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Post by linnie on Nov 6, 2012 8:27:30 GMT -5
As we goes to international school and have experience living in other countries, I think we all have experienced cultural difference or conflicts. I also found shocking cultural traits or weird culture that I don't understand. There were also cool cultures around me. Since my school had many people from many different culture, I could confront many cultures from different regions. My friends were mostly from Asia and Oceania and they all had different culture. Even Bali and Indonesia in same country but had different religion. That really shocked me.
In my case, I found weird that some people, or most of them had a long nail. They had long thumbnail on their left hand I still don't know why. But anyway that really shocked me and grossed me out. I still don't know why they have long nails. Is it only Balinese or Indonesian in general? Anyway, let's discuss the many different cultures you have experienced, heard, watched through TV or more! Sergey told me really weird culture this week; I think he should explain that to us. Anyway, yeah, there are many weird cultures that I don't know in the world.
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Post by |Ruchira| on Nov 6, 2012 10:58:32 GMT -5
Bangladesh is very conservative. Very recently girls started wearing jeans and most people have accepted it but still dressing a certain is really taboo. You cannot dress skimpy, if you do, you would considered a prostitute. Most fingers are pointed at girls. Girls always have to act and dress a certain way, if they don't they are called names and made fun of. I don't agree with Bangladesh's views on how girls dress. Girls can dress how ever they want. But in Korea, girls always wear small, tiny, see through clothes EVEN IN THE COLD!! I don't think they dress skimpy, but they always dress ad if they are going to some Hollywood party. I don't really have a problem with the way they dress but under certain circumstances, it's just ridiculous!
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sorn
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Posts: 126
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Post by sorn on Nov 7, 2012 1:57:16 GMT -5
When I first came to Korea. I went to Cube company and I couldn't believe how strict korean people are with "insa" or how to greet elder people. When I first came, I got scold by the company many times by not "insa" -ing properly. In Thailand we are also like this, but not as strict. I was also shocked about the languages and how we say different things toward people from different ages. Even though someone is like a year older than you but you still have to call them "unnie" "hyung" "oppa" "nuna" and stuff like that. Well, in Thailand we also have that too but if we feel comfortable with them, even though they are 2 years older than you, you can talk to them like a friend.
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Post by lukejoo1092 on Nov 9, 2012 9:36:32 GMT -5
Mine is similar to Sorn. Even at school, doing "insa" was something considered as really important but I had no idea that I had to do it to my upper grade students as well. I only thought I had to do it to adults. Sometimes, even though I did greet them, they would say they don't like it and try to intimidate me. I think it's something that started from the past and was just continued on like that for I honestly see no point in it. It's probably like getting revenge on the other younger kids at school for the humiliation they had from their upper grade students. I really don't like this cultural concept and think it's stupid but unfortunately, I think it's going to stick around for a long time.
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Post by yeajinchoi on Nov 9, 2012 11:01:32 GMT -5
For me, when I went to Bali, there was this women that put flower offering things all over the town. I thought it was really cool how she would do it EVERYDAY in the morning all over the town. In some ways I didn't understand why they did it since they would end up on the floor at the end of the day as trash. But later I realized that it was a part of their ritual and I just respected them. Every country has their own religion or they have a mix of different religions. All we need to do is respect and understand different religions even though they have rituals that may seem unusual to you.
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Post by sazad100 on Nov 9, 2012 22:26:15 GMT -5
In our country respect to each other is a very big thing like in Korea. We have different ways to speak with each other. There are respect forms, friendly ones etc. What shocked me was that in our country we had to respect the students who were one grade above us or we would get detentions and other sorts of punishments. But here everybody seems to be equal. It is even hard to tell who is in which grades.
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Post by jungholee on Nov 10, 2012 1:41:44 GMT -5
For me, when I came back to Korea this year, I shocked about most Korean wearing skinny jeans. Because I was in USA, I knew people wear skinny jeans, but I thought that's only people whose in TV. But it was almost everyone who can wear skinny clothes. In addition, in subway, I saw soldiers making their uniform skinny...
