Rude to post in other language on fb?

[hobish]

I don't think it's rude to post in a language only you understand.  It might annoy your friends but, that's not the same as being rude.

Agreed. One of my friends has been posting in Russian lately. I don't know if anyone has any idea what he is saying. That doesn't make it rude. Personally, I'm not even annoyed.

[whiterose]

Nope. Not rude.

I sometimes post random things in other languages. My usual "nothing new here" post- which is "The cat drinks the milk, and the dog eats the pizza"- I like posting in every single language I remotely speak in any amount, just for fun.

As long as you keep your main posts in a language that most of the audience speaks, then you should be fine.

[guihong]

I should friend you .  My first language is English, but my friends list is mostly in Russian, with a sprinkling of French, Portuguese, German, Dutch and whatever!  I love "collecting" friends who speak other languages, and a translator isn't hard.

[Bees]

I think if you want to remain multi-lingual you need to speak,write and think a bit about the language. You are expanding your friends universe so to speak.

[Amalthea]

I don't think it's rude to post in your other language, if you speak well and aren't trying to flaunt your ability or talk about someone else in a behind-her-back-in-front-of-her-face way.  I have a FB friend who tries to post in French, just to show off, and that bugs me a little.  She doesn't speak well, isn't fluent and sounds pretentious.  Actually, she kind of reminds me of Charlotte from Lolita - desperate and crazy.  But I have another friend who is from Mostar, and she regularly posts in her native language.  I don't understand her posts, but I think they're kind of neat.

If you're actually using it to communicate, I don't think it's rude if you don't actually speak the language well either.  Randomly posting in a language you know no one else understands just to show off is kind of weird though.

[thedudeabides]

By that logic, my Spanish friend who lives in Spain and posts in his native language is one rude jerk to me even though it's his native language.

Sounds like someone needs a rectocraniectomy and a lesson in not being a language-phobe.

[Van down by the river]

I have a friend from Russia. When he posts in Russian I know it's something for his friends in family only. It doesn't bother me in the slightest.

[Shea]

I fail to see how this is rude in the least. I have friends who regularly post in French, Spanish, Georgian, Hebrew, Danish and Swedish, in addition to English. If I really want to know what my friends are posting in Georgian, Hebrew, Danish or Swedish, I can use Google translate. I myself sometimes post in my second language (French), which a substantial portion, though not all, of my friends can read. It never occurred to me that I might be "excluding" people.

I say you're fine, OP, and your friend is rude to try and dictate what you post.

[rachellenore]

I wouldn't worry about offending anyone. Maybe try to post it in as best of English as you can if you think it's relevant to anyone who may not speak the language.

My cousin lives in Japan, though he's from the US. Sometimes he will update only in Japanese. My mom gets frustrated, but she just chalks it up to "cousin's name being cousin's name," she doesn't get upset that he won't let his aunt know his every thought.

[Pinky830]

I have several friends who post occasionally in Spanish (their first language) and I don't think twice about it. I can read just enough Spanish to get a general sense of what it says, and if I'm curious enough I can run it through Google Translator.

[JacklynHyde]

One of my high school friends grew up speaking English, but then moved to North Korea for many years.  Now he's living in Singapore.  He posts in several languages in an effort to avoid rudeness and alienation of his friends.

[Sensei Otousan]

I have a large amount of friends on Fb who speak languages other than English fluently. If I am posting something "important", I will post in English, then post the same status again in Tagalog, since most of my friends are Filipino. I see a lot of posts by friends in languages that I don't understand and it doesn't bother me a bit.  If I am curious, I either online translate or just ask them what it means. It's a good way to learn new phrases. IMHO. So, I will go with "not rude".

[Sensei Otousan]

OP, if I may, where do you live that your friend hasn't got other bi/multi lingual friends? I have Farsi, Welsh, French, Danish and the Philippine language (forgotten it's name, sorry) pop up on my news feed regularly. In fact, my non-Welsh friends have often google translated something I've posted on a mutual welsh friend's wall, formed a reply, put THAT through google translate and posted it. That was cute.

Short answer then: oh for goodness sake, no! English (if so it is) is not the only language in the world, nor is she your only friend. Ignore!

It would most likely be Tagalog or Visayan. 

[lmyrs]

I have friends of many different languages and nationalities and I think that's pretty common. And my Facebook feed has a Translate this Post link right under every post on my feed that's not in English. If people want to know what someone is saying on Facebook, I'm not sure how it could possibly be made any easier.

[Dr_Manners]

I don't think it is rude at all.  As a matter of fact, I have someone I became friends with recently who fits this situation perfectly.  He is originally from Libya, now living in the US, and about half of his FB posts are in English with the other half in Arabic.  He does this so he can communicate with his intended audience.

When he posts in English, he is posting something he thinks his American friends will want to know.  When he posts in Arabic, it is to communicate with his friends and family back in Libya. 

I don't think it is rude, in the slightest.  My friend is merely choosing to communicate with a target audience in the language they are most likely to understand.