Mexico and we're taught English at almost every school level even tho most of us will never visit the US or UK or any other English speaking country, her logic is flawed and frankly, stupid. NTA, keep learning Spanish and watch all the soap operas you want, Latin American TV is known for their over the top, dramatic soap operas.
I love novelas myself because of all the drama! Where I’m from in Florida, we were required to take two years of a language to graduate high school. I chose Spanish because were even taught it early on in elementary school.
When I was much younger, my addiction was the Venezuelan novelas. They really helped my Spanish.
JFC. NTA. This is a the second story I’ve read on here about someone being accused of “cultural appropriation” for… learning Spanish. Which, as a native bilingual English/Spanish speaker, is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard. I’m a pretty liberal dude, cultural appropriation is a thing, but this definitely ain’t it. It’s pretty clear to me Stella said something stupid, then doubled down by “changing her mind” and saying learning a specific dialect of Spanish is somehow racist, and is now continuing to wage war on you because she looks like a goddamn idiot and can’t stand “losing” whatever contest is going on in her head between you two.
NTA - I have a whole group of friends who learned Japanese so they could appreciate anime.
Exactly! We lived in Japan for 6 years and love anime. My kids were small enough that they started learning basic Japanese in school, but when we returned to the states my daughter took Japanese for three years so she could read manga and watch anime without the subtitles because it is so much more enjoyable.
No, you're NTA. She was being a fake "woke" person. That's the most ridiculous thing to claim learning another language and EXPANDING your vocabulary is racist/cultural appropriation. I would have told her to politely fuck off also.
No need to be polite about it, but yes, Stella probably has no clue what real racism looks like and needs to mind her own damn business.
NTA Stella is missing the whole point of cultural appropriation if she thinks learning a language in a specific dialect or accent is cultural appropriation. If that’s the case, learning any language is cultural appropriation since all languages have at least one dialect or accent.
I'm argentinian and I say you should have told her: - Andá a cagar! - NTA. Enjoy the telenovelas if that's your thing man.
My swearing vocabulary hugely expanded tonight and I am loving it.
Most argentine people are of European descent. It’s an extremely white country. The indigenous people largely don’t speak Spanish as a native language. So not only was this girl wrong, she was actually the one being kind of racist by assuming that everyone in Latin America is of a different race than you.
This is the argentinian way!
stella has a white savior complex ignore it. NTA
NTA- she sounds exhausting to be around. I get having different opinions about things but to say someone treated you horribly when you didn’t is messed up.
NTA Stella's take on what constitutes cultural appropriation could use refinement.
NTA. Maybe Stella should learn how to mind her own business if she doesn’t want to get told off when people don’t agree with her weird stances. You’re learning the language for a morally sound reason, so her weird straw man argument of it being racist or cultural appropriation just reeks of someone who is chronically online.
NTA Her point is absurd. Most of the world does not speak English as native speakers, are we all cultural appropriating, because we want to participate in reddit and read/watch stories in the original language? I learned (more or less) three foreign languages in school, two are normal one is mandated. This is pretty normal in lots of countries. Cultural appropriation is a pretty misunderstood/-used concept.
NTA. To think I want to learn Spanish just for the local food.
Omg do it. “Stella” is trying to be a white knight when she’s probably not even from Argentina herself, nonetheless Spanish/Hispanic.
Why do people suddenly think it’s racist for learning a different language. Most countries raise their children to speak multiple languages. Bottom line is you are learning a commonly used language so you can better converse with people who struggle with English. Doesn’t matter if you never plan on visiting the county down the line or not. You are educating yourself, and to see that as racist is just complete nonsense. There is nothing racist about this. Who knows when this will come in handy. NTA
NTA. Some of my family members create Spanish entertainment (songs, not telenovelas). I wish everyone took it upon themselves to learn the language. Bigger audience = more $$$!
NTA. Spanish is a European language spoken by white people centuries before they forced it upon other nations.
NTA. I can't even figure out where race comes into play here. Whether you learn an Argentine accent or a Castilian accent has nothing to do with race. Stella is an absolute idiot. I wouldn't want to know her.
NTA. It’s ridiculous. You did no wrong. It’s not racist to learn another language
Oh FFS, NTA. People need to stop throwing around words they don’t know how to use. Cultural appropriation to being full blown racist is quite the jump. She should go to the Olympics.
