Helen, Iran
hello every one .it is obviouse if u go anywhere around the world ,you'll see and feel the cultural differences between people that some time make us surprised.of course in my country people are so different with each other even in their language ,cloth, food,tradtion, but most of the time the cultural differences between my forigne friends and i , is so wounderful.for example i had an american teacher. onece she asked me about my culture and i said everythings she wanted to know then she said something about her culture she said when she usedto live in the USA spacially some areas people ate strange animals but in my country we never eat them even she had seen that in china how ppl ate spiders .
Thiago, Brazil
I am living in Japan and I can say that I am enjoying a lot, there are many cultural differences between Brazil and Japan. For example the food here is complete different, very expensive and the portion are very small, but I learned to like the food. The only problem is almost all japaneses are workaholics ( here I don't have many way to have fun, because almost all japanese just do shopping and go to Karaoke to have fun). Anyway, here I have many friends of other countries so we try to do something together.
Gumma Fakhri, Libya
It was completely difference between the picture which I draw in my mind about the UK berfore I arrived here on many things such as food, culture, buildings and people. Then I had surprised but now I understand The UK and I like it a littil bit.
Amy, Taiwan
I did experience a cultural difference in Italy. When traveling in Italy, I went to a fruit vendor, and tried to "search" for good-looking apples as I do in Taiwan, but the owner angrily stopped me, and asked me just to pick up the apple I want and buy it. I felt shocked and then talked to my friend. My friend said in Italy you have to pick up what you want to buy. If you don't want to buy something, do not "take a look." It is impolite here.
Rambler, Iran
i am living in iran.as u know iran is a big country and its a collection of many diffrent races.if you travel from a city to the other one you will find another cultures for instance if u travel to mashhad or kerman from north you will see differences between the languages and the faces and the color of skins and the way they speak and the foodsfor example in the north people cook the foods that content fish and vegetable and rice but in mashhad they eat meat and rice.and if u travel to the south of iran u will see people wear clothes like indians i mean they dress in white in contrast in tehran they dont wear like that and if you travel to the west of iran people like singing their traditional songs but in the west of iran they have thier own music.
Robert, Poland
Brother-in-law is a husband of your sister. I have two brothers-in-law. First is Russian and the second is Australian. Once my Russian brother-in-law was driving too fast in his home country. The Police stopped him and they tried to give him a ticket. But he proposed a bribe instead. They agreed... He was very proud of the "solution" and told me this story, as he was so succesful. Another day my Australian brother-in-law was driving too fast in his home country. The police stopped him and they gave him a ticket. He paid the fine next day and was very proud of his reaction, too. Because this is according to the law, he said. Notice please, that both of them were very proud of their reaction! Russian is happy, that he gave the bribe and save money, Australian is happy because of his respect to the law! Now, What about me? To be honest with you, I used to give the bribes, in Poland, but now I don't. No bribes at all. Corruption is very bad for our country. We, Polish people, must change our bad habits, I think
Jose, Spain
In my understanding the way we do things (the norms, rules , habits, values, ..) define a culture. I think that in the today global world the cultural awareness is a paramount issue. When you know about the culture of people you are talking to, the communication and understanding are becoming easier, in the end the national barriers are breaking down and so people are getting happier.I have traveled to several countries but now I have not any specific experience coming to my mind , however I will give you some information about the way of doing things in Spain: - 3 meals per day and the most relevant are lunch (1 to 3 pm) and diner (9 to 11 pm). Lunch and diner are very important to solve familar and bussines issues.- In the morning arriving to the job the daily greeting is just to say good morning.- Being introduced to another person, either a man or a woman you shake hands. - Meeting friends and family members the cheer is an embrace and two kisses
Dararat, Thailand
I have been in Paris for nearly 4 years but I still have problem of speaking French. I had never learnt French before I came to France. French course at French language school is quite expensive. Most of the time I learn it by myself, I mean reading books. I have problem of writing French I am very bad at grammar. Eventhough today I speak better French than 2 or 3 years ago I still have a difficulty expressing myself, sometime.I had a good work when I was in Thailand I worked for an international buying services and English is the language that I praticed at work. But today in France I have a very diffiuculty looking for work. Because I speak poorly French and French people don't speak much English ( actually I would like to say " they don't speak english at all). In the job classified they required bilingual English so I start to wondering Me! who speak English like a Spainish cow and speak French like a parrot will get a job one day!. So I study hard today to improve my French and English and BBC learning is helping me a lot.
