Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Conversation >

Adapting to other cultures

20:29 / 29.09.03

What experiences have you had that have taught you to relate to other cultures? How do you need to adapt, etc.?

Be specific if you can.

We're The Great Old Ones Now

22:26 / 29.09.03

Travelling to Russia taught me that it's not always something you want to do. When I realised that I was starting to understand that there were times when it was terribly important that you have your business rivals killed, for example, I decided that my internal cultural integrator could use some downtime.

So one way you need to adapt is to realise that there will be times when you won't understand, or will want, very much, not to. That's not unnatural and nor does it necessarily represent a failure on your part.

22:39 / 29.09.03

I'm from the UK, but I spent a couple of years at a US high school and later a year at university. So in a way I was really was taught to relate to another culture.

I would say that language is the key to adapting successfully -- obviously in my case it was easier but not as easy as some might think, because there were many preconceptions formed on both sides by TV and the movies. (Perhaps this applies to what you're thinking of as well.) You have to listen carefully and learn to hear what people really mean under the linguistic surface, in the same way you do automatically in your own language. And you have to adjust your own vocabulary so that they can do the same, perhaps remembering that you are on their turf and they may not have had the privilege of travel. And dressing a little like them helps a lot too, I think. And I agree with Nick -- sometimes you really will not want to join in.

Also, when you return, your own culture may seem wrong somehow. Be prepared for that.

02:18 / 30.09.03

I lived in the Carribean for 8 months as a teenager and didn't have any trouble "relating" except for the accent, which was very thick and strong, practically its own dialect. My name there was "Redneck" because I had a sunburn the entire time. It wasn't my nickname, it became my name. But yeah, when I came back things were very strange--everybody smelled funny and no one smiled. I was walking around New York thinking, what are all these white people scowling about?

The Return Of Rothkoid

13:23 / 30.09.03

Are "relating" and "fitting in/surviving" necessarily the same thing?

19:33 / 30.09.03

Rothkoid -- I believe they're not necessarily the same thing but are two sides of the same coin. If you want to do either well, you have to do the other.

23:41 / 30.09.03

Here, about 1/2 way down is where my sister learned to detest a culture, whilst loving someone part of that culture (greek/greek orthodox) enough to have to put up with it.