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Cultural Barriers Transcript

Speakers: John Coleman, Eriana Rivera, Eleazar Romo, Gregory Sautov, Yuko Sato

Slide 1 (on screen)

Culture

Culture consists of the beliefs, ways of believing and artifacts of a group. By definition, culture is transmitted through communication and learning rather than through genes. – DeVito, p. 21

Slide 2 (on screen)

Select an interview.

John Coleman

On Georgia, Washington DC

Eriana Rivera

On Latin America, Hong Kong, Spain

Eleazar Romo

On Mexico and America

Gregory Sautov

On Russia and America

Yuko Sato

On Japan and America

Interviews

John Coleman

On the cultures of Georgia and Washington DC

Select a question.

Please introduce yourself.

My name is John Coleman. I’m initially from Georgia, and I’ve lived in Washington DC for about 13 months.

What’s different in DC than in Georgia?

I think there are a lot of things different in DC than in Georgia. Um, I mean obviously there are just some kind of geographic and cultural differences. Ah, you know, there’s a lot more different ethnic foods in DC. There are a lot of people from different cultures, I think, you’ve got, ‘cause there are a lot of, um, embassies and things like that, so you’ve got ambassadors, the ambassadors’ kids, people working in international organizations. And so, you know, you’ll hear a hundred different languages all over the place. So, you have all of these things coming together, in a city that’s generally more superficial than most, because it’s very political, and so everybody wants to be happy and everybody wants to smile at one another, and even if they’re arguing they want to make sure they don’t offend somebody in case they join their political cause later. Ah, so, it’s a really odd culture, I think, um, comparative to the South, where things seem a little more laid back. Um, people are superficial in a way, because they’re very nice, but it’s in a less, uh, networking kind of way, I guess. In DC I think you run into a lot of different cultures coming together, and there isn’t a clash, so to speak, but you do have people, uh, uh, bringing in influences that you’re maybe not used to, and it, and it melds pretty seamlessly. I don’t think there’s much of a culture clash, as far as a lot of people from different countries. But it does bring an interesting mix into things, in a different way than it does in the South, I think.

What have you learned to adapt to the DC culture?

One of the things that’s hard for me is learning how to disagree with people, but not really be mad at them or feel too strongly about something, and I mean, that’s something that a lot of people strive for, I guess, but in DC sometimes it’s taken to such a level that, that you almost feel like what you believe in isn’t worth very much, because nobody really stands up too hard, unless they’re on camera, for anything they believe in. And so it’s different, in that, you know, when I was back home, if you believed strongly in something you would argue strenuously for it, and you really believed it, you thought that was the right way. Whereas in DC I think people are a little more, I don’t want to say superficial in their beliefs, but I think those beliefs are more easily malleable dependent on the climate of the people they’re with. And so, there is, there’s something different about the structure of your belief systems, I think, down here and up there. Being that, up there, everything is a little more open-ended, nothing’s as sure, I think, and no one acts as if they’re as sure, as they do in a place like Georgia, for instance.

What sets DC culture apart?

I think the culture in DC is unique in that it’s a very odd city. Most cities are built on some kind of a, an urban gathering of people from different cultures. So, like, a lot of cities in the west coast I know are kind of more ethnically divided up and things like that. There are communities that come over from other countries and stuff, and they’ll settle in a particular area. They’re also kind of based around commerce, it seems to me, in a lot of ways. Like New York, big commerce center. Atlanta is centered a lot on commerce and media, things like that. Whereas, DC, the center of the culture is not so much commerce as politics, journalism, nonprofit work, that kind of thing. And I think that sets it apart from most cities, particularly in the United States. And I don’t, I don’t have much experience abroad with other cities that, that are capital cities, particularly. But there is a different culture in that, the people there aren’t working out of a profit motive or anything like that. Generally it’s, it’s more of a kind of a, the dynamic is such that, that the goals of the people in the city are different than the goals that most people will have. So if I’m, some normal city, you generally focus. Politics are local, and your business is what you’re focused on. Even if you’re in a nonprofit it’s generally more localized. Or if you’re in Atlanta or somewhere, it’s media that’s local to that city. Whereas in Washington, I don’t think you’d get the same feel for national and international politics anywhere in the U.S. that you do there. And so the motives of the people in the city, and the goals and the ambitions of the people in the city are very, very different than most places you’ll go in the United States. And it’s one of the only places you can go if you want to do nonprofit and political work on a national or international scale. And I think there’s such a concentration of that in the city that people’s ambitions change so much that there is really a culture that develops from that.

