When is it appropriate to speak another language?
 

Im moving somewhere where there is more of an international community in my neighboorhood. I'll be surrounded by hispanics, and there is a largely Japanese shopping plaza very close to my apartment. I plan on being around the neighboorhood quite a bit for shopping, and the like.. and im wondering when is it apporpriate to speak to other people in their languages? Would I be out of bounds if i walked into the Japanese market and asked the clerk in Nihongo how much an irtem is, or if they have any more in the back, etc? I know it's a great practical application of what i've learned, but i have seen people assume that someone doesnt speak english because of their ethnicity. It happends to some close friends of mine all the time, they are congratulated on their english even though they are ABC kids. Also getting in good with the locals wouldn't be soo bad when looking for that unnofficial discount they sometimes give to familiar customers. ;) Soo.. Im asking .. when is it appropriate to bust out the [insert language here]?

Best advice I can give based on watching my family members who speak Spanish is to first speak to them in English. If you hear an accent or can tell that they speak the language based on how they pronounce words in English, then go ahead.

9 months ago I moved to Madrid from Ireland, I still dont speak the language that well partly coz I work alot & its all in English & partly coz Im a lazy sack of shit.
In my experience people respond positively when I speak Spanish & when a Spanish person attempts to speak English I take it as a compliment.
Things may be different in your situation but thats my dos centimos.

I'm a fan of the immerssion method for English.. but we are talking about a second language here.

One time in Queens park I watch a spanish speaker talk to another in english only to have the second spanish person chastise him and demand he speak spanish so that they could be private, never of course thinking that me and my wife both speak Spanish very well. I found it a bit reprehensible but then again.. more power to them.

I have cousins born and raised here in the US and they speak Tagalog (filipino for those that don't know) and sometimes they try to talk to me in Tagalog. I only speak to my grandparents in Tagalog because of respect for them. As for the rest of the family, I speak to them in english. My native born cousins here have some pretty thick accents and IMHO I think that it set them back a bit because they cannot articulate well. I see even people with Brooklyn/Queens/Bronx accents not do well. Aiight?

Now when I speak to some of these other flips in the city. I'll sometimes will speak to them like a local. Why? I dunno.. keeps me skills up. As far as looking for a discount.. eh.. if they wanna give one.. they will give one.

Now my wife.. she doesn't speak Tagalog... so when grandma and grandpa are talking it's my duty to translate for her. Or ask that they speak in english because IMO I think it's rude to not include someone in the conversation that is in the room.

My wife speaks 6 languages (Is carribean spanish) and I speak 4. None of them include any asian languages, but as of late I've been learning some Thai from a friend of mine from there. I've learned this much... If they are speaking the language and you can speak it, it's cool. If not, it certainly isn't safe to assume that they speak a certain language. We went to a Thai restaraunt locally, my friend and I and greeted them soundly and properly in Thai. They looked at me as if I were on drugs... come to find out, they're not Thai at all.. (DOH) by the same token, around my wife's family, I am free to speak Spanish, spanglish, and even German with her father, who speaks all of the above. The German is only understood by the 2 of us in the room, so it's kind of a fun special thing to tease the others. My poor Thai friend gets very confused at times because my wife and I, and the kids as well, have a tendancy to switch languages midstream, as much for practice and effect as anything else. Her English is decent for a conversation, but our slang, changing between French, English, Spanish, and Russian (mostly the wife and kids) throws her badly because she's not always aware when we change, or what we've changed to... We have made an effort not to do that around her, as it's impolite.. IN a lot of ways worse than whispering, since it implies that we are intentionally excluding someone from the conversation. Just be careful not to assume based on appearances. Here in TX there are a lot of hispanics that do not speak a word of spanish, and I'd wager well that that applies to most races across the nation!

I'd think that once you begin to frequent these shops, and hear the employees speaking amongst themselves, you will know who speaks what. Tell them you are learning the language, and would like to practice.
I'm sure they would also appreciate your letting them know that you can understand them.

My spanish teacher in HS was originally from Brazil. He had a story from when he first started travelling abroad, and he found himself in France for a number of months. He presented himself to people he met with a pre-memorized paragraph.

Hello, my name is {name} and I'm trying to learn your language. At this time this is all that I have mastered, but I'm expanding my skills every day.

And each day he would learn something new to add to his introduction. After a while that first paragraph was upwards of 4 minutes long.

When I worked in the Hotel Industry (in the balt/wash area) I wound up using my spanish a lot more frequently, but I typically reserved it for when I was joking around with clients. I found that relaying instructions/orders to people in their native tongue usually didn't go over too well, unless they were trying to play the 'No Hablo Ingles' game with me...

My spanish is so limited, I usually only speak it when I'm talking to someone who's english is even poorer. It came in VERY handy when I was the safety manager at a meat plant, as 90%+ of the workers were no english speaking mexican immigrants.

I do know enough to get my meaning across, but it's still painful.

Thank you for all your responses. When my girlfriend and I were out in the area a few minths ago, looking for an apartment we did some grocery shopping to help save $$ during out stay. That's kind of how wee found this place. The clerks who worked in a few of the stores and eateries there were all mostly speaking japanese so i assume they speak it pretty much all the time. I just didnt want to make any cultural mistakes next time shopped there.

Also i wanted to avoid the "look the dog can talk" effect.. That's when you get startled looks when you speak someone's language and they dont expect you to be able to understand them. My prebious girlfriend was Puerto Rican and I took spanish in school for like 14 years. When i met her grandfather and he started telling her in spanish that i was a nice boy, and i replied "thank you, i think you are nice as well" you could have heard a pin drop in that household. Gor the rest of the day I was asked by various relatives " how did you learn to speak spanish?" It got kind of annoying...

Cynthetiq.. Growing up my best frined was 1/2 filipino and my last roommate was too. I learned a lot of tagalog.. unfortunately none of it is anything i can say in public :)

Toxic 515, you remind me of the scene in Boondock Saints where Willem Dafoe is questioning the brothers, and they speak to eacother in russian, german, italian, spanish etc. , switching languages for every sentence.
I wish I could be like that.

I say only try to speak another language when you are unable to communicate in english, lest you insult the person whom you are talking to by implying that you can speak better spanish/japanese than they can english. After you get to know them, I am sure it would be ok and flattering if you were to practice your language skills with them, but initially at least, stick to english.

You can always ask? It would be great for you to be able to see what they think, but be wary of seeming to show off