My Experience of the Exchange

Description of my feelings, knowledge and actions during the Exchange.

 

A. Feelings

• Ways in which my curiosity and interest were aroused: (examples that made me re-consider my own culture)

I've always been interested in different cultures, so I've found this exchange very exciting since the beginning. I chose to be part of the exchange with Dickinson-USA for two reasons: first of all because the guys were mothertongue speakers and secondly because we were supposed to use Skype. This programm was not new to me and I use it quite often at home. So, the idea of talking "live" with someone from the other side of the world aroused my interest a lot. Moreover, I was really curious about how those American people studied Italian, what was their level, how was their pronunciation and so on. We had many interesting topics to talk about, which made differences and similarities between our cultures very clear.

 

During the exchange I asked many questions about life, cultures and many other topics. I loved comparing those answers with mine. Since I have many friends who come from different countries and have such opposite backgrounds, I am quite used to re-consider my own culture, so maybe those relatioships helped me more than the weekly phone call we did. Anyway, a particular moment in which I reconsider my knowledge about Italian culture was the day we were supposed to talk about the Italian "years of lead". I realized that many of us do not know anything about many important historical events of our country, whereas American students were usually well informed and very up-to-date.

• Moments in which I felt uncomfortable: (what made me feel like this, with particular examples if possible)

I felt really uncomfortable when I realized that I was the only one (among 4 people in the group) who insisted on talking, comparing ideas and making friends. Some people were always tired and unwilling to talk, above all about the assinged topics. That was not a problem actually, but even if I tried to go a little deeper into the topics, they just spoke a couple of sentences and then turned silent. I'm aware I cannot force people doing things they do not want to do, but I felt uncomfortable because I tried to do my best without success. 

• Moments when I felt comfortable:(what made me feel like this, with particular examples if possible)

I felt comfortable quite often. I felt comfortable in class, during the exchange. I felt particularly good when my American peer called me during the weekend just to hear from me and have a little talk together. That made our realtionship more interpersonal and less mechanic. I think I learnt more during those brief spontaneous conversations than during the whole exchange. Another thing that I appreciated a lot was our meeting with Chiara. It was like knowing directly someone we could only meet virtually (and all her answers and questions gave us lots of new information). 

B. Knowledge

• The most important things I learnt about family life and/or life at school. 

The most important thing I have learnt about family life and university life is independency. Everybody there has a very indepentent lifestyle and tend to do many things alone. Students leave their families quite soon and live in the university campus until graduation. A campus is not just a place where you sleep, attend classes and study, but a place where you live: you can play sports, work, do volunteer work and choose among a wide range of activities.

I think I'd need such an experience because I think it makes you grow a lot.

• The most important things I have learnt about the country, the nation, the state of the target language.

The most important thing I have learnt about the USA is their multicultural aspect. My peer had Chinese origins, so since the first time we spoke a lot about multiculturalism and ethic groups. A definition of the American citizen is really difficult to find (if not impossible). There are so many different ethnic groups, internal differences and a lot of stereotypes that lead to a lot of confusion. We tend to define everything in order to learn it, but this is not always right or even possible. The USA are so big and differentiated you just have to find your own way to look at them. I'm sure Americans have such different points of view! 

• What I have learnt about customs and conventions of talking with people (topics which interest them, topics to avoid, how to greet people and take leave from them).

As far as conventions are concerned I learnt that the typical Italian way of repeating "thank you" and "sorry" may sound terribly tedious. I tried to limit my use of them. Moreover, Italians tend to greet a lot, while the Americans tended to limit to a short "hi" and "bye", without the importance and repetition we usually put into those words. Another thing that I noticed is that sometimes when I tried to correct my peer's mistakes she was afraid to talk and when I asked her to correct mine she didn't do it. At that point I spoke to her directly and asked her if she was offended or intimidated. Her answer was no, of course, but since that I've tried to limit my corrections, even if I would have appreciate her correcting me.

As regards topics, I have to say that I spoke only with one person, but I noticed that many Americans were really interested in politics like she was and usually liked to talk about it. Other good topics were immigration, cultural differences, music and cinema. On the other hand, she wouldn't have allowed us to talk about the health-care system, death penalty and environment. 

 

C. Actions

• Incidents or problems which I resolved by explaining different cultures to people, helping them see the points of view of different cultures and how misunderstandings can happen.

Well, I had no problems in explaining my culture or comparing my point of view. Sometimes it happened with some other immigrant friends who could not understand some detalis about our lifestyle or some cultural habits which were completely new to them. But I just tried to explain everything and make things clear.

• Examples of times when I have had to ask questions and work out my own answers (from ask for clarification to understanding cultural customs and beliefs)

I think the conversation in which the whole group asked a lot of questions was the one about politics and the American elections. The system is really different from the one we have here in Italy and even if the news are always talking about the American elections, we needed some basic detalis to understand it better. The other conversations have usually been more easy.