When did you start to feel assimilated into the DC culture?

(laughter) I don’t think I ever felt assimilated to DC really. And I think almost anyone who’s in DC would answer that, because they like to feel like they’re very different, you know, they have their own goals and ideals and things like that. Um, I think you know you’re somewhat assimilated when you’re used to the political banter, when you’re used to the fact that things that come up in conversations are rarely basketball games, and more often congressional hearings or, or nonprofit work in Sudan or something. Um, and so you, once you start discussing those in everyday life, and once you start having conflicts with people and then forgetting about those conflicts in the next sentence, just because you’re moving on, you’ve got something else to discuss, I think in some ways that’s an assimilation to the city. You become used to that dynamic more than you were from where you came.

How has DC changed you?

Uh, I talk more, if that’s possible to believe. (laughter) Uh, I think that, I’ve changed some in DC, in that I don’t have as an idealized view of politics as I did at one time. I think you start to see that a lot of the political system in America really is that, it’s a system, and not people, sometimes. And it’s hard for individuals to overcome that system sometimes. And so it can be, it can be very hard to struggle against something that seems very difficult to change. And I think because of that, your, your ideals about what the system should be, what change is possible in a short amount of time, they, they kind of dampen those a little bit, and you become more realistic about how slow change is, and how you’ve got to really, really be dedicated to something in the long-term to make that happen. You know, nothing really happens overnight when one person decides, like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, that they’re going to change the whole thing. Um, you have to work within the system, and sometimes it’s very discouraging. But, uh, but, you know, you can also learn that even if you become a little more cynical about the way things work, that things still can work. I mean, it’s pretty amazing that, with all the obstacles to change, and with all the obstacles to progress, uh, that we’ve come as far as we have, and that so many cultures around the world are more open now than they were a hundred, two hundred years ago, to different things. And so, in some ways the system is working, but it’s very hard to be within it, I think.

How is communication different in DC?

It's almost hard to make a statement about it, because I think, you know, international nonprofits will communicate one way. Politicians in the U.S. who are in Congress, uh, communicate a completely different way. Presidents communicate a different way. Low-level staffers in the State Department have their own little communications. In that way it’s very much like the rest of the U.S., ah, because you communicate to your circle of influence. So if you’re a low-level staffer in the State Department, you learn how to get by in a bureaucracy, and it’s almost like any, any kind of company, where you do your job, you try and impress your superiors, you try to move up within that. If you’re the President, obviously, it’s very different, because his circle of influence is so wide. And if there is a difference in the communication between the two cultures it’s just that that variety is even more expanded. Because you do have people who can reach the entire world with some of their words, which is something that you don’t find in a lot of cities, even when you have business leaders like Ted Turner, Bill Gates, or someone like that.

What are your favorite aspects of the DC culture?

Well, one of the things from my perspective, because I’m 23 years old, that I like about the Washington culture is just it’s very young. You know, when you watch CSPAN all you see are, you know, 70-year-old politicians who’ve been in Washington for 50 years. Ah, but the majority of people in Washington’s area are very young. I know a lot of magazines rank the Washington–Baltimore area as one of the best places for 20-somethings to live in the United States. And it’s because a lot of the folks there are very idealistic, they’re right out of college, they’ll take very low wages to work for a cause they like. And so you’ve got a lot of 20-something-year-old people who are in the city, who are working together. Um, a lot of them are single, a lot of them want to make new friends there because very few people are actually from the area. And so, it’s a really cool culture to be, in your, in your mid-20s, or so I’d say. Because there are so many friends you can make immediately, there’s so many places you can go to meet people. There’s so many people your own age with some of your own outlook on life and idealism and things like that that you can interact with. Um, and it’s also neat to be around influence, uh, which I think is the source of a lot of bad things in government and a lot of good things. Ah, on the bad side, people like influence and they’ll, sometimes they’ll do bad things to get it, right? Um, and you can see that, I mean, people are a little more deceptive when there’s a possibility of gaining power, being close to something. But it’s also neat to, you know, sit in a room, listen to a Supreme Court Justice or, you know, I went to Ronald Reagan’s funeral. And to be in the middle of a presidential funeral or a, you know, to be close to something that really does have a very wide circle of influence is alluring in its own way. Um, and I think that, as far as politics is concerned especially, that Washington is one of the best places for you to really get close to those kind of people, and, uh, you know, be around them, and see what they’re like when they communicate, in person, and all that kind of thing. And, and in a way it humanizes them, and in a way it also gives you some hope that, you know, there’s a way that I could have that kind of influence, maybe, too. And, uh, so it’s, it’s a very alluring prospect.

