Cultural Difference And Cultural Differences

Long have I assumed that America life would be full of fun and ease, opposed to Chinese harsh and frustrating high school life, I packed up my luggage with full of excitement and embarked on my flight to Boston. Four years ago, I came to America to pursue a more liberal education within a comfortable environment, looking forward to merging into American Culture at a relatively young age with the help of my American friends. Within the last four years, I have made a little progress on my long-term goal. However, as I transfer from high school to University, it seems like I have lost my advantage in front of a larger and more unfamiliar environment that is hundreds of miles from where I used to live. No one can deny that college can indeed provide

As an International student, especially an Asian, I am born to be more reserved and shy. Differing from domestic kids who mainly focus on politics and sports, I typically care more about entertainment news. To me personally, if the topic comes across politics and sports that I am not familiar with or not comfortable with commenting via English, I become silent and blushing since I feel like a layman of the in-depth American mundane conversation, or even a layman of American culture. Cultural difference has cultivated American to be more outgoing and willing to meet new friends while cultivated international students like me to be reserved and rely on others to talk to us. To be honest, I am afraid of starting conversations with the people sitting next to me no matter in the lecture hall or dining room. I am confident with my English but having a hard time commenting and contributing my own thoughts to the discussion. My Chinese background has made me a well-behaved but conserved person and it requires a significant amount of effort to really get involved and share my own feelings with the people

In terms of socializing with Americans via English, two things should be considered. First, how comfortable and how well you can speak English with others. Second, how brave and confident you are with your English speaking? Most international students, including me, have been studying English since a relative young age, but because of the environment, we are more familiar and capable with English writing than speaking directly to others via this language. With hardworking and practice, internationals students can write consecutive paragraphs or even polished essays, but speaking in a perfect English is much more difficult. Firstly, conversation requires international students to generate instantaneous responses to others via a second language. Thus, numerous practices and an English thinking are required. What I mean by an English thinking is that International students should no longer translate other’s statement from English to their own native languages in minds but rather, they should practice to think and speak simultaneously via English at the same time. Moreover, we should never feel ashamed with our English speaking skills. We should always be aware that English is our second language and we cannot ever expect to speak English as fluently as we are speaking our native language. Americans never expect international students to master perfect English since it is only served as a