SUBREDDIT: r/legaladvice
TITLE: Negotiating business contracts without understanding
POST: Thank you for any advice you can give ahead of time. Here is the situation:

My wife and I live in British Columbia. She is currently awaiting immigration status here and is on an open work permit and wishes to open a business. Recently she found a business online that she is interested in and also met a man who claims to be an accountant who offered her help. During the day while I have been working she has met him a few times to discuss and went up to this store in another town about an hour away.

Through the whole process I told her I did not want her taking part in this business as she is not yet a PR, doesn't speak English and has no way to get to this business (consignment shop), there is no public transport to this town and she doesn't have a licence to drive at this point.

Anyways one time her and this guy went to the shop she paid a deposit and got a handwritten receipt on a piece of paper, saying it was a non refundable deposit. I emailed the current owner of the business and explained it was not possible for her to take over the shop. The owner ignored me and kept negotiating.

Anyways I finally emailed a second time and put my foot down that I have already made it clear and finally this convinced her to call it off (no reply to me though)

My question is:

Can I take her to small claims for the deposit back ($1000) as my wife does not understand English? The man who took her up does not speak her language either, so all negotiations were done without her understanding anything??
TL;DR: 
My wife "negotiated" taking over a business without being able to speak the language of the business owner and therefore could not understand the terms of the agreement. Can she get the deposit back?