What kind of Culture shock did you feel when you came to the U.S. for the first time?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Huma Shoukat Ali on October 18, 2011 at 3:24pm

People in America says "bless you" when you sneeze or cough. This was a cultural shock for me. I would like to sure the first day of mine at high school. I was sitting in my class, when i sneezed and all the students alongwith teachers turned towards me and said "bless you." i hated getting so much attention on my first day and first class but this shows their kind concern towards you.

Regards,

Huma.

Permalink Reply by Svetlana Kurtova on October 18, 2011 at 8:39pm

Hey Huma, I am totally with you on this one :) I also don`t always feel like saying "bless you" when several people have already said that to the person who sneezed. But I also feel impolite not to tell that, so I mumble my blessing anyway, and that just does not always make sense :)

Permalink Reply by Huma Shoukat Ali on October 18, 2011 at 9:17pm

hey Sventlana! I also mumble it because i feel blessings should come from deep inside your heart and i always have well wishes for everyone :)

Permalink Reply by Svetlana Kurtova on October 18, 2011 at 8:42pm

I am still intrigued by the "How are you you" phenomenon :) Sure, I got it pretty early that it is just a form of recognition (hello) and does not require an answer. But I found it interesting to ask the same question back. It is actually polite, though in this case I also don`t want to hear the answer. But somehow the person feels that you are nice with him/her, and that just brightens up the day :)

Permalink Reply by Huma Shoukat Ali on October 18, 2011 at 9:20pm

Hey Svetlana! i completely agree with you on this and i would also like to add on that "whats up" is also a part of greeting and often does not require answer but this might work as a way to start the conversation :)

Permalink Reply by Hamroz Abduhoshimov on October 19, 2011 at 2:49am

Thanks for answers :) By the way, greetings also kind of culture shock to me as well, the difference is I didn't know that Americans have also such a way to greet, i mean, with not real question. In my home city we do the same but it's quite interesting that there are few similarities between cultures. It's always nice to find more similarities rather than differences.

Permalink Reply by Huma Shoukat Ali on October 19, 2011 at 3:41pm

yeah i am enjoying living here. eager to have more cultural shocks. :)

Permalink Reply by Michelle (Administrator) on October 25, 2011 at 1:00pm

Hamroz,

 

How do you greet differently in your hometown?

Michelle

Permalink Reply by Hamroz Abduhoshimov on October 26, 2011 at 9:45am

Hi Michelle,

 We greet in different ways with different people. For example: with someone who's older than me, I say "Assalomu alaykum" which means "I wish you Health"; with my peers and friends, just <Hi>,  <what's up> or <how you doing> the same as in the USA; and with someone who's younger then us, either <Hi> or <Vaalaykum assalom> which means "The same to you" or "I also wish you health"

Hamroz

Permalink Reply by Huma Shoukat Ali on October 26, 2011 at 3:44pm

hey its the same way in my country too :)

Permalink Reply by Hamroz Abduhoshimov on October 27, 2011 at 11:49pm

Really? I heard the similar story about Vietnam. They have also different ways to address people based on their age. If you mean greetings then i think in muslim countries it's the same :) As I mentioned, it's always nice to find similarities rather than differences between cultures! I'm glad that we have something in common :)

Hamroz

Permalink Reply by Huma Shoukat Ali on October 28, 2011 at 2:58pm

yes, i think that is true :) my country Pakistan is a Islamic Republic. I would also like to know more about your culture

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