The Cultural Exchange Game

[Gwenhwyfar]

Felt like making a game where you can share different aspects of your culture, get to know new ones, or ask silly questions that no culture could possibly do or have.  Of course, you might be surprised, some of those silly questions might actually be incorporated in a culture.  

 

The game is quite simple:  You answer a question a person above you asks, state your culture, and relate it to your culture, and then you ask a question any person of any culture can answer.

 

For example:

 

Person 1:  Does your culture value tradition and unity?

Person 2:  No, I'm American.  My culture puts more emphasis on independence and individuality.  Does your culture love bacon?

Person 3:  Yes and no.  I'm Polish, pork is a very favored meat in my culture.  While my people may love bacon, I think they love kielbasa more.  Is food very important to your culture?

Person 1:  Yes, I'm Italian America.  My family is very big on food!  Does your culture love cats?

 

And etc.

 

(Disclaimer:  I tried picking the most cliche or obvious questions in example.  If they're wrong, my apologies, I'll fix them if you tell me how they're wrong.)

 

Anyway!  I'll start!

 

Do the people in your culture put a lot of emphasis on religion?

[MaybeAFirst]

From the UK here.

 

In my experience, not really, although it is obviously different on different families. Generally us Brits tend to not interfere with other people's lives or really care if they are religious or not, as long as they are a good person (even if some of our newspapers can be quite Islamophobic). For example, my grandparents go to church on Sundays and are very Christian whereas my parents brought my brother and I up not being told if they were even religous or not so we were compeltely free to decide what we believe. You tend to find the older generations are more religous but currently it's not usually even brought up in conversations. I personally am athiest, but I have friends who are Christian, Muslim and agnostic, it's not really a big deal for us!

 

Does your culture value independence?

[AliTheDrugDealer]

From the U.S. (South Carolina, to be more exact).

 

Yes, Americans HIGHLY value independence.  I know a lot of other cultures say we value it too much.  And I can see truth in that.  But it's how we roll.

 

Does your culture put a strong emphasis on the family as a unit?

[Gwenhwyfar]

Polish American here!

 

I can say that yes, my culture puts a strong emphasis the family, at least for my family.  I can tell you that my family often takes care of each other, even relatives; my parents took in my cousin to live with us so he can commute closer to his work.  My cousin is basically treated like another son at my parent's house, and it's expected from my parents that he'd join us at the dinner table and spend time with us.  Polish culture, at least from my experience, puts a bit of emphasis on seniority, so you're suppose to be very respectful to your grandparents and your parents.  It seems kind of expected that you'll take care of your parents as they get older.

 

Does your culture love to dance?

[Hit]

White 2nd generation Australian.

 

We all but outlawed dancing in the 70's after a few terrible incidents in inner-west Sydney. Led by known drunk Mel 'the whirling dervish" Gibson, early ACDC fans clashed with the Cold Chislers outside the white star hotel, leading to one of the worst riots in our nation. While it was never made into an official law, the no-dancing policy became heavily enforced in the late 80s as those same pub-rock-rioters formed bikie gangs and took over all the downtown clubs. Determined to never again let such a destructive force off the leash, the bikie gangs hand out vicious beatings to anyone caught dancing or engaging in any act of frivolity. As a result, white Australians show their appreciation for live music by glassing the people closest to them and king-hitting those who try to run away. 

 

Does your culture love to tell bullshit stories to foreigners? 

[mangatake]

Probably. I'm Jordanian and we get quite a few tourists. While most Jordanians try to be extra hospitable (we're all about giving visitors the best of everything and making them feel at home), you'll find a bunch who don't mind feeding tourists the sensational stories they're expecting. Let's face it, folks come with preconceived notions that show in their questions. They're easy to tease.

 

What's your least favorite aspect of your culture?

[Polaris]

Thinking fast, the drinking. Unfortunately, Finns are known for drunken idiocy as tourists, and for a reason. Finns drink at every opportunity, often publicly, and every time they need to be totally wasted. Which sucks for me, because I drink very rarely and very little and can't stand the company of drunk people. Even worse, a lot of people don't seem to understand moderate or "civilized" drinking, and treat me like I'm an alien. And most events, say, newb meetings at the uni, and office/work parties, involve excess alcohol consumption, so let's just say my attendance at social events has been limited by it a lot.

 

Are sports important in your culture?

[DarK_RaideR]

Depends on whether you mean engaging in sports or watching games. Most Greeks prefer the latter and at best used to kick a ball around the schoolyard back in a day. Which brings us to the fact that football is the dominant sport by a huge margin, basketball being a close second, trailed by whatever sport some athlete did exceptionally well lately on some international competition. Until roughly the mid 70s, clubs and players were local, which meant a greater connection to the community and more people filling the stadiums. With the rise of modern football it's become way more impersonal but the fanaticism is there, especially since betting entered the picture. As someone who likes all kinds of weird sports (rugby, roller derby, ice hockey etc) I am saddened by the complete dominance of 2 or 3 basic popular sports and nothing else at all besides that.

 

What is your culture's relationship with its history and its past?