Netflix's Cobra Kai Season 6 sparks debate over Catalan language use

Netflix released this weekend the second part of Cobra Kai Season 6, an American martial arts comedy-drama series and sequel to the Karate Kid movies.

The new episodes are set in Barcelona, showcasing some of the city's most iconic landmarks, including the Sagrada Família basilica, the Cathedral, and Montjuïc hill.

In fact, the title of Episode 6, the first of the new five episodes, is 'Benvinguts a Barcelona,' in Catalan, in one of the several nods to the local language.

In the seventh episode, the creators address the linguistic debate surrounding the use of Catalan in the city.

"It's Catalan. That's what they speak here in Barcelona," Sensei Wolf tells Sensei Lawrence during a heated exchange about their knowledge of the local language.

However, the series has sparked some controversy. In the scene, Sensei Wolf orders eggs at a buffet, attempting to speak Catalan but instead speaking an unintelligible language, which some viewers believe to be Japanese.

The account Doblatge en Català (Catalan Dubbing) shared the same scene on X, where Sensei Wolf speaks Catalan dubbed in different languages.

While in some versions, such as the Spanish and Portuguese ones, the Catalan phrase is clear and understandable, in others, like the original English version, it is nearly impossible to recognize as Catalan.

The sentence that Sensei Wolf tells the buffet waiter is: "Vull quatre ous sense rovell ni sal," which translates to "I want four eggs without yolk or salt."

The two characters also discuss the pronunciation of words like "magdalena" and "Barcelona."

In another nod to the Catalan language, the competition organizer tells contestants that the next edition will take place in Barcelona and wishes them 'Bona sort' (good luck) in Catalan.