Do you think Americans are generally more curious about other cultures than non-Americans give them credit for?

28 comments

  1. Whenever the question is “are Americans not as bad about X as foreigners think?”, the answer is almost always an unequivocal yes.

    The prevalence and prominence of American culture had given many non-Americans the false idea that they actually know what life here is like, and how we operate.

    So yes, Americans are more curious and know more about other places and cultures than many foreigners will ever be willing to admit.

  3. Yes. American contains so many cultures that are present in a lot of our day to day lives, especially if you live in a city. Most people have close social connections to people of other cultures, and naturally they become curious and want to learn more.

    A lot of times it’s a culinary experiences that provides an introduction, sometimes it’s interactions and conversation with your neighbors, co-workers that spark an interest.

    Americans for the most part are curious people and want to know about your life story, traditions and background.

  4. I feel that people around the world share about the same amount of interest when it comes to other cultures, give or take individual sparks or interest into one particular culture. Most people aren’t cultural hobbyist anywhere.

  5. I don’t know the stereotype, but I can tell you Americans are super interested in other cultures. That’s why r/askreddit questions concerning other cultures do so well, if we’re being honest.

    We are also notorious for going down Wikipedia rabbit holes about other cultures, religions, or schools of thought, aren’t we? I feel like curious is a very apt word to describe Americans, including culture. I don’t think “assimilation” is as big as “understanding” in the modern era, if that makes sense.

  7. In my experience trying to marinate myself in American society in contemplation of migrating for my fiancee, it totally depends on the area you’re in, and often the background culture of the individual.

    I’ve found that Americans whose prior generations are more closely related to their ancestral origin (Eg. someone who is a second gen American, fam from EU.) are more curious about other nations and cultures.

    Many who are multi-generations in who are not upper-middle class or higher do not seem to possess the same level of enquiry or interest in other nations, and possess a level of knowledge about other nations/continents that is trivialized.

    But there’s no broad answer for this.It simply depends on a bunch of factors.

  8. Yes, 100%.

    So many Americans want to travel, but don’t have the means. So many Americans want to learn other languages, but don’t have the opportunity to practice in a way that they maintain the knowledge. We love trying foods from other cultures, but sometimes it’s hard to find something authentic.

  9. Such a statement; disguised as a question, appears to lack a nuanced appreciation for the complexity of the matter at hand.

    The act of making sweeping generalizations regarding the curiosity levels of an entire nation serves to overly simplify a reality that is notably intricate in nature.

    Within the United States, a nation characterized by its diversity and heterogeneity, a wide-ranging spectrum of attitudes toward other cultures prevails. While certain individuals of American nationality indeed manifest a genuine and profound fascination with diverse cultural experiences, it is equally noteworthy that others may not accord such pursuits the same degree of priority or actively partake in them.

    In light of these observations, it becomes apparent that assessing cultural curiosity should transcend the confines of a limited national perspective. Instead, it should be viewed as an intricate interplay stemming from individual choices and the prevailing circumstances influencing them.

  10. I don’t know how curious most of the world thinks we are but we have plenty of people that travel abroad, so maybe we are more curious?

  12. Yes.. stereotypes are always BS. We love the heck out of anything and everything from overseas.

    If you make a better car, we will drive it. You make better coffee? We’ll drink it. Tell a better story? We’ll through money and awards at you, and we’ll never stop talking about it.

  14. America is the most multicultural country on the planet by far. Being multicultural is a core part of the American identity. You kind of have to be curious about other cultures to be American. It’s inescapable.

    So yeah if anything we don’t get enough credit for that but we certainly don’t get too much credit.

  15. I think so – and I think we’re unfairly judged for “not travelling” but we’re across oceans and the states in the US are so different it soothes the travel bug.

  16. America is a strange place. I can drive 4,300 km west and never need to change my fast food order, let alone learn a new language and culture for me to operate in. Most Americans are never going to have the opportunity to leave the country, and most of those that do still can’t afford a trip out of North America.

  18. Absolutely. Just not in the same way. I have loved movies from HK since the 90s, and manga and Anime from Japan for even longer.

  19. Yes Americans are curious about other cultures, just for a vast majority of Americans actually visiting those cultures are prohibitively expensive. And pretty much everyone here speaks exclusively english so there is not really a reason to learn another language, and it’s much harder because you aren’t around other languages.

    Foreign food and cultural events are very popular tho. From my understanding, the US is rather unique in that it is such a melting pot of cuisine, both authentic and Americanized.

  20. I don’t know the extent to which non-Americans give or don’t give us credit for being curious about other culture, nor the extent to which my fellow Americans are or are not curious about other cultures. So I can’t answer the question as asked, and wouldn’t believe any generalizations others have made unless they’re substantiated.

    I don’t even think it makes sense to treat “curious about other cultures” as a binary. I’m not particularly curious about other European cultures or cultures derived from Europe. I’m more curious about the cultures that are very different from those, but wouldn’t call it a passion of mine.

  21. I’d say we are always curious, Foreigners are probably the most interesting people you can talk to!

  22. The answer is definitely Yes.

    But what needs consideration is the idea of “culture” in this context.

    The United States are not a monolith. There is no single “American culture.” A New Englander traveling to California doesn’t need a passport. However, they are most certainly going to experience a different culture from their own.

