Living in Another Country: Experience of a Lifetime

2002 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Importance of expatriation

Imagine, for a moment, walking down a street in Paris. There are boutiques and cafes and souvenir shops all around. People are sitting outside, drinking chocolat chaud, and talking in rapid French. Classical music pours out onto the street.
There are around 6.32 million Americans experiencing this by living abroad (AARO). Living abroad can be a life-changing experience. It can lead to the discovery of a new culture, a new way of life. It can lead to self-discovery and change the very way a person thinks. Art, music, and literature all change and become new. Living abroad can put life into perspective. Moving to a foreign country could be one of the greatest pleasures and opportunities available.
The sheer amount of culture one could gain through this decision is overwhelming. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines culture as: “the beliefs, customs, arts, etc., of a particular society” (“Culture”). For some people, this chance at knowing another culture is the main draw of moving to another country. . Individual countries have their own systems, their own histories, and culture. This chance to learn is a major advantage to living in a foreign country. It is a chance to learn the etiquette of another nation, a chance to connect to people around the world on a personal and intimate level. On the subject of learning etiquette and customs, etiquette is one of a few major subjects that make up a culture. Etiquette shows what a nation takes into consideration, what a nation considers important. For example, when dining with another in Japan, it is important to not pour your own drink (“Basic Japanese Etiquette”). This ensures that one is always thinking of another person and is considering their needs. It is such things as this that ma...

... middle of paper ...

...popcenter.org/problems/crimes_against_tourists/>.
Fisher, Max. "Who loves and hates America: A revealing map of global opinion toward the U.S." The Washington Post. N.p., 11 Jan. 2013. Web. 2 Dec. 2013. .
Haynes, Judie. "Language Acquisition vs. Language Learning." everythingESL. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Dec. 2013. .
Mohn, Tanya. "Learning a New Language on Location." The New York Times 9 May 2012. Web. 13 Nov. 2013. .
Paz, Octavio. “Fiesta.” Translating Tradition. Ed. Karen E. Beardslee. New York: Pearson/Longman, 2004. 70. Print.

Show More
Related

  • Juan N. Seguin: Texas Hero

    3094 Words  | 7 Pages

    Teja, Jesus F. De La. A Revolution Remembered: The Memoirs and Selected Correspondence of Juan N. Seguin. Austin: State House Press, 1991.

    Read More

  • History of the Spanish Language

    2475 Words  | 5 Pages

    Penny, Ralph J. A History of the Spanish Language. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP, 2002. Print.

    Read More

  • How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents

    1942 Words  | 4 Pages

    of the native tongue is lost , certain holidays may not be celebrated the same , and American born generations feel that they might have lost their identity , making it hard to fit in either cultures . Was is significant about this book is the fact it’s like telling a story to someone about something that happened when they were kid . Anyone can relate because we all have stories from when we were kids . Alvarez presents this method of writing by making it so that it doesn’t feel like it’s a story about Latin Americans , when

    Read More

  • Forms of Oppression in Ana Castillo's So Far from God

    1313 Words  | 3 Pages

    Rodriguez, Ralph. "Chicana/o Fiction from Resistance to Contestation: The Role of Creation in Ana Castillo's So Far From God."MELUS. 25.2 (2000): 63-87. Print.

    Read More

  • Essay on One Hundred Years of solitude

    855 Words  | 2 Pages

    On Translation and García Márquez – A speech delivered by Edith Grossman at the 2003 PEN Tribute to García Márquez.

    Read More

  • Douglas Monroy's Thrown Among Strangers: The Making of Mexican Culture in Frontier California

    1454 Words  | 3 Pages

    Monroy, Douglas. Thrown Among Strangers: The Making of Mexican Culture in Frontier California . 1990.

