Neighbour doesn’t speak English at home

Saluda a tu pequeño amigo gatito 🐈‍⬛

She is speaking 'dog'. That's the polite thing to do.

My dog speaks dog. Try as I might to get her to speak English, she stubbornly refuses.
But I hear her call me filthy dirty words from the other room if her dinner is 12 seconds late.
The little bitch. ❤️

Buckle down if you're going to An Gaeltach especially if you're Sasnach

Scandinavian? Do you prefer Nordish or Swegian?

Is it any of your business though? we have a few languages here, less since my son has grown up with his dad part time but why does it matter?

Maybe you neighbour lived in that country and brought doggo back with them. I have a rescue from Hungary and I chat to him in both languages. It’s helped my girls learn a bit about the language and their heritage too. Although, I don’t think ‘good boy!’ will be much use when we go on holiday there in August.

I’m Scottish and tried to learn Gàidhlig with Duolingo but that owl is so passive-aggressive, the daily notifications gave me anxiety 😅

I speak to my dog like he’s human and it annoys DH no end, but it has never occurred to me not to speak ‘normally’ to him. For example, if the dog is panting I’ll say ‘go and have some water, please’, and he will go to his bowl for a drink.

(I realise he’s responding to the word ‘water’ alone but him obeying a full sentence command is funnier 😁)

A sign in Kerry for example.

I think people are too prescriptive about the name now. It’s been called Irish Gaelic for years in scholarly articles and then there’s this:
https://www.teanglann.ie/en/fuaim/Gaeilge
Note the Ulster pronunciation.

As you can hear, the Gaeilge spelling reflects the Connemara pronunciation. It’s been the standard spelling since the 1950s but there is no standard pronunciation and different spellings of the name are still in use in different Gaeltachtaí, certainly in Munster. So it’s not always Gaeilge when you’re speaking (or sometimes even writing) in Irish.

I work with a lot of people who are British but descended from parents born abroad. I heard two Indian colleagues speaking Gujarati once, one was born in India and one born in London. The Londoner saw me and reverted back to his Cockney accent, which made me smile. I can’t speak a word on another language, personally.

I love working with people who speak different languages because I learn little titbits of history and trivia. Another colleague is Punjabi, though he was born in London. He said the British say it wrong, it’s actually PAN-Jab, which means “where five rivers meet” which describes the region. Now I want to visit!

It’s Irish or Gaeilge not Irish Gaelic! I think it’s great the dog is bilingual🐶

There isn’t a language called Irish Gaelic. It’s the Irish language if you’re speaking in English and Gaeilge if you’re speaking in Irish!

My cat, Senor Rodriguez el Catto, requires all conversations are in Spanish, per favor. He ignores me if my accent is a bit off.
Actually, his real communication is in a rough Essex accent, but he has had Spanish lessons since I got him three years ago and he's now fluent.

Here is the blind Polish cat feeling safe and secure with her loving owner who talks to her in Polish

The person who adopted the cat was born in Wakefield, speaks 5 languages, adopted her whilst living in Berlin and brought her to Ireland when they moved here. They now live in England together and the owner and cat are devoted to each other.
What exactly is your point.

Don’t suppose you’re near the London border, are you? I’m from Essex but live in Scotland and am bringing my daughter up with Gaelic. Would be great to find her a Gaelic speaker when we go south to show her it’s not just confined to here.

Do the initials FEI mean anything to your neighbour by any chance?

My neighbour only speaks Welsh at home.

Might be a made up language. My children’s dad and his sisters have a secret language only they understand (and yes it is very annoying!)

Oddly I know how to say ‘on your bed’ in both Welsh and German. Due to dogs I should add!

As a child, I used to speak to my dog in both English and the language of the country I was living in (+ my own invented Motherese).

My parents always emphasised the importance of multi-lingualism and I naturally thought this should apply to the most important member of the family.

It's actually very common. Terriers always insist on being spoken to in the dialect of their breed. Apart from Jack Russells, but they require you to dress as a parson.

But not even the Danes understand Danish.

Haha, that's brilliant. I used to watch a show called "Person of Interest", which had a big German shepherd that would only respond to commands in (I think) Polish, for precisely this reason.

They are very closely related and largely mutually intelligible (especially written forms). Have you heard the saying, "A language is a dialect with an army and navy"? Some people think that applies for Danish, Swedish and Norwegian, and that they're only called languages for political reasons.

The term 'Scandinavian' can be used when speaking about the three languages together. Also, they're is some discussion as to whether 'Skandinaviska' exists - a hybrid of all three.
It's fascinating!