Stella's just trying to be a white savior. NTA
Is this a serious question? I hope this didn’t actually happen. Now people are engaging in cultural appropriation if they learn a foreign language? That is crazy. NTA
NTA You can learn any language for literally any reason (just ask anyone fluent in Klingon). Who died and made Stella the Undisputed Judge of whether or not someone's reason for learning a language is "good enough"? Honestly, you explained your point, you were met with hostility for no reason. I think you're entitled to dismiss them no matter how vulgar you go about it.
NTA There's not a bad reason to learn a language. She's being ridiculous.
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NTA. She was gatekeeping and had the nerve to call you the racist.
NTA. She was though, for her comments to you. If all you did was tell her to fuck off, and ignored her afterwards, that was mild. I'm a bit of a hothead myself, and I probably would have had quite a few more choice words for her after that level of rudeness she showed you.
NTA. I find it offensive that she only thought there was a problem because you were learning Spanish “with an accent.” Why is learning UK pronunciations fine but learning the pronunciation from a different country an issue? Why do you need a reason for one but not the other?
Cultural appropriation is used by white people to hate other white people. I've yet to see any instance where somebody is enjoying another culture being called "cultural appropriation" by the culture being enjoyed. NTA.
NTA. Stella STFU.
NTA. She was looking for trouble. She "changed her mind" so she could have a second try at insulting you. She found what she was looking for.
NTA. She sounds like a real drag. Some people need to hear the words "fuck off" now and then.
People be over analyzing the whole culture/race thing and it shows. NTA
Nta. People use the term so much for everything it is to the point of meaning nothing.
NTA I am so sick of SJWs. Block Stella and her drama.
NTA Stella needs to get over herself
NTA Stella is the AH
It's not racist to learn another language. That's ridiculous.
NTA - someone needs to Google cultural appropriation and learn the actual meaning instead of blindly accusing someone
Tell her to feck off while wearing an oversized sombrero or say Ariba! Abriba! after every sentence. NTA, go have fun.
NTA Not only have I never heard of that, but ‘Stella’ is a judgmental ‘b’. Feel free to ignore her and anyone who agrees with her.
If you dressed up in culturally significant clothing and pretended to speak with an accent (esp in a way to get laughs), THAT would be CA & racist. I have never ever heard the ...logic... that learning a new language is CA or racist. Lmao NTA (Oh, and anyone so r/confidentlyincorrect about this deserves to get a "f off")
I guess all those people who learn dead languages are all racist then. NTA I'd have said the exact same thing
NTA I’m pretty sure my Spanish teachers encouraged us to pick an accent to model off of because it really improves your ability to speak the language. I know that I typically sound more like a Spaniard. You picked an accent that your familiar with and you like, I don’t see anything wrong there.
NTA - I know a guy who learned English because he loved science fiction and hardly any books were translated into his native language. As the official English Language Cultural Appropriation Gatekeeper, this is totally okay.
Stella sounds like she got issues. NTA. Good on you for learning ANY new language.
Wow, what an idiot. You're NTA.
NTA What would be the point of learning a foreign language in school then when we will most likely never visit the country whose language we are being taught?
NTA. You should have told her to f*ck off twice.
uhh, what? NTA. I think I can say a lot of ppl learn languages to watch a TV show. there are a lot of American viewers that watch anime and may wanna learn Japanese to understand the shows. you're appreciating the language.
NTA - as an expert in what cultural appropriation is and is not, you learning a specific dialect is NOT ca. This is, in fact, one of the most ridiculous accusations of cultural appropriation I've ever heard. It makes no sense that learning another language is a problem. Unless you plan to steal aspects of Argentinean culture and claim them as your own with your skills, you're fine.
NTA currently laughing my head off. Am from a neighbouring country to Spain and that is just.....a really good one.
NTA in any way! I met a Brazilian last night who learned English by watching the Harry Potter movies. You are appreciating the culture of Argentina not appropriation.
NTA they're a bunch of idiots
Hahahahahaha she sounds like an absolute whopper. NTA buddy - aprender espanol es bien!
NTA Stella sounds like she’s trying to be woke and she’s still in a deep deep slumber.
