THE GROUP DISCUSSION REPORTS OF

CROSS CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING

‘CROSS-CULTURAL CONTACT WITH AMERICANS’

BY:

1.    ELVIYASA GABERIA SIREGAR (12551127)

2.    HENI YULIANI

3.    NURLAISA

4.    YOGI HARYANTO

ENGLISH STUDY PROGRAM

STATE COLLEGE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES (STAIN) CURUP

2015

Cross – Cultural Contact with Americans

A.  The term “American”

There are so many types of Americans and yet a mainstream culture does exists. Even the word American is confusing because some people judge Americans are only those who lived, raised, and borned in United States but then there are also some peoples judge Americans are those who lived, raised, and borned not only in United States but in the continent of America. After all, American are consist and includes North America, Central America, and South American. A description of Americans. Americans don’t come from a common ancestor. Expect for native Americans (Indian). American come from different Immigrant and refugee groups. Americans do have a common heritage, but it is based on cultural diversity or multiculturalism.

B.  The Definiton

There are some terms related to cross cultural contact, they are:

·    Mainstream culture is the behavior of the group s base Dom its values and beliefs.

·    Individual behavior: the action and activities of one person.

·    Melting pot: a society in wich ethnic group blend and become one group.

Example: People came from so many country such as China, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, India, Australia. They have their own ethnic, cultures, etc then they lived together in America and bend with others became one group called United States.

·    Mosaic: a society in which ethnic groups retain their separate identities but together form the larger community. By the 1970sa better analogy was introduced American multicultural society was described a Generalization: a statement describing general behavior that does not apply all the times a mosaic in which all the races and ethnic group could be proudly displayed.

·    Stereotype: an exaggerate belief about a group often base on a lack information or contact with members of that group. It easy to over generalize and apply the action and behavior of a view people from a particular group to entire group.

Example: People from Padang, Indonesia usually called as ‘sampiliak’ because most of Padangnese are ‘sampiliak’ or misery but it is only stereotype, because not every single of padangnese are sampiliak. That is stereotype created by some people to judge people based on what they saw from others which come from similar ethnic.

C.  American Values

1.    Personal control over the environment X fate

2.    Change (change is healthy) X Tradition.

3.    Control over time : Time flies X Time walks

4.    Equality and egalitarianism X Hierarchy, rank, status

5.    Individualism and privacy X Group orientations.

6.    Self-help X Birthright inheritance

7.    Future orientation X Past orientation

8.    Action and work orientation X Being orientation

9.    Informality X formality

10.  Directness, openness, and honesty X Indirectness

11.  Materialism X Spiritualism
Value such as the ones just described are the backbone of American culture. They influence how many American think and act.

D.  Individualism and Privacy

Privacy, to an American does not mean ‘isolation or loneliness’. They may feel the need to give people their own privacy at times when a person from another culture might not feel the need. Example: Americans, in their dailylife they do not enter their own room without knocking first event that is the room of their parents or in opposite. It shows that, Americans, they respect individual privacy.

E.  Equality and Egalitarianism

Americans like to present an image that everyone is equal even they come from different social level, or may have different background of education.Example: Americans usually call their boss, professor, or elder people by called the name. Americans choose not to be overly polite and formal with person that has higher status. In other words, the Americans tendency is to minimizen status differences rather than to emphasize them.

F.   Questions and Answers (the results of group discussion ‘Cross-Cultural Contact With Americans, October 29 2015)

1.    Question comes from Ahmad Syafran: In your Opinion what is  the most useful culture in Indonesia?

Answered by

ü Elviyasa Gaberia S.        :

There are three cultures applied by Indonesians, they are nationality, religion, and. The most useful culture may refer to Religion because most of Indonesians are muslim, so they always make interconnection between what they are going to do with the rules in their religion. For examples: Most of cultures created by Indonesians anchestor are based on religion. People from Selupu Rejang, Indonesia they have their own culture called Sedekah Bumi, it was how people there expressing their grateful to Allah SWT. This culture are created based on Islamic rule as their beliefs. When they are doing Sedekah Bumi people there also doing Istighasah (asking for help to Allah SWT who has given them wealthy, and good harvest season. It shows that Indonesians can not separate between culture and religion. When there is person who denied their religion by not doing their religion properly they would have issolation from others. In the contrary people who does their religion rules properly and smoothly they would have acknowledgement that woul sattisfied them in conact with others.

