Internationals
Ron Graham
As the world becomes increasingly borderless, we find relationships between Americans and internationals (i.e. those from somewhere other than the USA) increasingly common. A big problem with these relationships is americentrism, which (for whatever reason it exists, whether distrust of or lack of comfort with other cultures) has the effect of placing adjustment to the relationship completely on visitors to the USA.

The pattern of international adjustment:

  1. fascination
  2. culture shock
  3. isolation; avoidance of anything difficult
  4. acceptance
  5. return anxiety

The rhetor's job is likely to be to help the international visitor skip step 3 if possible, or at least to make that step more bearable. Engineers regularly find themselves in mentoring roles, or in guiding new employees, and internationals will usually have the same needs in these areas as would the American-born. Add to those needs the chance that what Americans see as common behavior can be misinterpreted by those not used to it.

What Americans Value How Americans Can Advance and Sometimes Overdo It How Internationals Can View It
friendliness joking around; social invitations commitment to friendship
aggressiveness pats on the back, etc. invitation to physical contact
self-reliance isolation selfishness; lack of ties
informality irreverence disrespect, especially for social ritual
personal cleanliness imposition of standards fanaticism
punctuality time clocks lack of flexibility
small talk (e.g. "How are you?") too much talk invitation to tell them how you are; being an "earbore"

How we treat Internationals as if they were Americans

  • holding them to American language standards (especially the uses of subtlety, idioms, and humor)
  • discussing of (what to those folks are) very private or even forbidden topics openly
  • holding them to American time-management standards
  • assuming an understanding of social contexts
  • assuming universal support of their living in the USA
  • assuming security and safety from political opposition at home
  • assuming standards on units (and even date formats!) they may not be used to

Assignments

Dr. Dan Boleo
Dr. Dan Boleo, Linguage Institute Method 		Review the spoof ad for the Linguage Institute Method, which appeared on the back cover of a comic book and was intended to lampoon language course ads that appeared on comics and magazines in the 60s and 70s. What is the message the ad is likely to send to international coworkers? Why? 1963 Book One: Mystery Incorporated, April 1993, Image Comics, Anaheim, CA, USA.

References

Pakka, K. [...article printed in The Chronicle of Higher Education...], 12.01.2000
Aspects of American Society That May Be New to You

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