The reason I am submitting my blog so late is because our house guests just left. My uncle arrived from Germany two nights ago, and my mom threw a dinner party for him tonight. Having him here made me realize that cultural differences can cause significant problems. Apparently, Germans don't like a lot of noise. They enjoy relaxed, slow-paced environments. Unfortunately, my family is loud and my mom enjoys having guests over.
My uncle came to our house under the impression that he would be having dinner with my family and my grandparents. My mom, however, had her own agenda. She had invited fifteen of our closest cousins. I caught my uncle literally plugging his ears maybe ten times during dinner. One of my cousins thought he was rude because when she asked him a question he answered with "yah" instead of "yes". I explained to her that his answer was not a reflection of his personality, but could be attributed instead to a difference in dialect.
After all of the guests finally left, my uncle told me that Americans are strange because they favor those who agree with them, while Germans feel that someone who disagrees with them is displaying signs of respect and interest. He maintained that Germans enjoy engaging in conversations where the parties don’t necessarily agree, while Americans enjoy chatting mutually about a subject. Thus, he viewed the American as nice, but boring, and my cousin, who was born in America, viewed him as rude.
I believe that in order to have transnational acceptance, the domestic individual should assume that cultural differences exist rather than placing the blame on the foreigner's personality, or lack of. At the same time, I believe that the foreigner should make a greater effort to adapt to the new environment, and assimilate into that environment's culture. At this point, it's my duty to stop typing because I am exhausted and I have to get some sleep.
Photo Credit: http://www.avdistrict.org/library/plane.gif
