CULTURAL DIFFERENCE

           Today, I went to GTLI and had a nice talk with Ruth who was my teacher in creative writing class. In our conversation, Ruth told me sometimes she did not understand me because I told her I took many classes, but when she asked me whether I was busy, my answer was no. At that time, I did not feel something wrong, but when I went home and thought of it, I felt it could be an interesting thing. I don’t think we have problem in expression and understanding, but we have different way of speaking and thinking because we have different culture. For example, few Chinese will say something is so easy even though they think it is. It is not because they don’t want to tell the truth, but it is because if they don’t do it well next time, they would be so humiliated. Therefore, Chinese is likely to express their humble in front of others. However, Americans will speak what they think directly. It lets me remember the time I just studied in GTLI. At that time, I was not used to be the way Americans speak. For instance, when two persons meet, one of them always asks the other  “ how are you doing?” The other answers “Good” every time. As I heard that, I was so confused because every day is similar, NOT GOOD, NOT BAD, JUST IS (from Ruth). Life is so wateriness. So at first I answered “SO SO.” But then I figured out it was just a way for Americans to speak. You don’t need spend long time to think your life is good or not. “Good” is just a fixed answer for this question. Maybe it contains good expectation, similar to “Have a good day.”

            I think GTLI is a really good place because there are so many students from different counties. The students have different cultures, backgrounds, religions, thoughts and personalities, but they could study together, make friends, share food, chat and understanding. How amazing! When different cultures, backgrounds, religions, thoughts and personalities crash each other, how powerful! Maybe that’s why the answer is “GOOD”.