It's definitely cultural rather than linguistic. I have been told (in Britain) I can come across as rude because I am usually direct with disagreement rather t

It's definitely cultural rather than linguistic. I have been told (in Britain) I can come across as rude because I am usually direct with disagreement rather than making a lot of ceremony about it. I am a native Italian speaker, and I find the English apologetic fear of confrontation even in benign settings (i.e. "I do not think this idea can work") to be infuriating. Likewise, slavic cultures such as Russian/Eastern-European can seem even more direct and downright hostile if you're not used to dealing with them, because they don't feel the need to mince words and, I guess, prefer clarity and honesty. I have since learned to be a bit more diplomatic, yet I find my Italian assertiveness can come in useful to deal with standstill situations at work where everyone is tiptoeing around each other in uncertainty and no one wants to call the shots. At work and in personal setting, I much prefer honesty and being direct than trying to do your utmost not to offend. Avoiding offense requires a lot of assumption about somebody else's state of mind, with the risk of getting it catastrophically wrong because people are generally terrible mind readers. Empathy is a great tool, but the best way to disagree is, in most cases, simply to say "no."