Is it okay to stand up for myself in English? I am from England, currently living and working in East Germany. I have a B1 level German, enough to get me by, have small conversations and understand most of what people say. I work in a small cafe and I am so mad at some Germans being so patronising to me. Speaking to me like an idiot. One group of people even went as far as to google how hard it was to learn German, and talked loudly about my mistakes. One guy constantly corrected my grammar when I used “der” instead of “das”. I get so shocked and tongue-tied in these moments I never know what to say. Anyway, some of my coworkers told me to just ask them not to do that/say something back at them in English and I’m wondering if it’s actually an okay thing to do? A more brash coworker said I should start speaking English and also start correcting them if they make a mistake but that seems a little bitchy. I’m just wondering what the best approach to this is, and also if anyone else has experience like that and what they did in this situation? EDIT: I’m still working through the comments but would just like to add as I see it a lot. I am fine with being corrected. I have asked my coworkers to openly correct me when I make a mistake, how else can I learn? I have a problem with people laughing at or mocking me or correcting me when I don’t know them. Especially in a patronising tone.