Cross Cultural Experiences

[#@&5&49]

I was wondering what types of cross cultural experiences people have had. I come from a multicultural family. One of my parents was Asian, born on a small island, speaks a dialect, along with two other languages, and is married to an American born Caucasian. I am American born and Agnostic. I speak a little of several languages and love to learn different languages. I am married to a person from a different culture than my own who has very strong religious beliefs. My multicultural upbringing has had profound influences on who I am, my life, and choices. What are your cross cultural experiences? Are you living in a different culture than your home culture? Do you have friends from different cultures? Are you from a multicultural family? Do you speak different languages? Are you raising your children in a different culture than your home culture? How do you feel about your multicultural experiences? What are the positives and negatives for you? What are your thoughts about cross cultural experiences?

 

[floatingbridge]

I'm not that varied, haha. I'm an Australian-born Cantonese (ABC) who only speaks English fluently and broken Chinese Cantonese to grandparents because they don't understand anything else. I have currently zero interest in learning languages, because I find it really difficult to do in the first place. Baptised a Roman Catholic, but hardly go to church/ take it seriously... don't believe in their strict rules. I always thought I was white-washed, but nowadays am surrounded by asian friends. So I am neither here nor there, but in an interesting void I guess.

Interestingly, one of my cousins is adopted by Cantonese parents, born in Korea and grew up in Australia. I like to know what she identifies as

 

[barbad0s]

@Sadie

I would like to hear about some of the ways you've been profoundly influenced and experiences you've had too.

I'm mixed as well. My mom is Cantonese and my father is Canadian-born European. I was born in Canada, and have lived for my entire life in a city with extreme Asian influence. Essentially all of my friends and the vast majority of my acquaintances in real life are Asian, and I am in no way exaggerating. It's not a matter of being picky/choosy/racist. About 70% of my city is recent immigrants. I speak Cantonese because I was raised by my grandmother, who speaks no English, until the middle of my elementary school years, and have taken Chinese school for about a decade. I've learned Mandarin for a few years as well. It's a bit of an odd situation, because although I can use my Chinese for all practical purposes that I could think of, and I appear as fluent as any native speaker to native speakers at first, I am actually not fluent. Asian people all seem to think it's amazing that a white-looking person can functionally use two Chinese dialects, but my Chinese is actually not that good. As an example, I could write a poem in Chinese and it would be poetic based on concept or wordplay, but I couldn't write something poetic based on advanced word choice. I'm really into learning other languages as well. I've met other mixed Asian people too, once in a blue moon, and we've talked about these kinds of topics, but never for more than briefly as I've never ended up getting close to any of them. I've not met any mixed person who's experienced the exact same circumstances as I, yet.

I would say that I have a lot to say on this topic so it's hard for me to approach it in any sort of methodical way, but you are welcome to ask more narrowed down, open ended questions if you want a meaningful response with any insight.

 

[jyrffw54]

I am American-born, Caucasian-Native American-African. My father immigrated here in 1972.
I grew up speaking Asante and Akuapem (two dialects of Twi) along with English. Basically one parent spoke English to me while the other spoke Twi and I put two and two together. I find it interesting because when I go to Ghana, they are impressed with my fluency of Twi for being a "white person", but I don't feel I am THAT fluent at it...for instance I would have a harder time reading it than a native speaker would.

An interesting experience happened with my brother though. He was in high school French and his teacher was West African. She handed him something and he reached out with his left hand. She immediately said, "Shame on you! You know better than that!" Most of the other students had no idea what was going on during this exchange, but in Ghana and some Native cultures, it is not acceptable to use the left hand to give/take something.

I could go on, but I gotta go to sleep if I want to function tomorrow lol.

Feel free to leave questions though.

 

[hk427f3]

I am a Canadian-American WASP. Maybe American-Canadian.

Not that interesting. But, it is strange to me how Canadians often harbor prejudice towards Americans, while Canadian society is otherwise tolerant and multicultural. Many Americans living in Canada are reluctant to let other people know about their dual citizenship. It seems to me that this attitude towards Americans stems from Canadians' insecurity about their national identity. One time in middle school, a teacher asked the class what the best thing about Canada was, and one student said that their favourite thing about Canada is that it's not America. This is sad to me, because Canada is a nice place, regardless of America. This is relevant.

 

[Flavus Aquila]

I grew up in the least culturally diverse anglosaxon city in Australia - with the highest rates of tertiary education and income. I now mostly live in an area of Sydney, Australia which has very low education and is mostly migrant.

My work collegues are basically from my cultural group, but my neighbours have very different lives.



I guess this has meant that I relate to my neighbours on a different, less intellectual level. This at times can be very personal and meaningful, more so than my previous experiences. But it can also be very petty, small-minded and stupid. A mixed bag, I'd say.



