This reminds me of the time a guy tried to tell me that I had incorrectly written “el español” in a sentence with similar context as yours above. He said that when translated directly from Spanish to English, it read “the Spanish”, and that it therefore should be changed, I should drop the word “el”. I told him that 1) direct translations from one language or dialect to another are not always accurate representations of how they are spoken or written, and that 2) there are certain instances in Spanish where “el español” is both absolutely correct and absolutely appropriate within the context of what is being communicated. Since neither he nor I are native Spanish speakers, I simply told him to ask someone for whom Spanish was their first language, but he said he didn’t need to because he knows how it’s said in English which meant it was the same way in Spanish. He dismissed me for being ignorant and went along with his assumptions. I dismissed him as being ignorant and dropped the topic, knowing that I was correct.
I’ve often made the observation that languages are similar to sports in that you cannot play basketball using baseball rules.
~
Randy D 