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of Going Abroad

    1234 Words  | 3 Pages

    In staging reality, setting is critical for both Chad and Undine’s performances. In expatriate fiction, Europe is associated with more freedom than Puritanical America and is used as a medium for performers to present and explore both themselves and cultural and social differences between their home in America and abroad. In Going Abroad, William Stowe suggests that Europe is a space in which higher class and non-essential laborers can “prepare for or advance their careers” (Stowe 7). As a continent with a vast collection of cultural goods, Europe conflicts with the barren American landscape. Acquiring a “Europeanized” persona helps Undine and Chad to gain experience that they employ at home, and cultural accumulation provides an advantage

    Read More

  • The Latino Culture in America

    1081 Words  | 3 Pages

    Paz, Octavio. "Pachucos and Other Extremes" in The Labyrinth of Solitude and The Other Mexico New York: Grove Press, 1985

    Read More

  • Magic Realism in Marquez´s Un Señor Muy Viejo con Alas Enormes

    1096 Words  | 3 Pages

    Swanson, Philip. "The Critical Reception of Garciá Márquez." The Cambridge Companion to Gabriel Garciá Márquez. New York: Cambridge UP, 2010. 25-40. Print.

    Read More

  • Fiesta, 1980 by Junot Diaz

    1016 Words  | 3 Pages

    Within the works of “Fiesta, 1980” it takes us in the lives of a Latin American family. We are described a traditional style Latino family were there is a dominate father figure, a submissive mother, and obedient children more or less. There are two boys the eldest Rafa and the youngest Yunior and their younger sister Madai. During the transgression of the story it is conveyed through the eyes of Yunior. And like any typical family it has its own story to tell.

    Read More

  • "Fiesta" for Whom? by Junot Diaz

    1017 Words  | 3 Pages

    Diaz, Junot. “Fiesta.” The Heath Analogy of American Literature: Sixth Edition. Ed. Paul Lauter. Boston: Wadsworth, 2006. 4070-4080. Print.

    Read More

  • Language Acquisition in Children

    1619 Words  | 4 Pages

    Garton, A., & Pratt, C. (1998). Learning to be literate: The development of spoken and written language (2nd ed.). Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.

    Read More

  • The Experience of Living in Another Country

    1454 Words  | 3 Pages

    Living in another country is a difficult experience for many people. A common feature of people living in a foreign country is finding them Gathered together in restaurants, discussing about their home and their experiences in the foreign country. Moreover, these groups are not all from the same home country. Often, the interests that landed them in a foreign country are enough to connect them in building the foundations of friendship, like studying same major. However, the only thing that you can see obvisely is fear. As a Saudi student in USA I can say we often have to deal with many administration issues that may even result to the cancellation of one’s citizenship. Like getting USA Green Card. There is a fear of living in another country that never goes regardless of the period that one has lived in a foreign country. However, the interests that landed them in a foreign country, including education and business. It’s the same even the student didn’t come from same place. in fact that they didn't came from the same mother country. This will presents the argument that people living in another country are subject to change depending in economic and political way in order for them to fit in the new country.

    Read More

  • Comparing Theories of Language Acquisition and Language Development

    2926 Words  | 6 Pages

    Language acquisition is perhaps one of the most debated issues of human development. Various theories and approaches have emerged over the years to study and analyse this developmental process. One factor contributing to the differing theories is the debate between nature v’s nurture. A question commonly asked is: Do humans a...

    Read More

  • Language Acquisition

    7590 Words  | 16 Pages

    Still today, it is the commonly held belief that children acquire their mother tongue through imitation of the parents, caregivers or the people in their environment. Linguists too had the same conviction until 1957, when a then relatively unknown man, A. Noam Chomsky, propounded his theory that the capacity to acquire language is in fact innate. This revolutionized the study of language acquisition, and after a brief period of controversy upon the publication of his book, Aspects of the Theory of Syntax, in 1964, his theories are now generally accepted as largely true. As a consequence, he was responsible for the emergence of a new field during the 1960s, Developmental Psycholinguistics, which deals with children’s first language acquisition. He was not the first to question our hitherto mute acceptance of a debatable concept – long before, Plato wondered how children could possibly acquire so complex a skill as language with so little experience of life. Experiments have clearly identified an ability to discern syntactical nuances in very young infants, although they are still at the pre-linguistic stage. Children of three, however, are able to manipulate very complicated syntactical sentences, although they are unable to tie their own shoelaces, for example. Indeed, language is not a skill such as many others, like learning to drive or perform mathematical operations – it cannot be taught as such in these early stages. Rather, it is the acquisition of language which fascinates linguists today, and how it is possible. Noam Chomsky turned the world’s eyes to this enigmatic question at a time when it was assumed to have a deceptively simple explanation.

    Read More

More about Living in Another Country: Experience of a Lifetime

Open Document