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james
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Post by james on Nov 10, 2012 3:53:50 GMT -5
I was so shocked about the america's 'food' culture haha. What i mean by food culture is that every restaurant i go, the amount of food was just sooo much. Even if when you go to movies, when you buy popcorn and soda, the size is extremely huge, i even saw people who refills that.. I thought i cant even finish that amount. Anyways.. Also when i first started to learn english, i found out that different states had different accents, although it sounds the same to me. And in houston, theres a law where you cant leave your kids alone in a car (because texas is so hot they think it might kill the kids) or home.
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Post by brandonina on Nov 10, 2012 6:54:28 GMT -5
I also agree with the fact that almost all Koreans consider an age difference as a huge thing and quite take it seriously. For me, it's sometimes hard to adjust myself to various people, which some are influenced by this cultural factor and some aren't. I personally don't think that having 1 age difference should change the way how people act in a certain way. There should be some respect from the youngers but I don't think it should be strict. I have a personal experience in which I once brought a triangular swimsuit to YMCA in Hawaii. It's pretty common in Korea for men to wear tight swimsuits but it wasn't in Hawaii. I couln't find a single person. Therefore, I brought a huge trunk like all the others. Now, I wear trunks all the time and I sometimes feel very uncomfortable seeing men who don't.
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woori
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Post by woori on Nov 10, 2012 8:03:38 GMT -5
I am South Korean resident in Japan. But I lived in Japan a long long time. But I lived in Korea a long time ago. So I know about Japanese culture more than Korea.
My culuture shock is language. In japan, we usualy use "I'm sorry." If you go in the school office, you have to say "I'm sorry." And If you are in restaurant in japan, when you want to give an order, you have to say "I'm sorry." But other county people don't use "I'm sorry." in such a case. So I would use it in the habit. This is my culture shock.
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Post by ExtremelyExtremeExtremist on Nov 10, 2012 9:02:27 GMT -5
In Korean culture, it is common to see parents and teachers beat their children and students. In United States (maybe in other countries too), it is illegal to beat children because it's considered as child abuse. I understand adults beat them because of getting bad grade or doing bad things but it seems shocking to me and foreigners.
I can¡¯t accept this culture because it makes both adults and children stressed (another reason why Korean students commit suicide). Parents regret after they practice violence and not all students become better. To me, it reflects how parents were educated when they were at our age, or it could be avenging their children (as Luke mentioned it before).
At least it¡¯s good to see that beating is outlawed in Korean schools today.
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Post by esther on Nov 11, 2012 3:15:43 GMT -5
I was born in the States and I thought that I understood most parts of the American culture, until I met many friends that just came from America. They wore clothes that showed their bellies, jeans that were so short that I couldn't even tell whether they were wearing any pants. They thought that this was absolutely normal, but to me, it was very shocking because I was surrounded by a completely different culture for many years. Now, I am able to understand the different cultures, but it was shocking to me at first.
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Post by sergeyfen on Nov 11, 2012 3:33:03 GMT -5
When i first came to Korea i found very weird how people in korea especailly guys lie down on each other and say i love you. I thought its like the weirdest country to imanage, as time went on it became sort of a normal thing and i guess my country is like that now, lol so its ok now.
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irin
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Post by irin on Nov 11, 2012 7:26:17 GMT -5
They don't have things it shock me but I believe in same country but they can have different culture.
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Post by woojongpark on Nov 11, 2012 9:01:03 GMT -5
I had a cultural conflict between generations. When I was 6 years old, my grandmother visited me because of Chuseok. So we were having dinner together, and I picked up my spoon before my grandmother did. My grandmother scolded me for doing that. At that time, I didn't understand why she scolded me, but now I realize that for her, it was usual for a younger person to wait for elders. Of course, almost no one in Korea does that today. We still have some other conflicts. According to my grandparents, wearing tight jeans is rude.
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