In past years I spent a lot of time overseas. I have lived and worked with German, French, Caribbean, American, Canadian, English, Welsh, South African, Mexican, Cuban, Singaporean, Japanese and Spanish people. But these were all in the same educational and professional setting as myself. To me 'cross cultural' is mostly about levels of education and broadness of world-view; not about differences in food, music, sport, etc.

 

[Tin Man]

While my entire family is Irish, I have know quite a few people from different nationalities. I can't say it's had an affect on me because people seem mostly the same, no matter where they came from. It is interesting learning about different cultures, though.

Are you living in a different culture than your home culture?

I often feel like a higher evolved from of Homo Sapiens so, sort of, yes.

 

[sprinkles]

I have Chinese family from two different lines, my grandmother (now deceased) and one of my aunts and her immediate family. Almost everyone speaks English though except my aunt's parents.

I had a Cherokee great grandfather but that part of the family was hidden because it was deemed inappropriate at the time. So my grandmother (different grandmother, from my mom's side) ended up with a birth certificate where the father was dead three years before she was even conceived, just so it would be a white man instead of her real father.

 

[Billy]

@Sadie

I would like to hear about some of the ways you've been profoundly influenced and experiences you've had too.

I'm mixed as well. My mom is Cantonese and my father is Canadian-born European. I was born in Canada, and have lived for my entire life in a city with extreme Asian influence. Essentially all of my friends and the vast majority of my acquaintances in real life are Asian, and I am in no way exaggerating. It's not a matter of being picky/choosy/racist. About 70% of my city is recent immigrants. I speak Cantonese because I was raised by my grandmother, who speaks no English, until the middle of my elementary school years, and have taken Chinese school for about a decade. I've learned Mandarin for a few years as well. It's a bit of an odd situation, because although I can use my Chinese for all practical purposes that I could think of, and I appear as fluent as any native speaker to native speakers at first, I am actually not fluent. Asian people all seem to think it's amazing that a white-looking person can functionally use two Chinese dialects, but my Chinese is actually not that good. As an example, I could write a poem in Chinese and it would be poetic based on concept or wordplay, but I couldn't write something poetic based on advanced word choice. I'm really into learning other languages as well. I've met other mixed Asian people too, once in a blue moon, and we've talked about these kinds of topics, but never for more than briefly as I've never ended up getting close to any of them. I've not met any mixed person who's experienced the exact same circumstances as I, yet.

I would say that I have a lot to say on this topic so it's hard for me to approach it in any sort of methodical way, but you are welcome to ask more narrowed down, open ended questions if you want a meaningful response with any insight.

You know, its funny. People in China barely understand one and other from different provinces. I always thought that was so interesting about Mandarin. That the same Anglicized letter combinations (for those of us who don't do symbols) can be different words based on pronunciation. Like the words for Soup and Hot.

I picked up a decent amount of Mandarin dating a Chengdu-ren for close to 8 years, but when I got to China the shit I learned was only good in Szechuan, the words were the same but pronounced differently in Beijing and guondong. And I do awesome accents, so they were baffled to see a

1. White person with dark features, not blonde hair.
2. A white person with a limited mandarin vocabulary but killer Chendgu-hua.

I would like to go to India at some point... which is strange because I hate crowds... but there is something soothing about being lost in a massive crowd of people who don't know you and cant talk to you. Its almost like being alone without the loneliness.

I personally live in a basic american culture, but I have had incredible experiences via dating with other cultures and families.

I have done the culture shock / interracial relationship thing a number of times, I have gotten to learn about China and Korea this way, also about Haiti, Puerto Rico, Columbia, Jamaica etc. I love learning about different cultures and seeing how people survive life. You never know when youre going to bump into a good idea.

 

[Jill Hives]

I am a Canadian-American WASP. Maybe American-Canadian.

Not that interesting. But, it is strange to me how Canadians often harbor prejudice towards Americans, while Canadian society is otherwise tolerant and multicultural. Many Americans living in Canada are reluctant to let other people know about their dual citizenship. It seems to me that this attitude towards Americans stems from Canadians' insecurity about their national identity. One time in middle school, a teacher asked the class what the best thing about Canada was, and one student said that their favourite thing about Canada is that it's not America. This is sad to me, because Canada is a nice place, regardless of America. This is relevant.

I have experienced this prejudice against Americans from Canadians also. My husbands father actually told him before we got married that he should find a "nice Canadian girl" because Americans were "different".

Still not sure what the fuck that was supposed to mean.

