Essay Misunderstandings of a Foreigner in American Culture

I still remember the shock I got when I first moved here. What a terribly superficial culture this country has, I thought. The way people treat each other, especially in conversations! At the beginning they ask you: How are you? But beware! They dont really want to know how you are, and if you make the mistake of actually giving them a detailed account of your well-being, theyll shun you for weeks. On the other hand, youre required to immediately embrace all new acquaintances with the standard Nice to meet you. Maybe you werent even in the mood to meet somebody at this particular moment, and if she or he turns out to be just another perfectly intolerable human being, then you lied to the entire world around you! I had some serious†¦show more content†¦Personally, I dont think so. Where I come from, we prefer the rude method of saying exactly what we think and getting it over with. Not unfairly have we Germans earned the reputation of getting things done efficiently... Thinking about my first years here gives me quite a different perspective towards the issue of gendered communication than what the typical American citizen might have. Although I agree that we have to take into consideration that men and women are fundamentally different, to blame all misunderstandings and miscommunications on this fact is not accurate. Two very popular authors, Deborah Tannen, who has impressive credentials as a linguistics professor, and John Gray, of whom almost everybody has heard of by now, claim the different use of language by the opposite sexes to be the root of all evil in arguments. I believe that miscommunication between men and women is only a small portion of the whole problematic issue, which is not specifically gender?related. We have to look beyond the obvious differences to get to the real sources of complications during conversations and to find a solution to this wide-spread problem. Men and women can very well communicate to be understood if they only want to, and so can everybody else. The best place to start improving communication is with the biggest troublemaker in your life: yourself. We could eliminate some unnecessary misunderstandingsShow MoreRelatedIntercultural Communications: Cultural Stereotypes And Communication With Foreigners1807 Words   |  7 Pagesbetween culture and communication is quite strong with the former having substantial influence on the later. Basically, all forms of communications take place under a cultural context since the linguistic features are influenced by the same. Aspects of greetings, gratitude, taking leave, and complimenting, requesting, giving apologies, turn-taking and apologizing are all achieved through some form of communication, either verbal of non-verbal. As such they cannot escape the touch of culture. 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