TA's not speaking English (literally)

[skieurope]

Unfortunately it seems that you fail to understand the term “office hours”, which accounts for your confusion.

Maybe this link will help you out: http://lsc.cornell.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/What-Are-Office-Hours.pdf

I'm not sure it's that users do not understand the concept of office hours; it's more that different colleges define them differently. The link seems to indicate that office hours at Cornell are one-one-one. That may be the case at many colleges, but certainly not all.

At my college, as an example, in certain departments, mostly, but not exclusively, STEM, office hours are definitely group sessions, both for TA’s office hours as well as the professor’s. In addition to the published officed hours, both profs and TA’s are available by appointment for one-on-one questions. Additionally, many departments have tutoring centers for one-on-one questions.

Anyway, back to the OP’s situation, I see nothing wrong with asking that communication be in English.