Intercultural Interaction : My Family Friend Tiffany Ramseur From The Philippines

At the age of eight, the rest of my family moved to the U.S, it was not a completely foreign country to us, American movies were played in Filipino theaters and I’ve heard plenty of stories about the country through my parents. Surprisingly, although Philippines is one of the third world country, almost everyone can speak English due the fact that English is one the primary languages spoken alongside

History can provide us with an understanding to the matters and happenings that have positively impacted society, cultures, and families. Yet, it can spark deep controversy with subjects that have been hidden deep, such as racism and inequality. According to Experiencing Intercultural Communication, “The history that we know and our feelings about that history are strongly influenced by our culture.” For Elvira Salas, history brings her many joyful and unforgiving memories growing up in a small, remote town in Mexico.

To learn from another that is not like you, that is from another country, gives you the opportunity to acquire knowledge that opens your eyes and lets you better understand the world around you. That can definitely be said after conducting my interview for the Cross-Cultural Interaction Report. I had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing Blanchefort Djimsa, a Food Science major, who is from the country of Chad which is located in Central Africa. Blanchefort is from the city of Moundou, the third largest city, which is in the South of Chad. Here on scholarship, he is attending Oklahoma State University to further his education. Blanchefort told me about his country and gave me a different perspective about Chad.

Food is what most people want to experience when traveling and exploring the world. Food brings cultures together rather than tearing them apart. In Vietnam the practice of family eating meals together is quite common. “In daily life of Vietnam culture, Rice is the dietary staple which most people eat three meals a day. Rice is usually consumed jointly by family members. In Vietnam, the common practice is to prepare several dishes that are placed on a tray or table that people sit around. Individuals usually have small bowls filled with rice, and then take food from the trays as well as rice from their bowls with chopsticks. Vietnamese often accompany these main dishes with leafy vegetables and small bowls of salty sauces in which they dip their food.”(Food in Daily Life, 2017)

Intercultural encounters have always been a part of human history. These days, interaction between different cultures has become easier, faster and more frequent. People spend their vacations by travelling to different places, immigrants and refugees bring a part of their cultures to their new home countries, and thanks to modern technology, such as television and the internet, it is possible to have a contact to other cultures without even leaving your house. Of course, culture does not only refer to nationality. One definition for the word culture, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is the following: “The distinctive ideas, customs, social behaviour, products, or way of life of a particular nation, society, people, or period.” (OED Third Edition, March 2008) Thus, different cultures can and often do exist within the same nation, or even the same city or town. Yet culture is most

I had recently moved to my new apartment, in a new neighborhood, one drastically different from all that I had known, when one day there was a knock at the door. I was not sure who it could be since I did not know anyone for miles around, and was quite surprised when I looked out the window to see a short Latina (who I later on found out was Mexican). I was able to ascertain the fact that she was Hispanic when she began speaking Spanish to me, very rapidly, when I peered at her through the window.

The authors of the book “Experiencing Intercultural Communication,” Martin and Nakayama, stated “Identities are influenced by the society,” which means “our identities are formed through communication with others. Where we are positioned - by our background and our society – influences how and what we see, and, most important, what it means.”(2008, p. 89). Heidi is an apparent example of this concept. Heidi was born and raised in Vietnam for six to seven years. She was one of thousands of babies from the Operation Babylift Program during the Vietnam War. She was adopted by a U.S. family and spent her life in the U.S. The U.S.’s society has a great impact on changing her identity, personality,

Intercultural relationships remain an enduring and a fundamental necessity within the lives of young people. The group comprising of Alven, Antanita and oneself provided a lesson plan for a culturally diverse, co-educational class of year eleven students. It was the intent of the lesson to foster and promote the positive perceptions that the children had already gained through the appreciation of cultural diversity. The aim was for students to develop and open-minded approach to accept other cultural beliefs and practices, and thus, avoiding a judgmental approach falling within a stereotypical view. This allows the students to digress from a narrow-minded perspective and adopt an observational as well as a highly informed and non

In the course of our field trip last March 5 to the provinces of Bataan and Laguna, one question had come up to me as I marvel at the various sites in our trip. What is really our Filipino culture and, more importantly, how do we preserve it in the rapidly changing times of our modern world? With the help of this reflection paper, I hope to find the answer and enlighten myself with the identity of my country – and in that effect – of myself as a Filipino too.

The Philippines, is a group of islands in Southeast Asia, sitting in the western Pacific Ocean. It is known as the Republic of the Philippines, and consists of seven thousand, one hundred, and seven islands, that are geographically split into three main divisions, Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. The capital is Manila, referred to as the Paris of Asia, and the most populated is Quezon City, which are both part of Metro Manila. The Philippines has a population of close to one hundred,

After wedding, at the reception, the newlyweds and their guests perform a traditional dance, during which guests often present the couple with gifts or donate money to help pay for the honeymoon and other costs associated with beginning a married life. In the Philippines, this dance is called the pandango (Pantilon), while in Spain it is known as "sequidillas manchegas" (Spanish Wedding Traditions). In Spain, the couple will often use this opportunity to present wedding favors as well. One thing you are bound to see at the Filipino reception is the lechon. Lechon is a roasted pig served during special occasions like this. Succulent and juicy are really the best words to describe the

The Filipino culture has a variety of cultural influences. Most of their cultural influneces come from past colonizations of Ameirca and Spain.In spite of all the influences, the older Asian culture of the Filipinos has been kept and is clearly seen in their way of life. The Filipino culture has become very evident and has largely been appreciated in many parts of the world.

More Filipinos have been eating rice just to withstand empty stomach rather than eating a balanced meal with the right amount of calories and protein. Survey also says that eating protein and vegetables have gone down the sink since, most of the families can’t afford it. Most of the Filipino families eat rice with salt, soy sauce or even

The Philippines is a small archipelago located in Southeast Asia, which has been conquered and controlled by many different and more powerful countries such as Spain, Japan, and the United States. It was under Spanish colonial rule for more than three centuries. Spanish colonization began when, Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, a Spanish voyager, disembarked in the Philippines in 1565 (Schumacher 1). This was the beginning of centuries of unethical treatments and inferiority of Filipinos. At first, the natives of the Philippines accepted the conquest and lived by the Spaniards’ rules. During the first few decades of Spanish colonialism, the Philippines was not their main priority so the natives

It will be expounded through the discussion of the Filipino culture and its belief system, together with the duality of Filipino culture. The concept of Filipino culture and society will be discussed as a background to the study of Filipino culture. Given that Filipino culture is a summation of different foreign culture that has come to our country in the past centuries, the most dominant or mainstream remains to be the lowland Christian communities which are from the various regions of the archipelago. The discussion on Filipino culture is limited to the mainstream culture which is usually what is practiced and belief in the center or the heart of the archipelago which is metro manila and some of its neighboring