What was the trigger?

This is the point that Valentina is having trouble with.

If you see the sentences that Ita says, It's also written on Spanish.

If the readers can't read Spanish, then they will understand the emotion of Valentina.

The readers also can feel frustrating even though it's not ita's fault.

We can see that Clari and Valentina's opinions are conflicting.

Personally, I think I understand Valentina’s feelings more. As someone who is going through Valentina's situation, it hurts me so much to see Valentina sad because of her Spanish...

But that doesn't mean I can't understand Clari's feelings. Clari would have wanted to help Valentina communicate with her grandmother as much as possible. But since Grandma can only speak Spanish, Clari will automatically speak Spanish as well.

Now, She is able to talk basic English such as "I show you"(It's not grammatically correct but you can understand what Ita wants to say).

This can proof that Ita wants to talk with Valentina.

What is different from Valentina is that, contrary to Valentina, the author refused to speak English.

You've probably really felt the language barrier while living in the United States. It seems like that experience was projected onto the character Valentina.