I absolutely agree that it's all a matter of context. It reminds me of when I was studying for an MA at a university in the UK. It was a very international programme, and during our first session the instructor pointed out that the Spanish, Italian and French students were expected to "tone down" our English when writing our essays and dissertation.
I was, and still feel, indignant when I think about it: Latinate words are perfectly good counterparts to Saxon words if they are used with precision, and especially in an academic setting one expects the educated reader to make the effort to understand and learn them. Long words used properly are just as appropriate as short ones, and no one can come and tell me at this stage -- after I've written more pages of academic English than I care to recount -- that I should "tone down" my writing. I am expressing myself in a foreign language as I best know how, and I know that it's appropriate language for the academic setting in which it will be received, even if some (not many, I think), occasionally find it a bit difficult.