Eriana Rivera

On the cultures of Latin America, China, Spain, Canada and America

Select a question.

Please introduce yourself, and tell us where you have lived.

Well, my name is Eriana. I’m originally Columbian. That is in South America, not Columbia, District of Columbia or anything of the sort. And I have lived in about six different countries. I lived in Columbia, Hong Kong before it was part of China. I moved to Mexico. I lived in Canada. I’ve lived in Spain, and France. And, of course, the United States.

What are some distinctives of Latin culture?

Every single culture has very subtle ways of, of communicating. I think the parts of the biggest culture shock from moving from one culture to another is just having that gap in the most basic of, of human relations, which is communication. And realizing that all of a sudden, you know, the carpet’s been swept from under your feet and you have no idea what’s going on. Um, in Latin America, and I guess I’ll kind of group, I guess I’ll kind of group, maybe, a little bit, Spain even though it’s a part of Europe, Spain, Mexico, and Columbia, under one particular culture, which is the Ibero-American culture. And it’s very open, you know, you talk a lot, you gest-, you know you gesticulate a lot, you like to tell a lot of stories, uh, very open in, in a lot of, in every aspect. You know, you’re asking, um, I guess the culture, sometimes people would characterize it as a culture of gossip, but not really. We just really, we care about the, the details of everyday life. And so, very warm.

What do you mean by having the carpet pulled out from under your feet?

Well, what I mean by having the carpet pulled out from under my feet, it’s the, the little basic things of everyday life change very much. And it, it almost becomes embarrassing to ask, well, you know, where for ex… I remember, when I moved to Hong Kong, I never, I never called, to me a bathroom is always a bathroom, you know, where are the bathrooms? And there they called them the lavatories or something. That was a lot more, like, British slang or sometimes the toilets are the loo. I had no idea what the loo was, right? And so, and they were also first, like ESL students, or second English, English as Second Language, so when I asked for the bathroom, nobody understood what I was saying. They were like, what? They were probably thinking, why does she want to bathe in the middle of the day? or something. And I, you know, it’s that kind of stuff that it, it just, you never, you always have it as a given, and all of a sudden when the little, little factors change, you find yourself completely overwhelmed and stressed out because you can’t, you can’t get your point across as effectively the way you have always been able to. So it can be, it can be quite frustrating, the smallest details, just kind of block your thinking process.

What was Hong Kong like?

When I moved to Hong Kong from Columbia, that was a big culture shock. And part of the reason was Hong Kong is very segregated in terms of culture, because no one can really, no international person can really adapt, or camouflage itself within the mainstream Chinese culture in Hong Kong, so you’re all part of what we call the internationals or the expats, and then everybody else is Chinese. Let’s see, there are two specific situations that really brought the, the Chinese culture and I kind of at a clash. The first one, it’s not, um, opposite to the Latin American culture where we’re very open, affectionate, and almost even physical, you know, we do, the whole concept of, of personal space it’s, that’s just a mere suggestion, right? And you just kind of stand, you hug, whatnot. I had a best friend at the time, or so I thought, who was Chinese, and at one point in time I suppose I must have gotten a good grade or something and I got really excited and I just went over to her and hugged her. To me that was part of communicating my, my, my happiness. And she froze. She just stood there like I was violating her or something. And I was very confused. And she was like, “Don’t touch me, don’t touch me, get off of me.” And I never, I, you know, I let go, I was like, Crap, what did I do? And when I went home I, my mom explained to me, of course, that, you know, the Chinese culture is not a very physical culture. You, you have very clear boundaries and even affection with a parent and child is by no means public, it’s, it’s just, it’s very formal. And that to me was a big, you know, to me, communication had always been a joint venture, you know? You share with the other person. And in this case, if you tell them, great, if not, then you know, don’t bother. So that was, um, the other thing that was, that was also very interesting to me was with, um, with a Japanese friend who was also going to the school. And it involved a situation in which, for whatever reason they were angry at another girl. She was with a group of, of her Japanese friends and, I don’t know why I even made friends with her because I don’t look Japanese, but whatever. Uh, and there was this particular girl that they didn’t like. And so they thought they were going to let her know that they didn’t like her and they were going to send her a blade. Like a shaving blade, like the old-school shaving blade knives, and I didn’t really quite get it, but that was, to them, and I can kind of link that back to just the symbolism of certain things, unspoken communication. They, that was, they were just going to send that to her as a sign, “Look, you suck, we don’t like you.” And for a while she asked me, “Can you keep this blade in your, in your backpack, before we send it to farmer girl,” or how they called her. And I had nightmares for so long because I just was carrying this thing, and to me that was so, it held, I guess it, it meant so much more than to them which was just the hey, we don’t like you. I, my associations with the blade in my backpack were so much, were so much greater. And at one point in time I reached in my bag for a pen and didn’t realize it was there, cut, you know, parts off my finger, well, it didn’t sever but it cut pretty bad. And I had to call her, be like, “Look, I don’t do this, I don’t understand what you’re trying to do. It’s against, you know,” I put in religion there just so that hopefully then she wouldn’t have any reason to tell me that I was crazy. I was like, “Look, it’s against my culture, it’s against my religion. I can’t really do this. If you want to tell this girl that you don’t like her, you send her the blade yourself. I’m not going to partake in that.” So, very different, very different to what I was used to, just very, not, very unspoken, an unspoken communication. It’s about the looks, it’s about just the way you interact without necessarily having to exchange a lot of, a lot of physical or, I don’t know, even verbal.

