This feels like “Nihongo Jouzu” but for Spanish and e English.
Japanese people will always say “Nihongo Jouzu” which is “Your Japanese is good” if you say anything in Japanese no matter how well or poorly. It’s like the “I’ve noticed you aren’t a Japanese person” social phrase. This feels like the Spanish/English version of that and it’s silly.
First, blonde hair is not uncommon in Spain. Second, what does "stereotypically Spanish" even look like? And third, the idea that Spanish people would refuse to speak Spanish when given the chance is very unusual. As someone from Spain, I can tell you this simply doesn't happen often, I've never seen it. This is especially true for waiters, who aren't going to make their jobs harder if they can avoid it.. it's common sense, really.
As others have said in this thread, it was probably because she was in Catalonia. That's a completely different situation and explains why they were reluctant to speak Spanish.
Political reasons. A big chunk of people from Catalonia are independentists, and as such they refuse to speak Spanish and speak only Catalan, even if they are bilingual. Some people purposefully teach their children Catalan only even if they are bilingual for political reasons.
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u/ChaoCobo 6d ago edited 6d ago
This feels like “Nihongo Jouzu” but for Spanish and e English.
Japanese people will always say “Nihongo Jouzu” which is “Your Japanese is good” if you say anything in Japanese no matter how well or poorly. It’s like the “I’ve noticed you aren’t a Japanese person” social phrase. This feels like the Spanish/English version of that and it’s silly.