 

In general, I tended to ask whatever I could. Many people are shy or do not want to bore with silly questions, but I've learnt more from silly questions than from very "upper-class" ones. That's why when I couldn't understand something I asked my peer the unknown word or to repeat the concept. 

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A self-assessment of my Intercultural Experience

 

A. Interest in other people's way of life

 

• I am interested in other people's experience of daily life, particularly those things not usually presented to outsiders through the media. Example: I asked my peer many questions about her lifestyle as a young Chinese girl and university student. WE had the chance to chat even in other moments and there we were more relaxed and talked about personal things and experiences. She likes taking pictures everywhere she goes, from trips to parties, so we exchanged them and commented a lot on the way people live and have fun there (sometimes they're really crazy!)
• I am also interested in the daily experience of a variety of social groups within a society and not only the dominant culture. Example: I asked my peer a lot of information about the conditions of minority groups in the USA. We talked a lot about ethnic groups, immigration, stereotypes and traditions. In particular I asked her to tell me if she and her family still maintain Chinese traditions (according to their origins) and I've learnt some interesting things about Chinese food and dresses.

 

B. Ability to change perspective

• I have realised that I can understand other cultures by seeing things from a different point of view and by looking at my culture from their perspective. Example: Well, I think the best example here is to see Italy and our culture from the eyes of American people. They consider us lazy, relaxed, well-dressed and think we are always eating pasta and seducing people with our irresistible charm. That made me laught a lot. I know these are all stereotypes, but I realized that each stereotype starts from something true!! Why are you laughing? I meant the one about pasta! ;-)

 

C. Ability to cope with communicating in a different language with a different culture

• I am able to cope with a range of reactions people from different cultures may have to the way I express myself and what I say. Example: I have to say that I never experienced strange or different reactions from people belonging to different cultural backgrounds. I just noticed that sometimes someone stopped me to make me repeat the sentence or to make it more clear. But I don't know what to say about reactions. Maybe I was lucky and found only polite understanding people.

 

D. Knowledge about another country and culture

• I know some important facts about the other culture and about the country, state and people that I did not know before. Example: Yes, I've learnt many new things, especially the school system, the electoral system and the stereotypes between the North and the South of the USA (which was the topic of my wiki page, as well).
• I know how to engage in conversation with people of the other culture and maintain a conversation. Example: I tried to be constantly aware that I was talking with a person of a different culture, but I behaved as naturally as possible. I avoided all those idiomatic expressions which could create confusion, I limited my use of commonplaces in order not to offend anyone and I asked everything I did not know or understand (but without being too boring or nosy).

 

E. Knowledge about intercultural communication

• I know how to resolve misunderstandings which arise from people's lack of awareness of the view point of another culture. Example of misunderstanding and solution: First of all, if we refer to some linguistic musunderstandings, I tried to explain what was wrong and how we as Italians see and think about that thing. For example it happened when the American peer did not turn the adjectives to plural. That is how their language works, but it's different in Italian and it can cause misunderstandings. Secondly we did not go through cultural misunderstandings. One thing can be the use of some bad words: I explained that some can be used because "not too bad", while others may sound really rude.
• I know how to discover new information and new aspects of the other culture for myself. Example: I think it's always very useful to read between the lines when talking with foreign people. You can find out many details that give you suggestions on how to behave and what to say or avoid. For example, while talking about stereotypes our peer (who comes from LA) used many stereotypes to describe both people from the North and people from the South, so I had to distinguish between what was real and what was just an inconscious way of excluding herself from that kind of judgement (she was probably afraid of becoming part of a specific group of stereotyped people).

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Self-Assessment of my Language Learning

Please provide specific examples of the following:

 

• words, expressions I learned in English: to procrastinate, southerner/northerner, some uses of get...
• improvements in my pronunciation of certain words or intonation: This is really difficult. Well, maybe this is more unconscious in my case, but one thing I tried to imitate was the intonation of greetings (e.g. bye - up-down-up)
• improvements in my listening: I got used to a different kind of American accent I was used to
• changes in the way I speak Italian to non-native speakers: I tried to speak very calmly using simple words. I articulated carefully every single word (without sounding like a robot, though). I avoided difficult words, complex clauses and idiomatic expressions in order to limit confusion and difficulty.
• words, expressions I learned doing the wiki project: southerner/northerner, Redneck, Yankee, Hick, Hillibilly, vituperation
• improvements in my reading doing the wiki project: I liked reading what my peer and my classmates wrote on their wikipages. It was interesting to notice that everyone of us has a different style and choses some different and personal forms (even to convey similar or identical meanings). I think it was very enriching for me. Moreover, apart from reading for fun, I also payed much attention to correct mistakes or just reflect if I would have written the same thing in the same way.
• improvements in my writing doing the wiki project: I always find writing very useful. I realized I learn something at the end of every written assignment. The only problem is time. Since I don't have much spare time it's alway very difficult to find a computer, sit down and write. I would have liked to keep my blog updated but that was quite impossible for me. Another thing I found very useful was the exchange of opinions among people while writing the wiki. We asked our friends, compared styles and exhanged useful information.

 

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