What about the U.S.?

The U.S., well, it’s kind of a trick question, because there’s, it, it really depends with whom you’re dealing with in the U.S. And there’s so many, like, microcultures, to a certain degree, um, and even different communities. And to what capacity you interact with them has a huge difference, right? But I would, I would think the U.S. is, and I’m going to focus a little bit on the South, because that’s, this is the only place in the U.S. where I’ve lived. And I’ve interacted with a lot of American people outside the U.S. at international schools and American schools, but I’ve never officially lived here. And the, in the, American people outside of the U.S. are a different breed than the people who live in the U.S. They’re completely different. I thought I knew Americans and I came here and I was like, “What’s going on? I don’t know anything.” Um, something that has always really, I don’t know, puzzled me a little bit about the South is that, that politesse, so to speak, that desire to appear polite even if you don’t give a rip. And when we first got here and, you know, we would sneeze, or we would trip, or anything, it was like, “Oh, I’m so sorry.” And to me that was, before, my sister and I would look at each other and Why are they sorry? They’re not sorry, they don’t care! Or I’d say, No, I’m feeling, oh, I’m,—whatever, you would say something like, I, I was late this morning because… and they’re like, “Oh, I am so sorry.” And it was such a filler word, that I’m sorry. And to me, being sorry, the, the whole aspect of the apology has got a completely different connotation, that, here is just being thrown out like, “Oh, well that’s terrible, but, I’m so sorry,” like they were personally responsible for it. So, it, but at the same time, that desire to appear personable and caring was contradicted by the fact that nobody really cared to know how you were doing. It was like, “How are you doing?” “Good, great.” And they just keep on walking by. You don’t stop by to talk, you, you have the, and that is so true here at Berry. When you are walking from one building to the other and you don’t even stop, like, you just throw out the word as a, as a pleasantry, but not, devoid of meaning altogether. “Hey, what’s up?” “Fine.” You just go. Knowing that you’re never going to say that you’re not okay. You’re never going to say, “My day is terrible.” Because if you said that, the person would be forced to stop and ask you, “Oh, well, why is your day terrible?” And they don’t want to do that. You know, they just want to get on their way. So, on one hand, you have this concerned individual who really wants you to know that they’re very sorry that you’re sneezing, because that must be terrible. And on the other hand, when they ask you how you’re doing, they keep on walking. And you start responding and, I mean, you’re talking to yourself, there’s nobody around. So that, um, that would be one, one characteristic that I’ve found kind of puzzling, you never really get beyond a certain depth. Because there’s, I guess, kind of a, um, it’s kind of like a, the personal space mentality that Americans have, but on a personal, an emotional, and a communicative level.

As you adapt to each culture, is it easy to go back?