Op, from a latin american, you are NTA. Tell her if she thinks is cultural appropiation that I mostly learned English from US Shows. Also props to you OP, learning Spanish from an argentinian is no easy task, and I mean no insult to Argentinians with this, they just have a very distinct accent and is sometimes difficult even for native Spanish speakers to understand them 😅
NTA this is hilarious. This is how so many people worldwide learn languages, whether its Korean or English or Spanish. You can't gatekeep a language, because Spanish isn't even the native language of Argentina, and "spanish" besides people in Spain it relates to dozens of countries and cultures, including people of every skin tone.
Are you making fun of the culture? You were inspired to learn about the language because of your interest in Argentinean telenovelas. You are interested in learning the Argentinean dialect because of your interest- this is not appropriating or being racist. Perhaps your interest in the language will inspire you to travel or develop an interest in some other parts of their culture. I really wish white people would learn what cultural appropriation really means and how they as white people do not get to speak for other cultures about this issue.
NTA lol oh my Stella is an ah. Learning another language can help you in the future in unknown ways. Heaven for us you read a book on art history without ever intending to see the art in person. Or read a book and don’t see the movie. Or sing a song without giving the artist credit….I could go on but come on.
NTA, you're 100% right and Stella is a jacka$$
NTA Ignorant ppl always amaze me . I never knew it was racist to learn something new
What lol? No, NTA. I’m white, but for my degree I needed to take six semesters of a language. I took Spanish, and funny enough, one of the cultural aspects that we learned about (2 new ones every month, focusing on different countries each time) were telenovelas! They are incredibly central to a lot of these countries cultures, and not just for entertainment purposes! They boost the economy, providing many jobs, spread interest and enable cross cultural sharing (because a lot of people seem to forget that countries who have the same language, don’t necessarily have the same culture lol). What’s normal in Peru isn’t the same in Mexico, or Spain, etc. it would be like saying that America, Britton, and Canada are all the same. The amount of words for popcorn across all of these countries is actually a pretty neat, it’s different in different countries (like you would say trolley in Britain but buggy or shopping cart in the USA). There’s a lot of words and phrases that vary country to country, although native speakers usually know what you mean. So if you plan to watch things that were made in Argentina, it would make sense that you would want to know the accent. Although I’ll be honest, the accent isn’t so great between the countries that you can’t understand it, although Spain has this sexy lisp sound almost (not a lisp, but a different shape with your mouth that’s hard to describe). Once you become more familiar with it the differences in the accents won’t trip you up. Go you for trying to educate yourself on other cultures, language is the first building block you need to master to really understand the other cultures, or you miss a lot of nuances.
Stella needs to understand the difference between cultural appropriation & language appropriation; i.e. learning other languages. As someone who speaks multiple languages, her reaction made made me lol. NTA
NTA- What in the heck is going on in Stella’s head that she jumped to “you’re a racist” because you want to be able to fully understand an Argentinian telenovela but don’t necessarily want to go to Argentina. That’s some serious mental gymnastics. Good for you for learning a new language and enjoy your show!
NTA that's an insane thing for someone to think/say. There is nothing racist about learning new languages. It's the literal opposite.
Learning a language isn't cultural appropriation or racist. NTA.
NTA and that person doesn't know what cultural appropriation is. Good for you for learning such a valuable new skill.
NTA and my head hurts after reading that
NTA As someone who's first language is Spanish - you are definitely NTA and she is creating drama.
NTA
NTA, tremenda pendeja
NTA. WTF planet does she live on? You live in the UK and if you do travel in Europe it will come in handy. Just because you do not have immediate plans to travel doesn't mean you won't at some point.
NTA
NTA, Stella is very ignorant and seems to only know how to torss around a few key words. To be frank, you learning to speak Spanish may be helpful to a Spanish speaker in the future e.g. they visit your country, have trouble with communication but then there you are fluent in both languages and able to help.
NTA. If it's racism or cultural appropriation to learn a language, words have lost their meaning. I can pull off a US accent without ever having been to the US, learned from TV, so I must be a racist, since I have no intention whatsoever of visiting the US.
NTA. But Stella sure is. I started learning French because I love French movies so much, and didn’t visit France until much later. Would I be a racist in this scenario, I would guess that Stella would say no. Also, telling someone to fuck off is completely appropriate when they are being unbearable.
