And I’m just kind of saying *shrug*

You had a miscommunication. You were confused. She may or may not have been able to correct you. Eventually someone stepped in and rectified the situation.

If your partner is making you feel excluded by speaking their native language that you do not speak, do you

I speak a number of languages as well and I’m also teaching myself German and I’ve found that the Teach Yourself series is pretty excellent if you can get your hands on it. But honestly? Duolingo, even though it’s far from what I would call a serious language learning program, has been a very helpful supplement…

Well you could probably understand a lot of it written if you’re fluent in French! There’s a lot of linguistic crossover.

Okay, so I know what you’re saying (basically, that this dude got mad because he was frustrated that your misunderstanding was costing him time), but I’m bristling a little bit at the logic. It kind of implies she’s a newcomer, so she should speak “our” language. But, like, *I* don’t speak Choctaw, or Cherokee, or…

I mean, if you’re an adult and you don’t have the structure for it (say you’re an English speaker and it’s Mandarin or Arabic or another language that’s similarly structurally different) then it could be quite hard even with immersion. You might learn some household vocabulary, but unless you actually sat down and…

Immersion is a great way to learn! Duolingo is good if you’re trying to build conversational skills in a short period of time.

Yeah, I think there’s a lot of projecting going on here, mixed in with maybe a teeeeeeeensy bit of xenophobia. When you speak multiple languages well enough to eavesdrop on people who assume you don’t, you learn that other people’s conversations are just as inane and harmless as your own.

It’s also really subconscious sometimes, especially if it’s your first language and you’re talking to family!

Genuine question here since I am not a lawyer - WHAT? Is it seriously that big of a legal battle to make it clear that your legal spouse isn’t the father of your child? I mean, I understand why the assumption would be that if you get pregnant that your husband is the father, but I’m preeeeeetty sure that plenty of…

Or maybe a career in the arts is the goal? Most of us are freelance, so unless you’re a member of a union (which comes with its own expenses) I’m not sure what “employer” you’d get your insurance through.

That depends entirely upon what kind of work he does and whether or not he’s freelance. I’ve been with the same company for over 5 years, working full time since the beginning, and they only just started to offer health insurance for those of us who don’t work in the office (it’s a weird setup in which the majority of…

Why would you assume they would though? A person who might very likely be rather grateful to you for putting yourself at risk and taking on tremendous inconvenience for no reason other than that it was the right thing to do?

I believe this is more of an analogy than a direct comparison, using examples that one would be hard-pressed to argue with in order to make an emotionally-driven point. For what it’s worth, the consequences were also much graver for those hiding Jews in their attics than for anyone charged with green card or insurance…

Tourists (no offense). I live here and have a partner who works in theatre and so I see shows 1-4 times a week and there are a lot of serious theatergoers that know how to behave, I promise!

Yes. As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, I’m maybe/probably autistic, and it’s not at ALL that I lack empathy - I try so, so hard to be empathetic to the people around me and I make a real effort to be considerate of them and their feelings. I just often really struggle to anticipate and understand those feelings.

LOTS of women diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (which is now what they’re calling Aspergers - I think they used to define it as a separate condition from Autism) in their late teens or even their 20s. It’s because the diagnostic criteria heavily favor boys and many professionals will go so far as to refuse to…

Eating disorder, if that wasn’t evident from the context of both my comment and the one to which I was replying.

Scottsdale