> When people say "Oh, you are really good at this." The Chinese response would be "No, I'm not good at this at all!" But I would look like an idiot if I say this in the U.S. I knew it, but it really needs some mental power to correct it, because conversations happen so fast and sudden, you don't have time to think.

I find it amusing, as I live in Seattle, and the culture here is very much (at least with people I associate with) that if someone said "Wow, you know a lot about that!" you'd respond with "I know a little bit" or "I know a reasonable amount". It seems to be a weird cultural mash-up of the ideas of accepting the compliment and of denying the praise in the compliment.

> The first problem is lacking feedback. Nobody would correct you, if there is a difference, until you find it by yourself too late or in a nasty way.

As someone with a lot of immigrant friends and colleagues (the uni I went to had a lot of exchange students, and I now work as a contractor to a tech company with a lot of visa workers), any tips on sensitive ways to bring such things up?