Not too long ago I actually traveled to Spain on vacation. I was there for two weeks; I lived there for two and a half years, so I’ve got some great friends. And as I was walking the streets I had some, some man come, and he was filling out a survey. And I tried to dodge him but, you know, I was unsuccessful and he came. And this man, I’d forgotten, I’d forgotten what personal space meant in, in Spain, and that is, it doesn’t really exist. This guy was in my face. And I suppose I, by then I had somewhat assimilated to the American concept of, “Look, don’t come near me. I need to have, you know, arm’s length at all points in time, unless I have invited you within my happy, you know, happy space”. And this guy was in my face and his breath wasn’t awesome. And he, and I kept thinking, the first thing that came to my mind was, “Wow, I forgot,” that it’s, you know, it’s not applicable. That guy wasn’t trying to be rude, he wasn’t trying to be, you know, violating, what was going on. But he was in my face. And I thought, “Wow, I’ve really gotten used to the American ‘don’t come too close’,” because, you know, Americans tend to get very uncomfortable when there is a lot of physical proximity from somebody that you don’t know. And even in cases when you do know someone, unless there is a specific reason as to why you’re so close, they’re, don’t, you don’t have to be that close. It’s my personal space. I think that applies a little bit to a personal level too, where sometimes you have this, I guess, internal bubble of personal space, and you only go so far to talk about certain topics, the Braves, the weather, you know, it’s terrible how Allatoona Lake is drying up and we’re going to have to, you know, only mow our lawn—I mean, only water our lawn once a week, and, I mean, you’d be surprised how deep and engaging these conversations can be for, like, 15 minutes, because you don’t talk about anything else. Everything else is just not politically correct. That’s something that’s also very American. The whole concept that, just, there’s certain things you don’t talk about, regardless how valid it might be, you just don’t who you might offend. But I, I also think that tends to be kind of a, kind of a copout because you never learn to talk about things that need to be said, the things that need to be discussed. And I think it really atrophies critical thinking, when you just never engage in that kind of conversation because you don’t know who—of course, you’re going to offend. You’re always going to offend someone, right? I mean, that’s, that’s a given of what humans, of what humans, what humans are, as long as there’s different humans, and as long as there’s different cultures and different points of view, you’re gonna step on each other’s toes. So, yeah. Political correctness.

What kind of quirks do you notice in these different cultures?

Favorite quirk with the Spanish culture, is the, um, they have no regard for completely looking you up and down when they first meet you. And, I thought I, I, I, you know, I thought it was a joke. My mom mentioned it because I’d gotten used to it while I was living there but when I went to visit not too long ago—and it usually happens when you leave the culture and then come back, where you visited and you realized, you’re like, wow. Yeah, we’d meet people and introduce, and no shame. Up and down. And, you know, you’re kind of wondering what’s going on, but it’s just very much a part of what it is. They, that’s, in other cultures, in Columbia, for example, that would be absolutely rude. You would never do that. It’s just, I mean, how dare you? You would probably stop the conversation and say, “What are you doing? What’s wrong with you?” or just end it and be like, “See you later.” Because it’s very, very rude. In, um, let’s see, uh, in the Chinese culture, something that I found particularly quirky was—and I guess it’s not so much a quirk as much as just the language itself. It’s such a complex language with so many tones, that there’s really no way to talk quietly. Because I assume you have to accentuate, and you have to, you know, make sure that they understand each tone. Each syllable can have, in Mandarin four tones, in Cantonese, when it’s most complex you have nine different tones. So there’s one way of say, there’s one syllable and nine different ways of saying it. So you, you shout. And when you, when they communicated with each other, I always got the feeling they were screaming at each other and I’m like, “What’s going on?” Um, so, that was, and later on I understood it was because, when I started learning Mandarin, that you had to, I guess. I never, you can’t really, you can’t really whisper, and when you do whisper, when you saw them whispering, they use their hand, kind of as, um, as a board. And they would say something, but then they would quickly, you know, do the character on their hand so they understood, “Oh, that’s the one,” because as you, as you lower your voice, obviously you can’t really enunciate all the different tones. So that’s kind of crazy.

How can you tell when you’ve assimilated a culture?

