I’m an American, and recently we had the first political debates for the office of President for this election season. As I’m sure you know, English is the most predominant language in the US.

At the beginning of the debate one candidate, Beto O’Rourke, opened very early with Speaking Spanish. It was only for about 30 seconds, but it was substantive, it was not just introducing himself or just saying hello to the crowd. Another, Cory Booker, spoke Spanish responding to a particular question in the middle of the debate. Another at the very very end said in Spanish “my name is Julián Castro and I’m running for president of the United States.” I don’t know if Castro planned on doing this all along, or decided to throw it in after the other candidates used some Spanish. Julián did not answer any questions in Spanish.

How does this work in your country, and what are the attitudes about it?

One friend who is Canadian said it would be a sign of respect to use another language, but Canada has two official languages, and both are taught, so a majority of the population have at least a basic understanding of both languages. I still don’t know what their national political debates are like though regarding the use of the two languages. I’d like to know.

What about countries like Switzerland? Countries with many official languages? Or, countries with many dialects like the Philippines?