A viral TikTok video from a content creator in the Canary Islands has sparked outrage among locals after she claimed she was unable to communicate with a shop assistant at a local supermarket in Tenerife because the employee only spoke English. According to Diario de Avisos, the experience of Nessa Bratz – a popular TikToker known for her direct style and commentary on life in the archipelago – struck a chord with thousands of residents and viewers online and ignited a heated debate about language and tourism.
“I went to ask for a product I couldn’t find, but she, as best she could, told me: ‘Sorry, no Spanish.’ Just like that,” Ms Bratz revealed in the video. “Why hire someone who only speaks English in a place where we speak Spanish?” While she acknowledged that her criticism was not aimed at that employee in particular, “She’s just doing her job,” she said, she clarified that her frustration lay with hiring practices in the service sector, particularly in popular tourist hotspots like the Canary Islands.
“In a restaurant job interview, they ask you what level of English you have. If it’s low, they won’t hire you. And now we’re allowing people to work here without knowing Spanish?” Ms Bratz questioned.
She argued that in Spain, especially in the archipelago off the coast of northwest Africa, Spanish or the Canarian Spanish dialect should be expected in public-facing roles.
“This isn’t France, Italy, or England. This is Spain. We speak Spanish here,” she argued, adding that locals are being forced to adapt to foreign languages in their own homeland, simply to be understood or access key services.
“It’s sad that, because of mass tourism, people living in the Canary Islands are being forced to speak a language that isn’t theirs,” Ms Bratz added, going on to compare the situation to other countries.
If you go to France, no one’s going to speak Spanish to you. In England? Forget it. In China? You’ll need a translator. So why is it that here, locals are expected to accommodate everyone else?
“It’s a question many of us ask in silence, how much of our identity are we expected to give up for tourism?” she concluded.
The video has sparked a heated debate among other social media users. One said, ” I totally agree with you, I’ve had the same experience”. Others disagreed, however, arguing that the archipelago’s tourism-based economy naturally demands linguistic flexibility and that language diversity should be embraced.
In Spain, there is no law that mandates Spanish fluency for private-sector jobs, but language knowledge is often listed as a requirement in customer-facing roles. In areas that see high tourist traffic, however, many employers prioritise English or German proficiency to better serve foreign visitors, sometimes at the expense of mastering the local language.
