Reply to Is it always rude to speak another language to someone if you happen to have another mutual language

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[quote=Anonymous]If you meet someone who speaks another language that you know, is it rude to speak to them in that language? Not including in the presence of other people who do not also speak that language, with the intention to exclude them - of course that is rude.

Say for example you grew up speaking Russian, but no longer have opportunities to use your language and you fear losing it - if you meet other people who happen to speak Russian, is it rude to go ahead and speak it with them?

Or, say you are learning Portuguese. You have a deep interest in long term visiting or living in Brazil or Portugal and you meet people from there, is it ok to go and speak your working Portuguese language to them/will it be perceived as belittling and assuming they don't know English?

Or, say you are fluent in Mandarin, and you hear people on the street speaking Mandarin Chinese and they appear to need help. Is it rude to go over and speak their language and not English first?

The idea is that one may want to use their other languages but not appear patronizing. Is this acceptable to do, given a diverse multinational community like the DC metro area, or should you just stick to friends and other people you already know and make it clear that "We're going to speak Russian/Portuguese/Mandarin today." Is it perceived less rude if you are a heritage speaker of a language as opposed to a random white American trying to practice their low level language with random people?[/quote]

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