My motivations for learning languages are sinister. I have Tagalog for speaking with my mom so most people don't understand, French so my mom doesn't understand but my brother does, and I want to learn more languages so no one can talk about me in their native language.

Originally Posted by AelyaS

i'm guessing your first thought was Square One





I thought of the skit where he was telling his dad that he would call Social Services. and his dad's like

"it takes them 20 minutes to get here. And in those 20 minutes, SOMEBODY GONNA GET A BEATING"

loll yep, that's the one I thought of xD somebody gonna get a hurt real bad

Originally Posted by ooburii

it's not a culture shock on my part, but a culture shock for someone else:

I was at the mall, and I ordered from Villa Madina (arab food). So basically it was like... a plate of rice, salad, kababs, etc. As part of our culture (north african/arab) we eat with our hands, so obviously eating this meal with a fork just didn't feel right :\ anyway I got fed up and just started eating with my hands and this asian woman who walked by looked so disgusted lolol

Bahaha totally know what you mean! And I love that place!!

The shoes in the house thing is... well I never thought about it.. But with guests, it's just kind of common courtesy to tell them 'you don't have to take off your shoes'.. which most people end up doing anyway. It's definitely not a cultural thing I would say.

Originally Posted by ooburii

ffff I love their food. it actually fills you up unlike the same price you'd pay at fast food places >__<


I'm from Sudan (north) :3
edit: city? LOL i'm from hamilton xD

Originally Posted by AelyaS

i'm guessing your first thought was Square One

Lol no I meant country not city. And cool...yea I guessed somewhere in that region. That's really cool.

And yes...Villa Medina is awesome!!! Beats North American fast food any day. Really...Canadian food's so bland!

And as for the culture thing...I really get pissed when people call other people weird for practising their culture. For some people...culture is their life, in a metaphorical sense. It so strongly influences their everyday lives. Just because it's new to you doesn't mean it's weird. Who're you to judge weird and normal? Most of these traditions have been in existence for centuries!

/rant

Originally Posted by Kendoon

http://www.chinasmack.com/2010/pictu...reactions.html

Please never talk to me about culture again.

I was getting pissed off at the captions. Ethnocentric to the max.
There is so much behind the pictures that the photographer, as foreigner, will never understand.

My parents swear all the time in Mandarin, yet when I say "shut up" or "stupid" they get all mad at me.

Originally Posted by AelyaS

I was getting pissed off at the captions. Ethnocentric to the max.
There is so much behind the pictures that the photographer, as foreigner, will never understand.

Again it comes back down to: who the **** are you to judge what's weird and what's normal. You don't know crap.

Originally Posted by SilentWalker

Again it comes back down to: who the **** are you to judge what's weird and what's normal. You don't know crap.

There's 'unique', 'abnormal according to western culture', etc.

Then there's swimming, bathing, drinking and every other conceivable human function among excrement, decaying corpses and the like.

Originally Posted by dhgn

Canada is a multicultural country...
have you guys ever suffered(?) from a cultural difference?

For me the most shocking thing was to find how most white ppl wear their shoes inside their house.

Being White isn't an ethnicity - it's the lack of a large amount of melanin in the skin. It's the result of one's genes. It has absolutely nothing to do with culture. There's a fair bit of differences between Quebecois/French Canadians, Liverpool English, Swiss Germans, Parisian French, Neapolitan Italians, Southern Macedonians, Iberian Basques, and Muscovite Russians, yet they're all "White".

I always wait for you to post. You're just so good at wording things. No sense in the rest of us even trying. ;D

If owning a cabane a sucre isn't culture, then I don't know what is...

Originally Posted by JEFF_CHAN

My parents wouldn't let me walk five minutes away from the house and I thought they were like the most overprotective/paranoid parents *evar* >_>

My parents were paranoid when i get home like 5mins late. And they'd freak if I was out when it was dark...

Originally Posted by lawleypop

What the hell? You're highly mistaken. Wearing shoes inside is NOT a Canadian/white thing. Someone may say, "keep your shows on" if they're only going to be inside briefly and not on carpet, but anything else is NOT common.

Shoes off in the house. I don't know what type of Canadian home you were in. :p

Ive just always gotten use to wearing shoes in my house mainly cause my parents do it. And thats mainly cause everyone in England did it where they grew up. Just a habit now.

Originally Posted by Tailsnake

The only real culture shock I've been through is just seeing how some north american kids interact with adults/parents. I don't think I've ever sworn around my parents (let alone at them), I do not drink with/around them, and we've never really had a sex talk (they basically just assumed I started doing it in my late teens and reacted accordingly), and talking back still gets me in huge trouble. I find the fact that some kids here can do all that and more w/o any consequences mind boggling.

Ive never sworn in front of my parents. And talking back still gets me in trouble too... weird. But yea I've known people that would full out swear at their parents and things would just be normal the next day.

Originally Posted by Tailsnake

I'm pretty sure the only reason I still know any language other than English is so my parents could threaten me in public without the judgmental looks from other parents

Lol same. That and to talk about other people without them knowing.

Originally Posted by Desda

My parents swear all the time in Mandarin, yet when I say "shut up" or "stupid" they get all mad at me.

Lol. My parents will get mad at me for swearing in general. Like I remember...banging my toe into the corner of my bed and just yelled F***. Mom got mad at that.

Sigh. Ive just gotten use to all junk

Originally Posted by Shmowen

Being White isn't an ethnicity - it's the lack of a large amount of melanin in the skin. It's the result of one's genes. It has absolutely nothing to do with culture. There's a fair bit of differences between Quebecois/French Canadians, Liverpool English, Swiss Germans, Parisian French, Neapolitan Italians, Southern Macedonians, Iberian Basques, and Muscovite Russians, yet they're all "White".

bingo.

I love how people call us white people. Brown people look brown black people look black but white people are not white. Look at some printer paper that is white

Originally Posted by thedog123123

bingo.

I love how people call us white people. Brown people look brown black people look black but white people are not white. Look at some printer paper that is white

I've met plenty of white people that actually look white O_O

Originally Posted by thedog123123

bingo.

I love how people call us white people. Brown people look brown black people look black but white people are not white. Look at some printer paper that is white

Everyone tends to be a shade of brown, brown people are the only ones who have a generalized racial name that's even somewhat accurate (No one asian looks like the people from the simpsons and black people do not look like Mr. Game and Watch).