Today a German student told me tomorrow is her birthday, and I said happy birthday to her? However, she said that, in Germany, saying happy birthday would introduce bad luck if not on the exact birthday. She is very generous and would not mind. However, next time, if I see a German person, should I assume that I don’t want to say happy birthday to her/him before the birthday?
I understand the ‘just ask’ principle, but to what extent I would have to ask before each action? Moreover, perhaps the action of ‘asking’ itself is also a sense of stereotyping, labelling, and making assumptions?
The same problem about whether, when I see a Japanese person, I should assume that he/she doesn’t like people going to their place (Japanese people, culturally specking, do not like people going to their own places).
To what extent this is cultural appreciation and to what extent this is racism (or any kind of discrimination)?