I, I think one of the main ways in which I could tell that I was, that I had assimilated into a culture, I’ve always had, I’ve always had about a three, a three-point test, when you really feel that you, not, not just understood the language, but really, really kind of assimilated yourself into the, the specific society or culture that you happen to be in. One of those, um—it’s actually not really one of them, but a bonus if you might add, is when people ask you for directions in the street. Because obviously you look like you’re a local, you look like you know what you’re doing, you look like you could possibly communicate. And it’s so flattering when somebody comes up and they’re like, “Hey, do you know how to get—“ They might be really lost and you’re just their last hope, but there’s always the hope that they really think that you are, you’re a local and that you are moving like a fish in the water. So that. As far as language is concerned, I’ve always, these three points, I’ve said, when you can, when you can, um, when you can pray or think in that language. Because they’re such, they’re such, um, I guess, guttural, almost, if I can, if, if it even applies, but it’s just such a, an internal, subconscious thing that you do. You, you don’t think about praying, you just, you just do. And when you’re able to do that and modulate it into a different language, that’s when you really feel that you have a grasp of that. If, um, when you—second, when you understand the songs in that language. When you hear them and you finally, you get the slang, you understand what they’re saying, what they’re referring to. To this day, there are certain raps…. I mean, when I lived outside the United States, it didn’t matter what type of rap song that played, I never understood, I had no idea. And I considered myself to be bilingual at that time, or, well, trilingual, but I still didn’t. I got here and finally, and I started understanding what some of the slang meant, what some of the, I don’t know, references were, and, um, and then I was singing them along in my car, trying to be ghetto fabulous. Of course, not really. But, you know, that’s when I, when I, that it could, that it could become part of my life, and that’s something that I could, that I can enjoy as a celebration of, you know, one of my new facets. And the third thing, and I think that’s probably the hardest, is when you understand a joke in that language. And I think that isn’t, it’s not even language, as much as it is also culture. Because jokes are intrinsically cultural. You can have a, an Australian joke and a British joke, and their sense of humors differ even though they speak the same language. And you watch some, I don’t know, you, gosh, look at some of the British, um, uh, comedy shows, and then you take an American—they’re very different. Same language but you’ve got to be tuned into that particular, into that particular cultural language to really understand it. And it can be one of the most frustrating things when you can communicate with people but you’re in a room, um, and they’re all talking and they’re cracking jokes and you just don’t get it. You don’t know what they’re talking about. You really wish, like, why is tree stump funny? And it might be a reference to who knows what, you know? But you just sit there and you kind of go, “Heh, tree stump.” You go home and you’re like, Tree stump, you look it up in the dictionary, figure out, is there some type of, like, background… I don’t know. But that, I think, when you’re able to understand a joke or even tell a joke and be funny in the language, then you’re golden.

Eleazar Romo

On the cultures of Mexico and America

Select a question.

Please introduce yourself and tell us how long you’ve lived here.

Uh, my name is Eleazar Romo, and, uh, I’ve been living in Rome for close to, ah, seven, eight years, and I’ve been in Texas and Louisiana. And I’m from Mexico.

Where have you worked?

Well, I’ve been doing different stuff, um, since, uh, yard cuts and, um, we try a little bit on cleaning, and then I moved into a company that, we made cardboard boxes, worked for about three, four years. And, um, he had to be moved on somewhere, it was very close, home, about three blocks. And, uh, he, they destroyed the building, so the company was gone. And, uh, I moved into a car dealer, he wanted someone to be bilingual and, uh, we, or me, was translating for Hispanic people.

What was most challenging about adapting to American culture?

Ah, people. Some of the people is very, uh, excepted. They don’t, they don’t want to deal with strangers, with other strangers. Me, personally, I don’t care. I can, I can be involved with all kinds of people. But some people, they’re very specific on the kind of people they want to be around. That’s the only problem I see.

What’s one of the big differences about this culture?

Um, law. Law is very reinforced here, and they don’t, they don’t give you an inch. And you can, uh, um, what do you call that, pay money for being, when you do something wrong, you can pay money in other countries—my country too, Mexico. But here, they don’t give you an inch. And, you know, it’s very enforced law. And you, this is a free country but it’s full of laws, so it ain’t free.

What is different for you now?

I think, money—makes a lot of difference. You’ve got a lot of, uh, that we call it uh, um, buying power or something like that. You can buy whatever you want and, you know, get your credit. And, in our country, you sometimes can get credit, but you need to show you’ve got properties or something. Around here, you just need to show that you’ve got a very good credit line, steady job, and you can get a, whatever you want. A home, especially. And America’s a great country. But, Mexico, we got a problem: we got no water. Here, there’s water to throw away, you know. And, and, but, uh, I expected people to be more open, when communication is what you’re asking me. And it’s not too open, like, they wish, like I wish they were. Right here, you’ve got everything you need. More than that. Everything. Water, food, a home, uh, trees you got a bunch of trees. And, and, and still people complaints about cutting trees. In Mexico, there’s no trees.

What do you like best about this culture?

What do I like best? It’s that the government protects people, and thinks about the people. And the, uh, um, how would I say? Keeps the people happy, you know.