ü  Heni Yuliani                  :

ü  Nurlaisa                         :

ü  Yogi Haryanto               :

2.    Question from Adesi Keme Suko: Please, Give more expalannation and also examples of Americans moral value!

There are 11 moral values of Americans, they are:

1.      Personal control over the environment X fate

Americans believe that their behavior would affect their future. In other words, what they will get on the future is the result of what they’ve done on the past. There are no such fate or destiny given by God, so they trying to do good things that may result goodness too in their future later.

Example: Americans are good planners, they usually making plan in order to create better life on the future.

2.      Change (change is healthy) X Tradition.

Change is healthy for Americans, they always making move and dont want to stuck in one habit that they think it is not work at all in their life. On the contrary Indonesian are really hate term ‘change’, they quite hard to change their own perspectives.

3.      Control over time : Time flies X Time walks.

Americans believe ‘Times is money’ it means that they can control the time as they would. So they would not wate the times for everything useless, they donot like pretext at all.

4.      Equality and egalitarianism X Hierarchy, rank, status

Americans like to present an image that everyone is equal even they come from different social level, or may have different background of education

Example: Americans usually call their boss, professor, or elder people by called the name. Americans choose not to be overly polite and formal with person that has higher status. In other words, the Americans tendency is to minimizen status differences rather than to emphasize them.

5.      Individualism and privacy X Group orientations.

Individualism menas they are prefer to think their own self firts then group. They dont like to sacrifice themselves for the group.

Privacy, to an American does not mean ‘isolation or loneliness’. They may feel the need to give people their own privacy at times when a person from another culture might not feel the need.

Example: Americans, in their dailylife they do not enter their own room without knocking first event that is the room of their parents or in opposite. It shows that, Americans, they respect individual privacy.

6.      Self-help X Birthright inheritance

7.      Future orientation X Past orientation

Americans are good planners as have stated above, it means they like to look to the future rather than on the past. For Americans life must go on, there is no use to think of past.

8.      Action and work orientation X Being orientation

Work often defines people, their identity come from what thy do.

9.      Informality X formality

Americans choose not to be overly polite and formal with person that has higher status. In other words, the Americans tendency is to minimize status differences rather than to emphasize them.

Example: Americans, they dont use uniform as Asians do. They may use casual clothes than formal uniform. In the contrary, Asian students they use uniform to show their formality. For such case like what they wear to go to school, it shows that Americans are prefer show informality than formality.

10.  Directness, openness, and honesty X Indirectness

Americans are prefer to express their directness, openness, and honesy event it may hurt someone else. They don like indirectness, pretext, like Asians do. Amerivcans are honest to deliver what their think of others, there is no way to lie to make the situation better.

Example: Americans are always deliver their comments directly when they look their friend wear clothes that doesn’t seem good at all.

11.  Materialism X Spiritualism

Tendency to be more concerned with material than with spiritual or intelectual goals. Value such as the ones just described are the backbone of American culture. They influence how many American think and act.

3.    Question from Ezki Utami: What is mainstream culture and please give more examples of it?!

Mainstream culture is the values, beliefs, and behavior of the dominant group in a society. The behavior of the group is based on its values and beliefs.

Example: Americans believe that kissing and hugging are useful to show their respect and closeness. When they meet their friends even female or male they will do kissing and hugging to show their closeness. When they met new people they will make eye contact and shaking hands. In the contarry Indonesian, for some female they dont do shaking hands because of it is forbidden in their religion, and also kissing and hugging are only used by high social level.