Ai Li, Malaysia
I'm a Malaysian who had been living in my own country all the while.My mother tongue is Mandarin.Last year, i came to Ireland to join my husband and started working here. i'd had cultural shock for the first few months. Irish speaks different English as mine, not only different in terms of accents but also the grammer and vocabulary. I found hard to understand them at first. Weather here definately is an issue to me who comes from a tropical country.but i'd gone through it and i'm surviving now! I'm surprised that the Irish eat lots of potatoes everyday.They even eat bagel with potatoes chips and cheese only. How interesting!I love drinking the stout here, it tastes so smooth and soothing. I think i'm going to be a drinker, a sensible one! cheers!
Kyaron, Nepal
Every society have its own social norms and values. Our everyday life is guided by these social rules and regulations so different people have different culture, tradition, way of living, etc. One culture of particular society may be taboo or unacceptable in any other society. For instance, lets take example of my own country Nepal. Many tourists visit in my country and most of them are couples. In our society, kissing, hugging or any other form of expressing love in public space is completely unacceptable. So, this may create a cultural difference between people from different walks of life.
Peter, Slovakia
I`ve spent some time with friends from Malaysia who`ve been visiting Slovakia. One girl of them wanted to go swim in the swimming pool in her clothes. We had to persuade her better not to go:) Or my brother-in-law, who lives in southern England had a interesting experience there. When he got a tyre defect on his car, English men were surprised that he has changed the wheel by his own, and did not call a repair man or tow truck. He learned that English men never repair even single defect, but rather "call and pay" (I cannot believe..is this true?:)
Muhammed Unal, Turkey
Hi my name is Muhammed from Turkey. When I see the topic "cultural differences", I thought that I should write comments about it. Because I stayed at another country for 3 years and I think that 3 years an enough time to write about it.Originally I am from Turkey and our culture is between europe and east. So we have mixed culture and it holds different colors in it. So this makes it enjoyable. As I said that I lived in USA for 3 years. I can say that US culture is very different than ours. According to US culture, you are pushed to live alone because after a certain age you need to leave your family and set up your own life. I think that this gives people a hard time. Because when they leave from their family, their age are so young. So they do not know what is right or wrong for them completely. So this draws people to live desperate lives. So it makes me sad. If you ask them why you are living in this way, they would say that this makes them harder and stronger because they take care for their life and...etc. I think this is wrong. Also you need to put distance between your relationships and many others. So I felt very much difference. But people in their nature are good. I did not see any bad things from them. So it was a realy nice experiment for me.
Duo, China
As Miki from Japan said that all shops were closed at weekend in some european countries, it is hard to believe in China. I also agree that he said we can find other better way to spend time of weekend. I have been Frankfurt am main, I love that people enjoy sunny and read at the park.
Ignacio, Ecuador
I've traveled to some countries in South America,Centrral America, North America, the culture is diferent, in especial the meals, each country has own tipical dish.the people in south america are very very cordial
Nicola, Italy
I stayed in Honk Kong for one month and I have relised how different, for obvious reasons, is that culture.It really strage for me to eat with steaks, but I was surprised to note how polite they are. For example, during the lunch, they always pour the tisane in the glass of the person is siiting next to them befor pouring into theyr glass.It is not necessary to go to a different cuntry to note diverse culture. I mean, I used to live in the south of Italy and it was sufficient to move to the north to find a different culture.
Noha, Saudi Arabia
I am Egyptian lives in saudi arabia.Although, egypt and saudi arabia are arab countries ,there are some differences.Of course,one should adjust with these differences in order to live
Lupe, Spain
In my opinion, things that we do, says something about ourselves. So,for one country it's the same. The people of this country make things in a certain way, because it's the result of a social convention and show how is the people of this country.
Meseret, Ethiopia
I haven't get a chance to see other country but I have met forigners in my country.When I saw them they apritate our culture b/c they see things which are new for them for example our cultural food is called Engera which is made by teff and eaten by wet forigners surprised by this they try to eat.also our country have good welcome for forigners ,we have lot of cultures our religious ceremony,Our Coffe Ceromony are intersting we have also many places which attract turisimes ,our Wedding Ceromony also intersting by all this person comes from d/f country impressed by Ethiopia.