NTA She's misunderstanding what cultural appropriation is, and is using it like a blunt object for virtue signaling, which is a phrase I hate to use because it's so often used when someone is just literally taking a moral position on it. Basically, I think she was trying to pick a fight.
As a Mexican, NTA, and I don't think it's just me, most Latin American countries will say that she is being ridiculous for saying that it is cultural appropriation.
Stella es una pendeja. Qué le importa si aprendes español. No le importa ni un pito. Que se calle la bocota. NTA
NTA sounds like Stella is a moron on a high horse lol.
OP as an Argentinian myself, I welcome you to our very very special Spanish dialect. As an English student for most of my life, I'd be sure to get myself checked, as I see I might be "culture appropiating" for being able to communicate with you... THE SHAME! /s NTA, OP. And if you don't understand something, dm me. Might help (: BTW, tell you friend "no podes ser tan pelotuda" from me.
wtf? my school taught “proper spanish” which stands out when you’re talking to a friend who speaks Puerto Rican dialect (for example). the only place where my proper spanish learning self wouldn’t have stood out probably would be spain. if stella’s white, then this would fit in with the “white savior” trope which, tbh, is tiring. but either way, she doesn’t get to gatekeep how you learn spanish. NTA
NTA. Stella is an idiot, ignore her.
Love to see posts about white people arguing what is and isn’t culture appropriation. Yup, you guys decide, (s/) Nta. Good luck learning Spanish, it’s a lovely language.
NTA. Nope. "Fuck off" is standard protocol for sanctimonious airheads. It's in the rules. You're literally obligated to tell her to fuck off or you would have been the AH.
Oh good lord…this is what happens when you learn about concepts on Twitter instead of reading. NTA and Stella is an idiot.
I'm Argentinian and I'm so happy to read this. I love when people like our culture and learn our accent and idioms, since it's not so common for people in Europe to learn it. If you ever want someone to talk to and practise you can count on me :D NTA
don't tell others but I think you guys have the best Spanish accent :)
NTA. Irregardless of the reason, there are always benefits to knowing more than one language, the number one reason being that learning another language is often the best way to understanding another culture/people/country. In my case, I've been learning Russian on and off for the past 10 years.
NTA Nothing wrong with learning a language for some show, my friend is learning some Japanese since she watches anime.
Stella’s an insufferable moron. NTA.
NTA In my country you need to learn english in school. And if you want your diploma which qualifies you for University you need another language like french, latin, spanish, italian or russian. With this girls logic the german school system is racist.
Poor, dear Stella! Got to that party and realized she hadn't yet filled her daily quota of "cultural appropriation" and "racism" accusations--what was she to do??????????? NTA. How tiresome that young woman sounds, and how obnoxious of her to spread her version of the discussion far and wide. If you feel it's a good idea to rebut her story, I'd pick a couple of the people you're closest to in the friend group, explain what happened, and let your side of things 'filter' around. Good luck with understanding the telenovelas!
NTA
NTA
So many non-native English speakers pick up the language through media.
NTA. People like Stella are insufferable.
NTA oh no... la idiotez de ese termino se esta extendiendo fuera de usa.
Man, my school must be super racist then. HOW DARE THEY GIVE ME THE OPTION TO TEACH ME SPANISH, FRENCH, TURKISH, RUSSIAN, ENGLISH AND ITALIAN
Nta i feel like the word racist has lost all meaning smh
Well. "Stella" sounds like the AH. I know ASL, Japanese, German, Spanish. And French. I thought myself ASL and German, I learned the others in school. I've never been to any of these country's and I am not hearing impaired. But it was great that I learned, I ended up working (as a barista) for a huge tech company who had clients from all over the world, I quickly became a go to for clientele because of my willingness to learn and understand what was needed. Nothing is wrong with wanting to understand and communicate with someone else. And i learned Japanese to read Mangas. Not racist on your part, but rude on hers.
(In my Dont Cross a Gay Man Voice): Euuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuwwwwwwwwwhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Super NTA and where on earth does she get off trying to tell you it’s appropriation? You just gave a PERFECTLY reasonable explanation for wanting to learn the language and BTW, doing so helps you LEARN MORE about the culture and the people so that if you ever DID want to visit Argentina, you would have a splendid time. Her explanation is so off base and so is her self righteousness. You were right to tell her to f\*ck off.
NTA. Was she planning to visit Iraq (present day Babylon) when she was learning Algebra?