How was Texas different than Georgia?

The heat. (laughter) The heat, and, uh, the language is a little bit harder, ‘cause they speak, speak English or, you know, they call, English and Spanish. I know, ‘cause I been there now I understand. But some people just listen and they don’t understand what they’re saying, not even in Spanish, you know. But, uh, that’s why we wanted to come down here, to make our girls, uh, learn English, the real English, ‘cause you go to Texas, you learn, they will learn to speak English. I mean, they understand too, but they’re a little bit different.

Gregory Sautov

On the cultures of Russia and America

Select a question.

What kind of problems did you encounter adapting to a new culture?

I wouldn’t call them problems, I’m one thing that, ah, was a little interesting for me to adapt to was the way students and teachers interacted. Uh, in Russian school we were supposed to treat a teacher with respect, and they’re usually more strict because of that. When the teacher walks in the room, you’re supposed to stand up, and to greet them by doing that. And you’re not supposed to, uh, just answer when you want to; you’re supposed to raise a hand and then the teacher will choose to call on you or not. And then you answer. And in American education, these things are, are kept to a degree, but it’s a more relaxed atmosphere to learn in. That’s, ah, probably the most, uh, I wouldn’t say difficult, but the most, uh, standing out, ah, thing about America for me.

What are some of the big cultural differences?

Just the way people interact and treat each other. I found that in America, ah, the main difference is the way an individual person is treated. For example, in Russia you are, um, we have a very socialist mentality, I would say, which means that individual is not valued at all. The society as a whole chooses, um, what’s interesting for them, what satisfies their interest. And an individual is oftentimes disregarded because of that. And in America everyone is, is respected, as far as their rights and freedoms go. And that’s the main difference between American and Russian cultures.

What specific ways do you see this difference?

Ah, freedom of religion, I would say. In Russia, it was, historically that orthodoxy was the main religion. And, because of that, other religions can’t, can’t really exist. It’s, uh, it’s still a state religion and it get, it gets state funding and it has an opportunity to oppress other religions which restrict their interest, to an extent. And America allows a variety of, ah, beliefs, and, uh, even though Christianity is dominant, many people, uh, can, uh, choose to believe whatever they want. Ah, you wouldn’t face penalties, but you would, as far as technical things are concerned, it would be very difficult. It, for example, would be very difficult for a Christian religion to own a building. And Russians oftentimes associate church with the church building. As you know, we have a lot of cathedrals and church buildings are usually very, ah, regal in appearance, and, uh, very beautiful. And, of course, a church without a building is not a church to a Russian person. And, uh, it’s very difficult to get a church, as far as all the documents are concerned. I mean, the government and the Orthodox Church, also, try not to allow that.

Has this culture had an impact on you?

I think coming to the United States changed me in the aspect of language. It’s a, uh, I got a chance to learn English, the way I would not have had in Amer—in Russia. And also, I think it broadened my horizons, to an, to an extent. Ah, I probably became more cosmopolitan in a sense, ah, that I, ah, am willing to accept more things, ah, not necessarily everything, but I’m more open to things right at the moment. And it also helped me to understand, uh, American mentality, I would say, the way American people think, which is a, is a great experience, especially considering, uh, my, ah, goal of doing international business, it’s a great contribution to that.

Tell us about something distinctive in Russian culture.

Also one interesting thing about Russian culture is when you are traveling in, uh, public transportation, for example, in a bus and you’re sitting, and there is an old lady standing, standing up, ah, it’s expected from you that you would yield your seat to her. Um, that’s, one thing that probably foreigners don’t know, but it’s, uh, very important to know, because people will probably stare at you or talk about you if you don’t do that.

What’s something you like about the American culture?

I like, about American culture, the way people interact, I would say. They respect each other when they talk, ah, to each other. Even if they don’t agree with each other, they, they try to settle those disagreements, or even respect them, instead of, uh, arguing, for example, or, ah, trying to, maybe, stay away from each other because of those beliefs, and differences in the beliefs.

Yuko Sato

On the cultures of Japan and America

Select a question.

Please introduce yourself.

My name is Yuko Sato, um, I’m 19 right now, um, I’m go, I’m gonna be a sophomore at Berry. And what brought me to the United States was that, like, probably because the way I think is a little bit too different from what the typical Japanese people think, so my parents wanted me to really go to the States, and they really want to come to the States as well.

How is your thinking different?

