Sharing Culture

In a response to my article on Culture Shock, I was asked the following:

Is it hard to share your United States culture with others? or do you just focus on learning theirs?

My response:

Usually people are just as curious to learn about you as you are about them. From my experience, engaging in a conversation with others about culture is usually a two-way street, with both sides sharing about their part of the world. It's really much more interesting for both sides this way and much easier to make comparisons as well as note contrasts between places/cultures. You can really learn a lot about your own culture by having conversations like this.

So no, it's not usually hard sharing my culture with others, especially if it's easy to communicate...and when you can't speak someone else's language you can really learn a lot just by observing. They can learn a lot about your culture as well just by observing you. Culture is engrained in us so even if we try to blend in, our culture will always shine through in one way or another, which I think is a good thing!

And this brings something to mind. Here in the UAE, the local people (called Emiratis) are considered to be people who keep to themselves (from the point of view of Westerners). In comparision to the expat populations here, they are a minority in their own country. They wear traditional Arab dress and their women wear the abayas and head scarves, which might give one the impression that they are standoffish. So some expats here feel intimidated by the Emiratis and will live years here without ever having a real conversation with one. Even those who work with Emiratis will admit that they don't know much about them. They think that the Emiratis would not want to talk to them either. I think this is a shame, because it's just not true!

My husband and I have some Emirati friends. We invited one of them to a 4th of July celebration here (he really learned a lot about US culture that evening!). Just as we shared the 4th of July with him, he shared an important part of Ramadan with us by bringing us an iftar feast to our apartment one evening! What a treat to try traditional Emirati food with a great friend!

Always when we hang out with our Emirati friends they are as eager and open to learn about us as we are about them. And this even exchange is vital for breaking down stereotypes and misconceptions.

I guess sharing your culture is not as difficult as it might seem at first. If you only focus on learning about the culture of the local people, there will not be an even exchange of information that helps to break down barriers, stereotypes and misconceptions between people.