Cultural Differences - An Introduction

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Hi, James from www.engvid.com Today, I've got an unusual lesson.

I mean, normally, we go to the board, right?

And we do all sorts of work.

But sometimes what I find is people come over wanting to learn English, but they don't really

try and learn about the culture.

Now, this isn't good, because depending on the culture you're from, certain things are

If I was in Japan doing this, this is bad.

They like short arm movements, OK?

In North America, we tend to open our hands up and speak, and in Italy, hands are flashing

So, what I want to do is give you a short overview of what you should do and shouldn't

do in cultures.

But first, let's give you a demonstration of how the world is.

Now, I teach English for a living, and I see this all the time.

There are three basic cultural groups.

There's the close group, there's the medium group, and the far group.

Now, as a Canadian, I always hear that, depending on the culture, from one culture we're very

cold, and other culture we're very nice, but not very polite.

What do they mean?

Well, let's show you.

OK, my first culture I'm going to show you is a Latin American culture, or the close

They see each other on the street, and they go like this, "Hey, amigo.

Amigo, how you doing?

See, we love each other.

Hey, we get close.

That's Latin culture.

Now, if you're from the Asian culture already, you're going, "Oh, my God!"

I don't know this guy.

I walk up, I'm hugging all over.

He's hugging me.

Now, in North American culture, we're not quite the same.

My friend comes in, "Hey, how you doing?

See, look, yeah, I like you, but that's it.

Don't touch anymore.

This is as much as we're going to touch, OK?"

Now, thank you.

For my Asian students, this is the best one.

Asian student comes in, they go, "Hey, hey, I like you.

Don't touch me."

So, these are three cultural differences you want to keep in mind.

Another thing is how much we speak.

Now, in English, we are, I like to say, stupid, for lack of a better word.

You have to tell us everything.

Subject, verb, object.

Now, this is important to keep in mind because in, for instance, Japanese, they don't necessarily

have to say the subject.

One of my favorite things is, my friend will come in again, outside the window, "Rain.

Lots and lots and lots of rain."

I go, "It's raining outside."

He just nods his head.

We had a conversation.

See, in Japanese, thank you, in Japanese, we had a conversation.

He didn't even say anything.

He's like, "Hey."

In English, it means nothing.

But to the Japanese people, what he just said was, "It is extreme rain.

Lots of rain and thunder and lightning."

And he said, "Yes, I agree.

It is very, very bad outside."

But you didn't see that, did you?

You saw him go, "Hey."

And me go, "Rain."

Totally different.

Now, in understanding these cultural differences, it actually makes it easier to understand

English and learn English.

So, what I want you to do is pay attention, OK, to what's going on around you.

It's not important just to know the words, but how we interact.

There's differences in distance, even.

There's a difference in the word speed that we use, OK?

Different lesson, not like the usual ones, but something I hope you learn something from.

Be aware of the culture that you're learning from, and you'll be accepted like that.

Anyway, I've got to go.

My friend, he's got to go, too.

But I hope you learned something from this, and we'll talk again, OK?

Ah, but before I go, never forget, OK, I want you to go to www.engvid.com.

Eng as in English, vid as in video, dot com.

Where if you have any other, you know, question on culture, because it's not even the same

culture from England to the United States or Canada.

There are things you can learn.

OK, go to the forum.

Ask your questions.

Be happy to help you.

Anyway, have a good day.

I think I scared my friend off with too much of the hugging, you know?

He's not South American.

He's from Japan.