Well, like the typical Japanese person is more, like, communal, like, they tend to say, like, hide their feelings and, you know, repress their thoughts but I’m more of an expressive person, so I’ll—I’d rather say what I feel at the spot. So, and, I talk a lot. (laughter) I like doing stuff and I’m more active, and I don’t know, just, just the way I am, like, I’m more culturally independent, rather than, you know, being more communal, like, family and everything, like—I love my family and everything, but it’s still like, I like being independent and everything.

What’s been hard to understand in this culture?

Sometimes I have some phrases that people use that I’m not used to and, especially the South where they use phrases like y’all and all that stuff. I’m not used to it, ‘cause the only part of the United States I’ve been to is California and that, that part, that side of the states, so this is new for me, but I, I’m loving it.

What’s something you like about this culture?

What I really like in the states is that, um, when you meet people on the road, and especially at Berry, they just say, "Hi," to you or they just wave you at, wave at you and everything. In Japan they’re pretty cold, you know, they’re pretty distant. Like, if I’d, somebody would say, “Hi,” to somebody on the street, they won’t, they won’t probably say, “Hi,” back to me, so. One big thing that a lot of people say about Japanese people is that they say, “I’m sorry,” like, too many times, way too many times. They bow and they have this, like, polite manner, like—which is kind of polite and everything, I like it, but after a while I get tired of it, ‘cause, like, people are so, like, far away from you, and I feel so distant. Like here, they kind of, kind of try to adopt you and everything, they have this, like, Southern hospitality kind of thing going on. But in Japan you, you can’t really find that. Um, basically the friendliness of the people and, like, more people over here, especially in the South, they’re willing to help you. Like, in Japan, maybe, like, for example, if I trip and fall in the, in the station, at the train station, they’ll probably look at you, but most of the people will just ignore you, they’ll just stare at you and they’re like, “What’s going on?” But, like, in the States, when I trip and fall and drop my things, everybody would try to help me, and stuff. And they’ll ask me if I need help or, like, even just little stuff, like, even when I was at the airport and I had, like, so many luggages, like, somebody, random person would try to help me and everything. And even over at Berry, like, a lot of people were helping me out with a lot of stuff and I really like it.

How has this culture changed you?

Maybe I’ve become a little bit more patient, around people. Like, I’ve been working at the elementary school up in Mountain Campus, and I’ve been dealing with kids all the time, so—and that’s a new experience ‘cause, well, the thing is that I, I’ve been in a, a K to 12 school, so I, I was dealing with kids all the time, but it’s, it’s over here and the kids are different, they act differently. They, they like you, they want you to pr—play with you and everything. And, over in Japan, they won’t really do something, they’ll kind of see as an authority figure kind of thing. And over here, they’re just, like, friends, you know.

What would you change about this culture?

Maybe, like, it’s nice to be, like, independent and everything, but sometimes when I, sometimes when I feel, like, culturally lost is when, like, a lot of Japanese people would tend to think about other people’s feelings more than themselves and I like that part of the culture, because, like, my parents are really strict about it. They’re pretty traditional in their thinking, and they like me to think about other people, so when I’m doing stuff I always have to think about other people, how they feel or what they want to do. And I try to, you know, enhance that as well. But, like, since a lot of people in America are, like, pretty dominant, they like to go their way, kind of stuff, like sometimes they go too far, that they don’t really care about the people around them, and I feel frustrated sometimes

What makes your parents traditional?

Well, I don’t know if it’s really traditional but they like me to, um, have my cultural background so, before I came to the States I was forced to learn calligraphy and, like, how to dress up in a kimono, and, like, you know, learn, like, learn how to fold basic origami and—so that I can use it over at Berry, which has helped me a lot, ‘cause I’ve been participating in, like, international fairs and stuff. But they really wanted me to, like, adopt the Japanese culture, like learn how to read and write and, like, basically be Japanese.

Do you feel Japanese?

Like, it’s kind of weird, like, I was at, when I was in Japan I felt more American, ‘cause, because of the way I felt and how I interacted with the other people. But after I came to the States, I feel more Japanese, like, I feel more patriotic about my culture. That’s kind of weird, ‘cause, like, people ask me to do stuff at, like, international fairs and stuff, and, in Japan that’s normal, so the people don’t ask you to do that. Over here they, like, ask you for it. Like they want me to, you know, share my culture. And, like, my parents feel like it’s my mission, kind of thing, so I like it but it’s a kind of weird, feeling Japanese.

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