Public Service Announcement from an immigrant in North America.

Don’t assume that a person is always most fluent in their “First Language”.

Many immigrants (present company included) were educated in English. Not in their first languages.

Some immigrants may have a MORE expansive vocabulary in English than their native languages, because formal domains (work, school, banks) operated substantially in English.

I can’t recall the number of times I’ve had a version of this chat with someone who kindly complimented my English skills.