 

[Vict]

I have Mexican ancestry and was raised by direct immigrants. This colored my life from age 0 until I started venturing out beyond my hometown (not exactly a town being smack in the middle of Los Angeles), which is predominantly latino and black. College and professional life changed my perspective, the way I speak, and how I perceive other cultures. For instance, I visit places in Mexico, Canada, and elsewhere in the US and it's all shades of the same culture to me. One horse town, metropolitan area, whatever. It feels like I've seen or done it all at one point or another, and the people are all variations of other folks I've met.

In a broad sense, anyway.

 

[#@&5&49]

I just created a group for the discussion of multicultural experiences if anyone cares to join. Not sure if it will amount to anything, but you never know.

View attachment 17259

 

[barbad0s]

I have experienced this prejudice against Americans from Canadians also. My husbands father actually told him before we got married that he should find a "nice Canadian girl" because Americans were "different".

Still not sure what the fuck that was supposed to mean.

I would like to go to India at some point... which is strange because I hate crowds... but there is something soothing about being lost in a massive crowd of people who don't know you and cant talk to you. Its almost like being alone without the loneliness.

...

I have done the culture shock / interracial relationship thing a number of times, I have gotten to learn about China and Korea this way, also about Haiti, Puerto Rico, Columbia, Jamaica etc. I love learning about different cultures and seeing how people survive life. You never know when youre going to bump into a good idea.

Yes, I agree with all of this. ^ It's part of why I like travelling so much. It soothes my anxiety instantly. Also, if you do something stupid, people will just dismiss it because you're a foreigner. And yes @ 2nd half, it was Korea for me for a while.

 

[Flavus Aquila]

If that kid in the gif ever came and yelled in my face - he'd learn to think before shouting really quickly.

 

[#@&5&49]

What do you all think of bilingual or multilingual education? Had any experiences with this? For example, in some countries K-12 kids are taught in English, but speak their countries language at home. I haven't heard of anything like this in the states and it isn't too common where I currently live to find bilingual or multilingual teachers. Thoughts?

 

[barbad0s]

Race has been bothering me lately...

I will expand on this.

I look markedly different from 99% of the people I deal with on a regular basis, and am treated accordingly by them. If I do look like someone, there is a 99.999% chance that our life experiences have been totally different (culturally).

 

[j654dgj7]

What do you all think of bilingual or multilingual education? Had any experiences with this? For example, in some countries K-12 kids are taught in English, but speak their countries language at home. I haven't heard of anything like this in the states and it isn't too common where I currently live to find bilingual or multilingual teachers. Thoughts?

In Danish schools, you're required to learn a minimum of 2 extra languages before you can graduate secondary/high school. Personally I speak 6 languages because I went to an international high school, and I love languages and learning about other cultures. I had a great time learning other languages, and I feel like my world has been expanded tremendously because of it. I think it's a shame if you only speak one language, because it limits you in many ways. Knowledge is power, and if you isolate your thinking to where you're from, your world must be tiny.

About diversity - my mom is Swedish and my dad is Danish, that's about all that I can muster. There's a lot of different people in Denmark, and I'm not really bothered by race or racism. It's not a pressing issue in my life, nor Denmark.

 

[this is only temporary]

Hm. Does it count as bilingual if you shop at the BIGGEST KOREAN AMERICAN GROCERY CHAIN IN THE US (the caps are theirs, not mine) and can't read any of the signs?

I live in an area with a lot of immigrants and a lot of diversity. Probably around 40-50% of the people are some form of white, and have been in the country so long they've lost whatever european identity they may have had, except for a few from other regions, who insist that they're Irish or Italian, although what makes them different from anyone else is beyond me. There are a few real live Europeans from Eastern Europe (Poland, I think, or maybe Romania) who seem to want to live together in the same neighborhood, and open insurance agencies and bakeries. There's a russian mail order bride in my neighborhood, but she won't talk to me. The remaining 50-ish percent are black, asian or hispanic. There's a hindu shrine a few miles down the road that looks like a wedding cake. The schools are attempting to offer more language classes, though I do not believe secondary languages are a requirement, just highly encouraged. Certain industries require that you speak both Spanish and English, and speaking the two languages gives you an edge. I have a few friends who are ESOL teachers (English as a Second or Other Language). My children are quite accustomed to having friends who look nothing like them, and I like it that way, because it keeps them from becoming narrow-minded bigoted cretins. I speak a couple of other languages, but not very well. I don't like to travel much, and have not traveled much outside the country.

 

[SoulPatcher]

I lived in 4 countries, and my spouse is from yet another one. I look at the world as a bunch of bus stops and the differences between cultures are very vague. I see as many differences as between the big enders and small enders.

I am a cross-cultural experience myself.

 

[Quiet]

I look at the world of a bunch of bus stops and the differences between cultures are very vague. I see as many differences as between the big enders and small enders.

I am a cross-cultural experience myself.

That was beautifully said. I relate