Miki, Japan
When I visited a not-so-big city in France, I was surprised to learn that almost all shops are closed on Sundays and during lunch times of weekday. Walking towards a big old cathedral, looking into the dark interiors where various goods were resting in silence, I thought it's impossible in Japan. In Japan, especially for the shops in the tourist site, Sunday is busiest day, and it's unimaginable to close their shops on Sunday. But I thought, sitting on a bench and looking up the old cathedral, we could have fun without shopping on Sunday. We could make our holiday fantastic by reading a book outside leaning on a trunk as I witnessed that many French people were doing in a park, or going for a walk along the river after having dinner with someone closer, which is the favorite way of spending time for one of my friend studying in France and her French boy friend. I don't mean that all Japanese are workaholic nor that working hard is bad thing. I don't intend to insist that all Friench knows how to enjoy their lives nor that reading and eating with family or friend is only good way of spending Sunday. But I'd like to say that an experience of cultural differences can give us an good opportunity to think over our own lifestyle or value, and sometimes relieve us from too much pressure our own society's traditional values may impose us.
Welly Ho, Indonesia
I just leanr english for 9 month in singapore ,i agree with most of the students says that ,try to find more oppertunity to speaks english with your classmates or peoples come from england or uk.dont be affraid to says it out,more you speaks event its not fluently but you earn a good oppertunity to bring yourself to the right way,thank you
Koorosh, Iran
Living in a culturally divers community can be both challenging and interesting. Sometime we found something as a new culture in different area in the world which is really against our norm. What is unacceptable in one culture may be acceptable in another. Every culture has norms and sanctions. Norms are the rules for how a culture or society expects people to act, and sanctions are the way in which society enforces its norms. For example, funeral practices also differentiate cultures, in India for example when somebody dead, his/ her relative wear white cloth to show their sadness to others. They also don?t bury the body?s dead immediately and family members place items like food and clothing on the grave to assist dead person after death. While in my country, people usually wear black shirt. It is very bad manner if you wear colourful or white cloth. Most young people in USA would be unwilling to allow their parents to choose their future husband or wife, yet in many countries this practice is still common. People are born into a culture, and many of the beliefs and values that they have are passed down from one generation to another. Learning about cultures can help people understand and appreciated their own cultures as well as gain valuable lessons from other cultures.Each culture has its own symbols. Symbols are items that stand for something. Some common symbols may appear in more than one culture. For instance, crossing our fingers when we win a mach is very popular in several countries.
Koorosh, Iran
What people from diverse cultures living side by side, how do you identify different cultures? According to sociologist David popoenoe, there are five main components of culture: languages, symbols, values, norms and sanctions.I traveled to nakhajavan four years ago. It is one of small cities in Russian. I studied about them in history book, but I have never been in there. I was really surprised by some cultures that they had. I would like to concentrate on one of them. As you know Russian was a socialist country and nobody owns anything for themselves. They had house, cars, shops and etc. but all of them belong to government. Everything was same for all of them. Their cars were Lada, they lived in small flat. To be honest with you, at first I found them so boring. I could have not imagined if I had lived there. They did not compete to each other for earning money. They just work for their government. As you guessed, you could find ultimate simplicity there.I visited a hospital and I found a doctor and asked him some questions about their job, salary, and etc.She told me they do not earn much money. More over they had to work with out of date equipment.On the other hand, I found that they do not have any stress in their live, and all of them were happy. Before that I thought that if we do not have any competition any privacy life would be boring. I have changed my idea after that. At night they usually go to club and do dancing.People are born into culture, and many of the beliefs and values that they passed down from one generation to another. In my opinion, learning about cultures can help people understand and appreciate their own cultures as well as gain valuable lessons from other cultures.
Adek, Poland
Sometimes a simple thing can inconveniene you if you are in another country and don't know about cultural differences. Once, when I was still a student, I visited Bulgaria. I wanted to buy a pair of slippers for my mom. When I found a nice pair I show them to the shop assistant who handed them to me to look at them. I didn't speak Bulgarian, so when I decided that I'd buy them I smiled and nodded. Then she took the slippers out of my hands an put them back on the shelf. Eventually I managed to buy them, but the problem was that in Bulgaria, when people want to say 'yes' they turn their head left and right and nodding just means 'no' - just the opposite to what we do in Poland.
Adriana, Brazil
Once I was speaking to a turkish man on line and he asked me to wait because he had to do something and he suddenly started to put a carpet on the floor and to kneel down. Then he started to make some moviments and say things in his idiom. I was frightened because I had no idea what he was doing and he didn't explain me about his religion before. After that, he explained me it was a worship and he had to do that exactly at that time.
