Article Report

Report about the Article “A crash course in American Culture.”

The article “A Crash in American Culture” by Jun-Kai-Yeoh expresses in a really interesting way the cultural impact that most of the foreigners, but in special the international students have when living in this country.

In fact, the author describes about his current job at SCSU. More than describing, he identifies and associates it to the heart of the American Culture, as he wisely compares their co-workers to a Dictionary to this culture. It is remarkable how he analysis people around this environment and picks up on their slang, as well as historical jokes which are often brought up around him.

Along the text, Yeoh relates about one of his cultural experiences provided by his American friends. In reality, his point by mentioning that is to support his own argument that the fact of migrating to the U.S under the circumstances of a student was exactly to realize that different cultures exist. A perfect metaphor for the situation is when he makes the analogy with his job and a “Crash course in American Culture.” In other words, his job is a practical class in local culture, and going back to his first day at it he talks about how naive he was when looking at the people he would work with. Surely, one of the lessons he learned by these experiences is to always be a little suspicious about what people’s invitations.

Now, this article is an important example about cultural differences and how to deal with it. Writing this report as an International student, it is easy to identify to one of these embarrassing cultural misunderstanding. However, these kinds of happenings are fundamental for a better comprehension of the host culture, as well as for a good socialization with the natives in the country. There is no doubt that one day, Mr. Yeoh will look back at this moment and (hopefully more into the U.S culture) give some good laughs about it.