Culture Difference

It is because the new place and visitor’s own attitude that make foreigners, like Liu, feel uncomfortable.

As a foreigner, Liu need to overcome lots of obstacles. The first and the imminent obstacle is language barrier. Language is a bridge that connects others and yourself. You have to express what feeling is and what you want. Also, you need to understand what others mean and what they request as well. Otherwise, you won’t be understood and likely to be isolated. Liu is not really weak in English but, he lacks of enough confidence in merely speaking it out. Because of the attitude of inferior of himself, he refuses to communicate with others unconsciously. Therefore, he lost tremendous opportunities of making friends with American people. Another very important reason which force him to evade and finally to leave is, he felt despair in his academic career. Liu didn’t say too much and just kept reading and listening. When he gathered enough confidence to comment something, either for improving his language or for expressing his opinion towards professor’s lecture, he was given a directly sharp knock. A knock hitting his head, as well as his heart, which makes him completely lose all of his patience and confidence to continue his study or life there. Leaving for another new place to live and study may be a fairly good choice of escapism and probably he would get rehabilitated.

The first two months when I spent in the United Stated was fairly similar with Liu’s. I lived in a host family in Maryland. It is a Chinese family that I choose by myself. The reason comes to itself without saying. I was pleased with my family life buy I found difficult in studying in high school. Not because the academic reason, but because of the culture difference that restrained me from communicating with my peer classmates or my instructors. The reasons are almost the same with Liu’s. And I think all the foreigners especially the international students suffer the same embarrass.

If you are an immigrant, who purely work and live abroad, then you will be easy to adjust the new lifestyle and culture difference. But if you are a student studying in school or college, then the fact of matter is, you will find hard to enter it. One the one hand, you have to care about your comment if it offends somebody; on the other hand, people there are somewhat high level of quality, who will be unconsciously aware of your weakness of language. You will unconsciously feel inferior and be afraid to open your mouth, no matter for practicing English or for expressing your opinion, as well as requesting for something. This is why lots of international students tend to gather together---seeking for a comfortable harbor to cure the pain and wound mentally, no matter if they know each other or not. Even if they are strangers mutually, with the same mother language and the color of skin, they would feel more comfortable and sincere.