Most of the time, when we talk about cultural conflicts, we often think more about actions, like how prolonged look at on person is considered rude (as staring) or an showing one's attention to them. However, there cultural differences shows in the language as well, and sometimes cause disturbance to others.
I would like to share my experiences when I first got to Singapore, around two years ago. Back then, I was actually 'shocked' by the language here - Singlish & Chinese in particular. Back in high school, I studied British English as well as American English, but more or less, I were advised to be polite, such as saying "Thanks", "Excuse me" and "Please" whenever I can. However, after arriving in NUS campus (Prince George Park residence, to be specific), and went down the canteen and order the food there, I was deeply troubled. The food that I ordered was no longer available, and the owner show me another dish, saying "Can or not?".
I thought I have done something and made him angry, but in later time, I discovered that 's what they called "Singlish". It was not nice, at least to me... And through my first semester here, I was struggling when working with my Singaporean friends, thinking they have some hostile attitude to me because of the language...
The second bad impression about language issue was during my internship, at one of NUS's robotic lab. Back then, except for my professor and my supervisor, everyone else speak Chinese, during daily conversation and sometimes, even in very technical discussion. It frustrate me for a long time, since I don't know what they are talking about....
In the end, things are settled as I found opportunities to talk with each of my friend / and ask them about why they do so. It turns out those are just habits, and they didn't mean anything. Still, I still suffer a bit from it, being less active when talking with people who use a lot of Singlish / Chinese while speaking.
All in all, I think we need to take others into consideration while speaking, to talk in a way that makes them comfortable, which is more like British English, in my opinion. Of course, we also have to adapt, trying not to think too much in our own view also, since like my case, your friends might not meant anything to you, and you just need to voice out a bit, not hating them :)
There is also an interesting video about a similar experience also, about a guy who comes to the US from Africa
