Language barrier

I used to speak poorly in English. I took me many years to practice, now I feel pretty comfortable to speak. It is funny I feel a lot easier to speak English with other foreigner such as Korean or India. But when I talk to American, it still feel a bit uneasy. Recently this problem has been improved a little. The husband of my sister-in-law is an American, I talk to him quite often, so it helps.

Long time ago when I was still in Seattle, an experienced Chinese co-worker told me that I should speak English anywhere in the company even talking to Chinese. Because it would allow other people to join the conversation and improve the PR. I took his advise and kept doing so. But when I come to the Valley, I feel most people (at least in my company) don't do that. Chinese speaks mandarin with their friends and Indian do the same. Unfotunately, my 1st language is Cantonese so I can't really join either conversation.

Perhaps I need to find a relative who speaks Mandarin or Indian.