  23. The US baseline is a hodgepodge of cultures, multilingual phrases, and foods. There isn’t a really a norm of what America is so I’d say we are far more curious than people give us credit for.

    From Italians to Nigerians there’s a 3 faced existence in America that being your social identity as an American, your social identity of the region in the US you live in, and the ethnic identity your family comprises of.

    Learning about mannerisms, foods and language are sorta baked into a society like that, and of course there is a certain defensive nationalism you see in Americans broad like you would see Germans or Chinese people abroad but that’s not unique characteristic but rather a shared one of people who are new to a place

  24. No. Why would we be? Why would caring about some other culture benefit us? We most likely will never go to that place nor will we interact with people from that place. There are some cultures which have broken into ours such as Japanese and South Korean, but we mostly don’t care.

  25. Most of us are. I also found living in Europe that when Europeans say “Americans don’t know about other cultures” they mean European cultures, because the average European didn’t really seem to have much more knowledge of Latin America, Asia or Africa. They just also happen to know American culture because we export so much of it.

  26. I don’t know about other cultures, but if you have a whiff of an accent or mention that you hail from another country, you are instantly the most popular person in the room. Everyone will find you delightful and genuinely interesting.

    Unfortunately…this is typically only the case for *white* foreigners. But, I think, with non-white foreigners, people are still interested, but they don’t want to accidentally offend.

    This is based on my observations in the Midwest. It’s probably different in other parts of the country. But I think it’s safe to say that we generally find novelty interesting.

  27. Of course. Americans are very curious.

    Usually the stereotype comes from people being butthurt that they know so much about us (or at least a very skewed image of us) while we’re not obsessively aware about what’s happening in their country.

    “y-y…YOU PROBABLY DONT EVEN KNOW WHERE MY COUNTRY IS! Stupid American!”

    We’re just one country that happens to be extremely influential in this time period – and the expectation is that we’re supposed to reciprocate all that attention to all the other 195 countries on the planet. But hey, tell us about where you’re from, and we’ll likely be interested and curious.

  28. OP, let me enlighten you :

    I’m invited to a Brazilian BBQ this weekend because my hiking group friend who’s American and fluent in Dutch, is dating a guy from Brazil who has lived here for 30 years.

    Our other friends are from India and, among sharing a lot about their culture, and having hung out with their parents who visit from India every year, they also taught me how to make Chicken Biriyani.

    I shop at Aldi, with a lot of food from Germany- since my husband misses the food when we lived there, and we went to Pflaumenfest and will go to Oktoberfest at the mock German Village with German Biergarten, Läden, Bakery, Drindl store, etc. I speak Denglish to the other visitors there because I understand Deutsch from passing my A classes but I rarely have a chance to speak it. I was good at speaking it when I lived there because when locals notoriously switched to English, I’d keep plowing along in Deutsch, even bearing their harsh, nit-picking criticisms of my pronunciation, even after living there only a few months.

    I shop at a Mexican market, because I live 2 hours from Mexico. I speak Spanish there, and at Mexican restaurants where the restaurant staff in my town do not speak any English.

    I help Tourists in my beach city all summer, taking pictures and answering questions. I sit next to Lots of Japanese people at baseball games because the star player is Japanese.

    I also have many Japanese friends because there are a lot of Japanese here, and I was in a charity cooking club with them.

    I had a student from Morocco for 2 years, so I learned a lot about his culture from him and his sisters.

    I hosted an Exchange student from Finland, and learned that her country should never be used as a model for anything, as it is extremely homogeneous. Contrary to popular belief, Her dad and brother speak Zero English, and nobody in her family went to college. Her dad’s girlfriend’s daughter has been trying to get one of the 5k spots for university for 3 years. The student doesn’t have any hobbies or sports or play an instrument, as none of that is offered at school. You can’t even go to academic high school unless you pass a test in 8th grade. If you fail, you get vocational training. You don’t get a choice. You can do a remedial year and have a 2nd attempt.
    She doesn’t even ride a bike or Ski! But, she speaks perfect English because her mom was an exchange student, too. Although none of them ever took a turn hosting an exchange student, so their family didn’t have that experience.

    My in-laws are from Spain and Peru. I know a lot about their culture and they belong to a local Basque club. I can discern what region of Spain people are from by hearing them speak. I’ve been to a Basque wedding, all spoken in Basque.

    My closest friend from middle school 35 years ago is from Laos. I know a lot about her culture. She has taught me to make the food, and she is a leader in her local Lao Association, and other Laotian friends from high school invited me to parties and I was even invited to my other Laotian friend’s Arranged marriage wedding when we graduated high school.

    My husband and I have traveled much of the world.

    We lived in Israel, (we are not Jewish) and I could read Hebrew pretty well, without knowing what I was saying, only speak enough to talk to a cab driver and freak people out when I speak it. But, Israelis love it when I say anything in Ivrit, a huge contrast to Europeans.

    I could go on for hours. We have had Vast cultural experiences.

    As for Germans and Israelis, I’d say they were often well-traveled, but they didn’t have daily interactions with other cultures the way my husband and I do in our normal lives.

Leave a Reply
You May Also Like