If you are speaking a language different than your first or primary language and someone compliments you on how well you speak, does it make you uncomfortable?

I’d take it as a compliment.
Making an effort to speak the language of wherever you are is a very nice thing, so for someone to use it as a reason to be insulting is very rude.
Besides, why waste energy on someone that is trying to insult me in such an idiotic way?
Both of my grandmothers spoke French as their first language and rarely used it when they came to the US unless conversing with family that couldn’t speak English well. Or when they got mad. Lol!
My grandfather spoke Italian but rarely used it. He did however speak with a neighbor in Italian and seemed delighted to do so.
He also spoke Italian when he got mad :)

@lucillelucillelucille I think it’s very rare it’s said as insult. The question is does the person take it as an insult, or maybe it just makes them uncomfortable or self conscious.

@JLeslie – A confident person wouldn’t be insulted, uncomfortable or self conscious.
They shouldn’t be, anyway.

When it’s just a passing comment, I feel perfectly happy. While I don’t notice much of a difference in comprehension, it does get tiring to translate my thoughts into English all the time. This is especially true for situations of high-speed communication. It feels good to have that disadvantage acknowledged. Especially as I’m acutely aware of mistakes I make, and that is quite frustrating at times. A little reminder that I’m not using my native language can actually be a relief.

I do get a bit uncomfortable when people gush about it. In those cases, I usually say that I “cheated” by learning English as a child, and so can’t really take credit. If you put a young person into a situation where all potential friends speak a new language, chances are they’ll adjust with very little effort. Most of us learn at least one language as infants. It’s not much more “work” to achieve a good grasp of another language, if you can immerse yourself in it.

I definitely understand how it can be offensive to be complimented on your language skills when you live outside of your home country. My friend is frequently in that situation – she is originally from Turkey, but has lived in Germany ever since she was little. Elderly ladies often comment on her German skills. To her, it’s a reminder that even though she feels at home here, she will never truly belong. She has a good response though – she just says “Thanks. Your German is excellent, too!”

@longgone So, does your friend from Turkey feel the ladies are racist?

@JLeslie I think she would say they are ignorant. They have trouble adjusting to a world that’s changing fast.

It would never happen. I know only the briefest particles of other languages.

When a cabbie, I picked up a man from a local Latino bar one night. He started rattling away in Spanish. I replied patiently that my Spanish is terrible, and to get anywhere he would have to speak English. We continued the same for a while. I finalIy said, mi Espanol es caca.
He burst out in loud guffaw, “You know what you said? You said your Spanish is shit!”
I replied that it was pretty much all the Spanish I knew, so it was true, and by the way, now that you are speaking English, wanna tell me where to take you?

So, I’ve never been complimented for my brilliant use of another language, but somebody once appreciated my apology for my poor use of their language.

@longgone Do you think it’s possible they are open and accepting, and simply were impressed with her English? They don’t know how long she has lived in Germany. I guess maybe it’s bad that they are presuming she is a more recent immigrant.

Нет, это не делает меня неудобным. (No, it doesn’t make me uncomfortable)

I was traveling to the country for the very first time and it made me slightly uncomfortable. That’s mostly because I know I have good pronunciation but not that great of a vocabulary. So for me it’s like yeah of course I sound great in this simple conversation and people would pressume I speak the language quite well. But if you want to talk about something more complicated I wouldn’t be able to make conversation.

@JLeslie Yes, that’s possible. I think it just gets tiring if you hear it repeatedly.