Differences in the American and Ecuadorian Culture
Tyler Copier
Autoethnography
Com. 3190
Differences in the American and Ecuadorian Culture
Culture makes up who we are, what we believe and how we behave. About four years ago, I had the opportunity to live in Ecuador. I found the relationships and communication perspective to be very interesting and after spending two years there, I was able to notice several distinct intercultural differences between the American and Ecuadorian cultures. Since my analysis of Ecuador is only based off of my personal experience, I’ve also invited my friend Luis Salas from Quito, Ecuador who is currently attending Brigham Young University to give his own insights. By gaining his perspective of what it’s like to live in America as an Ecuadorian, I feel that I can draw a clearer conclusion about the differences between the two cultures. Several times throughout the span of two years that I lived in Ecuador, I experienced culture shock due to the vast differences from the American Culture that I was used to. Amongst some of the biggest differences between the American Culture and the Ecuadorian Culture that I noticed was the high/low context, power distance, acceptance of uncertainty, and work orientation. One of the first things that I was able to recognize about Ecuador was the high-context communication skills they render. I noticed that they tend to care more about my feelings and how I would react when I approached them then they would about their own feelings. This was especially difficult as a missionary as we spent several hours teaching someone only to find out a month later that they were never interested in our message. Luis had a very interesting theory when asked about the context of the American Culture. He believes that since our culture is more educated and advanced, it eliminates any sort of “beating around the bush.” Luis said that American’s just want the truth plain and simple to get the job done. He also said this was difficult
Autoethnography
Com. 3190
Differences in the American and Ecuadorian Culture
Culture makes up who we are, what we believe and how we behave. About four years ago, I had the opportunity to live in Ecuador. I found the relationships and communication perspective to be very interesting and after spending two years there, I was able to notice several distinct intercultural differences between the American and Ecuadorian cultures. Since my analysis of Ecuador is only based off of my personal experience, I’ve also invited my friend Luis Salas from Quito, Ecuador who is currently attending Brigham Young University to give his own insights. By gaining his perspective of what it’s like to live in America as an Ecuadorian, I feel that I can draw a clearer conclusion about the differences between the two cultures. Several times throughout the span of two years that I lived in Ecuador, I experienced culture shock due to the vast differences from the American Culture that I was used to. Amongst some of the biggest differences between the American Culture and the Ecuadorian Culture that I noticed was the high/low context, power distance, acceptance of uncertainty, and work orientation. One of the first things that I was able to recognize about Ecuador was the high-context communication skills they render. I noticed that they tend to care more about my feelings and how I would react when I approached them then they would about their own feelings. This was especially difficult as a missionary as we spent several hours teaching someone only to find out a month later that they were never interested in our message. Luis had a very interesting theory when asked about the context of the American Culture. He believes that since our culture is more educated and advanced, it eliminates any sort of “beating around the bush.” Luis said that American’s just want the truth plain and simple to get the job done. He also said this was difficult
References: Davidson, Kurt. 1995. “Economic Culture; The Very Soul”. Stockholm: Scandinavian University Books. Fred E. Jandt. 2007. “An Introduction to Intercultural Communication.” Identities is a Global Community. California State University, San Bernardino Bjorn, Steven C. 1999. In Our Nutshell. Boulder, CO: Westeview Press.